the f20s are nice. they are basically the h23 motor. i did a h23 head swap on my f22. it runs great. the f22 are great motors. you can push 10 to 12 lbs of boost without hurting the motor. or you can put a 75 shot of nitrous on your car and blow away the h22s all day long. the f22 series engine are strong motors. the most populuar swaps are:
F20B DOHC VTEC---6th gen accord
1997cc
DOHC VTEC (blue valve cover)
200hp/7200rpm for manual tranny (SiR-T)
180hp/7200rpm for
auto tranny (SiR)
145tq/6600rpm
8200rpm redline manual (SiR-T) /7800rpm for auto (SiR)
11.0:1 compression ratio
85.0mm bore x 88.0mm stroke
LSD w/ 5 speed tranny
open deck
Similar to the h22a, but destroked to be legal for the 2.0 liter and under classes in the BTCC racing series. It can be tuned to 300hp N/A with enough money, but just seeing one of these swaps is rare.
There is also an F20B
SOHC that most non-JDM accords got and it only makes 150hp but is still the performance engine for a lot of markets.
PROS: different, more along the lines of the high revving b series motors than the traditional h and f series of the USDM, designed for racing applications initially from h and f series parts, so most parts are easily located.
CONS: more expensive way to 200 crank hp than a traditional h22a swap, harder to find a package that includes an LSD tranny and even harder to find an auto swap, but other trannies will bolt on from f and h series motors, OBD II (can be converted), peakier powerband but loves to be revved, boosting one of these high compression, open decked babies should be done with EXTREME care and some good tuning.
F20A (dohc) and F20B (sohc)---4th/5th gen accord
1997cc
F20A DOHC non-VTEC--obd I/F20B SOHC non-VTEC--obd II
150hp/6100rpm
137tq/5000rpm
6400rpm redline
9.5:1 compression ratio
85.0mm bore x 88.0mm stroke
closed deck and no LSD
These motors are similar in size to the F20B DOHC VTEC motor, but that comparison stops there. While the twin cam F20B is a destroked h22a, the single cam F20B and twin cam f20a are much more similar to the USDM f22's in our accords. They were designed to make more power/torque a little lower in the powerband while remaining simple in design and modest in potential in stock form. They run higher compression pistons than do our f22's, but the single cam f20b has a head similar to 94+ USDM f22b non-vtec while the f20a has a twin cam head similar to our h23 from the preludes. These motors are usually much easier to obtain and much cheaper, but aren't much of a step up from the motors already in there.
PROS: cheap, simple, easy to find and easy to install.
CONS: when compared to an f22a6 from an accord ex, you don't see much of an improvement, not to mention that they run higher compression to make slightly more power while making less torque and being a bit harder to put boost or nitrous on.
F22 (JDM) twincam and USDM H23A1---4th gen prelude
2156cc (f22) and 2258cc (h23a1)
160hp/6000rpm and 160hp/5800rpm
148tq/5000rpm and 156tq/5300rpm
6500rpm and 6500rpm redlines
9.2:1 and 9.8:1 compression ratio
85.0mm bore x 95.0mm stroke and 87.0mm bore x 95.0mm stroke
closed deck and no LSD
These are very similar motors and cheap alternatives to h22a's, yet still have serious potential, especially where turbos are concerned. The f22 is less common, but not hard to locate. The h23a1 is a USDM motor and is relatively easy to find too, especially when someone has swapped an h22a in place of it. Both are torquey as far as inline 4 hondas are concerned and make good useable power lower in the powerband. I'm not sure about the f22, but the h23 block will accept the h22 vtec head with some work and is similar to an ls/vtec setup.
PROS: good torque, easy to find, easy to install, accept boost better than a comparable h22a on stock internals
CONS: less power in the higher rpm, not equipped with VTEC (although one can be made to work)
JDM H22A and H22A(type s)---4th and 5th gen preludes and some accords
2156cc
JDM H22A (black valve cover) and H22A type-s (red valve cover)
200hp/6800rpm and 220hp/7200rpm
161tq/5500rpm and 163tq/6500rpm
7500rpm and 7500rpm redlines
10.6:1 and 11.0:1 compression ratios
87.0mm bore x 90.7mm stroke
closed deck until the 97+ model years, then they were open
all type s h22a's were 97+
LSD optional and the type s had LSD w/ATTS
The jdm h22a is the most common 4th generation accord motor swap because of it's relatively low price and availability. There are many different versions of these motors but only the USDM has numerical suffixes, i.e., h22a1 or h22a4. Most, if not all the JDM and other markets got the engines that only had the block code of H22A, but they aren't all the same motor and have little things to tell them apart.
The most common variation comes from the 92-96 JDM preludes, but some of the newer non-type s vtec ludes are donors as well, but are also OBD II and are a bit more difficult to swap into our accords since they are OBD I. They were all DOHC VTEC setups with the same design. The prelude type-s, on the other hand, was a step up from the basic h22a design. They offered this trim level starting in 1996 as a 1997 year model. It was similar to our type SH, but more powerful and like most
JDM counterparts, a little more refined. It was also available in the accord type r/euro r the same year.
It boasted a ported and polished head for starters, along with higher compression 11.0:1 pistons, increased valve lift on the intake and exhaust side (12.2mm and 11.2mm for the type s vs. 11.5mm and 10.5mm for the regular h22a), and an intake setup remarkably similar to the new AEM CAI v2 design. It also has a 62mm throttle body instead of the 60mm one and an
intake manifold that is capable of higher flow, both of which were made of a higher quality aluminum that was finer, more granular and in turn, much smoother.
The cams were designed specifically for this setup too, and are more aggressive than the h22a cams are. All this, in conjunction with valve seat angles changed from 60 to 45 degrees, meant that there was a better burn off response,
cooler internals, and much better efficiency. Finally, the header was given larger, truly cylindrical runners whereas the h22a has smaller, oval shaped piping. The
catalytic converter was enlarged along with the rest of the pipe in the system and in turn flowed much more freely, almost like an aftermarket system for our cars, but much quieter.....very high quality too.
PROS: half the price of most top shelf honda motors and more powerful than most also, nice torque, plenty of potential in N/A form or FI/n2o setups.
CONS: twice as much as some of the above swaps, but you ARE getting a more powerful motor with more potential and aftermarket support, the type s motor is usually about twice as expensive as the h22a, but you get only 20hp...for the difference, you could easily make 20hp more on an h22a, but it is a more efficient motor from the factory....if you were going down the same road the h22a type s went down, then it would be easier and possibly cheaper to get it and use it as a starting point, but either way is justifiable.
USDM H22A1 and H22A4---4th and 5th gen preludes
2156cc
(92-96)H22A1 and (97+)H22A4 (USDM and black valve covers)
190hp/6800rpm and 195hp/7000rpm (99+ had 200hp/7000rpm)
158tq/5500rpm and 156tq/5250rpm
7500rpm redline on both
10.0:1 compression ratio
87.0mm bore x 90.7mm stroke
92-96 were closed deck and 97+ were open deck
optional LSD
This is our version of the JDM h22a, which has slightly lower compression and less aggressive cams, but basically the same design. As with the JDM h22a's, the decks were closed until 1997, when they were switched to the open design, but also got a different headgasket to compensate for it's less rigid structure.
The OBD II 97+ models got a full floating crankpin to allow for a tighter fit but also made it operate smoother too. The 97+ h22a4 also got an internal coil distributor instead of the external coil setup, but all JDM h22a's are internal coil.
The 97+ automatic transmission equipped h22a's retained the 195hp rating due to a less aggressive computer program, but the manual cars had a rating of 200hp to finally catch up with it's JDM counterpart.
PROS: you can see the engine firsthand since it doesn't have to be imported from japan, possibly cheaper since shipping isn't involved, more powerful than most of your other options and not too expensive.
CONS: less rated power than the JDM h22a, harder to find one with low mileage (japan taxes cars after 30,000 miles because supposedly the engine won't run as clean as intended and rather than pay the hefty annual tax, most will swap it out for a newer motor or a new car completely and a lot are parted out as opposed to paying the tax and registering it for on road duty)
JDM H23A DOHC VTEC---6th generation accord wagon and SiR
2258cc
JDM H23A DOHC VTEC (black valve cover) and h23a engine code
200hp/6800rpm
161tq/5300rpm
7200rpm redline
10.6 compression ratios
87.0mm bore x 95.0mm stroke
open deck and 2wd or 4wd setups depending on the trim level
LSD optional depending on drivetrain configuration
This is probably the rarest of all the available options and most don't even know it exists. It was made available in 99 when honda of japan decided to quit importing wagon models to the states due to the lack of interest, not to mention that 2/3 of all wagon sales were in japan. The wagon was available in 2wd and 4wd configurations. The 4
door sedan had this engine available in SiR trim. All h23a's also benefitted from a vtec setup which allowed one set of lobes to operate at low rpm for improved gas mileage while swapping to a normal mode during hard driving to provide power. The sedan was available only in 2wd setups with or without LSD, but these trannies are interchangeable as are most h and f series.
PROS: available 4wd drivetrain if you can find it and adapt it, powerful, unique, and uses the vtec II to improve gas mileage.
CONS: more expensive ($3500-$4000), OBD II, harder to obtain, but should be more available in the future since these engines were only released in 1999 in limited numbers.