Drive '12 Fit 5 MT.
Technical question: Why in the world did Hinda engineers put my motor in ass backwards? My son's 08' Civic 1.8L isn't in ass backwards.
Makes changing spark plugs/coils a bugger to access/replace.

Nik

 

Did you actually mean, "Why is your cylinder head design reversed compared to the R18 in your son's Civic?" The engine and transmission position is the same otherwise.

It simply comes down the how the engineers designed the engine as well how it is packaged in the engine bay as well.

You DO have to keep in mind, that the first and second gen Fits have a significant difference in the front ends for US/Canada spec cars versus the rest of the global market. The shorter nose on the global cars requires Honda to package the engine bay even tighter than our long nose cars. Even then, it's not that bad to access. Changing spark plugs doesn't require cowl removal and can be done in 15 minutes or less. Even removing the airbbox assembly and upper intake manifold MIGHT add another 3 to 5 minutes to tear down to give you even more room to access the spark plugs and valvetran without removing the wiper cowl.

Following that, Honda could have given us the Dual Spark version the L15 their engines but instead the VTEC model we received. Those DSI cars actually run 8 spark plugs total (2 per cylinder) versus 4 spark plugs in comparison to the VTEC cars. Adding to that, those DSI engines are present state side but found in Hybrid models such as the first and second gen Insights as well as the 8th gen (your son's body style) and 9th gen Civic Hybrids as well.

 

There is no such thing as designed backwards.


It's just an engine design. Most newer cars don't have easy access to the spark plugs in general.

 

Just go stand around behind the trunk. It'll all look a lot more normal from that angle.

 

That describes my Fiero exactly. When I go work on a different car, it suddenly seems backwards to me!

 

I'm being pedantic: I did not ask why honda designed the FIT engine assbackwards, I asked why was the engine put in with the spark plugs/coilpacks facing rear as FitFreak poster, "Hootie", revised my question to reflect a space consideration by Honda engineering.

 

Funnily enough, I've found that I can change all 8 coils and plugs on my JDM Fit's L13A engine without removing the cowl. It's a bit fiddly and requires some creative stacking/unstacking of extensions, but is surprisingly doable. I wonder if the L15's larger size makes for harder access.

 

Now that you say that, Honda should make a RWD Fit...