Hi guys,
There's an Accord local to me that I'm wondering about buying. It's got a 97 USDM H22 in it and a stock Accord LX 5spd tranny. 89K on the body and 72K on the motor. The person selling it had the swap done at a shop, but he didn't have the electronics to get it running right. Apparently the motor is still running off of the stock LX electronics/ECU. It runs, just not at full power/no VTEC/low redline. Also, the harness doesn't line up right with the Accord's ECU so one of the connectors was left loose. I don't believe any of the Accord's OBD1 stuff had been swapped to the H22.

I've gone through the "Basics to Accords" guide in this forum, but I'm a little unclear where I should go from this point.

Now, how much would I have to spend to complete the swap? Would I need to get the Prelude ECU or should I get an adapter harness and reprogram the stock ECU (if that can be done)? If someone could give me a basic rundown on what would need to be done, it'd help me a lot since I'm trying to decide on whether I want this car or not... I just want to make sure I'm not getting in over my head since I think there's not too much else to be done, but I could be way wrong.

One more thing, should I be concerned with the car having an LX transmission instead of a stronger one? Or will it hold up to a stock H22 alright?

Thanks a lot for any help I can get!


Modified by anon_az at 4:33 PM 2/21/2005

 

sound like he's lying to you. a 96 accord by itself is worth more than $2000.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by kniob &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">sound like he's lying to you. a 96 accord by itself is worth more than $2000.</TD></TR></TABLE>

True, a '96 Accord is worth more, but this car is not really in a "running" condition. Not to mention, when you no longer have the original engine, the value of the car decreases some. It doesn't matter how much more expensive the new engine is compared to the old... The only people who would pay more are those who don't wish to do the mods themselves.

I would imagine that the H22 is running like **** off of the Accord ECU. You'll need a Prelude ECU to get it running right. As for the details for completing the swap, well, I don't know for sure since I've never done it.

The LX tranny will be fine. The only "problem" is that, since the Accord has longer gears, you will not accelerate as fast as you would with the Prelude tranny. It will, however, give you better gas mileage. If it was my car, I'd get the Prelude tranny, so that I could use the full potential of the H22. Besides, H22's still get pretty decent gas mileage.

 

It's legit, I went to go see it yesterday. The battery was drained and out of the car since it's been sitting, so I couldn't start it up. And yes, he said the motor wasn't running perfectly off of the Accord ECU, but he said it was acceptable enough to get him to school/work/etc.

 

The fuel and timing maps would be way off, which can be really damaging to the engine. I don't really know how bad though, 'cause like I said, I haven't tried it, and I haven't seen what the stock maps look like for each ECU... But I don't think I would buy it after being driven like that.

 

Other than the motor getting carbon'ed up from running too rich (I'd imagine it'd running rich since an H22 would use more fuel than the stock 2.2) I don't know if there'd be any permanent damage to the internals....at least I hope not

 

accord h22a projects can be a headache. i would rather buy one that is done professionally over something that will cost you more when its said and done correctly. if you are interested in a h22a accord i have a 95 coupe with a jdm h22a some headwork and tuned professionally with carbon trunk that i am selling and i could probably reccommend some ecu and tuning tips that i had trouble with on my project in case you go that route

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by anon_az &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Other than the motor getting carbon'ed up from running too rich (I'd imagine it'd running rich since an H22 would use more fuel than the stock 2.2) I don't know if there'd be any permanent damage to the internals....at least I hope not</TD></TR></TABLE>

Well, if the ECU was the only factor to consider, then it would be running lean. But since he should have the H22 injectors on there... well.. It's hard to say.

The more I think about it, the more I think it should be "ok" under light throttle situations. WOT would be a different matter though...

Regardless, it seems to be done kinda half-assed. $2000 grand is tempting though, if you have the money for finish it. My <U>guess</U> is anywhere between 500 and 1000 to get it all finished, depending on how much you get the parts for and, assuming a shop finishes it for you, how much they charge for the labor.

 

sounds like a huge headache to me cuz there could be countless **** he or the shop mickey moused and half assed. by the looks of the way the car currently is i wouldnt doubt it.