Honda Prelude Forum - PreludeDriver.com

Hi, I am trying to find a replacement engine for my recently acquired 89 Prelude with a bad B20a5 engine. I located a JDM B20A engine that the importer says came from a 88-89 Accord/Vigor. According to this Wiki article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_B20A_engine#B20A this is not the same as a U.S. B20A5 engine but is rather more powerful (160 vs 143 bhp). I've found very helpful forum pages here on Prelude Driver as well, but I am still a big confused as to whether this JDM Accord/Vigor B20A engine will slip right in to replace my Prelude B20A5 . I don't want an overly difficult project - just one that works! The main two concerns are 1) the engine height - will it slip under the low hood, and 2) all fittings - will everything just swap over. I'm happy to swap on my parts as necessary but I basically want to know if this B20A engine is the same (or same enough!) as a B20A that comes in the JDM 88-91 Preludes. Anybody know about this? Thanks in advance!
Ken

B20A engines do fit in the 3rd generation prelude, and there are lots of writeups around detailing how it can be done. You just have to make sure you're getting the right model of B20A. Honda made a B20A that was fitted to the 2nd generation JDM Preludes. It is NOT the same as the B20A that came in the 3rd generation Preludes. I know that the B20A for 3rd generation preludes will fit in your car just fine, but it didn't come from an Accord to my knowledge.

The B20A came in 2 versions. The 2nd version is the one that fits the 3rd gen prelude. The 1st version fits the 2nd gen Prelude (with modified hood) and Accords.

More here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_B20A_engine