MKCSRet

Good Afternoon All,

I signed up and logged on after reading multiple posts re: this topic.

I have a 1999 Honda Prelude, USDM 2.2l, I4, H22A4, V-TEC, coupled with a TIPTRONIC Automatic Transmission. I received this car after my son owned it and destroyed it. The engine leaks as much as it smokes, the transmission stopped working and formed a chia-pet of metal on the drain plug. After advice, I purchased a JDM 2.2l, I4, H22A4, V-TEC, coupled with a TIPTRONIC Automatic Transmission and was told it would be an easy swap, so I got it and was excited. After looking it over, and reading many posts, I noted Not So Much, ( change distributor / wiring harness / injectors / oil pump / etc). Is this going to be a very expensive time consuming long uphill climb.

I welcome and greatly appreaciate Any and All advice.

Sparksman

You're inbox was full so i couldnt respond to you're PM.

They are exact identical engines. Use the original wire harness you had in the car. Reuse distributor from your old engine. Reuse the alternator from old engine. Reuse the Intake manifold from old engine with injectors . As for the CPS you should be able to swap the one from the old engine right over. Both are obd2 55mm crank H22A4's. They can share every nut and bolt.

Just clean all the sensors, and if you have the money, cam seals, crank seals, thrust bearings, and a head gasket would be easier and cheap to do out of the car.

You would have way more fun doing a 5spd conversion to it, but thats not always in the budget.

snobordboy

The things you listed all change over very easily. The only issue could be if the engine you purchased has a 50 mm crankshaft, I am not positive if the oil pump from your old engine will work or not. Hopefully someone with more experience with obdII cars can chime in on that.

If you have both engines out and next to each other, it should all make sense.

snobordboy

Ah yes, as Sparksman said, do some of the seals and gaskets while you can. The one he did not mention is the oil cooler o-ring, much easier while out of the car.

I would also suggest a new timing belt and water pump, along with a Kaizenspeed tensioner or manual conversion kit. Oem belt and water pump if at all possible.

Sparksman

True I forgot until the end of 98 some may have came 50mm. What do the stamps on the jdm block say year wise?

MKCSRet

Wow, so nice to get support.

Since the eng. is JDM, the harness teminates at the left side of the car (driver side), whereas the USDM terminates on the right side of the car (passenger side). The JDM engine does NOT have a CPS mounted to the front of the oil pump housing behind the crank pulley. Yes, the Timing Belt, Balancer Shaft Belt, Water Pump, Front Main Seal all on the ticket. If I use the harness fm the existing engine, I need the Dist. fm the existing engine as well. I can understant the injectors as they are electronic, but why the manifold ?

MKCSRet

Another question: Where is the Oil Pump mounted CPS harness connection on the JDM H22A4 eng ?

Sparksman

The harness refects the side that the driver is on, jdm cars are right hand drive like in Europe. The Jdm has the CPS in the distributor so thats why you dont see it and the dizzy had the odd bigger plug. You can strip the manifold down if you like, or just swap manifolds. Its not required just easier.

Just reuse everything I told you in my first post, and buy the parts me and Snobordboy mentioned and you will be golden.

You should go take a picture of the block and head casting stamps so we can tell you what year engine you have.

MKCSRet

Thank You. Wouldn't it be easier to adapt the wiring harness instead of changing oil pumps? I will get those casting #'s tonight.

Sparksman

There are ways you can get it to "work" with the jdm distributor, but thats not the way it should be done for reliability. It looks rigged, and I also wouldnt want to go hacking up a good usdm harness either. I dont have a obd2 car myself I just know this is the correct way. If you have a 50mm crank jdm you will have to buy a new obd2 50mm pump. I know your old one being a 99 is a 55mm.

snobordboy

As long as the engine is out of the car, putting a new oil pump on is easy, especially if you have the timing belt and water pump pulled as well. Good timing to do the oil pan gasket as well. If you have the tranny pulled off, I would do the rear main seal as well, just for peace of mind.

I would just make sure that all of the sensors match up the same way as the old engine, and use the USDM wiring harness, least possibility for issues, or looking like a hack as Sparks said.

MKCSRet

Is there a stamped marking on the crankshaft somewhere indicating the measured size ( 50 mm or 55 mm) of the journals ?

MKCSRet

USDM eng stamped H22A4 3007125,
JDM eng stamped H22A 1254170.

Unable to find any casing stamps on head, or don't know where to look.

snobordboy

Either on the front of the block or front of the head will be a small circle cast into the material, maybe 3/4" in diameter. this will have an arrow pointing to a month, and a 2 digit # in the middle, which is the year it was cast. i.e 95, 00 etc. anything 98+ should be 55mm, anything 96 and below will be 50, and 97 could be a grey year.

MKCSRet

Thank You Guys So Much for your patience and Very Sound advice. I am leaning pretty strongly towards using the JDM distributor with the integrated Ignition Coil and CPS, re-routing the respective wires and re-pinning the distributor plug onto the USDM harness. The USDM eng utilizes both the CPS & TDC sensors. Does the JDM also utilize the TDC sensor, and is it also incorporated into the distributor ?

Sparksman

As far as I know its only the CPS in the dizzy, I dont suggest going that rout. But its your car, and you are going to do what you want.

The first of the 98' stamped may have came with 50mm mains as well, so 98 is a grey year too. 99,00,01 are the only guaranteed 55mm mains.

http://roskoracing.com/TechBlog/?p=27

MKCSRet

Well, only a fool would ignored the sound advice you guys have provided. I have removed the oil pump and all interferences, ordered all required "New Parts" and will pick them up on Monday.

holmesnmanny

OP, you really should listen to Sparksman's advice in the second post of this thread. That would be the way to go, when you pull the oil pump to swap your old oil pump to the jdm motor you can change all the seals and the oil pump oring while you're at it. Basically you just want to use the jdm block and reuse everything from your oil engine. Make sure to use your existing oil pump and crank timing pulleys including the balance shaft pulley.

If your car was obd1 it wouldn't be as big of a deal but you're talking about a coil conversion and an obd conversion. The coil conversion isn't as big of a deal as the obd conversion. Also, you will need to use shielded wire if you tried rerunning wire. It's not really an obd conversion, more of an obd wire movement, but u get the point.

Worst case scenario is you need another oil pump assembly but you still haven't even checked the engine stamp to see what year it was made.

MKCSRet

Yes, I do agree "Now" that this is the "Right Way To Do It". Instead of using the old USDM oil pump having 250k+ miles on it, I figured I would go with a brand new one. The new "Pump Assy." is suppose to have all the applicable seals already installed. I will be using my USDM KPS & TDC sensors, ordered a new water pump, timing belt, balancer shaft belt, distributor cap & rotor. Yes, I will be using the USDM "Balancer Drive Belt Pulley", Crankshaft Pulley & distributor.

holmesnmanny

I hope you got the right one...there are two options and only one will work depending on the jdm...the '96 and the '97+

MKCSRet

Yea Me Too. Going through Bap-Geon, and they have always been real accurate with the requirements. Other than sensor mounts what other condition wrt: "right one" were you referring ?

holmesnmanny

allegedly the 97+ crank is bigger than the 96 crank

look at the engine stamp on the jdm engine and see what year it points to

MKCSRet

The only castings I can find are:

On the exhaust side of the block, in an oval is cast NO.1 97 then in three little recessed hexigons are 1 24 2.

On the intake side is cast P5M. Can anyone decipher that.

holmesnmanny

the exhaust side is what matters and the 97 year means it could use either oil pump ... its either going to be hit or miss gl

MKCSRet

Well, I'm picking up my new parts today after work. What is the best method of priming this pump ? B/c I am not starting this engine w/o priming the pump first.

After I get it primed, I plan to spin it over a while w/o plugs installed to prelube the entire lube oil sys.