Si or Vtec

I'm searching for a Prelude but I'm not sure what I want to do. Im having trouble finding the Vtec so I'm about to just get an Si and try and attempt to put a Vtec head on it. Id get a cheaper Si so I'd have the money to do the swap, depending on how much it would run. If someone could give me an estimate thatd be great. Also, gimme ur opinion on which i should do. Remember the Vtecs are impossible for me to find. I think I could do the swap, id just need to know exactly what I'd have to do to make the head fit and what to do w/ the vtec oil pressure lines and such.

Vtec preludes are very hard to find. I bought an 1995 prelude si and swapped it with an h22 engine. I would buy the whole engine rather than putting on just the heads. If you buy an engine from japan it should come around $1500 for an h22 vtec engine with less than 20miles on it. These motors come with 205 hp and 155 tq. Your better off just buying a whole motor.

not really, becasue for 1500 he could put on the H22 head with some cams amd bolt ons. plus hed have more displacement than you.

all you need is 100 bucks worth of oil lines, a new hadgasket (~$50), the vtec head(~$350), vtec ECU(~$100), some cams(~$600), intake (cheap with K&N cone(~$75)), headers(~$300), exhaust(go ot shop get a body pipe bent and a universal muffler(~200)

and there you go, for around 1700 bucks you got a plant that will SMOKE a stock prelude VTEC, not sure what a SI gearing is, that might be the downfall, but I still think with what you got right there, you will have wya more than the !200HP! of the stock H22, id say at least youd have like 210-220 if not more.

Ya Id like to put a turbo on the car, but i dont want the vtec head to dip into my budget

well, can you get a vtec for only 1700 more than the SI? if you dont want the vtec head to dip into your funds, than why did you ask about getting an SI and swapping on the head. because you will end up faster and still cheaper than a VTEC I think, not sure how much they are wherever you are but around here I can gret a SI way way cheaper and rarely ever see a vtec lude for sale

bout the vtec conversion, i dunno but wouldnt you want to do it the same way you do a lsvtec and build up the bottom end for the RPMs?

well, what is the stock redline for the H23 and what is the stock redline for the H22? I honestly dont know, but I dont see it being very far off, anyways, as long as you dont go crazy all the time you should be fine, I have only really read about b series, not sure about the strengths of the H seris but I know with a LSVTEC, I saw a setup pushing 231 WHP using stock LS bottom end (besides the high comp forged pistons)

well, what is the stock redline for the H23 and what is the stock redline for the H22? I honestly dont know, but I dont see it being very far off, anyways, as long as you dont go crazy all the time you should be fine, I have only really read about b series, not sure about the strengths of the H seris but I know with a LSVTEC, I saw a setup pushing 231 WHP using stock LS bottom end (besides the high comp forged pistons)

I think that a h23vtec would push a little over 200hp but with torque that would embarrass any b16

oh for sure, embarrass a B20 pretty bad too. 200 WHP would be something like 240 at the crank. I dont think a simple head swap would get you there, but I bet for the price of a VTEC he could have a SI with the head swap, some cams, bolt ons, nice fly/clutch combo, soem tuning and easily embarass an unsuspecting VTEC lude owner.

So PunkAlex, your saying build up the block instead of the head or what?

well, if you wanna rev to high rpms, it mgiht not be safe on the stoc block, if you find what the r/s ratio is of a H23 and of the H22 and they are very similar then the stress on the sleeves chould be very similar, and if you arent upping the compression you "should" be safe on the stock block. the head will of course handle the revs in stock form because it is coming off of the vtec motor, and if you plan on going farther into the build anytime soon after the main swap, I would build the block first, beef it up and bolt on the stock head, cuz later on to build the head the engine doesnt have to come out, just take off the head and have it sent out and built, but if you do the head now later you have to pull the engine and then build it up and reinstall the block. these are my 2 oppinions,

1. if you arent planning on spending alot and just want a bit of power, mild built head on stock block.

2. if you plan to keep dumping more and more to get faster and faster then build the block first as you most likely will have the block out to run the oil lines easier already. and wont have to remove the engine later, but if you are goign to ba able to run all lines without taking out the engine then I would do #1, then save up and pull it and do everything like clutch/flywheel, block strengthening, anything you could do to not have to pull it out again.

where did you see an H22 for $1500? somehow, i doubt that.

hes probabyl talking about just the longblock, that is easily found for 1500, even cheaper. But the swap, I have found it for 2200 I think.

and isn't the h22's redline at 7200. that's low so i couldn't imagine the h23's being below 6500 and it's most likely higher than that. so the bottom end should be fine

I have an H22 in my prelude, its max redline is 8,500 rpm

i know someone in ohio that has a 92-95 model for sale. it is the v-tec and it was bored out to like 2.4 liters and it is lowered, has exhaust, and a couple other things. its real dark green. i think he is asking somewhere around 5600. just thought you might like to know if you are close to ohio.

do you have a 97+ then? cuz I dont se the older H22's revving higher than the B16's. not sure the differences between the 200HP and the newer 220HP versions, but 8500 is high. or is it that hgih after you did some engine work/ecu tuning

how many miles are on the one in ohio.

i think he said 140,000 on the body and then like 60,000 on the new engine. some where around there. if you are intereseted let me know and i will try to get ahold of him. where are you located?

I am in washington but that sounds dirt cheap, around here I would have to pay more than that for a SI with more miles. well, until I found a great deal around here but havent yet. they sometimes come around but I dont see many VTECs for sale in my price range often. but I thought my civic would be runnign and for sale to get that extra buit of dough but no luck, is still sits in the driveway undrivable so I will have to continue to work on it.