Powerful H23

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evans

91 Civic Project
Hey guys, I have just purchased a H23A non vtec engine out of a prelude. I have everything planned out to place this into my car.

Now the problem is, finding good performance parts for this engine. I see a lot of H22A parts which I beleive wont work because of the different strokes? So my question to all the Honda builders out there is, building an engine from scratch how should I do it?

I will be using boost, and my goal is to get 300- 400 whp.
Any details from starting from bare block to finishing touches will be nice. Any brands or suggestions on how I should do this will help. And please do not tell me look, thats all I have been doing lately so just help me out if you can.
 
Sleeves, Low comp, port polish, new valves, turbo, lots of tuning. You can pull it off, but it wont be easy.
 
always up for the challenge. I am putting a H23A into a Civic. lol. Wont sleeves give you higher compression? Blockgaurd? and place I can pick up parts?
 
sleeves wont up the compression, they reinforce the cylinder walls, and thats something an H series needs desperately.

if you want parts, check my sig. I cant guarantee he will cut you a good deal (i havent been up there in almost a year), but itll be better than anything you find online.
 
I'll post a link up tomorrow from the work comp. engine internals and such, but yes h23 is hard to find internals for I started a thread here about rods, and pretty much have to find some h22 rods or shell out $700-$1k for rods. Just keep the long term in mind and be patient. I believe the rods i found were 3/64ths longer than h23 rods should work also there is another piston you can use that will sit lower on the rod. cant remember right now.
 
What you need to do is contact a reputable machine shop and work out the details with them. They will be able to supply all the engine components you will need and they will machine and assemble for you. Won't be cheap. Sleeving usually runs about a grand. Than from there, take advantage of the sleeves and go with a bigger bore to bump the displacement up some. I know of a man in Oregon who built an H22...in the end, it was 2.4L and made 794whp. BUT he was sponsored and it is pretty much for show last time I spoke to him.
 
There is much more to it than just building the engine to handle the boost. A full-race turbo setup will run you (depending on what your whp goal is), 5-6k. You will need fuel system, engine management, aftermarket axles (Gator or Driveshaftshop.com).

I've been there and done it all. It's not cheap. Especially when you start breaking shit. My advice to you is to just run low boost on the stock engine. You will make enough power to beat up on your local racers (im pretty sure). I was 9k deep into my gsr engine build WITHOUT the PRO-AM full-race setup which I paid 5k for. It's not a cheap hobby. I built it to compete in the SFWD class. If I could have done it all over again, I would have just ran a stock engine with double oem head gaskets, 10-11psi with fuel system and engine management. Would have made nice power, around 300whp give or take. Plenty for the street. My setup made 551whp with 373ft.lbs. torque. On the street, it was terrible. No traction WHATSOEVER. So think over what it is you want exactly. In the end you will save A LOT of money and be really happy with the results.
 
thanks that really helps, but I will have to sleeve the block anyways because they are known to be weak. right? So if I am going to do that I thought throwing in forged pistons and some ligihter-stronger rods wouldnt be a bad idea. I have the axels and mounts all lined up for this swap already. Suspension is being worked on as we speak, and the brakes are the next thing to be upgraded. Anyways, back to my engine, I figured if I am taking it all apart why not put in some minor changes. Sleeve the block of course, forged pistons, better rods, Skunk2 camshaft? all new seals of course, port and polish the head.
Than move on to the fuel manangement and junk. I am doing all this on my own, minus the machine work that will be needed. Building the engine is no problem with me, only that I am used to building domestic engines. First Honda build so bare with me.
 
well I cant afford to take the chance, going to go big or nothing lol
 
well thanks for that, but I really dont beleive it. I am doing this engine myself so the labour costs are out, so it wont be that big of a deal. Going block up.
 
well, I guess I am just dumb haha. O well I guess I will loose money? IF you were to give me help on this I would finally shut up, seeing that you know a lot. Which is all good I am not beaking or anything, I actually highly respect you. I just wish you could help me and maybe others around.
 
hey Blanco, just throwing an easy question out there. Coilovers or shock and springs? for the street.
 
I agree with Blanco. Spending the little bit of extra money for coilovers is a much more street friendly setup. You can raise them when driving on the street then on days you take it for some track time or something like that you can lower them back down. I have them on my 98 dx as well. I love them.
 
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