ok, heres the scoop, my 91 'civ si popped a head gasket, and rather than taking the engine apart to put in a new one and have the same silly stock engine in there i've been looking at replacement engines that will add some additional gonads to my ride. so we begin our adventure. checking out the h22a, i guesss depending on if i get a post '99 version of it i can squeeze 200 ponies outta that powerhouse by leaving the engine stock. even the 190 horse i'd get out of a pre '99 engine would be quite welcome in my civic that up until now was only pushing about 108. so heres where the discussion comes in, i'm new to the honda world, having just gotten my civic in june and having it blow up in early july. if anyone has any warnings like "STOP! your fuel line will route down your exhaust assembly! BOOM!" or the like, shoot me a response. i'd also appreciate any advice from anyone who's pulled this off before or anyone who has a friend somewhere that will hook me up with a h22a for cheap (preferably near sacramento ca) i'll keep y'all posted as to the progress of this project.
h22a in a 91 'civ si
- Thread starter techmage
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dohcvtec_accord
WRX Sellout
If you get a 92-95 JDM H22A, they come with 161 ft-pounds of torque and 200 horsepower out of the box. Don't mess with the silly USDM engines. 
ok, in talking to some folks, i've managed to find a GSR engine. thats almost as good, but i'm going to keep looking. looks like i'm gonna wind up spending about 3k on this whole project before i even think about adding turbo(s) (thats gonna be even more expensive... i dont even know where we're going to find room for them bastards, i think it'd probably be easier to rear-wheel rear-engine a 8 cyl in there, it is a hatch after all but thats just crazy talk. *pushes the stock 307 from a '70 chevelle malibu back into the garage*) why do i feel like i'm in a bad episode of monster garage?
see, thats the kind of advice i'm looking for, if the h22a's gonna cause me to not be able to turn my car it wont do me too much good on the road. (i live in the hills, so turning's kinda important) been looking at zc's lately now too, i guess that's a really easy mod but i'm only gonna get probably 25 extra horses out of it. (thats still like 20% more than i had)
SleEPeR_CRX
Senior Member
if u want some fun engines, go b16a or b18c1. the b16a should cost about as much as the h22a. also, there are no mounts to put an H series engine into an EF chassis, so u will have to weld the motor in, which is never fun. or make ur own mounts. the H22a understears bad in an eg/ek, it will be a KILLER in an ef, it will understear worse than anything, so unless its pure track, i wouldnt go near that route. it also has a hydro tranny, so u have to get a cable tranny, and i dont know of any H series that have cable tranny's so ude have to get like an F series tranny or something. maybe a b series tranny fits up to it. i think a b16a would be great, or a b18a turbo. dont go b18b b/c they are obd1 and have hydro tranny so u would have to get anther tranny.
for once i'll agree partly on this even with a proper suspension on an ef you'll prly have understeer, but unless you plan on autoxing this car don't worry about it, all you have to do is take it down a notch going around corners, just to keep thisstraight though understeeer isn't nearly as bad as what people say it is drive a car that has this done properly and you'll see, its really not that bad at all
ok, so i'm getting a lot of people telling me to go b-series with it. and no-1 telling me to use a zc or a d16z6, more than one person have told me that the D series engines are crap, so thats the whole reason i started checking out h's. being that i'm pretty new to the honda world i'm still learning this stuff. i know better than to try a c-series (unless i want the engine to ride shotgun). a week ago i couldn't name a honda engine, now i amaze my girlfriend i just wanted to thank y'all for your help on all this. b18c5's looking pretty spiffy there. 195 hp in my civ would be lotsa fun. also, anyone know a good place to get a passenger side window? when the engine blew i had it parked on the side of the road. i pulled my speaker box and the face-plate off my stereo, but someone still bashed in my window and took my head unit (a 40 dollar walmart special with no face plate and the right side channels blown. bet they feel stupid) they also managed to tangle themselves up in the razorblades i strung the wires thru behind the unit spilling a large amount of blood on my carpet. (they must have opened a vein or something, huge frickin' puddle) so the problem remains....no engine and no passenger-side window.
SleEPeR_CRX
Senior Member
umm b18c5 is a good engine, but harder casue u have to change the engine to obd1 and the car to obd1. the engine is easy, the caris a little harder, also its an expensive engine to buy, and hard to find. #1 thing is IF U GET A b18c5 DONT TURBO IT OR PUT ON NAWWWSS, that is NOT the intention of this motor, its good right outa the box. keep it N/A. also, tell us ur pricerange, and what u want the car to do and we will give u alot more imput as to which engine is best for u. i still stand behind the b16a or b18c1. b16a's in stock ef's run 14.5's where i live and b18c1 crx's run 13.8's which is quick. so let us know and we'll tell u what ur best bet is. if u dont know much about cars/hondas, ur best bet is probably a b16a or b18, b18a = get mounts and drop it in. b16a get mounts and drop it in the a few wires for vtec.
SleEPeR_CRX
Senior Member
jeff what year hatch tho. hes talking about an EF, not an eg/ek hatch
sleeper, i'm looking at this bolt-on supercharger, i suppose a 5's prolly gonna screw up if we supercharge it. i'm sitting on like a grand and a half right now in a week it'll be 2 grand, the longer i go without an engine, the more money i save. it is getting rather imparitive that i get an engine in there soon. cant carpool to work forever, dig? also, i gotta worry about airfare to new york in a month, my band's playing a few gigs there before we all go home for the holidays. (yeah, balancing a job, girlfriend, car, and a band....thats one money source, and 3 furnaces to shovel money into) anyhoo, i called around here in sacramento, got a couple of good leads, but i'll wait until i have enough info on the subject to make an educated decision before i buy the engine. so far i'm thinking the best bet's gonna be a B series, so i'll price those over the weekend, see what i can find. i got a cherry puller, we bought it so that we could swap a 350 into my brother's '70 chevelle malibu and a 20R into the old 72 toyota hilux. i'm still toying with the idea of going rear-engine-rear-wheel and dropping the 307 we pulled out of the chevelle in there, but that'd be a major pain in the arse for a salvaged 91 civic (that would probably take flight and plunge into a hillside if we did it at the cost of my life and the lives of anyone who might be hanging out on the hillside)
ok, to keep you guys posted, a buddy of mine bought a 92 prelude and swapped the engine for some other kind of engine (i dont care what kind he has now....only that he has a spare h23 chillin' there) at any rate the engine's all ported and whatnot, newly rebuilt upper end, he's rebuilding the lower end and swinging me a deal. i might have him drop forged pistons and rings in there while he's got it apart just in case we decide to soup the $#!+ out of it... i dont want the block blowing apart or pistons burning up or anything. so now the issue is what can i do to this thing to make it steer properly when we get it together. (if you'll recall i previously abandoned the idea of an h-series swap for this reason, but i cant pass up this deal) also, turbo(s) or no? (if i was nuts enough i could chop the hood and put a blower up there, but that'd draw attention and i want to leave the car kinda sleepy) another issue, performance exhaust that isn't loud.....does it exist? i dont want to fart-can around town and i certainly dont want the cops asking to see under the hood. in addition i want these dudes with all the stickers to think they can whoop me so i can show them up in a beat-up 91 hatch.
h22freshman
Senior Member
Umm... well if u can get that h23 in there ur looking at great power. Aftermarket is strong behind the h23, and if its built as well as u say it is then ur getting alot of hard work done for u already. As for turbos, the h23 is GREAT for turbos. Everything about the motor is better for turboing than the h22, its stronger, no vtec to deal with, compression, everything. I dont knwo anything about the suspension and wut not so u'll need someone else to help u there. But if u can get that thing mounted in there, it'll be killer. and going the sleeper way, keeping it pretty stock looking is a great idea. Thats wut i am doing with my 97 prelude. the only thing i did was get the Sh ground effects and a mugen style bumper, nothing crazy. I got 17's supperlegras and low profile paradas (which aren't all there cracked up to be if i might say). No gay ass stickers, just straight car. As for the exhaust.....they make silencers that fit into the muffler, although i dont own one, and i have never heard one, sorry. Anyone have a clue as to how good they really "silence?" Aight well i hope i helped u out.....ttyl peace :sleep:
ok, i need advice on what do do bottom end while we got this engine apart. would forged rings and pistons benefit the vehicle enough to warrant spending the extra money on them? i'm not actually doing the work, my friend who has the engine is, he just has the whole shabang taken apart at the moment, and i figure its probably better do the mods to the engine now instead of putting it together only to take it apart again later.
supersol93
Member
I doubt you will have enough room to put a turbo on after you get the engine in
