I'm soon to be receiving a free (yes) 92 Si with 4WS and the H23 non-Vtec motor (I say this because I know there was a limited run of VTEC models that were non USDM). The motor is knocking severely - cause yet to be determined - but this car has tons of potential and I'm already in love with it. It was my younger brother's car until he decided he'd rather have a 96 Civic. Recently, my dad payed it off, and lo and behold, it's falling in my lap. Beats the Sh*t out of the '79 Datsun 620 I'm driving now. Not cool when you're pushing 30

Anyway, I'm fairly a nOoB to Hondas in general, and in the time I've searched this and other forums, I've found out quite a bit of information about this car, but not many good links or info on where I could get a new bottom end for it. I'm fairly sure it will need one, possibly valvetrain as well, and it seems that the H23 is a fairly cheap motor, when compared to the H22 VTEC.

The motor will start, but immediately knocks loudly, which I *think* is rod knock but I've yet to pull the head and look. After a few minutes it will simply shut down. It doesn't run down, it's like the ignition is being turned off by a knock sensor or something.

My questions are these (remember I'm a noob and while I know a great deal about engines and how they work, none of it is Honda-specific - yet):

1. Is it safe to say the valves are likely bent? In other words, are the pistons shaped to give valve relief if the deck is breached or is it pretty much a sure bet that if it has spun a rod/bearing/snapped a rod that the valves are toast?

2. Where is a good source for low mileage motors if I needed a replacement H23 or even went to the H22? I hear guys talking all the time about low-mileage JDM pulls coming in by the gazillions on ships, but I've yet to see more than 1 or 2 at a time, and they're in Alfonze AK and shipping is 4 trillion dollars.

3. If I do get a JDM spec motor, will it run on good old american pump gas? I've also seen posts about guys having to redo the computers on JDM cars because they don't like the gas over here.

4. (This may sound retarted) Is the ECU on the 4WS model's motor compatible with other standard H23 motors? I don't know if the 4WS model has a different one to control the rear steering (understeer, etc) or what.

4. Am I better off trying to find a used motor at all or should I try and have this one rebuilt, provided the cylinder walls, head, and crank aren't all trashed and it is rebuildable? If so, how much is a kit going to run me (I can do the labor myself with a good shop manual)?

5. Is the H23 a good motor to swap a turbo onto later? Will this kind of thing cook the rings? From what I've seen thus far it seems a decent low boost turbo will run just fine on these pistons, even a small spray of nos, but the rings are what I'd worry about.

6. Biggest 'tarded question of all: Is this a sleeved motor or just straight bored cylinders?

7. Are you ready to kill/flame me yet? Remember, you were all Honda virgins once, so please go easy and use plenty of lube. I need info to move to Honda manhood.

Also, before I get a whole slew of 'pony up the cash and go VTEC' replies, remember for now I'm on a budget, and want to get the car driveable before I get into building anything for it.

Any help here would be appreciated, or suggestions not covered in my questions. I'll be posting this on other forums to get some good mileage out of the questions, so if you flame, try to keep it on just one board.

Thanks in advance,

TT - Honda NooOooOOB





Modified by TecmoTimes at 1:54 AM 8/1/2003