Well, been reading these forums on off for a few months now and figured I would finally post and get some opinions of others.

I have a 1993 Prelude 4ws with a h23 in it. As of now I have Megan headers, cold air intake, and Apex`i N1 cat as far as engine/performance goes. ( http://www.cardomain.com/id/mikes_lude ) My next step will be some more performance mods. I am a bigger fan of performance than looks .

Anyway, I think my valve seals are leaking, because everytime i let my car idle in neutral or park, then rev, it blows white smoke. Since this is happening, I am gonna work my way through my engine replacing some key things. I am not exactly and expert on engines, so I am not sure what I need. I wanna get new camshafts and gears. But I can not find any aftermarket camshafts for a h23? Does anyone have any trusted sites with them?

Just let me know what you think would be a good next step. I am not looking to build a track car, this is my every day driving car, but I want to build it up to where I can hold a turbo with a good amount of boost and beat some of the "bigger" cars around here in NC.

Thanks in advance.

 

I would probably go H23/VTEC route. Unless you want to stay all out H23. I would recommend getting headwork like P/P job, valve train and (like you mentioned) some cams.

I am not 100% certain, but Crower might have some H23 cams. But out of personal experience with previous customers, I don't really recommend them due to breaking. But other people have had great experiences with them.

Going the turbo route, I'd definitely P/P, and probably keep the stocker H23 cams

HTH.

 

I'd recommend getting Web cams. They have 40 years experience and I've always heard good things about them. Gude also makes cams that are a little more agressive than Webs but I've heard mixed reviews. I think the best mod I've done to the engine was a 68mm throttle body.

 

The only cams for the H23 are regrounds right now and they come with potential problems. What about some pullies, hi flow cat.

 

nitrous that's all i'd do if you don't wanna go turbo

 

build a new motor....(sleeves, pistons, rods.....bla bla bla).. h23 h22 whatever.......then your options are endless..... and you have a bullet proof starting point..... h23 for boost!!! thats just me

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Yield &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The only cams for the H23 are regrounds right now and they come with potential problems. </TD></TR></TABLE>

I've ran my Gude re-grinds for almost 2 years with no problems sofar. BoostedH223a1 also has gude cams and has also had no problems with them.

As for building a NA h23a... it's a waste of money. I would shoot nitrous on it along with a nice ignition system and add your simple bolt ons (I/H/E/pulleys).

If you have around $2500 you could very well go turbo and run low 14s to high 13s all day long with right around 240-250whp.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by GudeH23a &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

As for building a NA h23a... it's a waste of money. I would shoot nitrous on it along with a nice ignition system and add your simple bolt ons (I/H/E/pulleys).

If you have around $2500 you could very well go turbo and run low 14s to high 13s all day long with right around 240-250whp.</TD></TR></TABLE>

What do you mean by NA h23a? Well I don't want to go nitrous, I would much rather go turbo I am gonna try to get some hp gains from replacing main parts of the engine, then add a turbo and be able to push more than 10lbs of boost.

Thanks for all of the replys so far guys!

 

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


What do you mean by NA h23a? Well I don't want to go nitrous, I would much rather go turbo I am gonna try to get some hp gains from replacing main parts of the engine, then add a turbo and be able to push more than 10lbs of boost.

Thanks for all of the replys so far guys!</TD></TR></TABLE>

naturally aspirated

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by GudeH23a &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

I've ran my Gude re-grinds for almost 2 years with no problems sofar. BoostedH223a1 also has gude cams and has also had no problems with them.

As for building a NA h23a... it's a waste of money. I would shoot nitrous on it along with a nice ignition system and add your simple bolt ons (I/H/E/pulleys).

If you have around $2500 you could very well go turbo and run low 14s to high 13s all day long with right around 240-250whp.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I have also had Gude cams for over 4 years now with no problem.Building a Naturally Aspirated or All motor h23 is expensive.Trust me i added up what i had spent one time and i could have a brand new WRX instead(not that i would get rid of my lude).
If you wanna go turbo save up so you can do a rebuild and get all the proper management systems.

 

Hmm.. well I really wanna do some work on my prelude. I don't think I would want any other car, except maybe a beamer.. but ill wait till im older haha I like this little 4cyl especially when everyone in town thinks its gonna be slow.

OK, help me out here, what are some specific steps I need to take to get to the point where I can have a turbo on my h23, running more boost than a stock eclipse, neon, talon runs? I want above average

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by oes &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Anyway, I think my valve seals are leaking, because everytime i let my car idle in neutral or park, then rev, it blows white smoke. </TD></TR></TABLE>

White smoke means your head gasket is leaking. First thing to do would be to fix that! Do a compression test ASAP. Pour a cap full of oil in each cyl and do it again. See how your numbers look. But White smoke = burning coolant.

 

Ah. Well I was told by a couple people that it was my valve seals leaking caused from "getting on it" too much. Where can i get a compression test done? Local mechanic?

 

Also. . . What are some advantages\disadvantages of turbo'ing an automatic?

 

Gude...
That's good to hear about the cams as I'd only heard the negatives. I'll keep that in mind although supposedly Crower is going to release some billet cams for the H23 in a few months **supposedly**

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by oes &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Ah. Well I was told by a couple people that it was my valve seals leaking caused from "getting on it" too much. Where can i get a compression test done? Local mechanic? </TD></TR></TABLE>
Just buy a compression tester. They are like $20-$30 for a cheap one. I believe I got mine on harborfreight.com. Might not be the best but does the job. \

Valves would have no way for coolant to get into your combustion chamber via the valves. If it was blue smoke I would agree that it could be possible.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by IggDawg &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Just buy a compression tester. They are like $20-$30 for a cheap one. I believe I got mine on harborfreight.com. Might not be the best but does the job. \

Valves would have no way for coolant to get into your combustion chamber via the valves. If it was blue smoke I would agree that it could be possible.

</TD></TR></TABLE>
Sorry last post was made by me. I am using a friends computer and forgot to log him out and log me in. Last post was not made by IggDawg it was made by me. Sorry.

 

Hmm, not sure what it is then...

 

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

White smoke means your head gasket is leaking. First thing to do would be to fix that! Do a compression test ASAP. Pour a cap full of oil in each cyl and do it again. See how your numbers look. But White smoke = burning coolant. </TD></TR></TABLE>

So pull out the plugs,
do a compression test,
put a cap of oil in each cyl, via sp plug hole
and test again,
should i get higher numbers the second time

 

What does pouring a cap of oil do during a compression test?