I found a good deal on a 96 F22B2 engine. The car was hit from behind, engine is flawless you could say. It starts right up and the guy just changed timing belt and the works. I’ve seen the engine and it looks really good. He is selling it for half the price a JDM F23 would cost. The thing is I have a 94 Accord EX with of course the F22B1. I know it’s a downgrade and I know its a OBD 2 engine on my OBD 1 car! I want to get some information on this swap before I jump in to it. This is what I think I need to get everything going.

-My F22B1 intake manifold (should work right?)
-OBD 1 F22B2 ecu – 5 speed
-OBD 1 F22B2 distributor

I’m under the impression this should make it all work like a charm, right?

Thanks,
therest

 

Just swap everything from the F22B1 to the F22B2 and you should be good to go. You won't need to run the crank sensor since that'll be in the OBD1 F22B1 distributor; just change the order of the wires on your current F22B1 distributor to match that of the F22B2 and run the F22B2 plug wires, I think it's 1-3 and 2-4 that need swapped. I had to do that with my F22B2 distributor when I swapped in the F23A1 to have it work on the correct firing order, the F22B2 wires may be a little long, but no worries there. Use your F22B1 harness, there won't be a need to plug in the VTEC solenoid/pressure switch. Everything else should bolt right up to it. Use your F22B1 manifolds and all. Vacuum line routing should be the same.

Going from F22B2 to F23A1 was pretty simple, I'm sure it's even easier going from F22B1 to F22B2.

 

Thanks Chrisnick....feeling more relieved already. So you're sure I dont need the f22b2 distributor? What about the ecu? F22b2 ecu right?

 

You should be able to make it work with the F22B1 distributor-it'll save you some wiring due to the differences between the internal coil EX harness/distributor and external coil LX harness/distributor. You are correct on the F22B2 ECU. You may even be able to junkyard dive and find an F22A6 ECU and camshaft for a little more grunt. Another option is the F22A1 Prelude's ECU. The F22B2 and F22A1/4 share the same camshaft and springs, and the Prelude's F22A1 ECU has the most aggressive mapping for that camshaft. The intake manifold and exhaust manifold designs are similar enough between the F22B2 and F22A1's(F22A4's had a tubular 4-2-1 exhaust manifold) that the F22A1 Prelude ECU should run it with ease. A cheap 4-2-1 eBay header(find one with the longer primaries) and an F23A1 intake manifold gave NOTICABLE improvements in power past 4500 RPM when I had an F22B2. I have a longer primary header sitting in my garage, but the lower section is basically trash. If you have a welder and want it, I'll sell it to you for shipping costs. The biggest restriction I've found on the Accord's exhaust tract is the catalytic convertor; it's basically 1.25" at the inlet and really chokes flow!

The F22B2 isn't a bad engine by any means, sure the head doesn't flow as well as it's VTEC and F22A brothers, but it still was a great engine. With the proper intake and exhaust mods, you can easily gain enough power to play with stock)(ish) H22/H23 cars in my experience

FYI, the early F22B6 from an Odyssey were basically an F22B2 with an F22A6 camshaft. Being that they're OBD2a, you wouldn't be able to run that ECU since your car is a '94. Decent option for OBD2a LX's who want to run the F22A6 camshaft though.

 

Went with the guy selling the engine to hear it turned on, but he couldn't get it to start. He told me he would get it to start, that it was probably an issue with fuel, since the car was rear ended very badly.

My concern was the milage though. It has 231,114 miles on it. It looks clean, and he just did the major work on it, such as timing belt/ water pump, but it still makes me wonder if I'm better off with a JDM F23.

He is selling the F22B2 for $250, and I can get a JDM one for $450. I just don't want to spend more money on the F23 in changing the timing belt/water pump. What would you guys do in my shoes?

$250 for recently maintained 231k miles F22B2, or $450 F23 with approx 40-70k miles that you still feel the need to do timing belt/water pump?

Thanks in advanced.

 

F23A, hands down. So much more power and better gas mileage. The swap is just as easy. F23A has slightly higher compression, too. Get a Rosko IACV adapter, and it's all basically drop in and go. You'll have to transfer a few sensors and the driver side mount from the F22B1 to the F23A, but it's really cake. Before my swap, I ran a best of 16.2@83mph. After the swap, it dropped to 15.8@86mph with no other changes. Did a 2.25" exhaust, H23A-V TB, and added a velocity stack and now I'm running 15.06@91mph with clutch/launch difficulties consistantly. If I could get it out of the hole better(60ft times haven't changed much) and/or the clutch to hold better, it's easily in the 14's. The F23 is VERY underappreciated and well worth the extra $. Add a Prelude trans and it'd be super fun around town. Lots of torque everywhere.

I do a timing belt/water pump every time I buy a new Honda and/or have the engine out. 40K max IMO on that stuff.

 

Thanks for your input chrisnick, it’s very tempting to go for the F23A. I was able to hear the F22B2 start and was very pleased by it. I have a video of it on as well that I will try to upload later. It was very quiet, no piston slap or valves ticking which gave me confidence that they really took care of the engine. The guy even told me, “Rev it, but really rev it”. He said he knew what he had so he had no problem with me doing that. I did, and it revved so freely. Guess you can guess what motor I’m going with. I know the F23A is a much better engine, but I need to save as much as possible. I have a baby on the way, so I just need a daily commuter and not better performance . 