motor, motor!, motor???

[skittz87]

hey everybody im sure a lot of you are tired of me commin on here with dumb questions but i think this will be the last one. i mess around a lot with bolt-ons and recently ive been learning about tuning. but when it comes to swaps its jus one big headache for me. the guy that teaches me everything dosnt even know what hes doin with this. im tryin to put a swap on my car but just cant decide what the right one is. im not tryin to build up a track car, jus somethin that has enough power to realy have some fun with. so far theres only two things that ive been able to say. the first is that i know i wanna go frankenstein the other is that i know im currently runnin an A20A3 engine. if anybody dosnt know then the car is an 87 accord lxi fuel injected. so if anybody wants to recamend a good motor/header combination for this application then it would be most appreciated, i dunno i think im jus not strong enough on the fundamentals to figure this one out on my own. thanks.

 

[BrutalB83]

Why the Frankenstein caveat? There are plenty of decent motors that you could just swap in as is, and then avoid the hassle of trying to build a reliable hybrid setup. For your car, I know people have done B18s. It might require a bit of fabrication, but I don't think it would be ridiculously hard. If you're looking for a good "bang for the buck" swap I'd say B18A/B or a B20 with a B16 transmission. Then you'd have a decent motor with decent torque to start with, a tranny that's geared for quick acceleration, and the option of swapping a VTEC head later, if that's what you're intent on doing.

 

[skittz87]

that does help im gonna check up them tommorow or actualy later today, i jus need someone to point me in direction and give me somewhere to start. the real reason im interested in the frankenstein is cause i like the idea of v-tec, but its my understanding that motors that dont have v-tec stock equiped have more displacment. which is the whole purpose of doin it i think. but perhaps i will jus leave the origianal header on, at least at first. its never to late to add the other one, but there is no point in doin it right off the bat. thanks for the trans recomendation too. my cars auto, origionaly i was jus gonna put in a 5 speed of the same model when i did the swap. i know that with enough $ and pateintce you can pop in whatever you want but theyre both somethin im limited on so i realy am lookin for somethin that wont require too much fabrication. thanks man.

 

[Turbo&Auto]

Sell it and get a later accord. Much better platform for budget building

 

[BrutalB83]

The tranny issue might be a problem. The transmission that's in your car isn't going to bolt up to anything besides another A-series Accord motor, so basically if you want to do something like a B-series you're probably going to need to do the 5-speed conversion as well.

As far as the higher displacement goes, I guess that's somewhat true. You can do a B20 block with a VTEC head; no motor like that was ever offered from the factory. If you're looking to do a 1.8 liter though, you could go with and then avoid the hassle of putting an LS/VTEC together, although it will probably cost more.

The non-VTEC B18 isn't a bad motor really, especially if you're thinking of turbo down the road.

 

[snoopyloopy]

what's your budget? it's not impossible to make power on these cars, it just isn't necessarily all off-the-wall parts. and good cam/header combo would be probably a colt tri-flow or delta 272 and dc sports headers, if you can find some. a delta cam regrind is ridiculously cheap, like $60 if you send in your core. colt tri-flows are a little more expensive. also, while you're getting your cam, you should also look into getting a cold air intake to help with the intake airflow. also, port 'n polish and valve job if you can afford it, will really wake up the engine a bit.
but you can do an engine swap w/o extensive fabrications. the rest of the world got the option of the b20a in their 3g accords, which made 137 or 160 hp stock, depending on your locale. b20a engine uses same mounts as a20a3 and even same intake manifold. so it's the closest to a bolt-in swap as you can get. go on the site 3geez Forums and ask carotman about getting one, he says he knows of a shop that has 4 or 5 in stock.
and if you do the 5-speed swap, use the 86-89 integ 1-3 gears in it and you'll get a bit of a quicker feeling too. they're shorter.

 

[skittz87]

alright thanks everybody and sorry for takin so long to get back to you, my connection has been down for about a week and i jus got it runnin again. well the current budget is about $100 a month but im not in a rush to have the project finished. no a newer model isnt an option. i know that a later year would be a lot easier to work with but the whole reason i picked this car is because ive always had a thing for hondas and volkswagens from this time area, so it was an intentional buy. yeah b20a sounds right in the ballpark of what im lookin for. and yeah theres gonna be a turbo charger down the road but not a cold air. ive designed an inovation to the air induction system and thats whats its gonna be equiped with. once i work out the bugs and get it patend ill let you guys in on it though. well thanks everybody you guys realy helped out a lot with trying to choose the right one i dont know why i had such a hard time with it.

 

[skittz87]

Hey, i know this thread is pretty much done with, but i wanted to add this real quick in case someone with the same scenario looks in here. ive decided not to go with the swap after all. before i had trouble tryin to find stats for my car but not lately. as it turns out the A20 im already running has more torque pressure and HP than the B20 that i was goanna put in. so instead im gonna go for a remanufactured A20 instead of the stock one that the previous owner completely used an abused. however just in case im wrong i would like to add that this isnt first hand dyno testing or anything like that. its jus what i found doin research online.

 

[BrutalB83]

as it turns out the A20 im already running has more torque pressure and HP than the B20 that i was goanna put in. so instead im gonna go for a remanufactured A20 instead of the stock one that the previous owner completely used an abused.

Are you sure about the power numbers? I'm looking at some sources that say the A20A3 puts out 120 horse and about the same for torque, all in the range of 4-5k rpm. A B20B on the other hand, puts out 126 horse and 133 ft/lbs torque, within a similar RPM range.

Maybe you're looking at the B20A that was available in the 88-91 Prelude. That motor only had like 110 horse, and similar torque numbers. I'd recommend NOT using that motor. You can't swap a VTEC head onto it like you can the later B20s found in the CR-V.

The B20B and B20Z are the motors that came in the CR-V. Those are the motors that you would want to look into, not the B20A from the Prelude. The CR-V motors will easily accept VTEC heads, and will also bolt up to B16, GSR, and Type R transmissions. There is a ton of after-market support for those motors as well, so that would probably be your best bet.

You can go with a rebuilt A-series, and I'm sure it would be better than the tired motor you have in there now, but it's still going to be a 20-year old motor with very minimal after-market support.

Just my 2 cents...

 

[snoopyloopy]

rebuilt a20 isn't a bad idea. and the b20a from the 3g prelude was more or less crap, but there was also a b20a from the 2g prelude/3g accord that makes same hp as b16a. was available in japan, so if you find an import shop with one, jump on it. it's the only motor that will more or less bolt-in using your stock mounts. if you want some parts for your a20, on 3geez Forums we just had a group buy for adjustable cam gears and there are still a few that are unsold. i'd head over and grab one before they're all gone. also, delta cams will do a cam regrind for what ends up being aroung $60 for most people. and you can find other parts, just have to be a little creative at times.