H22a Civic Swap Guide

[CivicSpoon]

This is all the info I know on this subject as well as information I have found around the net (mostly wiring). If you have any questions or information to add to this thread, please feel free to do so. And if anyone has more info on the '96-'00 part of this swap (especially wiring), it'd be a great help. Hope this helps to inform a lot of people. Thanks to MiataRacer for letting me do this, and looking over my big mistakes (or should I say lengthy mistakes ). Here we go:

For the most part all of this information pertains to any H-series and any F-series (with exception of the F20c S2000 motor) swap into a Civic.

The myths and truths about the Civic H22a swap. Some have said this motor is too big to fit, you need to move or cut the firewall, and the motor weighs any where from 180-220lbs more than a B-series. In a '92-'00 Civic (and in general, respectively) none of this information is true. First the motor is only slightly larger in size compared to the B-series motors. Next, the big myth of the massive weight everyone hears about. Does the motor weigh more than the D's and B's? Yes, it absolutely does. However, there is only a difference of 35-50lbs. Here is a link of someone who was nice enough to actually weight an h22a, b16a, and a d16: http://www.honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=684550 Now you may be thinking, "well he didn't weigh the heads or intake manifolds, so how do you figure it doesn't weigh a lot more than just 35-50lbs?" Well. The answer is that it's quite obvious that an engine's head will weigh less than its short block. So if the short block of an H22a weighs only 19lbs more than the B16a short block, then you have to figure the heads will be of a similar weight difference. Now I will cover the under steer issue. The extra weight of the H22a is not enough to cause under steer. Think about how much a turbo manifold, turbo, waste gate, and any other bolt-on that adds weight to a motor; will all be weight in addition to a B-series swap. After it's all done, you'll be adding a decent amount of weight to the motor. Now it might not come out to 35-50lbs, but its still weight. Now is the weight considerable enough to create under steer on your car? No, it's not enough to cause a problem. Now think about maybe 10-20lbs more and it will be comparable to the H22a's weight. However, the added weight of the motor (along with tilt) can in fact cause camber and toe problems on the front. That is one reason you will need to get better springs and shocks, or coilovers when you do this swap. The occurrence of under steer comes from the way the motor is tilted. Because of the motor being tilted back slightly, the weight of the motor becomes improperly balanced.

Now to the info on the swap. This swap is not a straightforward swap such as with a D-series or B-series motor. Don't let the price of the "complete swap" fool you, there is more involved. Prepare to spend around $4,000 or upwards of $5,000 for all parts and possibly some extras thrown in. The mounts and axles you get with a complete swap will not work with this application. For mounts, you will need to buy from an aftermarket company. There are a few companies that sell these mounts; Hasport, HCP Engineering, Place Racing (now out of business, or possibly back in business yet again), Enjo, and E-bay mounts. When considering mounts think of it this way; is the cheaper cost of E-bay or no-name mounts worth risking your life for? There have been many instances of people reporting online that their cheap e-bay mounts have broken, some even within the first week or even the first day. There have also been many accounts of problems with the fitment of enjo and place racing mounts. After 3 years of researching this swap, I have yet to hear a completely satisfied custom of either of those 2 companies. Though I will say I have no personal knowledge of either of these companies’ products, because I have yet to meet anyone who used them after reading reviews. So that leaves Hasport and HCP as very reputable companies as a source of mounts. Of course Hasport is a legend when it comes to mount kits. HCP is also a very good company, and many people aren't aware but they have a partnership with Energy Suspension who supplies them with their mount bushings. The one negative thing I can say about HCP is that their rear mount bushings have a tendency to tear and need to be replaced after a while. Other than this problem, their mounts are great. When putting in the mounts, I cannot stress enough to read the instructions that come with the mounts; when figuring out the order of bolting down the mounts. When I helped my friend put an H22a in his '95 Civic, he bolted them in the wrong order and they would not fit properly. After starting the process over again and reading the instructions, they went in fine and fit perfectly. Also an important point here is that you will need a rear tranny bracket from a USDM '92-'96 Prelude. Now moving onto axles. There are a couple axle combinations with will work with this motor. You can use a '90-'93 Accord intermediate shaft and '90-'93 Integra axles. Another choice is using the '92-'96 Prelude intermediate shaft with a '90-'93 Integra passenger side axle, and a '88-'89 Integra drivers side w/a '92-'96 Prelude inner joint converted on that axle. There are also a few companies that make axles specifically for this swap, so if you have the $; go for it.

Now lets talk about some cutting. With HCP mounts if you look at the mount bracket attached to the engine bay, on the tranny side; you will see a little hole behind the larger hole. You will need to drill this hole out big enough to put the mount bolt thru it, because this is where your new mount will attach. Next you will need to cut that mount bracket straight along the line of the inner edge of the original hole. Here is a pic to show where you need to cut, and how much: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...rannymount.jpg It doesn't need to be cut exactly to this extent, just enough to clear the shifter and the transmission. For Hasport mounts, you will need to cut the entire tranny mount bracket off; it comes with a new mount bracket to use. Now you're done with the cutting in the engine bay, now moving onto the cabin of the car. You will need to remove the center console (around shifter, cup holder, and e-brake) and the carpet around the area (temporary). You will now need to cut 2 holes. One toward the front for the cables and the other to make the shifter hole bigger. Here is a link of where you need to cut the holes and how big they need to be cut: http://h22hybrid.20m.com/photo6.html <-Great site BTW.

Next is some wiring. You will need to wire up a resistor box for the injectors. For wiring of these you will need to check out this link: http://www.hondata.com/techinjectorwiring.html Now for the wiring harness. You've got 2 options when it comes to wiring. The first and easiest would be to send out your engine harness to Hasport or HCP; and have them do all the wiring for you. Of course this costs more $ to do, around $300-350. But if you choose to do it yourself here is some info that should help. You will need to extend some wires from your existing harness. These are the Starter solenoid and alternator. You will have to wire up the H22a reverse light plug, just match the wires up by color. Then you need to add some wires to the ECU. Here are the wires you need to add:

A4 VTEC Solenoid - green/yellow
A11 EGR Control Solenoid - red2
A17 IAB Solenoid Valve (Signal) - pink
A19 Intake Control Solenoid Valve - white
A20 EVAP Purge Control Solenoid - red/green
A25 IAB Solenoid Sensor Voltage/EGR Lift Sensor+Solenoid, Sensor Voltage - yellow/black
A26 VTEC Pressure Switch Ground - black/red
D3 Knock Sensor - red/blue
D6 VTEC Pressure Switch - light blue or light green
D12 EGR Valve Lift Sensor (Signal) - white/black
D19 EGR Valve Lift Sensor 5V (Shares w/MAP) - red/white
(Thanks to Hondata.com and AcesHigh for the pinouts to figure this out. For AcesHigh's pinout look here: http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/t211027.html)

Other info:
-The '96 JDM H22a is in fact still an OBD-1 motor. As far as I know this is the only OBD-1 motor Honda made in '96.
-When hooking up the throttle cable, you will need to flip the throttle cable bracket upside down.
-If you're swapping this into a '92-'95 CX or VX, then you will need to convert the O2 sensor over to a 4-wire O2. Here is how you would go about doing this: http://www.hybridautomotive.com/tech/o2/ *Correction* - Only some CX's have the 1-wire O2 Sensor, my '94 actually has a 4-wire.
-You'll need to buy a longer fuel line, a Del Sol VTEC lower radiator hose, a '92-'93 Integra LS upper radiator hose, thinner fan (highly recommended), and a better radiator is recommended (a dual core Del Sol radiator will work well).
-You will also need better springs and shocks (or coilovers) with a stiffer spring rate. This will help greatly with under steer and uneven tire wear from the little added weight of the motor. This should be considered part of the swap and not just an option.
-Also some good extras are a full bushing kit, traction bar, and other suspension add-ons. These will help with under steer as well as help get the newly found power to the ground.
-If you're swapping this in a economy car such as the CX or VX, then you will need to get a better fuel pump also. The stock fuel pumps will not be enough for the much bigger motor. *Correction* - All '92-'95 Civics have the same fuel pump, they all share the same part # (17040-SR1-A31).

Edit - Fixed some wording errors

[Miataracer]

Thank you CivicSpoon for taking the time out to make this thread. I hope that it will help people to understand more of what is involved with the H22 swap into the Civic.


If anyone has any additional info about the swap to add to this thread please feel free to do so.


**This is the one and only warning for this thread, flaming and off topic posts will not be tolerated.**

[cjcivic]

i was wondering if it is possible to have my power steering and a/c stay after i do the h22a swap on my civic.

[CivicSpoon]

I believe it depends on which mount kit you get, in regards for the A/C. But for power steering; you need a '97+ PS pump and bracket as wells as a high pressure line that will fit the 2 different ends (1 to fit prelude pump and 1 to fit civic end).

[cjcivic]

is there alot of work involved with modifying the wiring harnesses to install the h22 motor? if so how mcuh and does anyone have a wiring diagram for it?

[CivicSpoon]

You can send out your harness to hasport, HCP, or Place Racing. It should cost around $300, you'll also need to send out your existing harness; so it will cost you shipping to and back.

Otherwise you can do it yourself with the H22a pinout link above and compare it to the pinout for your existing car. Here's a pinout for the b16a to compare it to: http://www.hasport.com/Tech/Wring/VT...comparison.htm (mostly the same as your existing pinout)

[94civicHBsi]

thank you for all the imput you all! i really have been considering doing this swap! if you can think of any other information that will help please let me know!

[Skunk2R]

For about 3,500

Japan-specifications
H22A-S (JDM)
5-Speed Manual Hydraulic Transmission
ECU
Distributor
Intake Manifold
Exhaust Manifold
Alternator
Air Conditioning Pump
Power Steering Pump
Vtec Solenoid
Half Shaft

-10,000-20,000 miles
-2157cc (DOHC VTEC)
-Horsepower: 223hp@7200rpm
-Torque: 163lbs-ft@6500rpm
-Compression: 11.0:1
-Bore: 87mm
-Stroke: 90.7mm
-OBD: 2

[CivicSpoon]

Originally Posted by Skunk2R

For about 3,500

But that's not including the mounts, axles, suspension, and odds and ends you will need to do the swap. Also cutting (possibly welding) and wiring.

[Skunk2R]

damn...you know fuck it...im just gonna buy a cheap b16 or b18 and just do that till i save up enough money, hah

[Uneek4L]

Originally Posted by Skunk2R

damn...you know fuck it...im just gonna buy a cheap b16 or b18 and just do that till i save up enough money, hah

You can get jdm h22 wid lsd tranni and computer for 2000... plus anotehr like 300 to ship.... If your going to pay 3500 for th emotor you might as well just go k20...

[CivicSpoon]

Originally Posted by Uneek4L

You can get jdm h22 wid lsd tranni and computer for 2000... plus anotehr like 300 to ship.... If your going to pay 3500 for th emotor you might as well just go k20...

It'd still be a lot more than $3,500 to get a K-series into a civic.

[Toke138]

Miataracer, nice fc3s!

*fap* *fap* *fap*

/me wants one.

[ZedEx]

We just dropped an H22A into our Project Hatchback... I'll post pictures up soon. The motor is AMAZING.

We purchased the powertrain for $2,000. That was for the entire swap, we just had to purchase the mounts from Hasport.

The only problems that we encountered was that we had to purchase a lower-profile radiator fan. The stock fan shrowd was making too much contact with the block. The wiring was quite simple, just follow the instructions, and it all works out fine.

The swap wasn't hard at all, difficulty wise, it was no harded than the GSR swap we did into our 1999 Civic EX.

I would highly recommend the H-Series swap to anyone who's looking to get some high power.

-Wes

[CivicSpoon]

Originally Posted by ZedEx

The wiring was quite simple, just follow the instructions, and it all works out fine.

Do you by chance have a copy of the wiring? I want to make sure that the wiring I gave above is correct (I'd feel horrible if someone used what I wrote and it was wrong).