alright guys so here is the deal. i currently have a 98 LS. and my friend has a full H22 swap sitting in his garage of no use to him anymore and said he would sell me the full swap for $600. he also has a set of JUNE pistons that he would sell me for cheap aswell.

but from what i have read, doing a H22 swap into a teg is real tough, i don't mind loosing AC, but i do not want to loose power steering. thats just not an option.

my other choice that i have been thinking is to just build my stock LS motor and turbo it.


what do you guys think? which would be cheaper in the long run? what would you do?

 

first of all, it's just "JUN". lol

second, my response will be biased because my choice was to go with the H22A, so i'll be 'pro-H22'. however, i'm not some random idiot that will tell you to go with something just because I have it. lol

third thing to get out of the way... PLEASE ignore every single thing you've ever read about how H22 swaps are difficult. that can't be further from the truth. doing my swap was a piece of cake, one of the easiest swaps i've ever done. just remember that the H series motors don't just drop in. if you have the ability to be patient and do your own wiring (or if you want to pay about $300 to have it done) and if you have access to a drill and a cut off wheel, you can do the H swap easily. you have to buy swap mounts, cut off the pass side engine mount, cut a small hole in your floor for the shifter cables, run the accord/prelude linkage, and wire it up.

keeping AC and power steering is extremely easy as well. you have to get the 'teg/'lude lines spliced together or run some new lines altogether. for me, it was easy and cheap enough to go to a local shop that charged $80 to weld both lines. Done. just like that i have AC and PS.

this thread may get ignored altogether or turn into another giant 'which makes more power' thread. who knows. the thing you have to think about though is what YOU want. do you want to piece together a turbo kit, get a tune, etc etc or do you just want to throw in a swap that will stay as close to stock as possible (the way it was in the Prelude it came from) and just have a lot of fun without worrying about blowing anything up?

for me, the choice was obvious. i didn't want to dick with piecing together some modified thing that i'd have to worry about. i wanted more power (a.k.a. fun) but wanted to stick with something that actually made more power without having to add anything. enter the H22A. more power but as untouched as the day it left Mr. Honda's workshop, which of course leads to the most important thing for me and a daily driver - reliability.

think about what you'll have to spend money on with an LS turbo and then think about the money you'll have to spend to get the H22 in your car. weigh that against what you're looking for in performance and then make a decision that's going to make YOU the happiest. Screw what everyone else thinks. there are fans of every motor out there so you'll get an uncontrolled flood of responses telling you that LS-Ts suck and others that say H22s suck. weigh your options and just go with whatever you feel like.

 

Cheaper? I'd say they both will maybe even out on the prices. Unless you are going to build your LS to handle lots and lots of boost on a big turbo.

If he is going to sell you that H22 for that much, I'd throw it in a lighter shell, but an integra shell should work out as good.

If not, try for the H2B/D they work out great.

Oh and just wondering, which turbo will you be running.

 

yeah they're going to be comparable in price. personally i'd really enjoy driving a turbo car. all my friends have turbo hondas, nissans, subarus, etc. when it came down to decision time though, i just couldn't justify spending the money for a cheap-ish turbo setup. that's another reason i went with the H22. to build it right (in my opinion) a turbo honda would have a 30R (and supporting mods to rip the **** out of the pavement). anything less would be a half *** attempt. i know for a fact that i wouldn't be happy with a cheap turbo setup, so the H22 was the way to go.

 

Not so sure I would put a H22A swap as "easy"....especially for someone with no experience. Since when does wiring, new motor mounts, cutting off pieces welded to the car, retrofitting shift cables vs. linkage, and having AC/PS lines spliced together = easy swap? Again, might not be too extremely difficult for somone that knows what they are doing, but for a newbie, it could turn out to be impossible. Certainly no where as easy as a turbo install that is basically a complex intake/header install. Also certainly no where as easy as my ITR swap into a GSR....now that was an "easy" swap there.

All the same, I'd say go for the H22. Great reliability with no tuning, extra low end torque will make a world of difference in the integra and it will be a more natural progression of power for a newbie driver whos likely going to get into trouble with a turbo on a small 4 cylinder.

 

i'm not a newbie when it comes to driving whatsoever. i am a newbie to the honda community though. i had a 86' all-motor 16v built jetta, and a 94' supercharged VR6 after that. so iam not a newbie to handeling alot of power or working on cars.

i do want to pull the motor either way and clean and rebuild the block and head. and also do some mods to both the bottom and top end to help handle boost easier and be more reliable.

i just may not want to deal with the hassle of retrofitting everything to handle the H22

maybe i'll try to pick up a cheap shell and swap the H22 into a car that would be an easier swap