I am looking to rebuild my Lude engine.

[Jsgomer66]

I have all ways wanted a prelude. It has been my dream car for as long as I ve been driving. I bought one but it needs a new engine. I am a handy wrencher and I thought of buying a rebuilt engine. However I want to add things like a turbo etc. I was told I should put new gaskets in so it can handle the force. So I wanna do it myself yet I have never re built an engine. Are there any books with diagrams or websites that will guild me through this?????

[RedRacer]

What's wrong with the current engine? How well do you know its problems? Is it totally crapped out or does it just need some work? I'm not being condescending here, please don't take what I'm saying wrong, but yeah, you'd need to replace gaskets and there are lots of other major things to consider.

Things like grooves in the cylinder wall or an out of round bore are big problems that some folks don't even know or think about the first time around in a dead engine. And you can't just rebuild around or over that kind of problem. For something like that you'd have to have the cylinder resleeved because you cant bore the H series sleeving. (well, maybe a really, really REALLY good shop could hone it, but they'd have to be damn good) And if you have to do one sleeve, then you have to (should) do all 4 because one new sleeve is going to cause for an unbalanced engine environment, uneven wear on old vs. new components..... and it goes on and on and on. Get my point? It's that whole snowball effect.

If you don't know the history of the engine and it doesn't run, then rebuilding it might not be a good idea for a first time wrencher. I've seen people spend a couple of grand rebuilding and then have the engine just trash out because it was in such poor condition to begin with and they didn't know what to look for and their basic rebuild didn't work out.

Not saying you shouldn't do it, or that is going to happen to you....BUT, you need to consider first things like engine history, knowledge of what exactly is wrong with it, how much money you have in pocket (it ain't cheap) and TIME, especially if you're new at this.

Don't be fast to toss out the idea of an engine swap from a reputable speed shop or block dealer. You can go with a swap and then work your way up in performance add-on's etc. And a swap engine has history if you get it from the right seller...and you can get some guarantee on it as well.

There are many options out there to choose from.....

Books are available from the library, online, etc. You can download the 4th gen manual from PDriver. The manuals link is at the top of this page, in the header to the left of the Premium Membership link. There is a 92 manual pdf @ 53 meg at the top of the list and a 93 manual pdf at the bottom of the list. There are slight differences and the 93 is not as complete, there are a few pages missing in that one. Download the manuals and start reading how the car is put together. All the specs and info you will need are right there, but the tricks and tips are not.

I'd suggest not going it alone the first time and get a friend with knowledge to help. Offer to pay them in money or food or beer. Two heads are always better than one, even if neither of them actually know the answer. LOL

You're on the right path by asking questions from others who (sort of) know what they're talking about (i speak for myself only) .....

Good luck and ask anything else you might want to know. Somebody here will get something to you sooner or later.

~ Josh

(and no, I didn't do the work on my engine, I paid someone a buttload of money to do it for me)

[Jsgomer66]

Thanks redracer. I really do appreciate the input and will consider the options. I believe the crank is broke or bent which I do know lead to other problems. It wAs/ is hydrolocked but I cAn't turn the crank manualy. I have worked on all my own cars since I was sixteen. And I do have three good certified mechanics that will help me. However I didn't know I can't bore the h series. That's news tome. So I will think about having a re-buit engine put in and maybe keeping the old one to wrinch on. And if everything goes well I could swap them out and keep my lude for life. So thank you again redracer. You helped more then you know. And I am sure we will talk again. My lude is red aswell
Joey

[RedRacer]

Man, what happened to that engine? Earthquake and hurricane!? Bent or broken cranks and hydrolocked too? Poor Honda. But, its got a good owner now, you'll get it going.

I don't mean to discourage you in any way from doing what you want to do, just so you know.

I simply wanted to let you know that with a severely damaged engine, there are so many things that have to be done, and can ultimately just end in disaster...and that really isn't good for one's ego when you think you're done, everything is working and perfect and you drive down the street and the engine eats itself by the time you reach the end of the street.

That's why, like I said, I'd be inclined to go with a crate engine from a good source.

Be careful when dealing with some of the discount auto parts houses on crates though. They tend to sell "remanufactured" engines that have used parts; like oil pumps or pistons. Just read all the labels and fine print and make damn sure they at least CLAIM to be using new parts. And in that case, you'd want to make sure you're getting a NEW crankshaft and lifters.

A lot of people aren't aware about the re-sleeving and non-boring on these engines. The reason you can't bore the H blocks is because of the way Honda changed their manufacturing process from previous sleeves used in older Honda engines. FRM stands for Fiber Reinforced Metal. Basically it means that the sleeve is not full ductile iron like in the older engines. Honda came out with this, I think in the late 80's, maybe around 87 or 88. Whenever it was that they intro'd the B21A1 engine.

The FRM sleeves are made up of a carbon fiber matrix, aluminum alloy and aluminum oxide. There's just not much room for boring with this composition. It can be done, but it has to be a damn good machinist to do it without cracking or destroying the sleeve. So any kind of power added or forged pistons being used in a rebuild on the H blocks requires re-sleeving. I bet if you asked all those people who built their H22's and didn't do it and now have cracked sleeves, 95 percent of them would agree.

All of the H22 and 23 blocks - including the A1 and A4, as well as the F20C and the C32B were manufactured with FRM sleeving.

Glad to help, and ask anything else you want whenever. And you can email me too if you need a faster response. I don't get to the board every day.

PS - the H23 is a better block to build and add power to. They hold up better than the H22's. Some will disagree with that. I've got the proof. I can tune in boost on this H23 that would blow apart other engines. Had a wastgate actuator that didn't open when it should have and ended up with some creeping boost, and well, the motor should have blown, and it didn't. And this engine is pulling 300 hp on the dyno and has never so much as wheezed or coughed in the years since it was first cranked, over 5 years ago.

[lude66]

I have all ways wanted a prelude. It has been my dream car for as long as I ve been driving. I bought one but it needs a new engine. I am a handy wrencher and I thought of buying a rebuilt engine. However I want to add things like a turbo etc. I was told I should put new gaskets in so it can handle the force. So I wanna do it myself yet I have never re built an engine. Are there any books with diagrams or websites that will guild me through this?????

well that depends on the year of the prelude i.e. 1gen 2gen 3gen 4gen 5gen, an also the motor your trying to rebulid .
(example) i have a 1992 4 gen or bb4 well it did not have a h22 vtec in that year the h22 started in 1993 an up.
so for my swap just to fit custom harness,modding the motot mounts.

so your doing a bb4 the h22 in my opinion is not a good base to plan a boost bulid they are outstanding all motor if you looking to go turbo
i would say an f22a,it would do numbers an its a lot less costly the the h bulid let me know if you have any questions ?