$2015 Challenge entry - 88 Accord LXi

I see no way that Tuna drops $350 on motor mounts.

I could maybe see him dropping $400 on a junkyard motor/trans combo that would work with minimal fuss with his stock axles, and fabbing his own mounts.

Aren't honda ecu's of this vintage hacked to heck and back? If there were a free/cheap and well traveled path to getting a basic tune w/ the junkyard motor, then I could see a swap actually happening.

Tuna, how about a Volvo B18 swap? You know, dual SU's look good under the hood of anything.

Run_Away wrote: The B20A5 and B21A1 are from the 3rd gen Prelude and don't bolt in to any other vehicles. The 3rd gen Accord will share engine swap options with the 2nd gen Prelude, which was available overseas with a different B20A. Confusing, yes. Then there's the civic/Integra/crv B-series....again same/similar name but not same engine

That clears things up a bit. Guess I need to brush up on my 80's Honda knowledge

Run_Away wrote: The B20A5 and B21A1 are from the 3rd gen Prelude and don't bolt in to any other vehicles. The 3rd gen Accord will share engine swap options with the 2nd gen Prelude, which was available overseas with a different B20A. Confusing, yes. Then there's the civic/Integra/crv B-series....again same/similar name but not same engine

Durp. Sorry. I was thinking that 3g accord = 3g Prelude in terms of swappages. That's my mistake.

Tuna, if you can/are willing to make your own mounts, i'd say this probably opens things up a bit.

Derick Freese wrote: This is the easy button for an engine swap: https://www.innovativemounts.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=18950

I'd be making these myself, then trolling junkyards for CRV B20 dropouts. That's just what i'd do.

OBD1 Honda computers have been hacked, but the OBD0 stuff hasn't. These cars aren't terribly hard to convert, just a couple of added sensors and a new ECU connector are really all that's needed. That opens up the world of cheap Honda tuning.

Derick Freese wrote: OBD1 Honda computers have been hacked, but the OBD0 stuff hasn't. These cars aren't terribly hard to convert, just a couple of added sensors and a new ECU connector are really all that's needed. That opens up the world of cheap Honda tuning.

Aren't there OBD0 --> OBD1 jumper harnesses?

In reply to Swank Force One:

Indeed, there are. I'm more inclined to save the $30 or so by using a junkyard connector since this is a Challenge build.

Yeah for sure. I read your post wrong haha. My post is irrelevant.

FWIW, going OBD1 lets you get rid of all of those vacuum lines, too.

Here's the pinout for the stock ECU. The OBD1 pinouts can be found by googling.

http://carotman.no-ip.com:8888/personal_site/tech/ecu_pinouts/1989A20A3pinout.html

Pistons are out.

Story to follow

If you're going to drop an engine in, and are on a challenge budget, you CANNOT go wrong with an F23A1 from a 98-02 Accord. 150hp/160tq, they're everywhere, parts are cheap, etc. I paid $300 for an entire dropout(sans auto trans, I told the guy to keep it as I had no need for it) and have TONS of spare parts from when I did the swap into my '97. Can be ran off the 94-95 Accord EX ECU's; OBD1, made a zillion of these things, I paid $70 for a 96-97 OBD2a ECU at a junkyard but I was in a pinch, I could've snapped up a half dozen since then for $20 from a pick-n-pull. My engine had roughly 100K on it. I threw spark plugs, a valve cover gasket, water pump, timing belt(I run it without a balancer belt, very common for 5-ish hp gain), a new pressure plate... and that's about all I can recall. I had less than $500 into the complete swap all said and done, without selling a single extra part. H-series transmissions bolt right up to the SOHC F-series. The F23A1 has the best flowing(as cast) head in the SOHC F-series family, the best flowing intake manifold(HUGE plenum potential), and gets crazy good gas mileage. 97mm stroke, 9.5~:1 compression, roller rockers, etc. I have yet to pay for than $60 for a header(big gains there, even more if you fab a new lower portion). I'd guess 2nd gen Integra axles would be plug and play.

Heck, if you're up to do an F-series non-vtec swap, I'd "sell" you an OBD1 non-vtec 5-speed ECU for... PM me. I'd guess that you have the ability to fabricate mounts from the previous posts in this thread. I want to see it happen, and I'm willing to let go of some parts that I don't need to see it happen. Us Accord fellers gotta stick together!

You don't typically do F swaps as long as you can get H stuff cheap.

Why not just work with what he already has? Save a lot of time sanding and painting the truck body.

All four (even the cylinder with excellent compression numbers) pistons had broken ring lands.

Minor scuffing on the skirts of all four.

Most had broken second rings. The second rings in all cases were very brittle.

All first rings were intact.

All rod bearings were is usable shape, but will be replaced based on extreme low cost.

Only one main bearing was checked and it looked great.

No scoring on the crank at all.

+1 for F23, with a side of "shave that bitch to 11:1"

Rebuild what you got. Looks like you have gotten extremely lucky on this one.

And again, still way over my head here.

What your plans for sunday? Might be able to come down after early service.

Dusterbd13 wrote: Rebuild what you got. Looks like you have gotten extremely lucky on this one. And again, still way over my head here. What your plans for sunday? Might be able to come down after early service.

Will be out-of-town, thanks though!

Weekends are pretty ruined for most of April.

How the hell does that even happen?

In reply to beans:

While that does sound very neat, I really need to slam this thing back together and get it out of the garage post haste so I can 1: walk in the garage again and 2: work on the truck again.

mazdeuce wrote: How the hell does that even happen?

Broken ring lands are usually detonation, and this thing has no knock sensor. I say this with very little Honda A20 knowledge. A quick search on 3geez,com shows that this is very common. I suspect it's a combination of things. My 30 second analysis is that the ring land got overheated over time based on the top ring losing its seal. I am not sure why the second ring got so brittle. Just prying the end of the ring up with a screwdriver caused it to crack.

Dad's 911's first death was due to this on one piston.

but all four? ... wow.

how are you going to flush the metal particles out of the oil passages/oil pump? and how did the damaged rings not damage the bore???

Have you ordered parts for the rebuild then? I think I can finagle some time friday to help you.

DILYSI Dave wrote: +1 for F23, with a side of "shave that bitch to 11:1"

Nom. All this F23 talk is making me want to build one last Honda. I'm sad i never got to try a "G23 Vtak Type S" build.