KloskyOne

Hey guys needing some help. Little background, daily driver 99 prelude base model 5 speed blew the motor. Don't have the money to buy another H22 right now. Buddy of mine has a complete 1998 accord with F23a1 in it that runs with a bad tranny. He's going to give me the whole car so I can swap the motor into my prelude. I'm not worried about performance or horsepower with this swap. I'm not here to get flamed on by all the H22 diehards. Besides that, I'm keeping my H22 and putting it on the engine stand so I can either rebuild it slowly or if it's too badly hurt, build a G23 vtec swap for my car. So with all that being said, I'm wondering if anybody out there in the honda community has done this swap? H22a4 swap to F23a1. I know the blocks are basically the same with minor differences, being untapped holes and also internal and external coil differences. But I cant find the specifics on what I have to change wiring wise. Which distributor should i use? Crank sensors going to be the same? Which wiring harness is best? Can i keep my prelude ecu? I did a little research and found that my H22 upper intake plenum will fit on the f23 lower plenum, so I'm hoping I can keep my prelude harness and just make a few adjustments with the distributor or coil setup. Anyways, any info on this subject would be greatly appreciated. Also plan on adding photos and updates along the way to try and help anybody else wanting or needing this info. Like I said, I'm not worried about performance right now, just need my daily back running, and hopefully getting a little better gas mileage out of the new f23 with slightly bigger displacement. Thanks in advance Honda family.

KloskyOne

Here are a few pics of the setup. Need to put this motor into this car.

TimiK

are you sure youre not mixing F22A and F23A which are completely different engines?

"Can i keep my prelude ecu?" No you cant since youre not using H22 so one option would be getting OBD2A to B conversion harness and use Accord ecu but then again Im not sure how well all the all plugs will be lining up since Accord and Prelude electrics wont mix

F22 or H23 swap would be more direct and easy

KloskyOne

Yes, it is a F23a1. I'm getting a whole 98 accord given to me to swap the motor out of.

TimiK

if you swap whole wiring harness it could be the fastest way?

but then you have to swap is back if/when your h22 rebuild is ready

KloskyOne

As long as swapping the harness makes it run, that's not a problem with me. I'm going to unhook the whole thing anyways when I pull the motor. I'm guessing if I swap the harness then I have to swap the ecu also? And if so? Honda keys are chipped right? That mean I have to use the accord key also?

TimiK

of course you need ecu matched to your engine

accord key wont work with prelude ignition switch

atleast with 5th gen when you swap to chipped ecu you only lose immobilizer - car work as normal but without immobilizer... not sure about this case though

KloskyOne

Well, going to try the swap tomorrow. Will report back with how it goes.

hondaslave1342

Interested to see if it worked?

zenmark84

so did the swap go well and if so what all did you have to swap over?