buy stock or swap into?

[Darkwing]

I've read alot of stuff about swapping the H22 prelude engine into a civic. It sounds crazy to me, if not illegal. Now I live in arkansas, where emission consevationists are laughed at and called tree huggers. You literally see bigfoot 5' tire trucks rumbling down the roadways at freeway speeds regularly around here. Trucks getting less than 8mpg and polluting more than a city bus. With one small hick driving it to work. So obviously no one will give a darn what I've got under my hood, as far as legal goes. What I want to know, is would it be cheaper and better to just buy a prelude and give it I/H/E or would it be cheaper and better to buy a small civic hatch and drop in the H22? or even into my car? I don't care about difficulty or time, I want to know torque and Hp differences and cost differences. I already know the drawbacks to haveing the swap, but are they worth it over buying a stock prelude?

[Rice-Rocketeer]

Preludes are expensive cars compared to civics. I tried to get one but they were too expensive. I settled for the civic.

[delsolguy]

Preludes are great cars, but like RR said, expensive. If you want a Lude, but can't afford a newer one, look for a '92-'96 VTEC (I believe those were the years).

But FYI, a Civic with a Prelude engine will be faster than the Prelude.

[ric]

Originally posted by delsolguy
Preludes are great cars, but like RR said, expensive. If you want a Lude, but can't afford a newer one, look for a '92-'96 VTEC (I believe those were the years).

But FYI, a Civic with a Prelude engine will be faster than the Prelude.

i totally agree.

i did the same thing, i coudnt take the civic anymore so i bought a lude. and i absolutly love it. its not the fastest car but its a fine one. test drive one and you'll see what i mean. im by no means telling you to sell your civic but the lude is a whole different thing.

[madtownhonda]

it's not difficult to put a h22 in your car...not illegal either, as long as it's from the same year or newer than your car

[clatescivicr]

I don't want to seem like a dick or as if I know everythign about swapping a lude into a civic, nor have I ever done it. But I have read info about it. But could you describe to me what your definition of difficult is? Because why do installers charge so much...engine cost 2400, but then why does it cost 4500 INSTALLED<that means with the engine and tranny and the rest of the changeover things..is this good now Nick >? that is for a 95 jdm prelude swap into a 5th gen civic ex. Also after that you HAVE to upgrade suspsenion to be tighter, there was a guy I was talking to and he only had integra gsr shocks, and lowering springs on his civic, and he said it road better than stock, but was still going to upgrade more with suspension. But don't make it seem like its a drop in swap like a GSR. Because the way I read you post, was that it wasnt that hard at all, but then why don't a lot of people have it? And I am not talking down the h22a in a civic, because I myself was looking into it big time, but I am still deciding on what I want to do with my car. I think its a great swap to have, but its not an "easy" swap.

But onto the orignal poster...
Its not illegal to put an h22a in a civic aslong as the engine is the same year or newer than your car. But could you be more specific about cheaper? What are you do you want your car to be? If you want just speed, why would you want the Prelude? The thing is a tank compared to a civic. And what year prelude would you be looking at? 92-96 prelude vtecs are practically impossible to find in my area, I dont know about yours. A civic and a prelude are to DIFFERENT cars...

Originally posted by madtownhonda
it's not difficult to put a h22 in your car...not illegal either, as long as it's from the same year or newer than your car

[Darkwing]

[i]originally posted by clatescivicr:
But onto the orignal poster...
Its not illegal to put an h22a in a civic aslong as the engine is the same year or newer than your car. But could you be more specific about cheaper? What are you do you want your car to be? If you want just speed, why would you want the Prelude? The thing is a tank compared to a civic. And what year prelude would you be looking at? 92-96 prelude vtecs are practically impossible to find in my area, I dont know about yours. A civic and a prelude are to DIFFERENT cars...


[/b]

ok, maybe I am not being clear on what I am trying to find out here, judging by y'alls totally misdirected responses. No offense intended. I will lay it on the line for ya. It goes like this: I am gonna need a new car in a few years, as my engine has been used hard and long and shouldn't last more than 2 to 3 more years. I am looking ahead into the future!! First, lets take the Prelude. How much would it cost (roughly) to buy a late 90's model and simply add I/H/E to it and have a little fun with accesories? That's my first question. Next is what kind of power will I be weilding with the Prelude? Now to move on, Let's take my civic. Say I keep it when the engine goes kaput and I swap in the H22a. Say then that I upgrade everything I need to make it work right in my civic (suspension, axles, cooling, brakes, etc). Now I add I/H/E and a few accesories. How much would that cost (again, roughly)? Now how much power would I have compared with the aforementioned Prelude? (assuming the Prelude engines were both as good as new)

I hope this makes it clearer what I am trying to get at. I care nothing for the legality, difficulty, or time it would take to do either of these projects.

[fast]

one of the reasons the motor swap for the h22 costs so much is that you have to buy the mounts which are like 5 bills. another is that the motor won't fit into the engine bay and the installers have to shave the walls, that's like another g.

[fast]

another thing to remember would be that you only NEED to get the motor, tranny, axles, ecu, mounts, and components for all afore mentioned parts. i'm getting the swap in 2 months and it's going to cost $5000.

[markpa]

5000 grand for a h22...sounds like a ripoff to me.

[kane2g]

Within last month or so, my bro has sold his 92 cx hatch for 1600 and his 92 lude for 3700. There is no place that i know of that you could get H22 swao for 2K. SO my advice is take 4K and get a prelude.

[fast]

well, actually i'm getting the swap for about 4k, but i'm looking to get head work from port flow which will run me about 1k, thus $5000

[hondatool]

but u can have that creative of being different cuz not eveyone has a prelude engine in a civic as opposed to swapping a b18 or even a b16 in a d16 civic...its not somthing u see eveyday...plus you wont have to pay a high ass sports car insurance for the prelude....just the regular insurance of the little ol civic...hehe...my thoughts on that

[JayFidizzy]

well if anyone wants to buy a new prelude buy it now because thats it they killed the lude it will not be back for the 2003 lineup.

[hobbesboarder]

correct me if im wrong but doesnt a H22A in a civic create understeer.