Does the GSi exist?

[mentaldave]

Hi

I am from the UK and after having used a Honda Civic VTi for a year decided to buy one of my own.

I scoured the ads and found a 1987 Honda Accord. It was very cheap and I paid £345 pounds for this. It is in immaculate condition and has every extra I could have wished for!

I am however having one problem to do with the model of the vehicle.

On my registration document it is shown as a Honda Accord GSi. This is the original registration document and therefore cannot be altered. The other details I have copied below:

Date of Registration: 1st June 1987.
VIN: JHMCA55500C******
Engine No: B20A21000***
Cc:1958 cc

The car was new in the UK so not imported from Japan.

On the back of the vehicle is has a badge showing: 2.0-16 It also has red Honda badges.

I am somewhat confused as I cannot find any reference to the GSi. The engine also seems to not feature in any of the vehicles from that era. The only ones appear to be A20*.

I have attempted to search the forum and can find nothing. I would be greatful if someone would be able to shed some light on this. The final part of the question would also be to know what the B20a will produce. I have a gold topped engine with PGM-Fi injection unit.

I do say that its' run to sixty is rather impressive. I attained 132mph on the M1 motorway.

Thanks in advance for any help you may be able to give. Looks like this old banger I bought may be staying for a while!

[shepherd79]

congrats, you just got yourself pure JDM or European 3 geez.
engine is B20A2 160hp.
i don't know what kind names they give in europe but in US there were only DX, LX, LXI, and SEI.

[Elijah]

In canada there DX,LX,EXI and SEI.Sweet to see a B20A2 thow its only a dream for most.

[johndej]

i take it since this is only the 2nd time i've even heard of one of these legendary cars that they are rare as hell.

[Coroncho80]

Dude, can you post any pic? if not, email them to me and I'll post them for ya. I just gotta see what It looks like ............

[ACCORD EX]

can you tell us what options do you have ! ? leather seats , sunroof ?? so we can tell you your car's equivelant ! :D

MIKE

[mentaldave]

I found the car! It was in parkers price guide afterall!

This is the spec:

2.0i_16 Saloon (16_valve injection, 137 bhp) launched with spec similar to 2.0 EXi (plus alloy wheels) but no Auto option.

Seems that the B20A2 is a 137bhp unit and not 160bhp as previously thought. I can only imagine that this is the same unit as the Prelude had?

[Mike's89AccordLX]

Please post some pics to I can :crying: That is a dream for most of us. Nice find dude. I can only hope to get to 160hp.

[mentaldave]

I am going to get it up the car wash tonight but I will have to wait till tomorrow afternoon to get some pictures, the light here fades a little after 3pm. I noticed that it has two smallish stickers on the back doors about half way down towards the rear with DOHC on them. I have not seen them up till now as it is a little muddy!

[MoonScryer]

160hp on US scale, 137hp on UK scale..they are different...

Nice find; good price. :jealous:

[markmdz89hatch]

Damn, around here (the States) the B20 engine is only a dream, or one of those very expensive, and very sought after swaps. Only in a select few (none in the states or canada) did the b20 come in a 3G from the factory. CONGRATULATIONS! You've got a great car, and it's a bit quick to boot. Please take pics and if you can't post 'em, there's plenty of people here that are very willing to do so. (including myself; [email protected] if you wanna e-mail to me). Good luck with it, and please promise to all of us here that you'll take good care of that car. If you so much as hear a funny noise, let us know, and we'll all do our best to help you through it's resolution. Good Find! and again CONGRAT'S.

[mentaldave]

Having seen no obvious difference in the UK engine and the US/Jap Spec B20 am I to assume that the Japs put some 'quieter' cams in the UK Spec to please our Euromonkeys emmision regulations?

I imagine that the engine mounts on the B20A2 are the same as the other b20's? Sorry for asking do many questions!

[maka_RTH]

i'm jealous, lol. i do wanna see pics though, that'd be tight. i like the B20a

Originally posted by mentaldave
Seems that the B20A2 is a 137bhp unit and not 160bhp as previously thought. I can only imagine that this is the same unit as the Prelude had?
from what i've read, it's not. the prelude's b20 leans back, while the accord's b20 leans forward. at least here in the states its that way

[mentaldave]

I have bashed a quick web page at the following URL:

http://geocities.com/hondaaccordgsi

The pictures page is quite large - about 2.4mb. I have not yet been able to reduce them yet. If you require any posted then let me know. I have a couple of the engine number and one of the chasis plate as well.

Thanks for all your help and also to the 3 birds that crapped on the car within ten minutes of me waxing it.

[markmdz89hatch]

I love it! That car is awesome! Can I fly out there and drive it all over the country? I'm now officially a fan of the fixed lens front ends (not that I'm any less of a fan of the flips though :D ). Damn, that car is nice as hell! You gotta get more, larger pics. I wanna see the interior as well! Thanks again for posting, and although it's a little delayed, here's my "WELCOME TO 3GEEZ!".

[RCracer]

The B20a2 is the euro version of the B20a.
The B20a2 has 137BHP.
The only differance between the B20a and the B20a2 are the camshafts.
I have JDM B20a camshafts in my engine that I got from a blown B20a and I measured everything/compared measurements and the cams were the only differant part.

On my registration document for my B20a parts car it was registered as a 2.0i-16 accord saloon.

[mentaldave]

I will have get myself a pair of these cams then, that is easy horsepower!

I have got the pictures running on my own web server at

http://southampton.peggys.net

It may be a little quicker if geocities are slow.

David

[A20A1]

Doesn't the "J" in the vin # mean it was made in Japan?

[mentaldave]

Thanks for the info Aerodeck. Are you aware of any uk sources for cams? Or perhaps a US stockist of the cams? So many questions!

[A20A1]

Would you consider doing this to your car?

[RCracer]

Originally posted by mentaldave
Thanks for the info Aerodeck. Are you aware of any uk sources for cams? Or perhaps a US stockist of the cams? So many questions!

The B20a was never fitted to a US model accord so you dont stand much chance of finding any B20a parts in the US.
I found out about the JDM B20a I bought by accident.
I had looked and never found one. Then my parts car came up and the blown B20a (It was @ a N/W japanese breakers).
Just luck really
If you have any questions about the B20a I rebuilt mine last year. (took me about 3 months to rebuild the engine (port and polish the head) and to cut the parts car up) and lastly fit it to my car.

:D :D :D

Mike A20A1 is that photo real or photoshop? Looks good!!

[A20A1]

it's photoshoped. I got it from mentaldave's site.

[3G Jester]

DOOD...if i mail u my hand....will u touch it to the engine and send it back? so i can say i touched an a20a2? please?

[mentaldave]

Looks good Mike. Would look good but I am a fan of the standard car with the big engine!

I used to have a Ford Escort 1.3L with a blown 1.8 engine in it. Very quick indeed. Totally standard from the outside apart from some alloys. Blew the sales reps away lol

I will try and source out a cam from a JDM. I'll also get in contact with a local machining shop to see if they are able to reprofile the exisiting one. I am going to port/polish the head and make some mods to the engine. About 175bhp would be a good aim to start with. I will also lower the springs a little(25mm) to assist with the handling a little.

The car will go off the road in February so I can get the engine apart. It has got about 147000miles on so it may need a few little bits doing as well.

If you are able to provide any info Aerodeck I would be grateful, esp. with regards to basic engine mods. Be good to know of any problems these engines may have.

David

[Mike's89AccordLX]

Wow that photoshop looks like a 90ish accord frontend. Nice job Mike.

[ACCORD EX]

Originally posted by A20A1
Doesn't the "J" in the vin # mean it was made in Japan?

yes ! my vin starts with a J too ! :D

BTW nice photoshop mike ! looks like a 4th gen but it's so cool !

MIKE

[A20A1]

I guess I've failed to achive the S-15 look and ended up with a 4th gen . :lol

[ACCORD EX]

:lol :lol !

MIKE

[RCracer]

Originally posted by mentaldave


The car will go off the road in February so I can get the engine apart. It has got about 147000miles on so it may need a few little bits doing as well.

If you are able to provide any info Aerodeck I would be grateful, esp. with regards to basic engine mods. Be good to know of any problems these engines may have.


The B20a I just fitted to my car had 141,000 on it before the rebuild.
I enquired about getting the cams reprofiled and it was going to be quite expensive, thats one of the reasons I have the JDM cams now as I was looking for a newer set to get reprofiled but came accross the JDM ones instead.
There are very few parts available for the B20a engine (standard or modifyed even in the UK), most parts will have to come from honda.
Easy engine to work on apart from a couple of things. Main one I found was the valve spring compressor I have didnt work due to the depth of the valves in the head and the angle they are at. Other than that plain sailing. I ended up useing some prelude parts, but ended up spending a small fortune at the local honda dealers on the honda only parts I needed.

[buzzbomber88lx]

damn nice car! I WANT ONE

[smufguy]

i love the photoshop of Mike. to me it looks like a Pegeout. I like the aggressive look of it, but the H emblem has to go. :D