So ive been trying to decide whether i want to get a h22 and rebuild or a h23 and rebuild. Since im short on money and working on the outside of my car (almost finished, i have a Carbon Fiber hood and JDM One piece headlights to buy) well i decided to mess around with what i have. Right now i have a H23 DOHC, with around 155,000 miles on it. The engine has a AEM Cold Air Intake and a Megan Catback exhaust. Other than the basic intake and exhaust i have im debating on maybe putting some cams, camgears, Headers, high flow cats, port n polish the head, little things like that. Is it worth it? What other mods should i do? Later down the road i want to get a h22 but im 16 putting in like 9 hours a week haha so basically what would you guys suggest?

 

crower stage 3 cams, and go from there

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SB tuning &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">crower stage 3 cams, and go from there </TD></TR></TABLE>



Get good headers. Period. RMF and SMSP are good headers.

If you get some wild stage 3 cams - first off, you'll have to build the head, which costs some money, and if there's no good header, whats the point?

Get a good exhaust - don't know much about the megan exhaust, but if it's good, get a good exhaust. Then build the head.

 

there isnt a good header for h23....and whats the point of a good header w/o good cams or compression? he's gotta start somewhere...

 

well there is a Megan Header and high flow cat i can use to finish off the exhaust, and im hearing tons of good stuff about Crower cams, let me list some goals. First, more Horsepower (obviously) maybe around 200-220 depending on $ and time, what are some good brands/companys to look into?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SB tuning &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">there isnt a good header for h23....and whats the point of a good header w/o good cams or compression? he's gotta start somewhere...</TD></TR></TABLE>

What?...............

Whats the point of a good header w/o good cams or compression?........

are you serious? SBtuning eh?..........who are you tuning again?


You can't just JUMP and get some stage 3 cams.........what are you thinking?

 

Lol so who should i listen to...Pin?

 

Leave it like it is and do general maintanance, and save your money until you decide what YOU want to do. Don't copy others just to fit in the crowd, mod it to your liking.


Oh and if its not JDM you will be banned from this site.

No I'm not kidding, you really will be banned.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TheKingPin &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

What?...............

Whats the point of a good header w/o good cams or compression?........

are you serious? SBtuning eh?..........who are you tuning again?


You can't just JUMP and get some stage 3 cams.........what are you thinking? </TD></TR></TABLE>

ok so tell me who makes a good header for a h23??? smsp or rmf like you stated?

i would get intake, dc header for now, a decent exhaust, stage 3 cams and get it tuned

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Dougs96SI &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Leave it like it is and do general maintanance, and save your money </TD></TR></TABLE>

That is good advice. Especially because of your job situation and your age. Wait until you have expendable income then blow it however you want.

Pirate

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PirateMcFred &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

That is good advice. Especially because of your job situation and your age. Wait until you have expendable income then blow it however you want.

Pirate</TD></TR></TABLE>

when i 1st got my h23 with 226k on it.....i replaced timing belt, water pump, cam seals, crank seal, and a major tune up...then from there i did bolt ons, and then stage 2 cams....

 

how much HP gains would i be getting if i did the stuff you guys are telling me?

 

Well lets see now... if you leave your car stock then you will "gain" $6/hr * 9 hours * 52 weeks = $2808 before taxes. So with an extra $2808 in your back pocket that will make your Prelude heavier which will make your car slower but then you can afford gas, insurance, new tires, oil changes, speeding tickets and dinner and a movie for your girlfriend.

Keep your money. You have the rest of your life to throw money at cars.

Otherwise you will not find many people that have actually built and dynoed an H23A1. With some higher compression, Header and EX, cams and tuning you will probably get around 170whp.

Pirate

 

yeah dont expect outstanding numbers w/o a lot of internal work, afterall its still non vtec, but its still a blast to drive

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PirateMcFred &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Well lets see now... if you leave your car stock then you will "gain" $6/hr * 9 hours * 52 weeks = $2808 before taxes. So with an extra $2808 in your back pocket that will make your Prelude heavier which will make your car slower but then you can afford gas, insurance, new tires, oil changes, speeding tickets and dinner and a movie for your girlfriend.

Keep your money. You have the rest of your life to throw money at cars.

Otherwise you will not find many people that have actually built and dynoed an H23A1. With some higher compression, Header and EX, cams and tuning you will probably get around 170whp.

Pirate
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Best advice.

Don't listen to the other idiots. Like this dude:

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SB tuning &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

when i 1st got my h23 with 226k on it.....i replaced timing belt, water pump, cam seals, crank seal, and a major tune up...then from there i did bolt ons, and then stage 2 cams.... </TD></TR></TABLE>

Nice way to waste money.

 

yeah dude....building a car on 9 hour workweeks does not work....

definitely wait....oh and to the non-vtec downtalker....if you build that motor right, and get the right cams....vtec wont be necessary, or competitive....

a fully built h23 is gonna be at and advantage over the h22 in high rpms due to stroke, if the cams are big enough...
on built motors, the only place that vtec is nice is below vtec, that way you can have good idle and around town MPG....and better midrange...

 

Damn mgags - that avatar ***** with me.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SB tuning &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

when i 1st got my h23 with 226k on it.....i replaced timing belt, water pump, cam seals, crank seal, and a major tune up...then from there i did bolt ons, and then stage 2 cams.... </TD></TR></TABLE>

So you did get a nice header before you purchased cams........

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TheKingPin &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">So you did get a nice header before you purchased cams........ </TD></TR></TABLE>

I would love to take your suggestion and blow $1000 on a real nice 2-piece stainless header with merge collectors for an H23 that I know for a fact SMSP cannot make without you supplying an H23 head for a jig. If you send me money then I will make it happen. But in the mean time for reference look at the dyno in my sig. I do not have a "nice" header. It is what I can get for a reasonable price that performs better than stock. Hell the headerback exhaust is a steaming pile too.

Click the link. That is almost 20whp more than the stock cams on an a basemap.

My cam, S&R upgrade cost me $450
A "nice" Header is $1000

I sincerely doubt that I would get 20whp from a header on an H23. A nice header helps scavenge during the cam overlap period. My Crower 3s do not have any overlap at .050" Most nonVTEC cams do not have much if any overlap. I do not doubt a "nice" header will increase anyone's numbers from a flow efficiency standpoint but it is not worth the expense.

So stop criticizing people that have bought cams and other internals before doubling their expenses on a custom header.

Pirate

 

First off FRED, my argument wasn't to get THE PERFECT headers. My argument was to get headers period. AND to not jump and get Stage3 cams when you have almost nothing else done to your engine. When i said smsp and rmf, i was just throwing good reputable companies. I'm not criticizing anyone on what they're doing.

I don't care what header he gets, the point was, if you just jump and get some STAGE3 cams, you're going to regret it. He said he was on a budget, so I'm just telling him to get headers. I have DC headers right now, who cares - but who in the hell jumps to get stageIII camshafts???? If you get statge3 cams, you'll have to build the head - and he cannot obviously do that while on a budget. You all took what I was saying wrong.

Telling somone to get Stage3 cams and go from there is bad advice.

expletive a nice header or whatever - get a header period. A DC header w/2.5" collector would be great. I'm not downing that AT ALL. I encourage it. But stage3 cams........:thumbsdown:

You just don't tell someone to get stage3 cams! With wild cams comes extensive head work and higher compression - which he obviously does not have the money for.

What would you suggest him doing?

 

I say he should go ahead and get the high flow cat, and headers. Everything else would be way too expensive.

We're talkig about $500+ for some stage3 cams plus about $600 for a valvetrain upgrade......and i'm assuming he doesn't know how to do this stuff himself - so labor also. And if he were to get cam gears - he would have to kick out so much to get it tuned, and only yield in a few more whp.......If he wants to do head work, get it port and polished. And leave the head off the engine until he does everything else. TO get labor down.

Edit: Also, i'm not doubting you, nor your knowledge at all. You have already proven that you know your ****. I was just trying to offer the most simple upgrade, that is cost effective.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by TheKingPin &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> What would you suggest him doing?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Um, I thought that I told him to keep his money. He makes less than $3000 a year. He has a high mileage H23 that will have to last him a while and modifying it now is not in his best interest. But whatever, I do not care anymore. He will spend his money how he likes.

Pirate

 

OK yeah. I agree. Damn $3,000 a year? Gota do what you have to do i guess.

Yeah, save your money. But in the mean time, take care of the prelude. And do a lot of research. Make a plan of what you want to do. And since you haven't made any huge mods to the prelude. Decide if you want to stick with N/A or go boost in the future. Make a plan, learn all you can. It'll make it so much easier.

 

last time i checked dc wasnt a nice header, but hey who knows...and ANDY D why was what i did a waist of money? i did what could possibly break before i started modifying the engine which is what he should do as well, i dont know why it was such a waiste of money...the only thing i regret is buying the cams only because im vtec now, but the car was decently fast, got me to work, school, my girls house, thats all i cared about at the time....then again i make a lot more then he does, with his budject i'd leave it stock....with bolt ons thats it...

 

Noob question...what is a N/A Setup, i kno its non turbo but what does N/A mean. Also, like i said basically all my moneys went to the outside...Rims, Bodykit, Taillights (hood and JDM black headlights next) yeah so most of you are going to tell me im riceing it up, but oh well its my style, But i want it to go atleast a little faster, haha, so thats why i might do some little stuff like i said headers, PNP, camshafts, camgears, little things, i mean basically my whole income goes straight to the car

 

NA... means Naturally Aspirated...

i agree w/ pirate... w/ the money your are making you should maintain the car...

honestly, i would suggest you do a h22 swap, i think you would be happier...

going NA on a nonvtec engine is not for everybody ...