justicechrislee

Hey I was just wondering if you guys were having issues with your h23a3 swaps? Is it true that it swaps right into a 92 Prelude? What about the PS issue? Will it fit if you change the bracket? I'm a newbie, any info would help.
Aloha

Yuyodrift91

Damn. Is it really almost a year since we put this motor in? Wow.

Well as of now, there are no issues. Never have been. It should just bolt right up.

Did you read the entire page for all the info? You need to use the PS bracket from the USDM H23a1 since the H23a3 one is kinda bulky.

Any more info just ask away...

1996 lude si

i'm doing this swap right now. did you have any problems trying to pull your lower timing gear off the old motor?

the_dude

does anyone how to pin the p72 ecu so it will run my h23a3?

aj19

hey im am putting a h23a3 in my 92 prelude si did u have any trouble with it

aj19

im putting a h23a3 in my 92 prelude si and iv swapped th ps bracket is there anything else i have to do before i cn drop it in and iv been hearing stuff about the knock sensor not being on the h23a3 and i need to know what to do about that some good info would be helpfull

the_dude

I owned a 91 si prelude came stock with the h23a1, great motor until I blew it up. Then I picked up the h23a3(non-Vtec) from the euro accord off of tigerjapan.com for just under a grand. The two motors are pretty much the same, only difference between them is about 32 horse power, some more tourqe, and no speed govener. I loved that motor and plan on getting another for my new project. Plus not many people have the h23a3.
also if anyone knows anything about pinning ECUs I need to know how to pin the ITR ECU to run the h23a3. Results of doing that will take the rev limit form 7200rpm to 10500rpm and will give the h motor the ablitities of the ITR
Thanks fellow tech members

Sakanora

Yuyodrift91 thanks for this thread.

I'm currently working on putting an H23A3 in and by far this is the most informative thread out there. I will update my own progress as I complete it.

Here is a picture of the H23A3, just replaced the timing belt, balancer belt, and refinished the valve cover, new gaskets.

confirmed about h23a3 - need to swap over intake manifold, fuel rail and distributor (h23a1 cables still in for plugging purposes), no knock sensor, ps bracket is bulky.

.

hondalovin'lady

Hoping to find some help........

Bought a 94 Prelude with a blown up h23a1. I was completely aware of the blown motor and got a great deal on the 94 as well as a 93 with a replacement motor. So, we started swapping the good motor in and.... surprise..... the 93 has the h23a3. The motor is in and starts.... but I have a few questions because it's just not sounding quite right. It seems to have a "tick " when idling. We haven't done anything about the knock sensor, and need advice from someone who has done this swap. Also trying to figure out what wiring harness is on the h23a3. How do I tell if it's from the Euro Accord or the 93 Prelude? And which ECU should we use, we think we have 2 h23a1 ECUs. And finally the vacuum lines, how are they different?

Any help or advice will be appreciated, would like toget a chance to drive it now that all the snow is gone!

Yuyodrift91

Well I'm glad my thread helped a few people.

As for your situation, I would use the Ecu from the USDM H23a1. The knock sensor can just be taken off the old motor and used on the H23a3.

I would assume that they didn't use the intake manifold with the vacuum lines because if I remember correctly they were a bit thinner.

I sold the wiring harness since I didn't need it, but I highly doubt they used it because chances are the old one worked fine.

Sorry about the ticking but get a valve adjustment ASAP and see if that helps.

At work so I really can't be of much help at the moment. I'll post more info later.

Sakanora

One last update since I finished the swap last February, just in case I forget which parts I swapped.

These are the parts I had to re-use from original engine
-distributor + ignition coil (EDM is internal)
-power steering bracket (EDM was too bulky)
-power steering pump (kept so I wouldn't have to bleed the unit)
-alternator
-alternator bracket (EDM too bulky)
-egr valve (EDM was different, kept old one, clean it before re-installation)
-intake manifold - top half + new paper gasket (to avoid the vacuum line mess, but I remember there was another reason I had to do this, may have been bulkiness too?)
-fuel rail (EDM is wrong side of car + different injectors for USDM wiring harness)
-dip stick (EDM collided with my power steering line)
-ECU (if you want to keep your extra 5hp + 5ftlbs from the USDM version it's in the tuning so just keep your old one)
-entire wiring harness (save yourself the trouble and swap the harness over, the EDM harness has no knock sensor connector either, also this was needed after I swapped the fuel rail)
-knock sensor (EDM has none)

Kept on new engine
-exhaust manifold.... umm... that's it I think

Other notes:
-the service manual doesn't tell you all the things to unhook. It just says "check for any remaining connections before removing engine". which wasn't very helpful. Before pulling the engine make sure to unhook the following (one thing I didn't realize wasconnected and I had to resolder after they tore out of the harness

-PS switch connector from the power steering unit

HondaTechMan121

ik that this thread is 2 years old but it seems the best place to ask this Will the h23a3 work with the 96 prelude with OBD2?

1funryd

What motor is in currently your 96 stock?

I have a H23a which is the JDM version of the H23a1 and I am using stock P14 ECU.

This is swapped into my 90 Prelude 4WS Si.

HondaTechMan121

h23a1

1funryd

Then yes its essentially the same motor, just swap over all your accessories, ecu, harness, intake and exhaust manifolds.

You are just going to use the long block.
Straight swap.

HondaTechMan121

alright ty

Lex Young

I recently purchased a 92 prelude with a h23a3 motor in it. And we'll honestly having problems finding parts

1funryd

There are still plenty of parts for all H motors.