iron or aluminum

[lostforawhile]

does anyone know i know this is a stupid question, but were all these blocks made from iron or were some of them aluminum? i know there was a slight change in the early motor they have a different engine code then the rest of the years, thought maby thats why. all i know is that a magnet doesn't stick to aluminum, and it's def. the right motor, been into it many times. all the paperwork matches. mine was an early 86. i know there are two different valve covers for this same motor. i thought maby they changed from iron to aluminum mid run or something.

[snoopyloopy]

i'm pretty sure that my '89 a20a3 is iron block. that's what keeps getting brought up as one of the strong points of these engines. the fact that they're iron-blocked.

[lostforawhile]

yea some people were saying that some of them were aluminum. i know that mine is iron. thats wierd that would make this one of the last iron block hondas made. i think my 81 civic was all aluminum

[snoopyloopy]

isn't the f22/23 iron as well?

[lostforawhile]

not sure

[Versanick]

Lots more honda engines were with iron blocks. My understanding is that all of the a18s, a20's had iron blocks. One of the 'strong points' of going jdm b20a is that the b20a aluminum block motor weighs 150-200lb less. And take it from me... that engine is LIGHT.

[lostforawhile]

got me on that one i thought they had stopped using iron blocks

[Bglad420]

All the 3g accords have iron blocks, owned a few, and worked on tons...all iron. The valve cover depended on if it was carb or EFI, Stamped steel for carb cast aluminum for EFI

[lostforawhile]

the reason i was wondering was that i have seen two different stamped steel covers. mine has the removable honda emblem and some of them were not removable. little bit different style i guess. i'm talking on carb engines now. i have the earliest version of the engine i know they changed the ingine code in i think 87? ...I went out to check it's the bs series. wasn't that right before the a series??

[snoopyloopy]

no, i'm pretty sure the b-series is after the a-series. which is why the b20a is an upgrade motor for the a20a, not the other way around. although they did produce cars that sported a b-series while they were producing the a.

[lostforawhile]

no, i'm pretty sure the b-series is after the a-series. which is why the b20a is an upgrade motor for the a20a, not the other way around. although they did produce cars that sported a b-series while they were producing the a.

this is definetly a bs series it's stamped right on the clutchhousing on the side of block this will require some investigation. it's also stamped under the hood so i know it's the right motor

['89AccordLX(Rus)]

The BS designation is just another code for the good old A20A* engines. Honda relabeled them to A20A* after 1986 I believe. So BS is not the same as B20A* Accord engines and a BS engine would not be an upgrade in any way. Most if not all parts are the same between an A20A engine and the BS engines. Hope that clears up the confusion.

[lostforawhile]

i know it's not a b20a, i thought it might be an earlier version of the a series. i really wonder about this engine because for one thing it'ssupposed to be an interference engine if the belt breaks it's goodbye motor. i broke a belt and nothing ever touched anything else it just coasted to a stop. when i was putting new valve guides on duringthe repair i realized you can drop a valve down almost to the retainer without it hitting the piston at tdc. and a valve never opens that far. thats not supposed to happen. i checked all he valve stems for runout and height and nothing was bent checked all the pistons for damage with a borescope nothing? there must have been some kind of design change because i've seen series motors with valves stuck in the pistons before. oh, the bs is the one with the early valve cover where the emblem unscrews.i got the cooler valve cover nenernnernener vsa20

[Shirako]

Someone told me to be careful when changing the plugs on mine because they looked at it and said it was an aluminum head...o.o

[A20A1]

Yeah I had an 86 BS motor with a removable emblem you screw in and the two 1989 A20A1'a had stamped steel with a peel off emblem, and my A20A3 had the Aluminum cast cover.

[lostforawhile]

Someone told me to be careful when changing the plugs on mine because they looked at it and said it was an aluminum head...o.o

I know the head is aluminum i was just wondering if the blocks were all steel or some of them were aluminum. you do have to be careful when you change spark plugs if you can lay your hand on the side of the head and keep it there it's probably cold enough to change them. if it's even any warmer then that don't even think about it. always start them by hand too. never start them with a rachet, you can use a socket by itself if you want, to make it eaisier or use a piece of rubber tubing over the end of the plug to start it. you can also get a thread chasing tool at any good auto parts store, that will remove all the built up carbon and dirt in the threads. coat it with grease first that will help catch all the crap so it doesn't fall in .I've been making parts out of this kind of aluminum every day for the last six years and it is easy to strip.

[Shirako]

Ah, I did it with the engine still a little warm, it was my first time changing plugs...ever, i'm basicly learning as I go here.

[lostforawhile]

Ah, I did it with the engine still a little warm, it was my first time changing plugs...ever, i'm basicly learning as I go here.

well now you know thats all right a lot of people have done that next time you will know not too. i think the book says something like a hundred +degrees or something like that that's not very hot. the other problem is that the plugs will keep absorbing heat from the cylinder head until it's cool, thats actually part of their job a lot of people don't know that. they not only create your spark they also disipate heat from the combustion chamber into the cylinder head where the coolant passages help carry it away. that's why it's so important to make sure they are seated properly. anyway the threads on the plugs expand when hot and if you try to remove them like that you can strip out the softer aluminum threads in the head

[smufguy]

just to clarify one last time, all A series, a1, a2, a3 and a4, were Cast Iron blocks.

The 4th gen accord motor, which is a F22 and the 5th gen, F23 are Aluminum Blocks.

Our generation accord is the last production accord/Honda with a Cast iron block.


The only other car in the world that still runs a Cast Iron Block is the Infamous Evos. I know there are few more cars like the Audi/VW with their 1.8T being cast iron blocks. But only a very few use Cast Iron these days cause of the weight.

[AccordEpicenter]

BS and BT blocks are all cast iron too. B20A/B/Z use aluminum blocks and steel liners for the cylinders. The weight difference is quite noticeable, somewhere around at least 100lb heavier. The heads are all aluminum, i dont think ive ever seen a cast iron honda head...

[lostforawhile]

thank you i had just been trying to figure out if there were some of this series that were aluminum. i had also heard somewhere there were some prototypes of the bs/a20 series in aluminum floating around . boy wouldn't you like to get your hands on one of those. I kind of like my old cast iron motor. still a relativly light car.

[smufguy]

Cast Iron Heads on Hondas were never produced. but on the other hand, cast iron heads do exist. The older Hemi's had Cast Iron heads.

on the side not, i dont think there was any so called 'prototype' Aluminum A20 or bs/bt blocks.

[lostforawhile]

how did the subject get on cast iron heads?? this is going a little off topic here the original thread was on if there were some aluminum blocks for the bs/a20 motor i don't think honda ever made a cast iron head it's possible back in the 50s and 60s they may have because of a shortage of aluminum after world war two, but not anytime in the recent past. i knew a guy years ago who used to work for Honda R&D and he swore there were some aluminum blocks made for these cars for testing purposes. he said they were bought by honda employees after some covert deals If they still exist I would have no idea what happened to them . I know my shift knob came out of a civic track test car it was bought by me years ago for an undisclosed amount of money and has been in every honda race car i used to own. it survived that civic crash and now it's in my accord if anything should happen to my accord it will go in the next honda. it's nice to know when i shift gears that honda employees were testing cars and shifting gears with the same part.

['A20A3']

Cast Iron Block = Mad Boost Bitches

[smufguy]

Cast Iron Block = Mad Boost Bitches

hehehee, true true.