WANTED: A20 engine mods

[CoconutboyLXi]

okei i was just wondering on what i can do to my engine (stock a20)... what can i do first and so on and so forth...


and what are the stages to tuning the engine if there is one... sorry dont flame ... im new at this and all info to me is new info so post up and tell me ur thoughts

[ALTERED4]

playing grand turismo quite a bit there havent we :tongue:...

all kidding aside, many will disagree with me here, but in all honesty, i dont feel the a20 is much of a performer, imo, the motor really has no potential, unless you were to completely build the block up (lots of custom work) and turbo the crap out of the motor... by the time you are done doing that, you would have spent enough money to pay for a college education at a good school...

save your money, get a swap... start off with a good platform that has lots of aftermarket support...

[1988starter]

open loop has proven the a20 can be a great motor esp with it's ability to generate a fair amount of low end grunt. Start with the basics intake (do a search try 92 civic) header and exchaust 2.25 then come back

[Sabz5150]

Originally posted by CoconutboyLXi
and what are the stages to tuning the engine if there is one... sorry dont flame ... im new at this and all info to me is new info so post up and tell me ur thoughts

If you want to put it in stages, then your first start would be the basic I/H/E setup. Intake, headers and exhaust. Basic bolt-ons that don't take too much work to install. Since you're carbed, your best bet is to go with a Weber (or a pair if you're so inclined). A set of Pacesetter headers and a cat-back exhaust with a high flow cat or test pipe will reduce any restrictions in airflow.

After that, you can start digging a little into the engine. Ignition, a more agressive cam and a cam gear will pull more ponies out of your lil 4 banger. Lots of air needs lots of fuel, so a beefier fuel pump will supply the extra juice your engine is now craving for.

Next we go deeper, a port and polish job to your head lets the air flow smoothly, stronger pistons and rods will take the extra power and keep smiling, even with a little nitrous thrown in.

Wow, we've got power now. You rev that engine on up there, put 'er in gear and boom! You're in the middle of a smoke cloud with the very disctinctive smell of.... CLUTCH! All that power means precisely squat if ya can't get it to the wheels. You'll want to look into a clutch that can keep ahold of that flywheel under the extra power it's receiving. Speaking of flywheels, you can get that hunk of metal replaced with a lighter version. Best do this when you install the new clutch. Now you're revving faster than the tach can keep up with.

There's a lot of other things you can do to make your car perform better. You'll want to get some better brakes, going fast is great but you want the ride to stop sometime. Suspension upgrades keep you in contact with the pavement and make for a nice, comfortable trip.

The A20 isn't an insane powerhouse, but it can be made into a mean lil monster with some work. :wave:

[Morpheus]

Originally posted by ALTERED4
playing grand turismo quite a bit there havent we :tongue:...

all kidding aside, many will disagree with me here, but in all honesty, i dont feel the a20 is much of a performer, imo, the motor really has no potential, unless you were to completely build the block up (lots of custom work) and turbo the crap out of the motor... by the time you are done doing that, you would have spent enough money to pay for a college education at a good school...

save your money, get a swap... start off with a good platform that has lots of aftermarket support...

lol, gran turismo :D, such a great game.

I agree with him tho, A20 really has no potential and never was meant to have any potnetial, that's why there is almost no aftermarket for it. It is also why the Japanese version got the B20 which does have decent potential. I would go for a B-series swap, that is what I'm hoping to get. You could prolly get it installed for minumum $5000 from what I've heard. It's also a complex wiring job beacuse my car and yours are both carbeurated which means we have to convert them to EFI and worry about OBD (On Board Diagnostic) systems which all the newer Honda engines use which makes the wiring job even more difficult.

It's alot of money and work but ask the guys on the board who have done it and they'll tell you it was worth the effort to build the ultimate sleeper aka B-series 3gee!

I dunno why I typed this out I should have jsut told you to look at teh FAQ but w/e.

Anyone feel free to correct me if I'm off about anything.

[infecto]

Well I would say before all the mods consider this. Do you want to put in a couple grand swapping in a new engine (which can be worth it) or just want to piece meal the a20 together with performance parts (and it can be done very well). It all has to do with money and if you have it now or not. If your going to work on the a20 also consider the current shape of the motor and how much basic work it needs? Maybe start with rebuilding it itself?

[CoconutboyLXi]

well the engine only has about 50 thousand miles on it... it's a jdm and is not carb. the origional engine was the same but had 270 thousand on it. i dont feel like swapping it at the time because of the newer engine put into it. thanks for the replies but dont stop please.

[87AccordsterLx]

The a20 is a great engine... it may not be able to supply TONS of power but you can get her to really put out some good power if you work at it. I have taken some cars that were supposed to be pushing much more hp (mostly newer) with my rebuilt tranny, carb, and engine. Stock internals and all... start off with a good intake, some headers, and run a 2.25in cat-back piping. I took my cat off and gutted the insides out when I had my 2.25in piping run... if you don't have an emissions test for a while then I would recommend that you do that also. If you want more power out of her then get a good camshaft regrind. I'm working on getting the money for my mild tri-flow grind as we speak (10-12hp) gains on current hp numbers. With a decent amount of mods and the correct tuning you can get a strong 160hp out of these cars... with more work and $$$ you can go even higher. Enjoy!

[hondacowboy003]

Ok I understand the I/H/E method of getting horsepower out of the A20 motor (which I am assuming is whats in my car since its a carbed 88 Accord ) but what type of intake? What parts interchange and what parts wont? Im still new to performance building Hondas.

[pimp86LX]

home made CAI intake

I would reccomend against a short ram as you just suck in hot engine bay air. A TRUE cold air induction intake will have the filter down in the bumper area away from the engine. However A20 aftermarket support SUXORS so you'll have to make your own. Wait....i believe someone modified a 90-93 integra from AEM and it fit.

[bobafett]

Originally posted by ALTERED4
playing grand turismo quite a bit there havent we :tongue:...

all kidding aside, many will disagree with me here, but in all honesty, i dont feel the a20 is much of a performer, imo, the motor really has no potential, unless you were to completely build the block up (lots of custom work) and turbo the crap out of the motor... by the time you are done doing that, you would have spent enough money to pay for a college education at a good school...

save your money, get a swap... start off with a good platform that has lots of aftermarket support...

what motor REALLY has potential without being completely overhauled and built? even the "mighty" b18c5 would barely net a 14.00 at the strip, which will get you laughed at all the way home (by the real racers, the ricers will ooh and aww though)...

with the money you would dump into a swap you could build either a mean turbo accord, or a mean nitrous accord. now turbo a20's we already KNOW are superior, and nodoby has ran a built nitrous accord, but i am confident it would hold up.

sean ran 15psi (250whp ish) with nothing more than injectors, and SAFC, and maybe an msd btm.... lol it ran like this for over a year happily until it creeped up to 20, which DID end up destroying the motor. not bad for a stock engine though! :)

the point is this: yes you can go fast with a swap (after you dump a hell of a lot MORE money into it with mods)
yes you can go fast with the a20 (but it will be a lot more work than digging thru your new JCwhitney catologe.) either way it costs money and either way your gonna need a lot of time and dedication. its not like installing a b16 makes your car fast... lol

sorry for such a long post. i think its funny when people with stock carbed accords rag on the a20 saying how shitty it... yeah your car prolly has 70hp after the years.... lol of course u will think its slow... but even my slow ass a20 with bolt ons is quicker than civics....

[AccordEpicenter]

Yea, none of these cars are fast, and to make them seriously fast, the only option is turbo, and only if the engine managemant is in place. Nitrous is nice but it ends when the bottle runs out.. and if its set up wrong bye bye engine. N/A is always nice but for the money youd spend its just not worth it. Speed is not cheap but when done right can be tons of fun, especially in forced induction.

[bobafett]

yeah with n20 you only get that power every so often. with turbo you get it every time BABY!!!

[Admiral]

Don't listen to those telling you to swap out the engine. Esp. w/ a 50K engine in it. The A20 has some potential. You can make a quick little car, but face it, it wont make the cut for the next FastnFurious movie. With some work and $$$ you can make a car that will make most every Toyota Camry cry.

Camry~>:crying:

[pimp86LX]

lol your car doesn't need to be fast to get into that movie


bwhahahhaha:stick:

The reason they say swap is because of the aftermarket support. How many bolt-on's are there for the A20??? ..now how many are for any b-series?

The A20 is a strong engine though, you would get a lot of originality points for building one up.


-peace

[Pister]

dont mess with a sooped lx-i hb

[bobafett]

pister why werent you at the meet! (or were you lol) i gotta assume your hatch is "sooped up" what mods do you have?

[Justin86]

We will get his ass the next meet. :D

[VictorSifuentes]

One day I'll have a nice sooped up lxi hb I'm going the slow way, rebuilding the engine as I have the money, she's already lowered with a great intake now I just need to save up for my pacesetters, everyone here is right it will the time to find people to do good engine work (or do it yourself makes me feel more proud when I do) but it takes a lot of time to find the right parts, just make sure you are buying the right parts!

[MessyHonda]

One day I'll have a nice sooped up lxi hb I'm going the slow way, rebuilding the engine as I have the money, she's already lowered with a great intake now I just need to save up for my pacesetters, everyone here is right it will the time to find people to do good engine work (or do it yourself makes me feel more proud when I do) but it takes a lot of time to find the right parts, just make sure you are buying the right parts!

thanks for bumping a 13 year old thread.

[mikeharriswho]

When you say replace the intake, are we talking air intake or intake manifold?

[Tdurr]

^^ did you read the post above yours?

[Cnando01]

Hey everyone newbie here. I just bought a 1979 cvcc with a a20 swap and I am looking for parts. I also am having trouble with the engine. It turns on but if I let my foot off the gas pedal it turns off.