so I've been having some problems getting motivated to do anything to my SI, just been in a slump.. I can't stop dreading over the fact that my h23 isn't going to be a high output daily driver without extensive modding.. and the fact that the crank is an unbalanced POS has been irritating the hell outta me. I want an h22, but I just don't have the cash until taxes nest season. and I'm not a patient individual. so the idea of trading for an integra with a near bulletproof b18, balanced, high rev limit, and vtec has been sounding nice. so I listed it on craigslist for trade, and no fail a guy calls and has a 96 gsr 4door and he wants a prelude.. so I drove outta town all excited thinking i was getting a sweet deal. I'm no stranger to the honda scene, infact this prelude is my 7th honda. so I know what I like.. I thought. got there and started looking at it, and wow I was just disappointed. i didn't ever think about the appearance aspect of all of this. and the 4th gen prelude is bar none the sexiest honda on the market IMHO just the thought of trading my bad *** road gripping lude for a civic on roids made me wanna hurl.... then came the test drive HA! wow that was gay, my sled has more torque than that. and the vtec crossover was pathetic in comparison to an h22. I think i just regained my motivation to wait for taxes, my lude needless to say is still sitting in my driveway.. ready for a new heart, one with a vtec warning sticker

 

The VTEC crossover isn't supposed to be noticeable if it is tuned properly. So many people think there is supposed to be a "Kick" when it crosses over. If tuned properly, it should be a smooth transition. Honda started making the "kick" more noticeable because so many people comment on it. They actually had to de-tune the cars to get the kick so many people look for. Kind of funny.

Yeah, the H23 has a decent amount of tq. I actually found the H23 to be a better daily driving engine than the H22. The H22 made the car a lot more fun to drive though. However, if I had to do it all over again, I would probably go with a built F22A1. I had no idea that engine had so much potential.

 

Where on earth did you hear this?

 

That makes sense. The cam switch is supposed to be as son as the secondary cam profile makes more power than the primary profile. It's not supposed to wait for the power to drop and then bring it back up again (which would result in a kick).

Basically put, if the VTEC physically "kicks" and you *feel* it as being a noticeable difference, then the engagement is too late. If it bogs when it engages, then it is too early. Perfect engagement RPM should result in maintaining a smooth power curve, and therefore smooth acceleration.

 

in my experience with the many dohc vtec cars I have driven the Hseries crossover is more apparent than any other. I was just very surprised that a gsr b18c1 was substantually slower than an h23.. and yes the earlier the crossover the quieter it is, but too early of vtec engagment is a power robber as well. it might be nice and smooth, but if your not at a decent operating rpm vtec crossover kills your powerband. i've found that a basic guideline when tuning your vtec is to try and stay near half of your maximum operating rpm for crossover imho. but anyways lol, I think I made the right choice keeping my H chassis I don't think I could be happy without my low end H torque lol

 

The H is just a superior engine. It was designed as an out and out performer. That's why Honda used it as its racing engine of choice for quite some time. Well, kinda... The F20B was developed as a sub-2,000 racing engine, but it is based on the H22, with just a few twists.

 

curious..? I'm going to be swapping my motor for H/F vtec come tax season, should I consider the f20b? I personally haven't had any experience with it, and have only heard speculation about it's performance potential. does anyone know specs??

 

^ I have one going in my RHD 5th gen Lude.

It's NOT going to be as quick around town as the perfectly fine H22 I took out. But it should be a higher revving engine, with about the same top end. I also don't want H series sleeves.

If you want the ultimate then you want a SiR-S Spec H22A engine.

 

Yeah, the F20B is like the mutant baby of a B18C5 and a H22. It has the high revving nature of the Type-R engine, but much more torque. However, it does not have as much torque as the H22. It has iron sleeves so it can be bored out. It has pretty much a Type-S head. Overall, it's a damn good engine and they are a good price (about $800 from H-motors).

They have 200 BHP and 145 Lb.Ft. torque. They are OBD2.