CVCC


CVCC is a trademark by the Honda Motor Company for an engine with reduced automotive emissions, which stood for "Compound Vortex Controlled Combustion". The first mention of Honda developed CVCC technology was done by Mr. Soichiro Honda February 12, 1971, at the Federation of Economic Organizations Hall in Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo. Honda's engineers at the time, Mr. Date conferred with Mr. Yagi and Mr. Nakagawa about the possibility of creating lean combustion via a prechamber, which some diesel engines utilized. The first engine to be installed with the CVCC approach for testing was a single-cylinder, 300 cc version of Honda's EA engine installed in a modified Honda N600 hatchback in January 1970. This technology allowed Honda's cars to meet Japanese and United States emission standards in the 1970s without a catalytic converter. A type of stratified charge engine, it first appeared on the 1975 ED1 engine. As emission laws advanced and required more stringent admissible levels, Honda abandoned the CVCC method and introduced PGM-FI, or Programmed Fuel Injection on all Honda vehicles. Some vehicles in Japan had a combination of electronically controlled carburetors, called PGM-Carb on specific, transitional Honda D, E and ZC engines.
Toyota briefly used a similar technology in the mid-to-late seventies, called TTC-V. In 2007, the Honda CVCC technology was added to the Mechanical Engineering Heritage of Japan.

Construction and operation

Honda CVCC engines have normal inlet and exhaust valves, plus a small auxiliary inlet valve which provides a relatively rich air–fuel mixture to a volume near the spark plug. The remaining air–fuel charge, drawn into the cylinder through the main inlet valve, is leaner than normal. The volume near the spark plug is contained by a small perforated metal plate. Upon ignition flame fronts emerge from the perforations and ignite the remainder of the air–fuel charge. The remaining engine cycle is as per a standard four-stroke engine.
This combination of a rich mixture near the spark plug, and a lean mixture in the cylinder allowed stable running, yet complete combustion of fuel, thus reducing CO and hydrocarbon emissions. This method allowed the engine to burn less fuel more efficiently without the use of an exhaust gas recirculation valve or a catalytic converter, although those methods were installed later to further improve emission reduction.

Advantages over previous stratified charge engines

Honda's big advancement with CVCC was that they were able to use carburetors and they did not rely on intake swirl. Previous versions of stratified charge engines needed costly fuel injection systems. Additionally, previous engines tried to increase the velocity and swirl of the intake charge in keeping the rich and lean mixtures separated. Honda was able to keep the charges adequately separated by combustion chamber shape.

Early design flaw

Some of the early CVCC engines had problems with the auxiliary valves' retaining collars vibrating loose. Once unscrewed, motor oil would leak from the valvetrain into the pre-combustion chamber, causing a sudden loss of power and large amounts of smoke to flow from the exhaust pipe. These symptoms usually indicate a failure of critical oil seals in the motor that requires expensive repairs, although the necessary repair was quite simple. Honda corrected this problem with metal retaining-rings that slipped over the valves' retaining collars and prevented them from backing out of their threads.

CVCC-II

The 1983 Honda Prelude used a CVCC design and a catalytic converter to reduce emissions, called CVCC-II, along with two separate sidedraft carburettors. The following year a standard cylinder head design was used and the center carburettor was dropped. The Honda City AA, introduced in November 1981, also used a CVCC-II engine called the ER.

List of CVCC equipped engines

ED

The ED series introduced the CVCC technology. This group displaced and used an SOHC 12-valve design. Output with a 3 barrel carburetor was 52 hp at 5000 rpm and 68 lb·ft at 3000 rpm.
The EF was an SOHC 12-valve engine, displacing 1.6 L. Output was 68 hp at 5000 rpm and 85 lb·ft at 3000 rpm.
USAGE: 1976-1978 Honda Accord CVCC, US market automobiles.

EJ

The EJ displaced and was an SOHC 12-valve CVCC engine with a 3 barrel carburetor. 4 intake valves, 4 exhaust valves, and 4 auxiliary valves. Output was 68 hp at 5000 rpm and 77 lb·ft at 3000 rpm.
The EK was an SOHC 12-valve engine, displacing 1.8 L. Output varied as the engine itself was refined.
USAGE:
1979-1983 Honda Accord CVCC
1979-1982 Honda Prelude CVCC
1981-1985 Honda Vigor
EK9 is not related to the EK engine - EK9 is simply the chassis code for the 1997-2001 Honda Civic Type-R Hatchback.

EM

The EM displaced and was an SOHC 12-valve CVCC engine. Early versions produced 52 hp at 5000 rpm and 68 lb·ft at 3000 rpm, while later ones upped the output to 63 hp at 5000 rpm and 77 lb·ft at 3000 rpm. All used a 3 barrel carburetor.
The EP displaced and was an SOHC 8-valve engine with a 2 barrel carburetor. Output was 90 ps at 5500 rpm and 13.2 kg·m at 3500 rpm.
EP
1980-1985 Honda Quintet / Quint
1980-1981 Honda Accord

ER

The long-stroke, 12-valve CVCC-II for Japan and 8-valve for Europe and Asia ER four-cylinder engine was only used in the AA/VF/FA series City/Jazz. It was available as a normally aspirated carburated version or with Honda's own PGM-FI fuel injection as one of a very few turbocharged engines built by Honda. The Japanese market CVCC engine was also known as COMBAX, an acronym of COMpact Blazing-combustion AXiom. The E-series were tuned for economy, with higher gearing and later on with computer-controlled variable lean burn. As of March 1985, the naturally aspirated ER engines gained composite conrods, lighter and stronger these helped further reduce fuel consumption.
The lower powered engines in the commercial "Pro" series had a lower compression, a mechanically timed ignition rather than the breakerless setup found in the passenger cars, and a manual choke. The ER had five crankshaft bearings and the overhead camshaft was driven by a cogged belt.
Carburetor versions used either a single or 2bbl downdraft Keihin. The turbocharger in the Turbo and Turbo II was developed together with IHI, the Turbo II being equipped with an intercooler and a computer-controlled wastegate.
ER1-4 Honda City

ES

The ES displaced. All ES engines were SOHC 12-valve engines. The ES1 used dual sidedraft carburetors to produce 100 hp at 5500 rpm and 104 lb·ft at 4000 rpm. The ES2 replaced this with a standard 3 barrel carburetor for 86 hp at 5800 rpm and 99 lb·ft at 3500 rpm. Finally, the ES3 used PGM-FI for 101 hp at 5800 rpm and 108 lb·ft at 2500 rpm.
The EV displaced and was an SOHC 12-valve design. Three-barrel carburetors produced 60 hp at 5500 rpm and 73 lb·ft at 3500 rpm for the US market. The JDM version, featuring 12 valves and auxiliary CVCC valves, produced at 6000 rpm and at 3500 rpm. It was available in all bodystyles of the third generation Honda Civic.
The final E-family engine was the EW, presented along with the all new third generation Honda Civic in September 1983. Displacing, the EWs were SOHC 12-valve engines. Early 3 barrel EW1s produced from and. The fuel injected EW3 and EW4 produced at 5,500 rpm and at 4,500 rpm. The "EW" name was replaced by the Honda D15 series, with the EW renamed to D15A in 1987. It also received a new engine stamp placement on the front of the engine like the "modern D series".
EY 94 PS at 5800 rpm, 13.6 kg·m at 3500 rpm.
Engine manufacturer Honda
Engine code EY
Number of cylinders: Inline-four
Capacity 1.6 litre
1598 cc

Bore × Stroke 80 × 79.5 mm
3.15 × 3.13 in
Bore/stroke ratio 1.01
Valve gear SOHC
3 valves per cylinder
12 Total valves
Used in 1983 Honda Accord 1600 E-AC