Rebuild my h23 or time for the h22? (lots o Pics inside) - Honda Prelude Forum

xMrM02x · 09-07-2003, 03:18 PM

My h23 has 188k miles at the moment. It wont idle right now because the oil pressure light comes on when it hits around 1.5k RPMs and it will stall unless I rev it up. I was at school when this happened so I made it home and put it in the backyard ( DIdnt drive a lot with that light on).

The engine has been loud (headers and brackets) and seemed kinda hesitant on the throttle..So i ran a compression test: 180 220 219 214. Cylinder one seems f*cked up so I opened up the head to see if it was the valves or if it is the piston

My intake manifold, there was lots of burnt oil towards the end, but Im thinking its like that because the engine is so old...

Cylinder #1 , the wall is scratched ..

Cylnder 4, the watch is scratched too, not as much as 1

The other 2

The head

Now I guess what my question is, what is the best route to take with this? It's not scratched TOO bad, but enough to that i have a feeling I will get problems later in the FUTURE....... Also, keep in mind I'm in a really strict budget

. How much do you guys it would be to rebuild? I can pick up a H22 for 1650 . Your thoughts will be appreciated, thanks!

mike

tenzola · 09-07-2003, 03:40 PM

mike.. i ran into the same problem...

i have a 92 prelude with 219k on the odom... thing was... i only put the last 1k on the engine before it died.. (con-rod through oil pan..very bad) had the car for a week... and yes.. i bought the car knwing it was on the last breath..

i had a couple choices..

the first was to do the h22 swap but the thing was... it seemed very expensive because the 92 never came in a v-tec and i figured i would need a lot of extra parts that i wasn't about to be able to afford. (plus i have a 2001 prelude with the h22)

so i decided not to go in that direction

second thing to do was to drop in the same engine with lower miles.. i found the h23 with 45k for around 900 and the f22b dohc for 700 local plus tax.. i think over by you.. if you're in so cal... the f22b goes for around 550 plus tax.. i'm in chicago i think hmotorsonline.com carries it.... remember... f22b dohc

i was about to buy the f22 and just drop it in and call it a day but...

my third choice was to re-build the motor..

i go to school and the istructer offered me the shop to re-build the engine .. i built a chevy 283 the last semester but wanted to work on my honda...

so i got another h23 with a spun bearing.. it was on a trade.. and now i'm re-building it.. right now i think it's going to cost me 1200 to get all the parts i need and some

if i didn't have the school .. i would go with the f22b and end it at that... it will be the cheapest way to get your car running smooth again

not only that.. but you can sell me the engine harness and some bolts off of your h23

=)

jsmooney · 09-07-2003, 09:27 PM

F22B!!!! here's a pic:

tenzola · 09-07-2003, 09:35 PM

sweet
=)

jsmooney · 09-07-2003, 09:48 PM

imagestation is SLOW tonight......anyways, F22B is about the same as the H23, just 10 lb/ft of torque less, not noticeable in my opinion, but the power does peak at 6k rather than 5.8k......best of all, Its JDM! I just got the longblock, used h23 ecu tranny even clutch.....if you can truly get it for about 550 plus tax like tenzola said - i wouldnt waste my time rebuilding it, unless you just wanted to

slp mode · 09-08-2003, 10:19 AM

bro you should be able to pick up a h22 for 1150, from h motors. You can use your old tranny.

xMrM02x · 09-08-2003, 07:00 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by slp mode
bro you should be able to pick up a h22 for 1150, from h motors. You can use your old tranny.

I think it's 1200 + shipping, not sure how much the shipping is, and I need to buy an ECU seperately..

Thx for the suggestions, have to think bout it some more..f22b still sounds like a downgrade to me..

slp mode · 09-08-2003, 09:02 PM

that is a way down grade, big time. yeah it was 1150 out the door for me because I drove down to pick it up. I see your in SF. or somewhere sorry. Also another suggestion is, you can get a p28 ecu which is alot cheaper than the p13 and get it programmed, I got mine for 100 bucks I think, until you get a p13 or whatever. I ran my p28 for a long time with no problems and it made really good power. ya gotta do what ya gotta do when your on a budget like I am.
matt

jsmooney · 09-08-2003, 09:46 PM

the f22b is not a downgrade by any means.....hmmmm more top end power!

buffmanextreem · 09-08-2003, 09:48 PM

Build the H23!!!

jsmooney · 09-09-2003, 09:23 AM

that sounds good to me,,,,,,,,

[SUB[EX] · 09-09-2003, 10:35 AM

h22, 1150$. Then you dont have to build anything. You going to have a nice power increase. Also. You can use the h23 ecu for a little bit. I dont think it will have any ill effects. Im not sure if it will run rich or lean but i know it will run.

Also the h22 is a little easier to get parts for.

buffmanextreem · 09-09-2003, 10:50 AM

I dont have any problem getting parts for my h23.

yohan420 · 09-09-2003, 11:32 AM

Build it and go TURBO! ... thats what one guys telling me to do because im in the same predicament ... lotsa k's on the engine, its runnin sluggish and burnin oil ... but $$ is more..

I'm considering building the H23 n/a for now but havin it honed & sleeved & forged pistons and rods, knife edge crank, and re-build my head w/ titanium yadda yadda and OEM cams ..

then when the money is there, I can slap on a turbo and its good to go ...

something to consider.

xMrM02x · 09-09-2003, 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by yohan420
Build it and go TURBO! ... thats what one guys telling me to do because im in the same predicament ... lotsa k's on the engine, its runnin sluggish and burnin oil ... but $$ is more..

I'm considering building the H23 n/a for now but havin it honed & sleeved & forged pistons and rods, knife edge crank, and re-build my head w/ titanium yadda yadda and OEM cams ..

then when the money is there, I can slap on a turbo and its good to go ...

something to consider.

Actually, I've really been considering that. If I rebuild it, I would build it strong enough to handle FI, and eventually put a turbo in it when i get the dough .. definately considering this option...

yohan420 · 09-09-2003, 01:16 PM

Definately consider it .. even still, theres lots of lovely torque in our beloved H23 .. Vtec is what? an adrenaline kick at 5500 rpm .. people love it, but the one complaint is "it takes sooo long to get to it" .. I would imagine you could bulid a relatively tight H23 close to stock with forged aftermarket internals ... throw on a USDM h22 head and ecu and hybrid til you go FI and yer the best of both worlds.. just be wary shifting it so high .. SLK would probably better be able to tell you since his is the only one standing that i know of. (I think there was 3 .. satan blew his, somebody else blew theirs and I think he's got his left.)

That might be more work than required but until you save up to get FI .. you'd have the best of both worlds.

But if you want I've got time to kill @ work, lets surf like crazy find parts for cheap and figure some general labor rates for the entire package to go FI.

xMrM02x · 09-09-2003, 03:40 PM

I think that if i went turbo, I wouldnt want to spend more money on a h22 head, i'd keep the H23 head

slp mode · 09-09-2003, 07:37 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by UBetterBelieveIt
the f22b is not a downgrade by any means.....hmmmm more top end power!

Sorry maybe I was thinking of a different motor, isn't that a dohc non vtec motor? Why would you want to spend money on a motor that is smaller, and doesn't have vtec, you might as well rebiuld your h23, at least it's got a little bigger displacement. I mean maybe I'm wrong, what are the specs of the f22b??

yohan420 · 09-09-2003, 09:55 PM

isn't F22 the SOHC non vtec that came in preludes S model?

SLICK96 · 09-10-2003, 01:42 AM

For all of you newly aspiring turbo fans, please do your research...like months and months of research. I had basically a FULL turbo kit, and after researching EVERYTHING for two years with respect to turbo preludes, I gave up. I could find maybe a handful of luders who still had their turbos after a year of solid boosting w/o blowing their setups completely to hell. Even the guys/girls who put 10 G's into building their engines blew them all to hell. I gave up and parted the kit out.

Now, w/ the H23 idea...after 3 years, I'm getting sick of mine. I've done everything under the sun to it, w/ a complete race P&P & an underdrive crank pulley aside...it is worthless. I have to rev mine up to 6500 to even come close to most tune VTEC 4th Gens (most decently tuned 5th gens aren't too much of a threat on the street...w/o Nitrous or FI). I'm STILL waiting for SOMEBODY to come through w/ a VTEC head & all associated parts (but it hasn't happened yet...hmmm), so we'll have to see if this hybrid ever happens. We'll also have to see if Crower comes up w/ the H23 cams. If they do, and my homey doesn't EVER write me back about the H22 headswap, I'll be going that route.

J