This ever so popular 1.6 DOHC engine was introduced in late
1983, when Honda of Japan debuted the
E-AT civic & E-AS crx.
This motor was tagged "
ZC" and was found in the higher end AT/AS models. Why Japan dubbed this engine the "ZC" still haunts me (and others)
to this day. The US wouldn't see this same
1.6
DOHC
engine
until 1986,
when Acura
first
opened
their doors
with
the
debut of the 'Integra' line up. This
first generation US Integra would contain
this
1.6 DOHC engine, and become known as
the "
D16A1". Of course, the US is
wack in many aspects when it comes to the auto industry
and we never received any 84-87 civic/crx's
that
came
equipped with
this same engine, hence the reason
for hybriding!!! In Europe,
their
version
of
the
ZC/D16A1 engine
was known
as
the
D16A8 or
D16A9 engine,
and came
in the
same
AT civic/AS crx models (lucky them!). To
add to the chaos, there
was also a
JDM SOHC ZC engine that came about in
1987, known to the US as the
D16A6 engine (but that's another story).
All U.S. 86-89 integra's (RS, LS, GS) all
have the same initial D16A1 engine design.
Only slight engine changes were made between
the 86-87 and 88-89
Integra models. The biggest difference between the two is
wiring/ecu/& ignition.
Remember I mentioned
Vacuum Advance Ignition earlier? Well among Integra's, only the 86-87 Integra's use this
Vacuum Advance Ignition system (just like the the 86-87 Civic/CRX Si models do). This is a big reason
why 86-87 D16A1's electronics & wiring are compatible (plug n play) with 86-87 Si's. Whereas 88-89 D16A1's electronics
are not -- you
cannot carry over & use (plug n play) the OBD-0 ecu/wiring/ignition system that 88-89 Integra's
have into an 86-87 Si. It's just not compatible. But, you technically can convert
an Si to OBD-0, but it's an enormous pain in the ass and I don't suggest doing
it unless you're the adventurous type and love playing with wiring.
Normally, the
browtop ZC & D16A1
engines are a dead ringer for having
Vacuum Advance Igntion (VAI) systems, which were
pre OBD-0 engines; blacktop's being OBD-0. So, when purchasing
a motor for your 84-87 civ/crx (especially for an Si model), a rule of thumb
would
be
to
look
for a browntop ZC/ D16A1 engine if you don't want to run into ignition & wiring
incompatibilities.
Of course, it is possible to convert an OBD-0 blacktop ZC/D16A1 to a VAI system
by simply removing the OBD-0 components and replacing them with
VAI
components. Doing this will allow you to take advantage of an updated and
slightly
more
powerful
ZC/D16A1 engine.
There are
3
continental versions of this 1.6 DOHC engine:
I'm not too keen on the history of
the Euro D16A8/9 engine (I'm learning!),
I
assume it ran along the
same timeline as the JDM
ZC. On a side note, in the U.K., there's
an automotive company known
as
Rover which had a line of coupes that
went by the name of
416GTI, which used
Honda's D16A8/9 engine. Visually, it looks
identical to a ZC engine, but what makes it
different
from the Honda version is the unique valve
cover it has seen here:
Rover
Coupe 416 GTI engine (pics stolen from an ebay ad)
Pretty weird eh? Kinda reminiscent of a an
84-87 Si's SOHC valve cover! I'm
not sure how long the Rover coupe lifespan
series lasted.
Rover
had other coupe models that shared Honda
SOHC D-series engines as well. A fella by
the screen name of
Ben_K on
the
D-series.org forum
has kind enough to share some detailed info
on the Rover SOHC & DOHC coupes. Here's what
he told me:
The first generation of this 1.6L
DOHC engine (JDM/US/EDM)
all had a
4-bolt
brown colored valve cover, which overtime has been nicknamed "
browntop" by
Honda enthusiasts. The
browntop ran for about 3 years in Japan and 2 years
in the US and ?? in Europe.
Browntop
valve cover(s) ZC & D16A8/9
Browntop
valve cover U.S. D16A1
Browntop
ZC/D16A1 engine specs:
Then, sometime in 1987-88, Honda made a few
updates to the browntop engine...
Changes
made to the US D16A1 engine in 1988-89:
