Hi, I'm new to these old hondas.
I know the 1G and 2G Accord engines are the same as the ones used on the 1G Prelude.
I read somewhere that I can fit a 1986-1989 Accord A20A3 fuel injection engine into a 1G Prelude. Is this true? Is it an easy swap?
How about the B20A 2.0 16v engine from a 88 Prelude?
I read that these engines are not really "B" engines, there different from the other B series engine.
I mentioned the B20A because I can probably get one from a totaled prelude.
I don't know the exact engine number/type at this time, except that its a 2.0I 4WS 16v from 1988.
Also, I must add, I'm in Europe and the 1G Preludes and 1/2G Accords are all 1.6 EL engines.
Last edited by outriding; 01-23-2010 at 07:55 PM.
no you can't just drop it a b20 from the 88 lude but the accord 87-89 will
Well first of all, there are two B20A motors... First one came in the 3g Accord and 2g Prelude. Those are going to be the most powerful motors that have a similar mount layout to your car (except for the torque mounts, which are bizarre on the Prelude). 160hp. They're hard to get, and a few critical parts (head gasket, oilpan gasket) aren't available in the US.
The other (read lame) B20A is the one in the 3g Prelude. It's sort of backwards from the regular B20A. It tilts the wrong way, and might be difficult to fit all the manifolds and everything in your engine bay and still keep the orientation. 140hp.
But basically the A20 is going to be the easiest to do. It's 120-125hp, but all parts are available here in the US. It's probably going to be the closest motor that will go in there with the least amount of work. I don't know that anybody's done it. Not sure what you would do for your axles. Your Prelude axles will have smaller stubs, but maybe you could retrofit some 3g Accord, or 2g Prelude hubs to make the outer ends of the A20 shafts fit, but you'd need to shorten the axles due to the 1g Prelude being considerably narrower. Though it's a possibility that the transmission splines for the axles are the same size as the A18/ES2 (2g Prelude carb/2g Accord) and you could run your stock axles. It would definitely take some research sizing things up to make sure it will all work. But you would definitely see some serious benefit. With that light of a car, the 120hp will feel like a huge improvement. And the fuel economy benefits of the fuel injection will probably get you around 35mpg.
Shit I don't now how I missed that you said you were in Europe. I'm a terrible reader. You can probably find B20A engines fairly easy. Mounting it is pretty much the same as the A20. Do you have pictures of your current mount setup? I know your car has those two weird dogbone mounts on the front and back lower part of the engine. The B20 and A20 both have dogbone mounts that connect to the firewall, so that could be an issue. I'm also wondering if you have the mounts like the 2g Accord has, that tilt in towards eachother, or the flat mounts like the 1g Accord.
Last edited by 2ndGenGuy; 01-23-2010 at 11:03 PM.
an a20a3 would be plenty of power for a 1g lude
A B20A would be plenty more
I can't really say which one of the engines it has. I haven't seen it in life yet nor have I seen photos of the car.Originally Posted by 2ndGenGuy
The ad says its its a 1988 Prelude so that would make it a 3g but... it could also be a late 1987 2g that was sold/registered in 1988..
So until the seller sends me some photos or info I can't say anything.
it would be the 2nd one he stated as you said it has 4WS, which didn't come on the 2nd gen preludes
OK, thanks, that it then, B20A 3g...
.. so I should forget about this engine?
I will be looking out for a A20A3 then.
Making custom mounts shouldn't be that hard. Will I be able to use the original drive shafts?
What im looking for is a swap that won't require making drive shafts (because it's too expensive here). A fuel injection engine would be great.
If I can't find a good swap I will just work on the stock engine and try to boost the power.
where is here and what's expensive?
dead white and blue
Here is Portugal and a couple of months ago I had a prop shaft modified for a van and the machine shop took a month to do the job and it was pretty expensive. (I don't recall how much, my father paid for it...)
So I would like to avoid having to modify the drive shafts.
I seen this swap: http://www.cardomain.com/ride/648980/12
B18A1 from 90/91 Integra
But drive shafts had to be made...
there is a website called http://www.driveshaftshop.com/
they can make anything and of course it will be "expensive" but again you didn't tell me the price, because expensive for axles to me if they're custom made is like 600 dollars... so i dunno.
dead white and blue
I'm thinking that there are enough lengths and varieties of OEM style driveshafts out there that custom isn't going to be necessary. I'm working on a swap myself, and I expect to fit and return a few axles before I get the ideal lengths. I've upgraded to the large size splines however, and that gives me a far greater range of selection when it comes to axles.
Oh, and I'm assuming the Prelude, like my Accord which also has the EL 1602, has no room for forward exit exhaust between the block and front crossmember. Don't forget about this little detail.
ICHIBAN!
"Now, even more better!"
trying to remember but i think the one g lude has that same idiot combination sway bar, lower control arm locator bar, if it does get ahold of addco and replace it with the heavy duty one, if it breaks at speed one or the other of your front wheels will snap back into the wheel well locking up the wheel. It's not fun i've done it on early civics. those original bars act as a torsion bar, they twist, and after lots of years of twisting they start snapping.
By switching the splines you mean on the hub right?
All 1G Preludes in Europe used the 1.6 non-CVCC with 80hp.
Did you see this swap? http://www.cardomain.com/ride/648980/12
The exhaust exists in front and he modified the cross member so the exhaust could pass.
Wikipedia says this:
"The front mounted anti-roll bar served two functions on this vehicle, number one, to reduce body roll during cornering and number two, to act as the radius rod for the front suspension, this vehicle also featured a rear anti-roll bar as well. This design minimizes the typical front engine front wheel drive understeer while cornering near the limit and also limits the rear sliding behavior of vehicles with this drivetrain layout"
I didn't know about that fault, always good to be on the look out!
as far as I know addco still makes a replacement piece for it, I don't think Honda ever expected them to still be on the road this many years. I broke one on the interstate at about 70, spun the car out and ended up against the inner retaining wall. they usually snap right after the bend where they attach to the sway bar brackets, where the piece moves up and down. once the bar breaks there isn't anything keeping the wheel and lower control arm from rolling backwards and hitting the rear wheel well.
Here's the list with the part numbers for addco for honda they list all preludes till 84
http://02bbfb5.netsolhost.com/Honda-...bars.htm#Honda
This is great info!
I haven't actually bought the 1G yet (https://www.3geez.com/forum/showthread.php?t=71727)
But if/when I do this will be one of the first upgrades I will do!
Do you have an idea of how much it costs?
not anymore, you have to find a dealer and give them the part number, I think they cnc bend them on order so it will probably be special ordered.
Yeah, the EL 1602. Same as we got in Canada until '83.
And yes, I have Prelude Si 2nd gen hubs and bearings.
Yeah, I did that too. Years ago. https://www.3geez.com/forum/showthrea...t=57373&page=2
ICHIBAN!
"Now, even more better!"
Did you end up using the modified cross member or did you make one?
I'm going to use the modified one until I have time to make the new one. I already have a rough sketch kicking around here somewhere, it's gonna roughly resemble a Pacesetter CRX crossmember.
ICHIBAN!
"Now, even more better!"
Re: engine swap?
Ok, is it something like this?
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