B20a?

[Doward]

Where are you guys finding B20As these days?

Otherwise, I may just yank the B20A5 head off the 'lude in the U Pull It, and see about modifying that to work on the A20A block.

They have the same head bolt pattern - I checked

[A18A]

lol

[ghettogeddy]

noob lol trust us it will never happen not cause we think you cant but cause we know you cant lol

[AccordB20A]

sweet well i would like to see a dohc a20a

[Hauntd ca3]

if the head gaskets are pretty much the same i dont see why it wouldnt work

[ghettogeddy]

if the head gaskets are pretty much the same i dont see why it wouldnt work

there not lol its been checked before

[2drSE-i]

even if the bolt pattern were the same id have to say it still wouldnt work...

[AccordB20A]

a20a has a larger bore than the b20a5

[blackcougar141]

^^^^ That's true...check on EGAY, might have one, if not there are tons of sites online to pick up motors from. I would suggest though looking through SuperStreet or Honda Tuning magazines first though for good sites. If you can, it would be in your best interest to get a whole front clip...might be able to get it cheap!!!

[fogged]

Dont you all inprot your motors for New Zealand

[carotman]

I got both of my B20A from Montreal.

[Doward]

The larger bore of the A20 is no problem, since you'd use the A20 head gasket with the B20 head. Only problem I recall finding, was the drains didn't line up - the B20 had a much larger drain area (probably due to the fact it leaned back instead of forward)

A20 head gasket -


B20 head gasket -


For that matter, yes, the B20 is 'tilted' wrong - but what the hell. It's not like the engine block is anything other than straight. Remind me again why a set of custom motor mounts won't put that B20 into the 3G?

[Hash_man_Se_i]

Someone tried this years ago, and never had it running... it won't work.

You'd be better off finding a b20a through one of the many engine importers out there.

[RobT5580]

The larger bore of the A20 is no problem, since you'd use the A20 head gasket with the B20 head. Only problem I recall finding, was the drains didn't line up - the B20 had a much larger drain area (probably due to the fact it leaned back instead of forward)

A20 head gasket -


B20 head gasket -


For that matter, yes, the B20 is 'tilted' wrong - but what the hell. It's not like the engine block is anything other than straight. Remind me again why a set of custom motor mounts won't put that B20 into the 3G?

It was place racing that did the swap and for what it was worth it was not practical in any sense. And why would you swap a B20A5 when you can bolt in a JDM B20A with minimal issues if you get what you need. And for that matter if i were to go to that extent of hastle i would just buy the PRI mounts and do a newer b-series swap and call it a day. I have seen them for sale so thats not an issue.

I have 3 B20a's in my basement so if you look hard enough you will find one but most people won't put the effort into it.

[TWOLOUDNPROUD]

JDM B20a

[2oodoor]

looks like a lot more coolant passages around the cyl. of course because the B series are aluminum blocks.
and RobT you are so right, I was sitting here in my recliner watching (dr) House reruns and a B20a complete with drivetrain and acccsories fell in my lap.. ROFL for real it did! so yes they are out there just sitting because nobody knows what to do with them. There is a LOT more out there than what is on the internet.
Doward. where the hell have you been for the last five years anyway? People have been trying to say the prelude head may fit the A18/20 for the past 20 years... nobody has taken credit for pulling it off yet.. you would be better off getting a precut blank B series casting from an aftermarket company like DART and then machine it to fit the A20

[RobT5580]

I will say parts are becoming more of an issue now. So if you do go B20A you need to be willing to spend money. Sometimes i wish i did the newer b-series but i am this far so no turning back.

[gfrg88]

Remind me again why a set of custom motor mounts won't put that B20 into the 3G?

no one has ever said custom mounts wont put a b20 into the 3g...its just not worth it, why swap that when you can swap in something bettet and newer??

[Doward]

Why swap in a B20A5? Because I can take my pic of 3 with 5 speed transmissions at the local U-Pull-It for $225

I can get parts for the B20A5 easily, since it's a USDM motor.

I'd rather go with a JDM B20A, but I haven't found any importers that can get their hands on one (evidently, they are getting harder to find)

I'm thinking I may go to the U-pull-it, and yank one of those B20A5s. I'll see if the head will go on, since that will more or less give me the equivalent of a JDM B20A (and hey, if it requires some small modifications, so what? Cheap power ftw)

If it absolutely won't work, I'll probably just throw the B20A5 into the Honda for shits and giggles.

As for where I've been for the past few years, I've been rebuilding the Turbo Supra from scratch

Just a little tribute to the reliability of the 3G - I let the bitch sit for 2 years, never touched it - added air to 1 tire, charged the battery, and she fired right up for me. This car will not die!

[forrest89sei]

Why swap in a B20A5? Because I can take my pic of 3 with 5 speed transmissions at the local U-Pull-It for $225

I can get parts for the B20A5 easily, since it's a USDM motor.

I'd rather go with a JDM B20A, but I haven't found any importers that can get their hands on one (evidently, they are getting harder to find)

I'm thinking I may go to the U-pull-it, and yank one of those B20A5s. I'll see if the head will go on, since that will more or less give me the equivalent of a JDM B20A (and hey, if it requires some small modifications, so what? Cheap power ftw)

If it absolutely won't work, I'll probably just throw the B20A5 into the Honda for shits and giggles.

As for where I've been for the past few years, I've been rebuilding the Turbo Supra from scratch

Just a little tribute to the reliability of the 3G - I let the bitch sit for 2 years, never touched it - added air to 1 tire, charged the battery, and she fired right up for me. This car will not die!

Well good luck on it, I did see a B20A5 Swapped Prelude on Craigslist once, so it can be done.

Looking forward to the results!

[RobT5580]

Not saying that PRI had the best reputation but way back when they put a B20A5 into the accord they had to hack up the chassis to make it work. All i can say is this will be far more that a waste of your time and its not going to just drop in. In a way this swap is what made PRI do the swap mounts.

And again why swap a B20A5? I have a stock JDM B20A in my accord that i drive daily and if you want power and parts off the shelf then just turbo the A20A3. The DOHC is not worth dropping that kind of money when at the end you will have a stock B20A5 when you could have bought turbo parts for what you have.

And i can assure you if you spent some time you can find a JDM B20A and if you were luck pick it up cheap. The last one i bought for dirt because a prelude owner got stuck with it. But even with that said knowing what i know now i would have turbo'd my A20A3 or did a B16-B18 for sure.

[bullard123]

Not saying that PRI had the best reputation but way back when they put a B20A5 into the accord they had to hack up the chassis to make it work. All i can say is this will be far more that a waste of your time and its not going to just drop in. In a way this swap is what made PRI do the swap mounts.

And again why swap a B20A5? I have a stock JDM B20A in my accord that i drive daily and if you want power and parts off the shelf then just turbo the A20A3. The DOHC is not worth dropping that kind of money when at the end you will have a stock B20A5 when you could have bought turbo parts for what you have.

And i can assure you if you spent some time you can find a JDM B20A and if you were luck pick it up cheap. The last one i bought for dirt because a prelude owner got stuck with it. But even with that said knowing what i know now i would have turbo'd my A20A3 or did a B16-B18 for sure.

I agree. The B20a's are nice. But only when you can find them complete. Trying to track down parts for a engine that never came to the U.S. is not fun. The good news is a lot of the parts off the B20a are compatible whith the U.S. 88-91 preludes

[2oodoor]

another little titty twister too, just three weeks before the guy posted the B20A for sale (the one I got was complete with tranny, int shaft, supports, and accesories) there was one on Prelude Power in the same area in Atlanta for sale $450 with the car included. It sounded like it came from the same importer that the guy got mine from appx 3 years ago. This 2nd gen Prelude guy installed the engine but never finished, the car was just sitting and code enforcement was hassling him to move it. There are two right there that were available inside one month time. I am sure if somebody did some checking there are plenty more. Not that many are interested in the motor and importers will get rid of them because they came in the same container as thier more populer engines and parts.

[carotman]

Yes, one of the B20A I got was on top of a container, ready to be sent as scrap metal.

Almost no one buys them since they're not a "direct" replacement here. I can't believe some old granny replacing a worn A20A with a B20A if the car didn't come like this from the factory.

[2oodoor]

Yes, one of the B20A I got was on top of a container, ready to be sent as scrap metal.

Almost no one buys them since they're not a "direct" replacement here. I can't believe some old granny replacing a worn A20A with a B20A if the car didn't come like this from the factory.

absolutley
there is no telling how many were (are) being scraped. jeepers creepers
but yes, carotman, I bet you would find quite a few of them that were swapped in to customers cars that were not car nuts like us (granny dear old granny) , shops with good resources could have got them to replace A20's and transmission customers, simpley because they could get them cheaper than they could have repaired/replaced the bad units. They could make money and keep the customer happy at the same time.