87 Accord LX swap.

[YoungSlothh]

I could use some help on starting this project. I have been reading a few threads on these forums and just would like some help as I am an amateur.

I have an 1987 Accord LX and just ran a compression test and my third cylinder is running low. I don’t want to go through the trouble of fixing it, and don’t want to pay someone to fix an engine that is this slow lol. I have been reading that B20, B18, and B16 are relatively easy swaps for these cars. Of course I want to do something like BodeVision but I don’t have the funds or skill to swap an LS into one of these cars. All in all I just want to gather as much information as I can and get a price set for parts, make this job as easy as possible, and get her running as soon as possible. Any help is very much appreciated. If you’d like to reach me I am on IG @87accordlx.

Like I said any help is very much appreciated. I’ll try my best to reply here, and gather as much information as I can from previous threads/comments. Thank you! Don’t tear into me too hard for this post, just getting started lol.

[ShiRen]

Where did you hear that a b swap is easy? Also, put a weber on it, it will probably outrun any car with a b18b, the a20 is really no slouch.

How low was cyl 3? I would probably just suggest to replace the head gasket and verify the head isn't cracked and that none of the seats are leaking, you can delete the vacuum lines while its apart. Very easy job once the crap is gone.

[YoungSlothh]

I guess easy wasn't the best word. Most done is what I meant by easy. I have looked into weber's, I love the engine that is in it, the A20 is reliable, I just don't have the knowledge to do all of that myself. So instead of paying that much money into fixing the current one, I figured I would get a newer and faster engine. I just need some help in what direction to go in and what works for our cars.

My mechanic told me that cylinder three was low, but not to the point of extreme worry yet, and that I could still have a lot of life on the engine. So I figured I would finally pull the trigger on the start of the project I have been putting off for a while.

[ShiRen]

If you don't have the knowledge to work on the a20 then a b series is way out of your league... and paying someone to swap an engine would be... insane. Its a 35 year old car, this is a good platform for you to learn on, you can't really mess it up. I'm going to take the steering head off my motorcylce here soon, that's something I have never done, but I'm just going to jump right in there. The stakes are a bit higher there than working on literally anything on one of these accords. You don't even need that much in the way of tools, but I would suggest a 3/4 electric impact and some metric impact sockets.

If you want to swap to a b series you will need:
motor
trans with a cable speedo
jack shaft
integra axles... maybe
custom engine mounts and additional mount for the trans
header and a custom downpipe
a custom front crossmember
modified shift linkages
and you will probably want a standalone engine harness because your current car does not have much in the way of electronics

To do the head gasket on your a20 you just need to follow a few steps:
remove all the vacuum lines from the engine, if you decide to not put all of them back you will have like maybe 3 left, very easy to manage. https://www.3geez.com/forum/showthread.php/142706-Full-vacuum-delete-pictures
remove the intake manifold. Now would be a good time to service the carb or put a weber on it. There is some coolant lines attached to the bottom of it, they can safely be looped together off the block, the middle one can be capped with something coolant
safe or tee it into the loop. Or hook them back up, but I hate them.
Remove the exhaust manifold. You can probably just leave it attached to the exhaust. You might struggle with the egr, but you can block it off when you put it back together so deal with it however you see fit.
Put the engine at tdc and remove the timing belt from the cam
The head can come off now. Scrape the head gasket off both the head and the block and get someone to inspect the head if you want.

The parts you will need are:
head gasket
intake gasket
exhaust gasket
new head bolts or get reusable head studs (ARP 218-4703)
some misc hose and stuff
a weber if you please
a timing belt kit if it needs it and you have a jack to support the engine when the engine mount is off.

To reinstall:
put the head gasket down
put the head on
put your new head bolts in or follow the instructions that come with the head studs
bolt the exhaust manifold back on
get the coolant hoses below the intake ready
install the intake manifold and car as a single unit with the egr blocked off if you went that route. You can even bolt it on the head before you put the head on, but make sure the coolant lines below it are sorted first.
slip the timing belt back on (this is the worlds easiest engine to install a timing belt, its basically as simple as that)
roll it over and check the tdc marks line up on the cam and crank
button up the vacuum lines you ended up using (brake booster, power valve, dizzy if you did the delete)

All of the hard stuff is in the manual, just read it step by step. https://www.dropbox.com/s/e3qwtw8lvptc4t1/1989%20Accord%20Service%20Manual.pdf?dl=0 And some of my other threads may be of help to you.

If you are willing to swap, but still like your a20 then attempting to service it won't even set you back anything. Then you can double the fun of your car and gather the parts for the swap in the meantime if you please. I encourage you to try it, if you use this opportunity to learn then you can probably swap the engine yourself later and save yourself a boatload of money and feel like a badass.

I will say I don't guarantee that doing any of this will fix your engine, but I highly doubt there is anything wrong in the bottom end. Chances are also, this being an old Honda, it needs a head gasket. Mine only let me know by blowing the seals on 2 radiators, it was very cool.

[YoungSlothh]

Thank you for all of the information. If I decide to put off the inevitable swap I want to do with the car until a later date, I have saved the message so I can dig into my A20. The ultimate goal though is to get a better engine in there. One that has a little bit more of a platform. The A20 is great and its been reliable for the years and years I have had it. I have already put quite a bit of money into the project I have in mind (i.e. suspension, wheels) which is hard to execute as I work full time. I know an engine swap is quite a big project, and the way I am going about this is seen as "dumb" but I just don't have the time, place, or knowhow to execute it without help from a mechanic. So the news that I am running low compression on cylinder number three just kind of pushed me a little closer to executing the engine swap. I don't know, I just love this style of car, I can push any other car or vehicle I have had away, but this damn 1987 Honda Accord LX just stole my heart when I got her lol.

[Jinnai]

It's pretty difficult to swap the engine. The swap that might be the easiest is a B18 from an Acura Integra, if anything. If you want easy the easiest way to get more power is to get a newer Civic, but I get that you like the style, I do too. I really like the liftback and can't really enjoy notches anymore, visually.

[ShiRen]

I have put a whole lot of money into my rust bucket and whenever I "work on it" it sits for a year because I work 10hrs a day and I'm a lazy fuck.

I would buy or rent a compression tester and check it yourself, see how low it is. Rule of thumb is cylinders should be withing 10% of each other. Another thing you can do is put a few oz of marvel mystery oil in the cylinders for 24hrs before your next oil change and then start the car and run it until it stops smoking after that time is up, then carry on with your oil change. It might break up some carbon or seat the rings a little bit. After that would be a good time to check compression.

[conozo]

Way easier and cheaper to fix anything on the A20 than to swap.

[Dr_Snooz]

From everything you're describing, a swap sounds like a giant money pit of failure. Even the most talented guys with full garages will spend months and many thousands doing that job themselves.