Velocity1

I'm the proud owner of a 2000, 2 adult owned Prelude. H22A4 with 132k on the clock. Car has been garaged kept. See's 5k or less miles a year. All maintenance to date has been done with Honda parts, by Honda or myself.

I'm in a bit of a quandary thusly I posted this post here....

I want this car to be a "quicker" snappier responder to throttle input and able to hold its own on the street, (13's 1/4 mi.), and an occasional run down the interstate at 120-130 mph if I want.

I've had a basic list of performance mods on my desk that typically wake up a Chevy Ls or Harley twin cam, only built list of equivalent mods that I can relate to the Honda H22 v-tec platform I have.

So I'm gonna throw down my ideas and maybe a little rationale and I'd like some of you real Honda techs to give me the good and bad on my list and/or give me the list of N/A mods, specs; part numbers, etc that are proven to work, on a standard bore H22A4 FRM block.

I do have a fully race prepped , ported H22A head on hand that made great numbers on the flow bench and work was performed by a well known circuit racer porter and friend of mine here in the mid Atlantic.

I'm trying to stay reasonable with my build budget. I spend smart, not a lot every chance I get.

1) New standard 11:1 FRM compatible pistons and rings.
2) Fresh Honda rod and main bearings.
3) New Honda oil pump.
4) Cams...I could really use some help here. My head will handle up to .550 actual lift.
5) I live in communist state of MD, so I still have to pass emissions every 2 years....but, I have a custom built PCM rack and piggyback harness, so OBD2 to OBD1 performance tune is done with the flip of a switch.
6) After cat 2.5" exhaust currently on the car. Need to free up exhaust flow substantially from header thru resonator. I want to make a bolted flange "Test pipe" that will replace all the OBD2 compliant junk when running on OBD1 tune but I want to retain a resonator to keep the exhaust note under control.
7) Lighter flywheel. One that will help the motor buzz but not make you hate stop and go driving worse than I already do.
8) Intake work?? I have a complete OEM intake assy. laying here in a box. If there's gains to be had with mods to the stock intake I'm all ears.

Again, this is a real life natural aspirated approach. I'm able to data log and burn chips. Digitally monitor AFR, vacuum, oil pressure and temp. Looking for advice that will help me save time and money.

DumpdEJ6

For what it's worth, I have an Exedy 8.8lb flywheel and I can barely tell a difference in stop and go traffic. I think either people either are exaggerating the issues with lightweight flywheels or they are just really, really sensitive to slight changes. I have to blip the throttle to around 2k rpm to let out the clutch, but that's also a combination of the flywheel and my ACT 6-puck clutch.

I would go with a higher compression piston, you can run 12.5:1 safely on 93 pump gas so why wouldn't you get a little more compression? That will help out releasing the potential of the ported head a lot.

I'm a B-series guy so I can't give you a lot of specific advice on your parts choices, just generalities that I feel cross over from engine to engine.

Velocity1

Thanks for the feedback. Definitely going up with compression. Looking for standard sized FRM compatible 11:1 compression. Head has been cut .030 and I'm using a Cometic mls .030 gasket. I still have to pass semi-annual smog with the stock OBD2 pcm, which will be a challenge, (I think), depending on how far I go with performance mods to my motor. That's why I've established fairly realistic performance goals, ie; 240-250 hp and 13 sec. 1/4 mile.

k20z1ej1

1) 11:1 is definitely better than the stock 10:1 cr, but as dumpdej6 said, the higher the better. If you can get ahold of frm compatible pistons that get you to 12-12.5, thats what i would do. If you feel like running e85, i would go to 13-13.5... that would really wake up your h22.

2) Sounds good

3) I used a KS Tuned balance shaft delete oil pump and I liked it. It really frees up hp and tq. Since youre already building the engine from the bottom up, it wouldnt hurt to go ahead and delete the balnce shafts. Almost all serious h22 guys do that with no ill effect.

4) I made around 220whp with a stock block h22 and skunk 2 pro series 1 cams (better known as "pro 1's.") With your goal of 13 second 1/4 mile in a heavy prelude chassis, i think you would benefit from stepping up to pro 2's. They will respond really well to the ported head you have and higher than oem compression ratio. You will also need to upgrade other parts of the valvetrain, springs at a minimum.

5) sorry you have to deal with emission testing

6) You really need a 3 inch exhaust to let the h22's breathe properly, especially with a ported head and big cams. Go ahead and get rid of the catalytic converter lol.

7) The lighter the better. Dumpdej6 is right, light flywheels get a bad rap for no reason. i daily drove a car with a 7 lb flywheel and it wasnt hard to drive at all.

8) I see three options here:

a: port the **** out of the oem manifold and delete IABs. these manifold flow great for low end tq and mid range, but cannot breathe from 6-9k rpm, which is where your engine is going to make its peak power

b: get a h22a Euro R manifold. I recommend porting this manifold as well, however, even stock, the Euro R flows worlds better than a US market stock manifold.

c: my favorite option, get a QSD manifold adapter for a K20 RBC manifold. decent low end, excellent midrange and high rpm flow.


Best wishes, H22's are awesome engines and have alot of potential in naturally aspirated form.

ontariorider

Pro2 cams, higher compression, 3" exhaust, port the intake manifold and get a TB plus a tune on hondata s300.

Velocity1

I'm building a 3" flanged pipe to go between the header collector and the end of the OEM resonator which will join to my 2 1/2" piping back to the muffler. Plan is to use a hi-flow aftermarket resonator to keep the exhaust note in check.
Whose Pro 2 cams are you referring to?
Definitely upping the compression to 11.5:1. Talking to Mahle tech about FRM compatible standard bore replacement pistons/rings.
The complete extra OEM intake I have will be port matched to the head. I've read discussions about retrofitting the S2000 throttle body to the stock H22A4 intake. Additionally I would consider opening the plenum to further improve performance. I have a chipped P28 tuned with Chrome, real time, and access to a Dynojet dyno.

k20z1ej1

Velocity1

Sounds like I'm on the right track. Valve , along with Skunk hi-po lost motion springs I used, will meet or exceed the spec springs for the Skunk Pro 2 cam springs that I'm familiar with. But good point!

I just spoke with Mahle Performance div. and they have the stock bore, (87mm), 10cc dome 11.5:1 FRM compatible pistons and rings I need to get the compression where I want it.

Bearings will be all stock standard Honda, along with the new oil pump gearotors, water pump, belts and T-belt tensioner.

I've considered upgrading all the bottom end fasteners to ARP but question whether it's a justifiable expense on a motor built at this level. I'll be installing all new ARP head bolts when the head goes on. I suppose it's a costly piece of mind kind of decision. Doubt I'll ever rev the motor to any more than 8k. Car has the soft style limiter on it now.

I'll replace the clutch with a heavier clamping force and good street manners and a lighter flywheel. Posi unit would be a welcome addition but right now seems cost prohibitive. Again this is a purpose built street car, not a track car. Clutch and flywheel suggestions?

My only other 2 questions at this point are whether I'll be able to pass MD, OBD2 smog on the OEM 2000 model year PCM and What throttle body could be retrofitted to the stock Prelude intake to help it breathe?

ontariorider

I can't comment on the smog as I'm in Canada, if you are going to convert the car to obd1 and tune on chrome you might not be able to pass emissions though. For a throttle body I would get a skunk2 alpha 70mm and make a custom 3" intake pipe with a blox velocity stack/filter combo.

AznBlueBoy

Your car is going to run like **** on the stock PCM. You may even hurt the motor.
Just go with a skunk2 alpha 70mm TB. It's one of the only aftermarket TB that has an idle screw too.
Your other option is to go with a greddy emanage ultimate. My friend used that with 12:1 compression, pro2 cams etc. and passed emissions.