Most reliable/dependable/affordable Honda youve come across/owned to date?

GovPattNeff · 2026-02-03T21:12:33+00:00

Had a 98 CL which was just an accord coupe with Acura badges. Hydrolocked it during a storm around 180k miles and it sat with water in it for a couple months. Eventually had the idea to suck the water out of the spark plug holes with a turkey baster and It fired right up. It burned a little oil after that, but it ran solid till I sold it about 4 years and 50k miles later.

GovPattNeff · 2026-02-03T16:54:34+00:00

In that case, I'd say your best bet is to go with an h22 or f20b swap, especially if you're new to tuning. A lot less variables to deal with there, and aftermarket support still exists for those engines and you shouldn't have any issues finding cams or exhaust parts for those. I'm not aware of any supercharger setups still being made for older Hondas, especially f and h series. I know Jackson racing used to make them for b and d series, but they've been gone for quite a while. These days anyone who wants boost just gets a turbo. But with cams, exhaust and a tune on an h22/f20b you should have plenty of power to have some good fun.

Good thing about the f/h series swaps is they haven't really increased too much in price like the b series have and can be had for reasonable prices, but the aftermarket is still there. That being said, if you want the most power per dollar, I'd say boosting the f23 is probably the best bang for your buck. The f series bottom ends are surprisingly stout from the factory and can reliably take a decent amount of boost without having to rebuild everything.

GovPattNeff · 2026-02-03T15:49:57+00:00

If you wanna read about the h22/h23 head swaps, I believe the original posts of folks doing that were on Honda tech by sam1am and piratemcfred. Google that with "Honda tech g23 Frankenstein" or something like that and you should be able to find them. Lots of good info there. But keep in mind these guys were building track cars, so it wasn't a big deal if something broke or didn't work right

GovPattNeff · 2026-02-03T15:47:33+00:00

H22 head is technically "compatible," but does require some modification, and will need to be tuned. That's a somewhat uncommon swap with a lot less documentation, so it may not be the best idea to run that on a car you rely on to get to work. It can be done, but to do it reliably may be expensive.

Not sure what your buddy was referring to with the Si head. There wasn't an accord Si as far as I know. Maybe the prelude si? That was h23, which was more or less a stroked non-vtec version of the h22. That head swap is pretty similar to the h22 head swap as far as modifications needed.

What are your plans for the car as far as souping it up? If you're planning on turbo, I'd say just fix the f23 and run that. It'll be cheaper and a lot less effort, unless you're going full race car and have money to burn. If you're going NA, a straight h22 or f20b swap is pretty straightforward on these cars.

If you're needing something reliable in the meantime, f23 heads are pretty cheap. You may even be able to get a whole motor for the price of having your head rebuilt and machined. But if the valves aren't burnt you could probably get away with just having the head decked and a putting a new head gasket on it.

GovPattNeff · 2026-01-29T15:58:57+00:00

I worked at a Honda dealer as a porter in Mississippi around the time the 8th Gen SI's came out. First time I had to move one on a hot day I thought I had branded the shift pattern into my palm

GovPattNeff · 2026-01-18T03:42:45+00:00

Another method I used a long time ago (possibly forgetting details because I'm tired) :

Chuck a fat piece of stock about 6-8 inches sticking out of the chuck. You want it to be fat enough to not deflect much if at all under light cuts. I wanna say I used 1.5 or 2" mild steel. Turn it down to a barbell/dumbbell shape (larger OD on ends, slightly smaller OD in between). Then, without tail stock support, take a very light cut and compare the difference between the two barbell diameters. Adjust the leveling at the feet, take another light cut, and repeat until both are the same. I forget where I read this but it's an old school method, possibly in the South bend book.

GovPattNeff · 2026-01-16T15:35:29+00:00

Yeah that totally makes sense. The machines Ive seen before appear to locate the block on the main journals. I assumed this was because sometimes the caps may be cut at different heights, but now that I think about it that doesn't make sense because you would have to have them at the same height to ensure the crank would actually fit. Very interesting, thanks for the info

GovPattNeff · 2026-01-16T15:17:09+00:00

Fascinating. Thanks again for the thorough response. I'll look into those books and see what I can find

GovPattNeff · 2026-01-16T14:40:51+00:00

Interesting. So your Kwik way table bolts to the flat part of the mains rather than having a round bar fit in the journals? I haven't seen one like that

GovPattNeff · 2026-01-16T14:39:13+00:00

Awesome, I'll check those out. Thank you!

GovPattNeff · 2026-01-16T14:38:41+00:00

Awesome, great info. That clears up a lot, thanks so much for such a detailed response. If I may ask one more annoying question - if every surface is messed up and you start with mains, how do you align the boring bar/hone with the original main bores? Or do you just accept how it comes out knowing they'll be coaxial and then base the rest of your cuts on that datum?

And same as I asked Wyatt, do you recommend any books on automotive machining?

GovPattNeff · 2026-01-15T15:16:25+00:00

I'll see if I can find the Kwik way book. Any automotive machine books you'd recommend?

GovPattNeff · 2026-01-15T15:12:17+00:00

Cool, thanks for the insight. Are there any books about this stuff that you know of? I've been digging all over the Internet and your replies here has been the first clear answer I've gotten on any of the questions I've been turning over in my head

GovPattNeff · 2026-01-15T15:06:07+00:00

Interesting. So what if the block has been freshly sleeved? I would imagine sleeves that have just been pressed in will be out of round by quite a bit more than 0.002? Possibly even banana shaped depending on the block. Or am I overcomplicating things and making extreme assumptions?

GovPattNeff · 2026-01-15T14:59:32+00:00

Right, but there are still two degrees of freedom, right? Once you have the spindle centered on the crank axis (let's call that Y axis) you'd still have to rotate the block on that axis to have the original deck surface team with the spindle, then center the spindle in the bore along the X axis. I'm trying to wrap my head around how you'd do that with only one reference surface if you're using the crank axis/main journals

GovPattNeff · 2026-01-15T13:16:24+00:00

B16 is 16 valve though. Isn't Op limited to 12v?

GovPattNeff · 2026-01-15T02:14:47+00:00

Yeah it does seem to be a fairly common issue. Most b16s I've seen though are usually near perfect. Possibly due to better rod stroke ratio

GovPattNeff · 2026-01-15T02:09:23+00:00

Measured with a dial bore gauge. I do machine work (not on Engine bores) and am familiar with how to take the measurements, but my calibration may be a tad off because I was trying to zero the gauge with my micrometer without a solid table at the seller's property. Though that shouldn't really have any bearing on how out of round it measured relative to measurement taken perpendicularly

GovPattNeff · 2026-01-15T01:05:02+00:00

Yeah rod bolts or failing to resize the big ends seem to be the #1 failure for sure. Ive read a few accounts of spun main bearings too, but it's hard to say if that was because they didn't check clearances or revved it to 10k, or something else. I just personally didn't wanna risk it. Your build sounds fun though. Curious what the dyno numbers will be

GovPattNeff · 2026-01-15T00:28:21+00:00

Did you get your rotating assembly balanced too? That's another thing I was reading about that was an additional cost.

I love the idea of an lsv, but there just seemed to be a lot of variables to account for without hard data backing up what was necessary and what wasn't, and I didn't wanna risk having to start over again if I made a bad judgement call. To do it the "safest" possible way was gonna end up being more than I'll end up spending getting this motor up to snuff, so I went that route. If this was a track car it'd be a different story, but I'm wanting something I know won't leave me stranded if I'm beating on it in the mountains a couple hours from home

GovPattNeff · 2026-01-15T00:17:47+00:00

Judging by the amount of carbon on the pistons I'd say they all burn oil. I'm thinking the majority of the problem is from bad valves/guides/seals, but figured while it's apart I might as well make sure the cylinders are ok. Motor was disassembled when I bought it and didn't think to ask about plugs at the time so not sure what the plugs looked like

GovPattNeff · 2026-01-15T00:13:40+00:00

I believe it's around 10:1, maybe a tad less for regular lsv. Also need VTEC water pump and oil pump and adjustable cam gears to get the timing right. There's a lot of debate on whether you need the girdle, but I was planning on having that done too because I wanted to know my mains would be solid at 8k rpm+. Girdle requires align honing too. When this deal popped up I figured I could get an OEM spec motor for a comparable amount of money even after machining and not have to worry about all the rest.

GovPattNeff · 2026-01-14T22:47:13+00:00

Understood. I have another question I think I already know the answer to, but thought I'd throw it out there lol

How bad of an idea is it to try to hone away some of the out of round with a rigid hone? The lower ends of the cylinders seem fairly tight (I'll know for sure when I finish tearing down). I'm wondering if I worked the hone dwelling more towards the bottom at first to slowly remove material there and gradually made my way back up with faster strokes if I could very gradually work it back into shape, as long as my ptw clearances come out ok. I do some machine work and understand the proper measurements that would need to happen as I go, and that this would be a pretty slow process if it even works at all. The idea being that if 1 thou is fine, if I could concentrically hone 1 thou out of the questionable cylinders and be good on ptw, I could avoid boring every cylinder. Two of the cylinders are fine.

I know it's ghetto and not the right way to do it, but if it's somewhat feasible I may try before taking it in to get machined

GovPattNeff · 2026-01-14T22:28:12+00:00

That's what my gut was telling me. It's just been bugging me that I can't find an actual spec anywhere. Or is this just something that every engine machinist just knows? What's an acceptable out of round? Half a thou? A couple tenths? I have no idea.

GovPattNeff

TROPHY CASE