To Rebuild or Swap...the ultimate question - Honda Prelude Forum

kwest121 · 01-11-2008, 07:47 PM

I've got a 92 Prelude SI which drove all the way from Wichita Falls TX to Colorado Springs CO with no problems.

As soon as I got to Colorado Springs, the engine began to start overheating badly

. I changed the thermostat and made sure the radiator fluid was full, but everytime I tried to drive it, it began to overheat. A week later, I finally got it to my new house (pushing it and praying it wouldn't die all the way!)

It sat in my garage for about 3 weeks and when I tried to start it one day, it would crank but not start. I tried spraying starting fluid and it attempted to start, but just gave out. I've tried replacing the distibutor, ignition coil, spark plug wires, and fuel pump. Nothing doing.

I'm thinking that the overheating caused some serious damage and am now trying to decide (if a shop gives me some bad news) whether it would be better to have the engine rebuilt or just swap in an engine.

Also, anybody know of any good Honda rebuilders/engine shops in the area? I'm definately not getting rid of this bad boy and would rather sell my Civic to get my Prelude back!

Thanks for the help

petern101 · 01-11-2008, 10:13 PM

swap is easist as long as you check the engine going in

h23 or h22 if you have more money.

this is of course because you don't know the exact problem with the car. rebuilding can be as much as buying another one and installing it

SNsLude · 01-11-2008, 11:19 PM

After you topped the radiator off did you check the radiator after you drove it again? I had an overheating problem with my car also. No leaks or anything to be seen. Turns out my radiator had cracks in it and would fall onto hoses or fans and dry up from the heat before any could build up enough to show drips. Stupid oem rads are made out of plastic so they crap out over time. Changed out the rad and everything was all gravy.

If it's just cranking and your car has been sitting for a few weeks it could be pretty easy that the battery is just dead. Did you try getting it jumped? My old battery could go only around 2-2.5 weeks before it would be completely dead and need a jump. Got a red top now and that baby cranks up all the time after 1 or 2 turns hot or cold.

kwest121 · 01-12-2008, 06:46 AM

Thanks for the replies guys.

petern101. Thanks for the advice. I'm leaning more to a swap because I can probably rebuild the old engine as a backup while still driving it around. Can anyone give me a rough estimate of what I'll end up shellin out for a swap? I've noticed that the H22 is slightly more than the H23, but not by much.

SNsLude, the radiator wasn't full when I checked its levels after driving it to my house. Once there, I drained it completely and filled it with new fluid. I was going to test it out a few weeks later, but that's when I found out that the car wouldn't start LOL!

At first, I thought it was the battery too, but I jumped it and it still cranks but no go. What model is the red top you put in your lude?

petern101 · 01-12-2008, 11:11 AM

just to let you know my swap from h23 to h22 roughly cost 3k

2k for motor + transmission
the rest for replacement parts i needed (timing belt, water pump, replaceable parts while car engine was out)

kwest121 · 01-13-2008, 08:00 AM

Let me get this straight, you had to buy a new transmission? Or did you just decide to replace everything.

From what I saw on H22 swaps, you only need the engine, ecu, and harness for VTECH. Is that right? Either way, I'll have 3k in 2 weeks, so my baby won't have to sit for too long.

Thanks for the reply.

SNsLude · 01-13-2008, 04:17 PM

I was charged around $800 for swapping an h23 > jdm h22, h23 conversion for dizzy, h23 manual tensioner conversion, put on hondata gasket, replace all seals and replace timing belt + water pump, full inspection of the tranny that came with the motor, and change out passenger side axel. Motor was around 2k... so $2800 total for all that labor plus the motor itself to give you an idea what I was charged.

You can chose not to get a new tranny and that will chop off some of the cost for you if you wanted or even add on a few hundred if you wanted to get the tranny with LSD.

Oh and it's vtec

kwest121 · 01-14-2008, 05:41 AM

Thanks. Where did you get your engine from? I just wanted to make sure before I go through Tiger Motorsports, H-Motors, or Ebay.

By the way you guys are awesome and I love the site. It seems I get more answers here than from any of the other forums. Keep up the good work!

petern101 · 01-14-2008, 04:02 PM

the only reason why i would get the h22 tranny is because of the gear ratios. if you can afford it, get it.

i know the h23 ratios are a little longer so when you shift, it dips out of vtec. plus i get better gas mileage on the h22's tranny because of the taller 5th gear

Artifex · 01-14-2008, 06:43 PM

If you are cost-sensitive, I suggest just keeping your H23 transmission. The gearing isn't that bad (I drove around my 5g on an H23 tranny for like a month when I was getting mine rebuilt).

It is always cheaper to buy a low mileage engine than rebuilding one, even if you do the labor yourself. However, be very careful when buying a motor online. There are a lot of shops which sell really crap motors (osaka) which are almost unusable. There are discussions here of the good vendors; I highly reccomend you search for them and save yourself some agony.

You also don't need a full wiring harness, but you will need to run wires for VTEC. You won't need to find a full harness for that. You will need to find a P13 ECU though, which you should be able to find for around $100.

Oh yeah, read this:
JRCORMIER.COM