Is it straight forward if I keep my obd2 dizzy? I might be picking up an accord that the guy says has a bad head. The F23's are fairly rare in the junkyard around me but there are F22 vtec motors by the boat load.

Could I get away with using an F22 head? I'm looking to keep everything stock, so no tuning or anything with this.

My gut feeling tells me that it should be fairly straight forward.

 

Why not make it easy - pull the head off and send it to a machine shop, let them rebuild it and be done with it?

The only thing I would worry about - WHY did the old head go bad, to me that is the real question.

 

The difference is in the combustion chamber diameter. F22B1 = 85mm and the F23A1 = 86mm. That equates to a 0.5mm ridge around the top of the combustion chamber. It has been said that the ridge can cause hot spots if carbon collects there. Something that has been done is to chamfer/bevel the edge of the combustion chamber out to 86mm. This can be done with a steady hand and a dremel tool and cartridge rolls.

Other people just do the swap and never look back...... the heads are designed identically other than the diameter.

 

What is wrong with the head? Unless it has been starved for oil, more than likely you can rebuild/repair whatever issue it has, rather than trying to find a good used F23 head...

Worst case scenario, you can pick up a complete JDM F23A VTEC engine for about $600 - they are VERY inexpensive. Maybe something to consider.