hey guys...i posted before about some problems i ran into while doing the swap but i had some specific qestions i was hoping you guys could answer..i did a search and couldnt seem to come up w anything

So i dropped a 94 JDM H22A in my 94 Prelude Si w a friend of mine

We ended up using the my old Si (H23) distributor, external ingition coil, fuel rail, and wire harness...i kept the H22A's exhaust manifold and a pipe...it doesnt bolt to my H23 cat, so do most of your guys just go out and purchase a H22 cat...what is generally done?...do u guys usually custom fabricate something to hold the external ingition coil, since there isnt a spot to directly bolt it on to?

We ended up using the H22A vtec crank, but kept the H23 compressor clutch along w the H23 alternator pulley...We initially tried to put on the vetec belts but they ended up being a little too wide , so we went back to using the H23 belts...will this setup be ok or should i go back and change out the compressor clutch and the alternator pulley to H22A and run H22A belts?

Initially I had the H23 ecu in my car and it ran rather smoothly...no CEL or anything...the only thing i ran into was during acceleration, it jerked a little...prob a fuel thingy...after swapping out the H22A P13 ecu, my CEL came on, and the car pretty much ran like crap....the car was very slow to accelerate, and tended to boggle a lot...any suggestions?...i still havent wired the vtec yet...could this be why?

Also, I did a search earlier and remember people talking about chipping the P13 ecu to remove the speed limiter....is that generally the only thing people chip?...I dont plan on doing much to the engine...just plan on keeping it how it is...any suggestions would help greatly...thanks

 

Why wouldn't you just use all of the H22 stuff? Distributor, ECU, belts, exhaust etc...it should all work fine. You need to wire up V-Tec. The distributors are different you need to use the H22 distributor.

 

can someone verify this or offer any more suggestions?

i was told somewhere that i had to switch out the distributors and use my h23 one...was i misinformed?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by HeineKEN22 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">can someone verify this or offer any more suggestions?

i was told somewhere that i had to switch out the distributors and use my h23 one...was i misinformed?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yes, you should use your H23 distributor and fuel rail.

 

Why would you use the H23 dist? It comes with the proper H22 dist.

 

andy, do you just make a custom mount for the external coil then?

do you have any more suggestions on any of my other issues?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by HeineKEN22 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">andy, do you just make a custom mount for the external coil then?

do you have any more suggestions on any of my other issues?

</TD></TR></TABLE>

CHK4TIX told me that he bought a mount for his coil. I am not sure what the reasoning is behind using the H23 distributor but I know most people do because of the external coil. The USDM H22 and H23 distributors are the same.

I am not sure about the other issues you have questions about. I am going to be doing my H22 swap into my Si too in the near future so I am sure I can learn something from this thread too.

 

Okay, let me clear some things up here as I have done this in my car.

You can and should use the H23 distributor. It is identical to the H22 one except it uses the external coil. Since the H23 harness is setup for the external coil you should use that.

You MUST wire VTEC to make it any better than the H23. They are very similar engines except the H22 has the secondary cam profile that gives good top end. Your CEL should go away once you do that. If it is still on pull the code and fix what it wrong.

As for the Cat to header connection goes, you have some options.

1. (cheapest) You can elongate the three hole in the JDM downpipe towards the center a bit and it will bolt to the H23 cat.

2. (more expensive) You will need to go out and buy an H22 cat and exhaust and the whole thing will bolt up. Since the Cat to Catback connections are different between VTEC's and Si's you need to get the Catback for an H22.

As for the Speed governer, it can be removed by chipping it. You can also get the Apex'i RSM or several other electronic piggyback units and they will cut it as well. Before you do this, ask yourself this. Do you plan on going over 113 MPH very often. I have had my JDM H22 since June and I have never hit the limiter once. I tend to think of it as something to keep you honest.

The H23 belts should work fine. If you want to run the H22 belts for some reason you would need to get an H22 A/C compressor.

I hope that answers your questions.

 

h22 and h23 distributors are both stamped td-60u on usdm and td-61u on jdm h22a distributors they are exactly the same except the coil issues.

for the flange on teh header i usually have a standard 2.5 inch flange welded on nic and clean, call me **** but thats just how i like to do it.

 

thanks zimmlude....the information u provided helped a lot

is it because i havent wired my vtec yet that everytime i switch gears it is really boggy to get going?....its really really slow to accelerate at first but tends to pick up after a bit...i usually hear some sorta sound coming from the exhaust...is it the vtec not being wired or does it have to do w my cat not being connected?...i wouldnt think w it not being connected that it would produce such a large effect on the drivability on the vehicle

 

With a CEL like that your car is running in "Limp Mode". This means the ECU is running a baseline set of fuel and timing maps making the car run bad. The first thing you have to do is wire VTEC properly. Then, like I said, pull the codes for the CEL and post them up. We will be able to tell you what they mean.

 

most of these questions have already been answered but i will answer them also.

Depending on where you live you can always buy a racing cat/test pipe to take care of that problem. As far the exhaust goes you can use use your stock h23 cat and exhaust along with an h22 header. I did it this way for almost 4 months. As stated before the size difference is in the mounting bolt on the exit side of the cat. They also can be drilled out to fit if need. ( had to do that to attach stock h23 cat to pass emissions)

As far as the distributor goes, the reason most people keep the h23 external coil is because that is what the USDM h22 have. The internal coil can work but you would have to re-wire the entire distributor to get it to work. By using the h23 coil you can just plug and play. As far as the bracket goes, you can make something to work or just by the two piece bracket for like $35 from a dealer or just goto a junk yard and get one from there.


Yes use your h23 bets to match the h23 pulleys. If you are over worried about having and extra rib showing on the h22 crank pulley you can always just use the h23 crank pulley.

I would not recommend running you h22 with the p14 ecu. It will run to lean and can ruin your engine. You need to use the p13 and wire up your vtec so that your engine runs the way it was designed to. Also if you will need two ecu pins to connect the vtec wires to the ecu (check my sig). But you need to check the CEL's to make sure its not something else causing them besides the vtec not being connected.

As far as the ecu chipping goes, that all depends on what YOU want. If you never go above the speed limit then the i wouldn't really worry about it. Also depending on what kind of chip and where you get it from, like ebay, it might not do any thing at all or even work. Most chips just enhance ignition timing and dump more fuel.

 

Why would you use the H23 dist? It comes with the proper H22 dist.


If you use the USDM wiring harness, you have to modify the JDM distributor to use an external coil. The modification is very straightforward, but the Si distributor and VTEC distributors are the same (they share the same part numbers, from what I have seen) on the 4Gen USDM Preludes, so why bother? Just use the USDM Si distributor.

 

So i dropped a 94 JDM H22A in my 94 Prelude Si w a friend of mine

I just finished a JDM H22 swap into a 1992 S model Prelude, so I'll tell you what I did to answer your questions.

We ended up using the my old Si (H23) distributor, external ingition coil, fuel rail, and wire harness...i kept the H22A's exhaust manifold and a pipe...it doesnt bolt to my H23 cat, so do most of your guys just go out and purchase a H22 cat...what is generally done?...do u guys usually custom fabricate something to hold the external ingition coil, since there isnt a spot to directly bolt it on to?

I used a 5Gen Prelude coil mount. It's a two piece mount. It mounts to the intake cam cap and the thermostat housing. The coils are the same, so it's a complete bolt on affair, no fabrication needed. The only thing I had to do was thread the tab on the thermostat housing so I could use an 8mm bolt. You can use a smaller bolt and put a nut on the other side if you don't want to thread the t-stat housing.

As for the header, HMO cut the downpipe right at the collector, so the O2 sensor and collector were missing. He ended up buying a $100 EBay header for temporary use, and it fit almost perfectly. It bolted up to the head and cat just fine, no mods needed.

We ended up using the H22A vtec crank, but kept the H23 compressor clutch along w the H23 alternator pulley...We initially tried to put on the vetec belts but they ended up being a little too wide , so we went back to using the H23 belts...will this setup be ok or should i go back and change out the compressor clutch and the alternator pulley to H22A and run H22A belts?

A few others that I have talked to run a 5 rib belt on the H22 pulley (it uses a 6 rib belt). You can run a 6 rib belt, but you'll need to change the alternator pulley and A/C pulley. Too much work for me, plus we had no way to source an A/C pulley other than brand new, so I ended up using the F22 crank pulley off his original engine. The F22 and H23 crank pulleys are the same (same part numbers), so you shouldn't have any problems if you want to run the H23 crank pulley. I believe this is the easiest solution.

Initially I had the H23 ecu in my car and it ran rather smoothly...no CEL or anything...the only thing i ran into was during acceleration, it jerked a little...prob a fuel thingy...after swapping out the H22A P13 ecu, my CEL came on, and the car pretty much ran like crap....the car was very slow to accelerate, and tended to boggle a lot...any suggestions?...i still havent wired the vtec yet...could this be why?

More than likely, the ECU was running in limp mode because you had not wired up VTEC yet. Wire up VTEC, and you shouldn't have any problems. I went to a junk yard and bought a few OBD1 ECU connectors with as much wire as I could get (it was a pick and pull place), then I pulled the wires that I needed from those connectors and spliced everything together.

I was able to source a USDM 4Gen H22 engine harness, so I didn't have to modify the engine harness, but I did have to add the pins to the ECU harness. It's rather painless once you figure out what needs to be done. It started right up, no CELs, and it ran perfectly.

 

so now im in the process of wiring everything up correctly..

i went to a local car shop and they want to charge me 110 to bring in my h23 harness w my h22a harness so they can take the h22a harness plugs and transfer over what they need to so i can use the h23 one

does this price sound about right?...at first i only thought it was just the vtec wires taht needed to be run, but suppossedly its quite a few more than that...any suggestions?

im in the houston/austin area if anyone is willing to help out a poor college student

 

any opinions?

 

The only wires you need to add are the two for the VTEC oil pressure switch and the one wire for the VTEC solenoid. It took me 5 mins to tape the new wires to the outside of the H23 harness.

Have you checked to see if your chasiss is pre-wired for VTEC, mine was. I have a '95 Si. You can check by looking at the passenger shock tower. Stand in front of the car right in front of the battery. Look just over the intake as it passes the battery and you should see a connector with two 10 gauge (big wire) wires comming in and going out of it. The VTEC solenoid wire is right next to that connector. It has a single green/yellow wire going in but nothing comming out the other side. If this is the case your are prewired for VTEC.

The wire for the VTEC oil pressure sensor is a little harder to find. It is in one of the main engine harness plugs. Look next to the underhood fuse box. There should be a large grey plug. Look at the firewall side of it, you will see a light blue wire going into that side of the plug but nothing comming out the other side. That is the positive side of the switch. The other side is just grounded.

Good luck,

 

Are you using the h22 injectors w/your h23 fuel rail?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SKDRCR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Are you using the h22 injectors w/your h23 fuel rail?</TD></TR></TABLE>

H22 and H23 fuel rails are the exact same part.

 

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

H22 and H23 fuel rails are the exact same part.</TD></TR></TABLE>

w3rd, I was making sure he was using the h22 injectors though

 

The answer to the distributor woes is this: Use the H22 distributor, forget about the external coil. The old plug that plugged into the external coil on the distributor on the H23....cut the plug off. There will be two fat wires, and one little blue wire. Trim an inch off of each of the two fat wires and twist them together. This simply provides continuity, closing the circuit, through to the internal coil. The little blue wire is the trigger wire to fire the external coil on the H23.

I would love a good detailed writeup on "wiring up the VTEC" specific to the harness on this swap. I followed schematics and lined everything up the best I could, and I still think I dont have it right. Im pulling codes tomorrow, so I'll know for sure.

Hope this helps.

-Nick