honda marinisation

[ant123]

hey everyone

im new here, im from new zealand and have just bought a 15' fibreglass bowrider without an engine.. i have been investigating possibilities.. mostly older outboards as i do not have 20k for a new one! i was drooling over the new efi honda 4 stroke outboards when i reoalised i have the car version of basically the same engine sitting in the shed! it is a 1.5L d15b out of a civic, it is the special 3 stage vtec version which has an "economy" mode as well as power vtec which could be well suited for cruising in a boat? anyway if you havent already guessed i am keen to put this in my new boat... i have done plenty of work in the past on cars but am new to the boating scene so i am after some advice on what would be involved? firstly i would like to run a stern leg configuration, how do i work out what ratio etc to use? what is involved in adapting it onto the honda engine? i am basically just after some input from someone with more experience than me to work out what i would be getting myself into!
thanks in advance

[Cheesy]

Just remember that most of the honda engines run the opposite direction to the rest!

[CDK]

Your first concern should be to locate marinizing parts for it, like a water jacketed exhaust manifold, an engine coupler and adapter plate for a marine gearbox. If you manage that, the rest is easy.

[ant123]

hmmm forgot about them going backwards! would that mean i cant use most stern legs? or can i just fit a prop to suit? should i expect much trouble sorting the efi system?

[CDK]

You can use any stern leg, but an Alpha-1 needs a special set of gears in the lower housing because you are going to use reverse as forward. The Bravo drive and most Volvo Penta's need no conversion.
The EFI can be fooled into believing it is in a car. You'll need a wiring diagram and build a decoy circuit or use parts from the car, like the immobilizer module.

[Meanz Beanz]

This guy might help you...

http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=49766

[ant123]

awesome thanks for that, very helpful! how do i work out what size/ratio drive to use? for a small revvy relatively low torque engine.. the honda 75/90 outboards with the same engine quote 2.33/1 would i be able to find one around this ratio? lastly would having the o2 sensors in the exhaust pose any problems when it came to exhaust cooling? sorry about all the questions!

[weehenry]

hello ant this seems like a really good project im a honda lover myself but unfortunatly i have no mechanical experience with hondas let me know how you get on

good luck gerard