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I mocked up the harness last night and did find that I had a few extra plugs.
One was the VTEC Pressure switch plug. I will need to do the Bypass on that.
Is the bypass just connecting the VTEC Oil Pressure Switch Black/Blue to the VTEC Solenoid Green/Yellow?
Edit. I just took a look at the engine and it looks like there is a bolt where the switch should be, so its already threaded and I could just install without any issue.
Parts should start coming in today. I was hoping to get the transmission mounted up today but I just realized that I am out of thread lock. There is some debate over using threadlock on the flywheel bolts but for me its not even a question.
I had a H22a prelude and the flywheel bolts backed out, and ended up doing some damage to the crank. I was able to get everything bolted back up but the bottom end of that engine did not last long. The bolts were torqued to spec, I was trying to be very precise back then. I think now i will just threadlock and hit it with the impact gun. lol
Crap... The Rosko IACV ADAPTER will not work. I had a hell of a time getting it off the F23 Manifold too. I ended up cranking my heat gun all the way up and tapping it with a hammer. The ports are backwards. Even flipping it backwards will not work, the ports on the EuroR/F23 manifold are bigger.
The one on the left is the H23A and the one on the right is the F23 Manifold.
Any ideas?
Last edited by Scott Little; 03-29-2016 at 07:37 AM.
Got one laying around you can sell me? lol
I see a few on Ebay from $90 to $150. Bills are starting to pile up.
I spoke with Steve over at Hmotors and I guess he does not have any and he is getting a lot of calls for them. He is going to see what he can find and ill talk to him tomorrow. He also said he would replace the Knock sensor no problem.
I also sent an email to Rosko to see if maybe they made some but are not on the web site. I would love to just use the adapter and keep everything where it is.
Depending on what Steve says tomorrow I may just go ahead and order one on Ebay.
Still waiting to get billed for that Adapter from Rosko, hopefully he will send it to me. I really want to go that way for the build.
I got the Clutch alignment tool yesterday and the thread lock came in today so I can get the transmission mounted up most likely tomorrow.
I sold my D16 with a bad bearing today so I had to disassemble that and get it loaded, that freed up a little cash so I went ahead and put in an order with phearable.net to get my P28 chipped and programmed. Hopefully my ecu will be ready to go by time I get the engine in.
I mounted up the Alternator from my f22b2 and put on the PS mount and prelude pump, we will see what pump I end up using. I was going to mock up the crank pulley but I wanted to inspect the timing belt and tensioner first.
I decided that I will use the KS Tuned Version 2 tensioner when I do the belt, that should make things easy.
I was hoping my DC header downpipe would work with the stock H23 header but they don't line up, I'm not sure what I am going to do. I will mock the stock manifold and downpipe up and see how it lines up. The stock one is much longer but I do have some options and maybe it will be easy to get lined up.
What would be a cheap alternative that may work? The Megan on my B20 is a failure and leaks like crazy even with 3 gaskets so I don't think I want to go that way.
Most likely ill have the engine in the car this weekend. I just need some help pushing my car up and into the garage.
I mounted up the Alternator from my f22b2 and put on the PS mount and prelude pump, we will see what pump I end up using. I was going to mock up the crank pulley but I wanted to inspect the timing belt and tensioner first.
I decided that I will use the KS Tuned Version 2 tensioner when I do the belt, that should make things easy.
Just my experience, I had to retension the manual one three times to get it acceptable. My research led me to conclude that the auto tensioners have been fixed, and if they're replaced with each timing belt then they don't fail. It's what I'm going back to on my H23. Granted on a stand it might be easier to get right.
I was hoping my DC header downpipe would work with the stock H23 header but they don't line up, I'm not sure what I am going to do. I will mock the stock manifold and downpipe up and see how it lines up. The stock one is much longer but I do have some options and maybe it will be easy to get lined up.
What would be a cheap alternative that may work? The Megan on my B20 is a failure and leaks like crazy even with 3 gaskets so I don't think I want to go that way.
Not exactly cheap but the PLM 4-2-1 header on eBay seems to be popular, as in the best option before spending $1000 on a custom piece.
Well... I went to inspect the timing belt and I screwed myself. I was removing the timing belt cover and I thought I had to remove that stupid bolt with the clip on it. Well if you unscrew that one it will put pressure on the pulley and snap it off the water pump. The dumb thing is that I did this with my H22A swap about 10 yrs back. I Heard the pop and I suddenly remembered... damn. Ohh well, I should have been swapping it out anyway.
This is the crap that would have been in my cooling system if i didnt replace the water pump.
The timing belt and water pump looked brand new. But ohh well. Ordered the KaizenSpeed Manual Tensioner and Gates Timing belt and water pump. I would have went to Majestic honda and got genuine Honda parts but it always takes a while to get delivered. I got the belt and water pump from Amazon so free shipping and they were prime so they will be here in 2 days.
I wanted to order some Cam Seals but i didnt see anything good on amazon, i think ill just swing by Autozone since they have them in stock. The seals look a little oily so i figured this would be a good time to replace them.
I also ordered the Balancer belt seal and retainer. I dont think ill be putting the balancer belt back on. The front balancer shaft had a bit of play in it so it made me a little worried, i usually end up removing the belts anyway so no big deal.
I got the Clutch and trans all bolted up. I also noticed that the front thermoswitch was not on the JDM engine, i just pulled the housing from the F22b2 and bolted it up, good to go. Now all of my connectors are wired up.
Just a note, my Cams seem to have the Blue glow so it looks like they have reached the final level of martial arts accomplishment. They are the Last Dragon Cams. haha. If you dont understand the Last Dragon Reference... your not cool.. Technically the blue tint... means nothing.
I bolted up my starter from the F22b since its pretty new and lifetime warrantied.
Clutch/flywheel install went smoothly. The transmission was a little bit of a pain but i ended up using my cherry picker to level it out and it went right in. Im going to be very sad if i have clutch problems, im not sure how i could have screwed anything up, its pretty straight forward.
Well... I went to inspect the timing belt and I screwed myself. I was removing the timing belt cover and I thought I had to remove that stupid bolt with the clip on it. Well if you unscrew that one it will put pressure on the pulley and snap it off the water pump. The dumb thing is that I did this with my H22A swap about 10 yrs back. I Heard the pop and I suddenly remembered... damn. Ohh well, I should have been swapping it out anyway.
XD At least I'm not the only one who's done that. ^_^
Got half the wire harness inside the braided wrap. It was a pain in the butt. I wish I would have waited to modify the harness until I had the wrap. I ended up removing every pin from every connector on the passenger side of the engine to feed them thru. I think for the stuff behind the engine I'm going the lazy route and using the stock plastic pieces and some electrical tape. I really don't want to play with any more pins.
I got the Cam Seals installed. They look good so hopefully they don't cause me any issues. Its the first time I have replaced the cam seals so hopefully there wasn't any hidden issues. I had to move the car back into the garage today so I should be able to do some work making sure everything will fit and cleaning up the engine bay. I have been thinking about the paint. My car started life with that red color, then was painted silver then finally white. The engine bay is the original red. I was considering black or white paint but its going to be hard to get it clean enough. I may just get lazy and leave it as is.
Water pump, balancer seal and retainer and new Oil filter are in the mailbox. Tomorrow comes the timing belt and Monday the IACV adapter and Kaizen Manual tensioner.
We may have the engine installed by the end of the week. I mailed my ECU out to pherable yesterday so I'm guessing at least a week until I get it back. It will be good to have a car again. This should be a pretty straightforward swap hopefully.
Productive Day today.
I got my wiring sorted out. I ended up getting almost all of the wires wrapped. Looks pretty decent. Still needs a little cleanup to be 100% but... it may just be good enough for now.
I also got my delivery from Rosko. Big thanks to him for all of the help.
IACV for JDM H23A mounted up nicely, one of the bolts was a little long so i substituted it with an appropriate bolt. Put some RTV on the manifold side and it mounted up nicely, it was much easier than the other Rosko adapter since it had 2 threaded spots. I accidentally installed it upside down and quickly realized it was wrong. haha. I was not sure which way to mount the IACV itself, both ways seemed to work so i mounted it with the hoses up since thats roughly where they were to begin with.
I also installed the Kaizen Manual Tensioner which was very simple. Installed the new water pump and belt, cam seals and Balancer seal along with retainer. I did not install the balancer belt so i left the tensioner off from that as well.
I got the engine physically in the car, only got the transmission mount connected at the moment, its been a long day working on the car so i finally gave up for the day. It was a struggle to get the engine in and lined up, i ended up breaking on of my aftermarket fan shrouds. we will see if its salvageable or if i need to replace it, may be ok, its not super expensive so no big deal.
I should have everything bolted up tomorrow except the ECU and Exhaust. I still need to mock it up and see where we stand, ill need to take a trip to the exhaust shop most likely, im not too excited about that.
I missed a pic, here is what i am doing with the fuel rail. I pulled the adapter from my old rail. Its connected in the car and i like the angle better than it was before. I just need to add a little length to the fuel return. I'm using the H23a Injectors and Rail, trying to keep the swap as simple as possible.
I didn't mention, I gave up on trying to clean up the engine bay. Ill give it a good washing once the car is back on the road but it would be a nightmare to clean and paint.
Function>Form. My goal has always been. Smooth Running>Good Handling>Good tunes>Cosmetics and it shows. haha
Getting close. I did find that one of the Drive side harness plugs is a little short. Im not sure if i should just lengthen the wires on the car side of the harness or build a jumper harness. Not sure how it ended up short but not much i can do now.
Once i get everything buttoned up on the top i can start the bottom. I had to pull off the crank pulley to get the engine in so i gota put that back on again. The accord power steering pump bolted right up, hopefully the belts align. So far so good.
I see you are running an aluminum radiator. I bought one and when I tried to install it, the fitting for the drain plug hit the front cross member, and the right lower bolt for the fan hit the cross member as well. Did you have any issues like these. By the way, my radiator is a Mishimoto.
Yes I had the same issue. When I first installed the radiator I struggled to get it installed and ended up notching the cross member in those 2 spots. I ended up buying a new crossmember since mine as pretty banged up and I thought that maybe that's why it didn't fit. New crossmember same issue. I had to notch the new one as well. I notched the Drain plug as small as possible so to drain the radiator I either need to remove the top mounts so I can lift it or just remove the bottom hose.
The fan shroud didn't line up either and I had to end up taking it to a shop to have 2 of the mounts relocated. That may have just been since I got the radiator and fan shroud from different vendors.
Scott, the traction bar setups replace the front crossmember and should give you the extra room you're after. Downside is that none of them look strong enough to use as a front jacking point, and its nice having that spot right there in the front to put the jack.
That aside, its looking like a nice, clean installation. I'll tell you from experience that the cheap ebay 3" intake kit for a prelude (with the single triple-bend pipe) and the BPI/K&N velocity stack/filter work pretty comfortably with this swap.
03-28-2016, 08:08 AM
Re: 94 Accord H23A Vtec Swap Thread
