Hey i was wondering if i could put a prelude engine an h22a in a 95 honda civic ex? or should i buy a prelude that has 192k miles on it for 3.5k, and put a new engine in it. or any other advice or suggestions would be nice.  

go for the swap... try hmotorsonline.com, they have a large selection of JDM motors including the H22a for a good price.  

wow, you're right. i cant see spending 10 grand just to reach 230hp.  that just doesnt make sense to me.  if i were to spend 10 grand on my WRX i would but putting out around double that much HP! so basically i just reinforced your last sentence in your post, lol.  

exactly.  people look to buy a car based on initial price so they end up with a budget economy car.  in order to make it as fast if not faster than a slightly more expensive, performance oriented car, they will end up spending more money on modifications that total more than if they would have just bought the faster car to start with.


in my case, i bought the WRX instead of the STi for 2 reasons.
-the wrx was 10,000 cheaper
-insurance for an STi would have been 1000 per month.

i only put about 600-800 into the car and im making 250hp to the wheels which is basically what a stock STi made on the exact same dyno (it made 255hp).

so i have car with the same power for 9,200 dollars less and thousands of dollars saved in insurance rates.

BUT - i must note that i get all my parts for below cost, get free dyno time, and do all the labor myself.  for the average person, this might not be the case and it may  make more sense to buy the higher end car.  but this was something i took into account before making my purchase. i looked at how much it would cost for myself to make a wrx just as fast as an STi as compared to the cost of buying and insuring the STi.  in doing so, i saved close to 10 grand. with my next mods (bigger turbo - $350, injectors fuel pump close to $300) i will be making around 280 whp (330 hp to the crank).  im still not even close to spending as much as the STi but i will be making 30 hp more.

(one side note to consider - if i performed the same mods on an STi it would make making much power power - close to 350-400hp - but for 10,000 more total invested.  also with these mods on a WRX i am at the limit of my tranny and clutch so its good to stop at close to 300 wheel hp, the sti tranny is much stronger and can easily handle 500hp)

so it really does boil down to planning.  be realistic, plan out how much it would cost total for the car and all the work done as compared to a more expensive higher end performance car. and think about what your going to end up with (a quick -not fast-, but old and aging fwd car vs a quick, brand-new car that has much more potential to be faster) if youre happy with a car making 200 - 230 hp to the front wheels at its best, thats perfectly fine, but with all the money invested you could have bought a new car that comes stock with that power, and later down the road, make it even faster.  

honda_fool:
Hey i was wondering if i could put a prelude engine an h22a in a 95 honda civic ex? or should i buy a prelude that has 192k miles on it for 3.5k, and put a new engine in it. or any other advice or suggestions would be nice.

Yes, you can. They sell engine mounts for it; however, it doesn't bolt on as easily as another B-series would, but alas, the things we do for more torque.

I'd pass on the lude. 192k is a lot on the chassis.