New Engine

[SkepTiKalKloWn]

I just got my first car, an '86 Accord LX, and I want to beef it up. The first thing I want to do is put a new engine, but I know very little about cars, so I don't know what my options are. Cost isn't really an issue, cause I can just save up for longer to get the better parts. Can anyone give me some kind of rundown on what I can do?

[mkymonkey]

you can put anything inside your 3g if money REALLY is not an issue. most people will put in either a B20, B16, B18, and some have "tried" to put in an H22. unfortunatly you will have to fab up the mounts yourself because the only company that ever made them for our cars ran out of business..i think.

i guess the only good advise i can give you is SEARCH. plus since you only have one post, almost everybody that responds will tell ya the same thing. there are a few people here that have done swaps, one that comes to mind is WICKEDACCORD. i think he has a B18 that is turbo'ed and pulls out almost 400hp. so have fun searching and tell us what you want to do with your newly aquired car.

ps. you can also go the route other people have gone, as well as me someday soon, build up and turbo the shit out of your A20 :D

[snoopyloopy]

yeah, what monkey said. basically, you can swap in anything you want if you have time, skills, and money. the b18a/20a is the only engine that will just about bolt up besides the a20 that will give you some bit of performance. but only if it's from the 85-89 accord/85-87 prelude. other than that, you have to fab up your own stuff if you want a traditional b-series. you could make yourself the first person on this board to actually do the h22 swap successfully. or you could be the first person to do a k-series swap in a 3g.

[SkepTiKalKloWn]

I would just turbo up the stock engine, but it's an automatic transmission, so I need to change that, too. I have a mechanic friend who can help do the engine swap, so maybe I'll look into the B-series if that's the most doable. Is the B20 the most powerful, or is it just a new model?

[oldschool3g]

yeah you should turbo the hell out of your stock a 20...thats what im going to endup doing as soon as i have enough money...how much horsepower do you think i would gain?

[B16KILLA]

yeah you should turbo the hell out of your stock a 20...thats what im going to endup doing as soon as i have enough money...how much horsepower do you think i would gain?

Depends on your whole setup you can have one part that keeps you from making the power you want to make, even though you think its good.

[oldschool3g]

so in other words replace almost everything with stronger parts that can withstand the turbo?

[snoopyloopy]

I would just turbo up the stock engine, but it's an automatic transmission, so I need to change that, too. I have a mechanic friend who can help do the engine swap, so maybe I'll look into the B-series if that's the most doable. Is the B20 the most powerful, or is it just a new model?
you don't HAVE to change the transmission. an automatic is actually better for a turboed engine because it keeps a better load on the engine between shifts. and the b20a from the accord is not like the rest of the b-series. there is a b20z in the crv, but that is only 133 hp. the b20a from the accord has 160 for the jdm and 150? for the edm. so yes, the accord b20a is more powerful. the only problem with them is that parts are practically nonexistant for them in america so if something goes out, you're pretty much screwed.


yeah you should turbo the hell out of your stock a 20...thats what im going to endup doing as soon as i have enough money...how much horsepower do you think i would gain?
you can gain as much hp as you can pay for. you can run 8-10 psi on stock internals and depending on how good your tune is, i've heard you can probably get around 210 or so. since it's an iron block, it's pretty sturdy. you could see if you can get it up to 30-35 psi and see how that turns out...

[SQ is the SQUAD]

my coupe is auto but i am planing on turbo and swaping to 5spd, not to hard at all, pluse there are pleanty of resources on our site