EK series motor Questions. 800 HP Accord possible? The Answer is yes.

[81 honda cobra]

Hello everybody my name is Dan and this is my first post to this forum. Some quick info about me, the first car I ever owned was a 1981 Honda Accord LX. It was my daily driver for years until I decided to turn it into a pro street hot rod To make a long story short I turned it to a rear wheel drive street machine! I had built a custom tube frame chassis, and dropped a 427 cubic inch big block V8 into it and I named it the Honda Cobra. But sadly I lost it in a fire about 5 years ago (I'll have to see if I can dig up some old pictures and post them) But I still have the original 1.8L EK1 engine from the honda cobra I'd like to restore it and squeeze as much power out of it as I can, and eventually put it into another 81 LX, I have lots as questions. My first one is about cylinder head swaps. I've heard about people putting ELheads on EK1 motors. However I've heard a lot of mixed things about those swaps and would like to hear from some one who has done this or knows some one who has done this. Is it possible? What kind of other mods or machine work is going to be required to do this?

[2ndGenGuy]

Dude! I think I have seen pics of your car before. They've probably been floating around this forum for years! When you get some more posts, post up the pics. I'm sure you're famous here, and I never thought you'd show up. Sad to hear that it burned up in a fire. Must be super painful to see so much hard work disappear.

So your idea is to build a super-pissed EK then eh? The EL head WILL go on the EK block, just bolt it on. In fact, I think the blocks themselves are the same, and the real difference in the bottom end is that the EK is a stroker version of the EL, maybe there are some reliefs in the block for the longer throw crank. So, yeah, EL head, EK block, it's what Jackson Racing used to sell for Civic guys way back in the day. I assume you'd be doing some forced induction, and some serious forged internals? Convert to fuel injection?

[81 honda cobra]

Well I'm not totally sure what I want to yet, I just got this idea in my head so I'm kinda wingin it. but I'd like to get some good power out of it. I'd like to keep it carbureted. Because I'm an old school hot rod type and I'd rather see a big carb sitting on top of a motor then some fuel rails. And as far as forced induction goes, I didn't really now that was possible in a EK motor. I don't know a lot about these engines so I really appreciate any help you all can give me

And yeah I still cry some times about my honda cobra lol, but luckily I was working the grave yard shift that night when it happened and I didn't get hurt. (The neighbors house caught fire and preceded to set my shop a blaze) But one day I'm start building another one when I'm feeling ambitious enough.

Does any know any one that's some of the EL heads for sale? Or should I just start hunting Online?

[81 honda cobra]

Well today on break I did some quick googling trying to find some EL heads and I think its gonna be a real B!(+* to find some :/ But if I was to ever to find some would I need to use a different cam? Or just machine the stock one in my EK-1 to work?

[Hazwan]

Where is this said PICS, and yum this sounds interesting. Post up the updates and details whenever you can.

[2ndGenGuy]

Just make a trip up to BC and start rummaging through the yards up there. Or call some yards and see if they'll ship to you. All of the 1g Accords up there got EL motors.

Honestly, without forced induction, I'm not sure how much power you're going to make. I know that with some big sidedrafts and a good header, you can probably get quite a bit more out of it than it came with. I imagine if you do a full build, like high compression pistons, some headwork, blah blah, you might get be impressed how the little car goes. But it will never be anywhere near what the big block did.

Everything you're going to want though, is going to be custom made, and probably very expensive. There are a few headers floating around, and some intake manifolds to fit some Webers, but that's about all you're going to be able to do on a stock engine. High compression pistons, and oversized valves will all have to be custom ordered.

Forced induction is also going to be 100% fabricate yourself. There used to be a blow-thru (or was it suck through?) turbo kit from Jackson Racing and a couple other companies out there, but I've never even seen a picture of one that is still in existence.

This guy has some good information on these engines, as he has one in his Civic. His is pretty built up. http://www.roadsailing.com/

[Ichiban]

I'll sell you mine. #7 and 8 lobes are round, due to notoriously poor oiling. John knows me. $75 plus shipping.

Edit: I see you're in Oregon. If you want to drive up and get it, you can have it.

2nd Edit: The bolt pattern is different between some models of EK/EL engines. Mine is an 82, so it has the newer inline bolt pattern.

3rd Edit: I'm sure the cams are the same. You will want to get a custom grind.

[SZfiftyfour]

Some times I swear I pop back into the forums at just the right moment.
Car in question thread: https://www.3geez.com/forum/showthread.php?t=70006
although this ones files were named '82

I'll sell you mine. #7 and 8 lobes are round, due to notoriously poor oiling. John knows me. $75 plus shipping.

Edit: I see you're in Oregon. If you want to drive up and get it, you can have it.

2nd Edit: The bolt pattern is different between some models of EK/EL engines. Mine is an 82, so it has the newer inline bolt pattern.

3rd Edit: I'm sure the cams are the same. You will want to get a custom grind.

I really did wanna buy that off you but i started worrying about getting replacement parts (gaskets etc) down here. Wouldn't you need manifolds as well?

[81 honda cobra]

Ichiban I would very much like to buy that head from you. But I'd rather you ship it to me because with the price of gas I don't feel like driving lol. I'll have to take a look at the bolt pattern on my 81 EK motor and see what it is. And regarding the pictures that SZfiftyfour posted that car is not mine. My car was very similar to that but it was two-tone, candy orange on the top half and black on the bottom half separated by a small silver stripe along the side. And the front end of mine was different because mine was an 81 and not a 82. But mine did not have a cowl induction style hood like that one does. How ever mine did had a big blower poking out the top of it

Thank you 2ndGenGuy for the info. I am gonna do a total rebuild and as far as all the custom work goes I can probably do most of the machine work my self and what ever I can't do I got friends that can. And I don't know what kinda of power I'm gonna get but whatever I do get I'll be happy with. I'm rebuilding this motor more for sentimental value then any thing else. My V8 powered honda might be gone but I still got the original 4 cycle heart

[MessyHonda]

wow that is one sweet 2nd gen. good luck with your engine project

[obdriver6]

Thats a sick looking 2g!

[SZfiftyfour]

oh no brain fart. mistook 81 as 2gee im disappointed in myself. I been away too long it seems.
I'd still like to see pics of the 81

[81 honda cobra]

Hey guys thanks for all your input, I appreciate it. I hopefully will be getting an EL head for my EK1 soon from Ichiban (Thanks a bunch).

[LJ1987LX-I]

Here sometime later this year my '87 is going to get a 350/RWD conversion, it's good to see someone else on here ran a big V8 at one time in theirs.

[gfrg88]

Hey guys thanks for all your input, I appreciate it. I hopefully will be getting an EL head for my EK1 soon from Ichiban (Thanks a bunch). But I was wondering if you guys knew if there was any forced induction options for an EK1 motor.

I haven’t used any kind of forced induction in any of my cars or hot rods before. However a lot of my friends have been adding NOS, super charging, or turbo charging their cars lately and I’ve decided that I better hop on the band wagon and give it a try. I understand the basics of how they all work but any kind of info you can give me will be much appreciated.

Try reading a lot on realhomemadeturbo.com

A lot of good info in there.. Just be real careful, the guys there are pretty harsh on everyone.. specially noobs.

Good luck with everything

[81 honda cobra]

A couple weeks back I acquired the next possible Honda Cobra. I paid a grand total of $300 for it and it runs! Seems like a good buy. This weekend I'm gonna pull the motor and open her up. The plan is to inspect the block and decide weather to ditch it and go big block V8 OR to keep it and go custom everything. What do you guys think?

[2ndGenGuy]

Pretty clean whip for $300! Glad to see you're still around. If you can pack a V8 in there, and keep it all under the hood, that would be pretty sweet! I think that once it's in, you'll have a lot less heartache. However, I think it would be pretty sick to build up the original engine with a big turbo! But you'll be doing custom pistons, rods, etc. And you'll have to find a way to keep that head gasket in check! But nice purchase! Can't wait to see what you do with it! It's a light little car, 200hp will be all it needs to be a pretty quick car!

[81 honda cobra]

I had a some thoughts today on the new Honda Cobra. I was thinking about turbo options for an EK1 which I know of virtually none. I then had the thought "why not use a supercharger". I know some 07 mini coopers came equipped with Eaton M45 superchargers on their 1.6L L4's. I also know they produced about 170hp.

I figure it would be possible to use a Eaton M45 on an EK1 because of the similar displacement (1.8). I also believe that eaton M45 can be used with carbs in ethier "Blow-through" or "Draw-through" configurations.

What do you guys think of this idea? I also found this interesting custom setup in an old VW bus and have also seen similar setupsin VW bugs. Obviously in this video they are using a smaller model of an eaton on this smaller engine. I think I could do something similar to this in an EK1 what do you think? But mine would sound and look alot better

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbFxhdw8MpU

[Rendon LX-i]

wow very impressive man. Looks like alot of time and money was put into that 2nd gen. Sucks that a fire had to break out. Looking foward to see this new project come alive

[Vanilla Sky]

The number one problem with superchargers is the direction the engine spins, and as a result, belt routing. If you run into issues, try out a Toyota Previa supercharger. They can build a decent amount of boost, and they don't care which way they spin. A lot of those vans came with them, and most people don't know that they're in there, so they pass them over. It's a common upgrade for the supercharged MR2s.

[81 honda cobra]

The number one problem with superchargers is the direction the engine spins, and as a result, belt routing. If you run into issues, try out a Toyota Previa supercharger. They can build a decent amount of boost, and they don't care which way they spin. A lot of those vans came with them, and most people don't know that they're in there, so they pass them over. It's a common upgrade for the supercharged MR2s.

Thanks for the tip Vanilla Sky I'll look into the Previa superchargers. What pistons do you guys recommend for an EK1 bored 40 over?

[ATLien]

do you have any videos of the hatch? i also got the 1.8 ek1 ! let me know if you want to buy parts or let me know if you ditch the engine for a v8!

[2ndGenGuy]

Thanks for the tip Vanilla Sky I'll look into the Previa superchargers. What pistons do you guys recommend for an EK1 bored 40 over?

You're not going to find anything, unfortunately, other than aftermarket stock replacements. You'll have to get custom pistons made. Also that Previa supercharger is a good start, but won't get you 800hp.