sleepyaccord96

hey peoples. I just got a phone call from a buddy who just received a 92 prelude which is supposed to have a bluetop h23a in it.. I am able to buy the car for 900 bucks and i would like to know what stampings to look for to identify it really is a h23a vtec bluetop original motor and not a black top jdm h23a non vtec with a h22 head and a blue valve cover.

Any pointers are appreciated.... I have had alot of h22's and am currently doing a h22a swap into a 97 civic but like i said i deal alot with normal h22's not bluetops or f20b.

sleepyaccord96

head and block stamped 01/99 p13 head.

looks legit and it is noticeable that the head and block have NOT been seperated previously


single crank pulley. m2a4 trans....

whole car is 1300. i may just buy it to have a spare engine and trans... I have no idea why but whoever chose to put this basically brand new looking h23a vtec in such a junker prelude beats me.. but as clean and new as the engine and trans are i'd have to say it was just recently swapped into the lude.

thirsk66

iTrader: (2)

Well the h23a bluetop engine does come with the p13 head just like regular blacktop h22's. I think it is a legit h23a vtec engine becuase it does have the jdm single crank pulley, and not the two runner pulley that the non-vtec h23 comes with Also just looked through alot of pics of the jdm h23 non-vtec and vtec, just like SNOBORDBOY said look at the stamp on the engine block.

h23 non-vtec:


h23a vtec:

snobordboy

Well the US H23 non-vtec block "should" be stamped H23A1, and the vtec one should just be H23A.

sleepyaccord96

well you guys do know a h23a dohc non vtec does exist... 2.3l dohc engine used in japanese cars... I do not need engine stamp pics guys i do h22 swaps all the time.. currently doing one in a 97 hatch..

anyways. i went at lunch and inspected it and by the time i got the money together to get it he sold it from under me..

It was a h23a bluetop with receipts from hmotorsonline. and a m2a4 trans.

oh well i missed out a great deal..1k for the whole car... and it had some weird little arm rest where the cup holder usually is.

thirsk66

iTrader: (2)

Just trying to help out...sucks he sold it out from under you, but **** happens.

sleepyaccord96

^ nah man no hard feelings! i meant to say i know what a engine stamp looks like and what not! LOL ...

i thought about that afterwards i was like damn they're gonna think im a ******* for saying that when they are trying to help ME..

basically what i should have said is how to tell a JDM H23a NON vtec block compared to a h23a VTEC bluetop oem block.

haha my bad bro

sleepyaccord96

i wonder what a h23a3 came in lol..probably the exact same as a h23a1....

thirsk66

iTrader: (2)

The H23A3 came in the 1993-1995 Accord 2.3i SR. Thats what came from me searching about the h22a3 in Google.

1funryd

There are two H23a's. I have the nonvtec H23a in my lude:





1. H23a NonVtec which is the JDM version of the H23a1 US version (The JDM version is a little higher compression)
2. H23a Bluetop vtec Accord motor which is the one everyone is now beginnning to pick up for cheap these days.

Honestly if a person wants too, they use the block of an H23a nonvtec and combine it with the regular H22 head and either paint or swap out the valve cover and no one would be non the wiser.

As long as the internals have been changed to match the Bluetop verision then it really does not make a difference, however if someone were to have spare parts and decided to just use the bottom end of the H23a nonvtec and not upgrade the pistons, then that would decrease the compression on that motor and not even equal a true Bluetop H.

And unless you acutally tore open that motor, its not going to be an easy tell...

Bouckaroo

H23A engine code is blue top H23VTEC engine,

H23A# is a non vtec prelude engine.


This is the easiest way to tell. If theres a numebr designation after the h23a then you know its not a bluetop. Also, really easy way to tell is look at the driver side mount location, the h23vtecs all come with an accord mount with unless you have one and treid to put it into a prelude youwouldnt realsie the difference. You can also tell by the time clocks on the engines, as the h23vtec engine came in 1998+ the majority of them beign produced in 1999, and 2000.

also, if you take have a look at the water neck where then coolant temp sensor is , if its a real h23vtec, then then angle of the water spout will be significantly different as the postion of the water hoses on teh accords is very different.

Also, if you take the serial number form below the engien code, and you give it to kronn sh he will tell you what car it came from.

sleepyaccord96

well it was a real h23a bluetop..block and head both stamped 01/99

i missed out on it

1funryd

Josh my H23a nonvtec motor does not have a # after the H23A. Have a look:

Bouckaroo

Interesting, well i stand corrected. Although this is the first i have seen of that, as usually the non vtec blocks are h23a1. Interesting.


One question did you run a wire wheel or brush over the block and head?

1funryd

Yeah it had a lot of carbon build up, and I tried the degreaser but not good enough.

This motor will be getting pulled as soon as I finish my H23vtec build thats sitting in my garage.

Newbeee