What is the EASIEST way to wire up a vtec b series..b series guys tell me please

[Accordtheory]

I want to know the easiest way to wire up a vtec engine with obd1. I plan on using the hondata s300 with my new setup. A guy who makes conversion harnesses told me it would be easiest to attach the the b series connectors to the a20 harness, and add the necessary wires, but I was thinking it might be easier to just use the obd1 b16 harness and alter the plugs in the bay..I don't know. Either way, I know I would have to change the plugs at the ecu, either with a conversion harness, ($150)by switching pins, (possible?) or soldering all of the wires, (f that).

I know several of you guys have b16s, etc, how exactly did you do it?
Thanks

[3rd GEN]

you just add another wire on your harner for vtec..
but i dunno if you can use your existing harness..cuz i went from a b18a-b16..yopu are going from a20-b16..so i'm not sure if the a20 harness can be used..and the ecu is totally different..so you need ecu as well..

[SteveDX89]

I would take the B16 harness and switch the bay plugs. Namely, the 2 large round ones on the driver side and the 1 rectangular one on the pass. side. Basically, I'm saying if you take you're B16 engine harness. Pull the plugs off that plug into the car's cabin harness and put the Accord plugs on them. Then whatever doesn't fit in a plug (VTEC, knock sensor, etc.), you can make that a subharness and run those wires right to the ECU. You can try swapping the pins around at the ECU instead of using the conversion harness but I've looked into it and it looks pretty difficult. It might be worth it for the conversion harness. I've seen them for $100.

[Accordtheory]

Thanks steveDX89, so you just modified your b16 engine harness to fit the accord plugs and added wires? do you have an obd-1 ecu?

Damn..this is going to be such a fucking pain in the ass, it'll probably take me days to figure out.

[bobafett]

www.boomslang.com ? .org .net maybe?
www.jkobd.com

save yourself the hassle...

[SteveDX89]

PRI made my harness but that's all they do. If I had to do it over again, I would have done it myself and saved the $350. My car is still OBD 0.

[Accordtheory]

I just hit up jkobd.com, we'll see what they can do..Boomslang wasn't very helpful, they wanted me to do most of it myself and just plug in their little adapter harness at the ecu. Most of the work would be in the engine bay, and that's what I Would like to avoid.

[Legend_master]

I just hit up jkobd.com, we'll see what they can do..Boomslang wasn't very helpful, they wanted me to do most of it myself and just plug in their little adapter harness at the ecu. Most of the work would be in the engine bay, and that's what I Would like to avoid.


I had my a20 engine harness converted to an obd1 ls/vtec harness by rywire and Jkob made my sub harness. The two companies worked together to make the whole wireing system work. I would recomend bolth companies they did a great job on the sub and engine harnesses.

[Accordtheory]

cool, I just emailed rywire too, thats what jkobd said they would do. How much did it end up costing you?

[Legend_master]

cool, I just emailed rywire too, thats what jkobd said they would do. How much did it end up costing you?


I am not going to disclose that, because mine will be a test harness, but I will tell you I got out for under $350.00 for both harnesses witch is a damn good deal. I sent rywire a harness from a junkyard car. I will let everybody know how it works out when I install the motors.

[Accordtheory]

Well, it'd going to cost me more than that.. I don't have a legit a20 or vtec harness yet.

hey, do you have a pic of your completed harness by any chance?

[Legend_master]

Well, it'd going to cost me more than that.. I don't have a legit a20 or vtec harness yet.

hey, do you have a pic of your completed harness by any chance?


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v667/Legend_Master/DSCF20007.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v667/Legend_Master/DS1CF0008.jpg

thats the best I can do, If you notice the wires coming out of the ECU that connect to the harness. Those are the wires that our harness dosent have.

[Accordtheory]

thanks for posting the pics..how long do you think it will be when you have everything set up?

[Legend_master]

thanks for posting the pics..how long do you think it will be when you have everything set up?


about a month or so depending on school and work :dunno: . I will keep you guys up to date.

[Accordtheory]

I just talked to a guy at rywire (I don't know if he was ryan or peter) today, and he said I could send him the necessary connectors from the obd-1 harness, not necessarily the whole harness, which is cool, because that saves me like a $100..I should be sending the shit out to them pretty soon. One thing I asked about was the vehicle speed sensor, I guess you need that signal to the ecu to activate vtec, I highly doubt the accord has that, I don't know. I can probably disable that with the ecu program. Hopefully it will all turn out legit..but I'm not that worried because I know if it came down to it, I could wire the whole thing up myself.
hey legend master, what ecu are you going to use? p28?

[Legend_master]

I just talked to a guy at rywire (I don't know if he was ryan or peter) today, and he said I could send him the necessary connectors from the obd-1 harness, not necessarily the whole harness, which is cool, because that saves me like a $100..I should be sending the shit out to them pretty soon. One thing I asked about was the vehicle speed sensor, I guess you need that signal to the ecu to activate vtec, I highly doubt the accord has that, I don't know. I can probably disable that with the ecu program. Hopefully it will all turn out legit..but I'm not that worried because I know if it came down to it, I could wire the whole thing up myself.
hey legend master, what ecu are you going to use? p28?


That spunds good, and yes I am running a chipped p28 for an LS/vtec and it had a couple of goodies in it.

[Accordtheory]

What was the turnaround time for rywire to make the harness? I forgot to ask..

[Legend_master]

What was the turnaround time for rywire to make the harness? I forgot to ask..


it took awhile for me because I was the first, but now he has the diagram so he can do it rather quick.

[SteveDX89]

I just talked to a guy at rywire (I don't know if he was ryan or peter) today, and he said I could send him the necessary connectors from the obd-1 harness, not necessarily the whole harness, which is cool, because that saves me like a $100..I should be sending the shit out to them pretty soon. One thing I asked about was the vehicle speed sensor, I guess you need that signal to the ecu to activate vtec, I highly doubt the accord has that, I don't know. I can probably disable that with the ecu program. Hopefully it will all turn out legit..but I'm not that worried because I know if it came down to it, I could wire the whole thing up myself.
hey legend master, what ecu are you going to use? p28?

Our cars have a VSS and the signal does go to the ECU. The speedo cable drives the speedometer but there's also some electronic do-dad that runs to the ECU from the gauge cluster. My ECU is not chipped and VTEC works just fine.

[Accordtheory]

just sent my shit off to rywire today..those guys are going to be off at sema, but when they get back, 2-3 weeks it should be done..cost will be around $310..

[Accordtheory]

Well, I just got my harness back from rywire today, and the damn thing won't fit! uugghhh....The wires extending from the main harness to the ecu jumper come out of the wrong end of the harness, at the left front of the engine bay. There is no way they will reach all the way to under the driver's seat! damn it.. Hopefully this will be fixed soon. I thought about connecting the harness extension to the wires at the control box, and then splicing those into the ecu jumper, but only 7 of them go to the ecu and I need 10.

[Legend_master]

Well, I just got my harness back from rywire today, and the damn thing won't fit! uugghhh....The wires extending from the main harness to the ecu jumper come out of the wrong end of the harness, at the left front of the engine bay. There is no way they will reach all the way to under the driver's seat! damn it.. Hopefully this will be fixed soon. I thought about connecting the harness extension to the wires at the control box, and then splicing those into the ecu jumper, but only 7 of them go to the ecu and I need 10.


Damn that sucks, make sure to let him know the problem. I bet he can make and extention harness that will take care of the job.

[Accordtheory]

Where do the wires going to the ecu jumper come out on your setup?

[Legend_master]

Where do the wires going to the ecu jumper come out on your setup?


:dunno: I dont quit understand what you are asking. If you mean what the wires are for they are for all the parts of the OBD-1 harness that are not located on the accord Harness. If you mean physically, it has not been installed yet so I couldent even tell you.

[Accordtheory]

You only need to glance at your harness to understand what I mean. The wires that have been added exit the harness and run directly to the 0bd-0-obd-1 conversion jumper harness at the ecu. Where on the accord harness does that little bundle of wires exit? There are 3 main connectors on the accord harness, 2 up by the right shock tower (not counting the resistor box) and 1 at the front, behind and a little to the driver's side of the passenger side headlight. Those guys have never seen a 3g engine bay, because the subharness wires exit at That connector, at the front of the engine bay! Then they have to travel back from there all the way to under the driver's seat, where the ecu is? No way..

I still think those guys are legit though, I just hope they'll fix this shit..

That little subharness of added wires should exit the main harness a little to the passenger side of the alternator, have a connector right there so you could disconnect it when you want to pull the engine, and then go straight back through the firewall to the ecu. That would allow for the shortest wires, and it would just be the best, easiest way to do it.

[carotman]

I've done quite a bit of Accord and Integra engine swaps (All H22A) and the easiest way to wire a car is to use the current car wire harness.

While the engine is off the car, you take a junkyard Accord wire harness and adapt it to the B series engines. You lengthen the wires that are too short and tie the ones that are too long (or shorten them). Most of the plugs will match except the distibutor plugs. Just pull out the wires from the plug and use the B16A plug for it.

You will more or less need to add the following wires (depends if you're OBD-1 or OBD-0)
Crank sensor (2 shielded wires)
Vtec Solenoid
Vtec Pressure
Knock Sensor
O2 heater (2 wires)
Ignitor
All those wires can come from the B16A harness

So a total of 8 wires need to be run from the ECU to the enginebay. It's not much of a hassle.

When I did my B20A swap, I had to add wires to the existing harness also. I basicaly removed the tape around the junkyard harness and also removes the wire loom. I added the wires to the existing harness and retaped everything. This looks like a stock harness but has an additional plug on one end.

If you take the B16A harness and try to make it fit on the car. some wires will not be on the right side of the enginebay. This will end up in a big wire spaghetti mess... and you don't want that.

[Accordtheory]

You also have to add evap purge, map, and iac to the main harness, all of which are on or adjacent to the intake manifold on the obd-1 b series and all of which use different plugs than the a20. Carotman, I already paid someone to do this for me, which I now regret. They started out just like you said, modifying the stock harness. They are supposedly going to be offering this conversion for sale..although I've now ripped half of that harness apart because it didn't fit.

legend master, you might want to check your harness..

[Legend_master]

You also have to add evap purge, map, and iac to the main harness, all of which are on or adjacent to the intake manifold on the obd-1 b series and all of which use different plugs than the a20. Carotman, I already paid someone to do this for me, which I now regret. They started out just like you said, modifying the stock harness. They are supposedly going to be offering this conversion for sale..although I've now ripped half of that harness apart because it didn't fit.
legend master, you might want to check your harness..


I had the feeling that mine wasent long enough either, but I might want to move My Ecu to the passengerside kick panel anyways. I will have to decide how much work that is later.

[Accordtheory]

Extend all those wires?? No way...much easier to cut up the harness you just paid $300 for..lol

I'll post a pic when I'm done with this shit.

[Legend_master]

Extend all those wires?? No way...much easier to cut up the harness you just paid $300 for..ha


I will not have to cut it up. I can just call up rywire and they will make an extention for me. Did you tell them the problem you had with your harness? I am sure that he would be willing to fix it.

[Accordtheory]

I emailed them today and yesterday, but it is the weekend, so they didn't email back, and I was bored and just started doing it myself. I don't want an extension either, I want the wires to exit where they should, instead of looping back over themselves for like 5 feet. I still have several other questions for them though, hopefully I'll talk to or get an email from them tomorrow.

[carotman]

You also have to add evap purge, map, and iac to the main harness, all of which are on or adjacent to the intake manifold on the obd-1 b series and all of which use different plugs than the a20. Carotman, I already paid someone to do this for me, which I now regret. They started out just like you said, modifying the stock harness. They are supposedly going to be offering this conversion for sale..although I've now ripped half of that harness apart because it didn't fit.
legend master, you might want to check your harness..

The Evap solenoid is located in the vacuum control box so you don't need to do anything about it. The IACV connector is the regular Honda 2 pin connector. It's the same as the A20A (the 88-89 at least)

Here's what it looks like.
http://www.88-crx.com/images/sc-temp-and-egr-connector.jpg

The OBD-1 uses the same connector it's just gray instead of beige. Same thing for the TPS. You might need to play a bit with the wire length but it's not much of a trouble.


If you have a TB with a map sensor bung, just connect the vacuum hose from the Vacuum box on it. If the MAP sensor is on the TB, just make ad adapter. Start a lengtp of wire from the Vaccum box connector and route it to the TB. This is far easier than routing it through the main harness.

You can kinda see the MAP sensor wire on this picture
B20A Enginebay (http://carotman.no-ip.com:8888/album/aout2005_3.jpg)

Same goes for the ignitor

[Accordtheory]

You don't live in cali..You can't run different anything and pass smog. It has to be the same as whatever the obd-1 setup it came from is. If your ls TB has a map sensor on it, that is what has to be connected to your p75 ecu. Same goes for that specific evap control, etc. And my 3g does not have an evap soleniod anyway, it is controlled by a thermovalve on the water neck. My TPS and IAC connections were also different, and my factory IACV is on the drivers's side shock tower. (87 car)

My main harness already has all of those connections added. The problem was just where they exited the harness, and that's basically fixed now..

[carotman]

yeah the 86-87 are different than the 88-89. The 88-89 Accords are much more like the later Hondas (IACV, Evap and MAP)

[Accordtheory]

I have 32 solder & heat shrink connections to make, excluding swapping the distributor connector. Seriously not cool. I haven't made up my mind yet, but I'll either send it back to rywire to finish or ask for a partial refund.


I should have done it myself, imagine that, me having to build something relying only on myself..

Coming up, total pain in the ass # 2: The motor mounts..

[Accordtheory]

I'm currently trying to figure out what my injectors are from. They are 12.6 ohms, so thats correct, and I strongly suspect they are the normal 240cc, but I'm just wondering what year they are. (Are they obd-2?)They have a roundish style plug, and the connector that fits them is all plastic, no little metal wire holding it in place, you sqeeze it to pull it off.

[masterkillalw]

I'm currently trying to figure out what my injectors are from. They are 12.6 ohms, so thats correct, and I strongly suspect they are the normal 240cc, but I'm just wondering what year they are. (Are they obd-2?)They have a roundish style plug, and the connector that fits them is all plastic, no little metal wire holding it in place, you sqeeze it to pull it off.



Those are nothing like mine...I am also OBD-0 though. so u should have OBD-1 injectors and yes if ur getting 12.6 ohms then they are 240cc...

[Accordtheory]

All honda injectors that are high impedance are 240cc? I thought the prelude had like 290s, and that setup is either obd-1 or obd-2..The resistance of the injector has nothing to do with it's flow capacity.

For instance, I have like 4 or 5 different types of injectors, peak and hold honda injectors, toyota injectors, wrx injectors (740cc), dsm injectors..widely differing flow capacities yet fixed input resistance, either saturated or peak and hold..

I was just wondering if anyone knew off the top of their head what these injectors are from based on the connector they have..

[Accordtheory]

Well, my wiring harness is basically done.. legend master, when you send your harness back to them, they'll build it how I told them it should be. Since I went off and did my own thing, I left it up to ryan to refund or not any of my money, we'll see what he does. I think 37 solder & heat shrink connections is worth something though.

[Legend_master]

Well, my wiring harness is basically done.. legend master, when you send your harness back to them, they'll build it how I told them it should be. Since I went off and did my own thing, I left it up to ryan to refund or not any of my money, we'll see what he does. I think 37 solder & heat shrink connections is worth something though.


I just need an extention wire build, everything else is good.

[Accordtheory]

I'll post a pic when my setup is completely together and in the car, you'll see how clean it is..