CRX B16 Project.....

[jessecrx]

I am taking over someone elses project CRX and I have some questions..

I just got a 91 CRX Si as a project car

It has a B16a with a J1 tranny but the guy who owned it had it wired with a "VTEC Switch??" I was like WTF??

The car seems to run fine. He told me that he is running the CRX Si ECU. He has the speed cable disconnected from the tranny too.

So tell me something....

Why does he have the speed cable disconnected? Is it true that VTEC wont work without the speedcable connected??

Why is there a Check Engine Light and NO ECU CODE on the ECU itself?? Is the engine running correctly with the CRX Si ECU?

Other than that the car does need some TLC. The previous owner didnt deserve the car to begin with. I got most of the interior pieces but I am missing some stuff. So if you guys can help me out on what I can do about those 2 questions please let me know.

[Rican03]

There are three things the ECU needs to engage the Vtec selenoid:
1. Oil pressure (Pressure switch)
2. Under Load vehicle/forward movement (Speed cable)
3. Proper operating temperature reading (thermostate)

If any of these three things are not present the VTEC will not engage. When you first start a VTEC engine, if you rev it up past the vtec rance it will not engage until it warms up. If you are at a light and rev your engine after it is warm the VTEC will not engage and if you are running low on oil andf your pressure is low (bad oil pumo) you will most likely have an intermittent VTEC. He might have the cable disconnected cause if I am not mistaken the tranny for a CRX B16 swap is the S1 which is the cable speedo tranny. Integra had a tranny that was a cable clutch but an electronic speed sensor (J1) If you don't have an ECU codes but youare getting an engine light it is possible that this is happening due to a faulty wiring between the engine and the computer. Or something in the dash is messed up. The vtec switch he probably had it that way thinking he can just activate it whenever he wanted it instead of it being computer activated during the RPM range.

[civic_98_4door]

The vtec will work even if there is no speed cable. Running it with stock ecu is not the best thing to do because it was ment to run with a sohc without vtec. You should get a b16a first gen ecu and get the switch out of there and get a jdm cluster with a electronic speed sensor and they have a rev rpm up to 9000. Good luck

[jessecrx]

Well I know for a fact that he had the CRX Si ECU and has a manual switch next to the steering wheel that activates VTEC. I think the cable is the stock CRX cable and not the integra cable. I just found it odd because there was a CEL with no code on the ECU. This is by far the laziest swap work I have ever seen but with some TLC the car should be just as good as my other CRX

Thanks for the tips fellas