To make a long story short, the B21a1 found in the 3rd gen lude has to be the worst motor honda has ever built. My car has 138K miles and the motor is shot. My piston rings are so worn that I'm losing compression, and hesitating badly, I only have only 45 psi in the #1 cylinder, it should be 175psi. The car has been burning 1qt of oil every 200 miles for some time now. I'm pissed because i put a lot of money into it with suspension, gsr wheels and IHE. So I'm forced to sell it and get whatever i can for it. My brother is selling me his civic (97 Ex), and i have to drive a damn civic . Good news I will have a good platorm for a motor swap . Sorry for the long post, but i needed to vent.

 

Yep. That motor has a poor rod/stoke ratio combined with Honda's new synthetic cylinder wall material. They later perfected that cylinder wall material but the stuff in the B21A1 sucks. But you can get a new motor for as little as $450. I put a motor in my 3rd gen about 2 weeks back. A pain in the *** but not that bad. Just depends on what you want out of the car. You could have that car back on the road for about $500-$600. BTW, the Acura Vigor motor is supposedly worse. 2nd worse motor Honda built maybe.

 

To make a long story short, I figured out why that engine blew like that.....when I dropped in the new motor, it was slow as hell. Turns out the cat was soooo clogged it was unbelievable. Hollowed it out and bam there was the power. So that bad cat cause alot of backpressure, eventually frying the old motor's rings and burnt valves galore as well. All over a damn cat.

 

If I'm not mistake that is the engine that burns oil a lot, and was available 90-91.
There is the 2.0L 88-91 Prelude engine that is much better, although I'm not
the 3rd gen expert.

 

Yes, the 88-89 b20a is much better than the b21a. Allot of people end up swapping in the b20 for it.

 

the B21 is a shitty motor, i agree, i own one

you dont have to buy a new car, you can just swap the long block for a nice JDMB20A and it can be shipped for under 800, and is a direct bolt in no mods needed.(unless going from auto to manual)

i know people that run that B20A hard everyday with well over 200k miles and it still runs strong.

you can still have your prelude without the problems and not have to subject youreself to the inhumanity of driving a civic

 

is there a way to build the B21 to run more efficient and fast?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JohnnyTequila &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">the B21 is a shitty motor, i agree, i own one

you dont have to buy a new car, you can just swap the long block for a nice JDMB20A and it can be shipped for under 800, and is a direct bolt in no mods needed.(unless going from auto to manual)

i know people that run that B20A hard everyday with well over 200k miles and it still runs strong.

you can still have your prelude without the problems and not have to subject youreself to the inhumanity of driving a civic </TD></TR></TABLE>

I pulled his old b21 and threw it to the curb....now I'm running a 88 b20a5 longblock, with all 91 electronics/manifolds. Completely rebuilt as well with a Centerforce DF. Very pleased, pulled a 15.2 at E-town.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by AzNLuder &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">is there a way to build the B21 to run more efficient and fast?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yes there is actually...

Rebuild it with completely different specs... but then it wouldnt be a b21 anymore!
Which is a good thing IMO...


I think the Vigor 5cyl engine is worse than the B21... because B21s actually made it over 100,000 miles

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Ef ***** &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

I pulled his old b21 and threw it to the curb....now I'm running a 88 b20a5 longblock, with all 91 electronics/manifolds. Completely rebuilt as well with a Centerforce DF. Very pleased, pulled a 15.2 at E-town.</TD></TR></TABLE>


Glad to hear that car being put to good use, it was useless when I had it.

What do you have hidden nitrous in that thing to run that time

I still haven't had time to take my car to the track, between work and school I have no time. I am still running on those old axles, and the clutch is shot too! When I have time it will all come together, but it's definitely quick and sill no major problems.