94 Prelude Swap

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B

BadLude

Junior Member
Im a newbie here as you can see by my posts. This is going to be my first Honda motor swap. I have had a few imports before, a couple mitsus and a 3rd gen rx-7. The car I just got rid of is a 01 SVT cobra. I had it for 3 months and decided I couldn't bear having a domestic car, even if it was pretty fast. So when I decided to go with Honda, I knew I had to build the shit out of it to satisfy myself speed wise. The car I bought is a 94 prelude. I bought one with a skyline front end, nice body kit, 3 stage yellow - 1 stage pearl blue paint, completely custom interior, 3 TV monitors, DVD player .. In other words, I bought one tricked out so I didnt have to fuck with anything but the motor. I know that was stupid because I enjoy doing the looks of the car, but I allready did it so oh well. Anyways back to the motor. I am doing a turbo setup and I allready have the t3 turbo, intertcooler, well .. I have everything but the downpipe. My problem is the car is non-vtec. I do not want to put the turbo on that motor. ***(give me some info on putting a turbo on a non-vte motor,is it a good idea?) .. So I am going to do a swap. I am thinking about going with a JDM h22a type s. It has 220hp so I figures it would be good to start with. the only problem is the price. It is 4g's. I was really only wanting to spend about 2500 on the motor. So maybe I should just stay with the h22a. What do you all think. Next issue is the h23a. What is the difference? h22a is DOHC 2.2L vtec and h23a is DOHC 2.3L vtec. Right??? Is that .1L the only difference? Sorry if i seem ignorant but like I said this is my first Honda. btw. Can I keep my stock transmission with a JDM h22a?. Last Thing. Basically here is what I want to know. WHAT WOULD YOU DO IN THIS SITUATION. You have a 94prelude in which you love everything accept the motor. You allready have a turbo for the car and you just need to do a motor swap because you want vtec. You have a $3,000 budget for the motor but don't forget you need to allow some money for a shop to do the swap because you dont have the time and skills to do it yourself. Please give me your suggestions at thejake@mikrotec.com
You have no idea how much I will apreciate your answers to these questions. I want to do my Honda right and I figured you were the guys to come to.

PS. How much do you think a shop will charge me to take out
my stock motor, drop in a h22a, and install the turbo?
 
Well, it sounds like you have the Prelude S, which is a SOHC non-VTEC worthless engine. Good idea to swap it out, especially if you want to boost. However, I'd double-check the engine code stamped on the block just to make sure. F22A1 = Bad H23A1 = Better

Next....the H23 is a DOHC non-VTEC engine. It might actually be better for you to use this instead of an H22, since tuning VTEC to work with boost can sometimes be a pain in the ass. VTEC was created more for naturally aspriated engines, and isn't necessary for a boosted setup. Anyway, this would make your swap price alot lower. Plus, you'd have the added benefit of one-tenth of a liter extra displacement.

Don't drop in an H22 "just because you want VTEC". It'll be more expensive and tougher to tune.
 
the h22a red line is 7700 and the h23a red line is 6200 that is a big difference if going turbo, Im going with a t4 in mid july hopefully. ( with a raise)
 
So your saying since I am going to boost it, go with the h23a because it is non-vtec. Is a vtec motor that hard to tune with a turbo? It seems to me that a vtec turbo would be fast as shit compared to the dohc2.3 non-vtec. But I have been wrong before. lol. I guess what it all boils down to is money. But I found a nice h22a for 2grand. You think I can find a nice h23a for much cheaper???
 
Oh and another thing. Can "Joe Blow Motor Shop" put a vtec motor in without fucking it up? I called a shop by my house and told him what I wanted to do and he said "Sure, bring it on in, 450 bucks." But I live in Bum Fucked Kentucky and all he probably works on is camaros and mustangs. How complicated is the swap?
 
I think if done right, VTEC + turbo will own just turbo. But I wouldn't say it's going to be THAT much different. VTEC creates more valve overlap (among other things) to help out n/a engines at high rpm. This isn't necessary for turbo; in fact, it hinders performance. I think the extra tenth of a liter you're displacing will negate any gain you might see from turbo VTEC.

Your question about the shop doing your swap can't really be answered by us. It's up to the shop and how good they are. Also, VTEC isn't some mythical, intangible magic mechanism that no one can figure out. If the shop an drop in an engine, it won't matter if it's got VTEC. Setting up a car for VTEC involves running a couple of extra wires to the ECU. That's it.
 
You've been a huge help. If I go vtec or 2.3 either one, I am going to have to change transmission, axles, and computer right???

About the big brake kit, as I said, make me an offer.
 
Your axles you can keep. They swap right over.

You COULD keep your tranny, but the F-series trannies are
poopbanana.gif
. Use an H-series tranny.

You could also use the stock computer for the H23, but I wouldn't recommend it. The fuel maps would be all off, plus the F-series computer doesn't account for the secondary intake runners. You'd definitely need a new computer if you went with an H22.
 
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