I recently got a 1999 Honda Accord LX with a '00 Accord F23A Motor (has Tranny from exact same car, or so i was told). i plan on Turbo-Charging it but need to know if it's Worth it and if so what to replace to at least make almost as Reliable. As you guys probably already know: "they're built for Reliablilty and Efficiancy". what do you guys think?

 

They are fine for around 300whp in stock form. Can do more with a built block and head but in general they are not worth pursuing if big power numbers are your goal.

 

how would i go about increasing the whp that much? this does barely 150 whp... im hoping for the 250 range but if 300 is possible id like to see from people that have done it to see where it needs reinforcment. I dont exactly want to blow the poor thing up!

 

Once again, it wont do even 200 comfortably on that auto trans.

 

what trans would be more suitable for it?

 

Manual swap is the only option that can reliably handle more power.

 

what manual trans would be the better suggestion? im throwing for the stock manual but would like a more suitable trans as ive heard that the manual trans for the 2000 gives some sort of problems?

 

Depends on what you want. F22/23 manual transmissions have very, very long gears. For a milder setup, shorter gears from an M2S4 or similar would make it more enjoyable.

 

It's just not realistic to expect any appreciable performance gain out of a stock Accord (e.g.:F23A1/BX7A pairing) drive train. Christ almighty... you gotta computer-controlled 16 valve VTEC engine! You're done! Firing the performance parts cannon into the engine bay will have a substantial, inversely-proportional impact on both your wallet and the reliability of your Accord. So that's an accomplishment of sorts.

Look... turbos are added to (typically) 4cyl daily-drivers at the factory primarily to coax a few more horsies from the engine to achieve a specific kilowatt benchmark; note that this paradigm is often conflated with "performance" which is not the engineers' intent. (btw... This design decision by automotive engineers invokes the caveat of lessening the overall reliability of the powertrain—now how's that for some irony, eh?). Additionally, turbos wear out as a normal consequence of their operation, so there's that major expense to anticipate. Plumbing a turbo is no casual thing; and there ain't much room under the Accord's hood. And plugin' a turbo into a drivetrain that includes a torque converter is just inane.

In lieu of the myriad complexities, not-so-insignificant expense and inevitable disappointment, try this violently less expensive, admittedly less sexy but far more actionable alternative to achieve a modicum performance boost out of that basic daily-driver of yours: Fill th' tank with ethanol-free gas and dump in a can of CAM2 Octane Booster. Find an onramp to go vroom-vroom. Pretend you added a turbo and extrapolate.

But what do I know. Parse the bazillion threads on this exact topic over at the Accord-tweaking forum. Lotza like-minded performance-oriented wrenchers over there.

 

I ran into an old dragster guy at a Home Depot. We ended up talking for two hours in the parking lot about his track stories, ICE engineering, drivetrain mods, suspension tweaking, you name it!

I veered the conversation from dragsters and hotrods to my fantasy ...i mean "plan" (using the OP's word here <snicker> ) ...of swapping my 6th gen Honda Accord's drivetrain from automatic to manual. Unphased, he casually asks "Why go to all that trouble just to use OEM? Order whatever you want from Summit Racing! With a Sawzall and a welder you can put anything into anything!"

I suppose his nonchalant, though serious, suggestion is typical of a guy with many, many decades of experience frankensteining parts into custom-built screaming speedsters. But he was not kidding. I was gobsmacked; this idea never crossed my mind.

His is a legitimate point. Given the expense and complexity involved just with swapping OEM, for anyone fathoming a major drivetrain swap in their [insert make/model here] with performance as the end goal, it's worth doing a comparative CBA for a wholesale soup-to-nuts retrofit of a non-Honda drivetrain that's purpose-built for performance.

Or buy an s2000. It just might be less expensive.