Pshrod

Hey everyone, I have been researching on this for a few months now. I own a 99 prelude base, and she's got 200k aggressively driven miles on it. I want to replace the motor soon with a low milage engine from a place out here in the sf bay area. I want to keep it obd2 for smog reasons. What I was thinking of doing is building a h22 head for more power to put on after the car has been smogged. Ill have a stock head sitting on the side lines waiting for smog day. My question is, what would be better, to buy a h22a1 and convert it to obd2, and put my performance head on it, or buy another h22a4 to drop in with my performance head? Also, what about a h23 with h22 head? I will eventually buy a turbo kit, so I would like my lower end to be as strong as possible! But as of right now, the motor is going to be a NA motor. I think i explained what i want to do well enough. If you need more info from me please just ask. What should I do?

minilogoguy18

You're seriously going to swap heads every time you get it smogged? Sounds like a terrible idea, either keep the car for off road racing purposes if you want to modify it or just move out of north Mexico so you can mod the car and not worry about stuff like smog and emissions.

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New Formula Red 93 BB2: JDM OBD1 H22a/T2W4 Accord Euro R transmission

Pshrod

Yes I am going to swap heads every time I take it to smog! It's sound like a great idea to me! The head is a peace of cake to swap out! I've done it about 5 hours, start to finish. Plus, It beats having a stock motor laying around waiting for smog day! I didn't post this thread for people to tell me how bad the idea is! I asked for opinions on very specific Honda motors. I didn't ask if it was a bad idea or not! Constructive replies only please! Now back to the question at hand. What should I do?

indylude18

The only major difference between the h22a1 and the h22a4 bottom ends is closed deck vs. open deck! Search if you want to know the difference between the two! Neither is vastly better than the other, each has it's benefits and drawbacks! The H23/H22 hybrid motor has issues with reliability!

You could also consider the jdm H23vtec motor out of an accord wagon, but that would probably be way more trouble than it's worth to smog, kind of like repeatedly swapping heads.

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Bluetop H23a Vtec Swapped NHBP '99 Base

TypeT

you need whole difference parts between NA and turbo setups

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Honda Prelude 1997 2.2 VTI

Pshrod

To me, it's no trouble swapping heads at all! Ive done tons of research on the differences between the a1 and a4 motors. I just want to know what others would do if they were going to put a new motor in there car. Obd2 a1 or just stick with the a4?

bouckarooo

The most important difference between the two engineS is the thickness of the main journals. The h22a4 has 55mm mains on it, this means that it has stronger bottom end than the 50mm mained h22a.

As for switching the ehads, that is fine if thats what you wnat to do, however i would be more concerned with the tuning than the head swapping, as you will hagve to be able to vary the tune to ensure you pass the smog test.

This can be done by using aftermarket ECM material. (aem, hondata, chrome, motec whatever your poison).

playludesc

Maybe make a G23?

Seems like the best of all worlds. Even so, I'd probably still just prefer a built h22a4 with Darton M.I.D. Sleeves.

Pshrod

Thank you for opening up my eyes to the G23!!! Im going to build one for my self, and swap to a 5 speed at the same time!!! I'm going to do the vtec version. It should be a F-ing beast!!!