In early '99 I bought a 1988 Accord LX. The car came a reasonable $3300 with a blown stereo, a shot water pump and a leaky valve cover gasket. The popup headlights, AC, Cruise Control, Power Steering, locks, and and power windows all worked flawlessly. The car was comfortable, easy to drive, and got good gas mileage. I was in college. Things were great. After fixing the assorted minor problems (it took 16 hours to install the new water pump--that's minor?!), I had a good car with AC that could get to me class in the 100+ degree summer heat we in the desert must suffer through. After college came work, and in the summer of 2002, car trouble.
It started as simple hesitation... later I would have to flail at the gas pedal like a scorned lover to get my car through rush hour traffic. Turning on the AC was impractical when you couldn't idle. A thorough check of the fuel and ignition systems turned up a bevy of problems. Most of the vacuum solenoids were shot, the carb was malfunctioning badly, and the engine was running lean and toasting spark plugs with unnerving enthusiasm. I won't mention the state of the distributor cap. The block seemed good, and it was burning on a 'little' bit of oil. To make this long story short, I chose an engine swap, and I chose to swap in a JDM H22A.
From 1992-1995, the Japanese Domestic Market (JDM) Prelude VTEC was equipped with a closed deck, four cylinder, 2.2 liter fire breathing monster that put down 200+ hp. The engine went to an inferior closed deck design in 1996. A special head and intake were fitted on it for the European only Accord Type R for several years. The US go their VTEC Prelude in 1993 and with it the mighty H22A1. I'm... not sure if there was a difference between this engine and the JDM H22A. So far, I haven't heard of a single one. The engine remained a performance staple of the Prelude for several more years, with moderate fuel consumption, frightening torque, and respectable horsepower.
The engine in this swap apparently comes from a 1993 model Prelude. This assumption is based on scouring Chilton's wiring diagrams until a close match could be found. All JDM H22A's are ODB-I engines, this motor being no exception. It uses a P-13 computer, an internal coil distributor, a dual-stage intake manifold (vacuum actuated), and is equipped with a manual transmission.
Let's get right down to it. The clip was ordered from Soko, a pleasant company to deal with, and delivered on a pallet. Obviously, the car is right-hand drive, and has the normal Prelude dash. There was a coffee cup stain on the dash as well... have to talk to them about that. Right away, the cruft on top of the engine had to be removed. The AC system was purged, and the fluids drained (the engine was supposed to be drained of fluids, but arrived with a full radiator and full oil pan). Both the coolant and oil looked pristine. Not surprising, as the car's odometer spoke of only 95 thouand kilometers having passed it's tread.
A word of warning: You can pause now and drain and remove the transmission. If you elect to take out the radiator before you remove the transmission, leave the hoses connected to the engine. Tie those suckers out of the way. When you remove the transmission, you'll rock the engine quite a bit. If these hoses have been removed, latent coolant can run out of the engine and will most likely just happen to pour directly into your differential. Don't ask how I know. ;)
The intake is a mass of useless plastic held down with a few small bolts and clips. Strip all that crap out of the way. There's some kind of solenoid and butterfly valve in this system, just ahead of the driver's side tire (remember, right hand drive?). Keep that for now. Unplug and remove the radiator fans. One of these is actually called the condenser fan, but since I'll be junking them in favor of a single low-profile fan, that doesn't matter anyway. Unbolt the radiator (the mounting should be obvious), and pull it free. Unbolt the AC hoses, using a backup wrench! Just take out the stuff at the front. I did tell you to vent the AC system already, didn't I? You can have some HVAC guys come to your house / shop and drain that sucker if you feel uncomfortable messing with it.
Hey, we can kinda see what our engine looks like! Now you get to start removing wiring. The main engine harness is attached to the intake manifold and can safely remain there. Don't mess with it. Drain the P/S system and remove the P/S pump and resivoir. Disconnect the throttle cable from the throttle body. Unbolt the miscellaneous wiring brackets that cover the transmission mount. Next, if you plan to re-use the Prelude's hydraulic clutch, you can remove the system however you see fit. I drained it from the slave cylinder, then removed as much of it as I could. Disconnect the cable shifting mechanism at the transmission, then do the same at the shifter. The cables pass through the bottom of the firewall using a rubber plate that is easily popped loose--it will remain safely connected to the cables. When you remove the cables from the shifter, get out some electrical tape and tape the ends. Otherwise the plastic bushings will come out and disappear into the aether--Not Fun. Back at the transmission, just put the washer and plastic bushings back in place and stick the cotter pins back in their holes. Yes, there's a plastic bushing in that greasy mess. Clean that stuff up and make sure you have both of them, one for each cable. Disconnect the fuel filter and save the fittings that connect to it. One goes to the fuel rail on the engine. The other is hard tubing mounted to the car. You can pinch off a section and bend it back and forth until it breaks, cut it with tubing cutters, cut through it with a cut off wheel... the choice is yours. You'll need this to get the filter mounted up in the Accord.
Remove the battery tray and accessories. Bend the brake likes out of the way. Carefully, very carefully, remove the hoses from the evaporation canister (that black coffee can like thing with a hose that goes to the top of the throttle body). Remove the canister--it just slides off that convenient mount. FYI, the Accord has an identical mount in the same place, lucky! Remove the grounding wires, as there are several of them. Remove all wiring that is connected to the transmission. Cut or remove the two lines leading to the speed sensor on the rear of the transmission. Yes, power steering fluid goes through this unit. I can't seem to get the Accord unit into this transmission, so I decided to convert to electric. Thus, I'm taking the whole sensor out with the transmission. Drain the transmission. The drain plug is easy to find--it's a recessed square head nut that a 3/8" rachet will fit into. With the fluid out, pin up all the coolant lines and remove the axles.
The axles are the fun part. You'll have to either pop loose the hub nut or remove most of the front suspension. There's only 1 hub nut per side (vs. 12 suspension bolts), but only the hub nut requres a damn air impact gun to remove. Take your pick. I removed the hub nut, the lower ball joint nut (use a gear puller to separate the lower control arm from the ball join), and disconnected the strut. With these components loose / removed, it was easy to pull the hub end of the axle loose from the hubs. A friend is a good thing to have right here. Next, get under the car with a very large screwdriver or a short crowbar and gently pry the axles loose from the transmission. Be forewarned that the passenger axle has an intermediate shaft that must be unbolted from the engine block before you start prying on anything. Disconnecting the exhaust prior to doing this may help your clearance a little bit, but isn't necessary yet. Got the axles out? Good. Throw a jack under the tranny. You can also use the front and rear hangers on the transmission to hook it up to an engine hoist to make this easy...
With the transmission carefully supported, remove the transmission mount, starter and associated wiring, and unbolt the transmission from the engine. Remove the splash shield (near the oil pan at the bottom of the transmission. You will now be able to see the flywheel behind it. Don't forget the little brace that bolts to the engine block right behind the front engine mount. With a little wiggling, the transmission should slide off the pins holding it to the engine. It weighs about eighty pounds or so... good thing I had hooked it up to that engine hoist. Lower the transmission to the floor, cover it, and push it out of the way.
I apologize for the rough halt, but duty calls. I will continue the JDM teardown in a few days.
p.s. I will be adding pic links from the main car page shortly so that you can kinda see what I'm talking about.