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Black Majik Steering-H22 Swap....long story!

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22K views 112 replies 33 participants last post by  LudeAEM 
#1 · (Edited)
UPDATE 3/1/13: Its been a long time coming for this car, but as of March 1, 2013, The car is running, titled and plated. Many more updates to come!!!

More pics on Page 3 and 4

Please chime in with remarks and suggestions.

I thought about giving up on this car many times, but im not going to. I want to finish this thing and have a dream car. There is much more work to be done, but im going to do it.

Now that im going to be on sequestration for one day a week, Im going to dedicate those days to working on this car.

So, to make a long story short, i bought an 88 4ws lude back in august of 07 with either the intention of turbo'ing it or going H22 route. Well, i chose the later due to the fact i found the perfect doner car-an H22 swapped 92 lude. here are the pics of the doner car:







after acquiring this car, i found out from a friend that it once belonged to a member of the local honda club. So, when he found out that i had the car, he wanted it back. Well, i told him-it will be without the motor" So, with the help of a good friend who has done alot of motor swaps, we made a deal-i get the H22, he gets the car as a roller and my buddy will do the swap for me (i just finished a masters degree and didnt have time to work on it myself). Deal was set!

So, during the process of the swap, alot of issues came up with the car and the friend doing the swap having major health issues (which i will talk about in a minute). He got about 80% of the job done, but then found out he has to have open heart surgery. I just moved out to New Mexico and i had the intention of flying back to St Louis and driving the car back once it was done, but no dice. So, with that said, i told my buddy i would have the car hauled out here. So, here is how it sits today in my garage and how it came in on the hauler:












Im just really glad she is back and im really wanting to get her running. i have a bunch of friends here that are going to help me with finishing it. here is a list of what still needs to be done

Alt belt-since i deleted the AC, this will have to be changed (shorter belt)

PS Belt-its going to be a tight fit in there but if i use an H23 belt, i think it will work.

PS hoses-again, i have to do some tinkering with them to see where they are going to go.

TPS and VSS sensors-on the harness they are disconnected so i need to figure out some things with those

Dizzy-the motor has an external coil but the harness was made for an internal coil. Looks like i have to get an internal coil

ECU and jumper harness-need to install

Fuel line-looks like i need to modify it a bit

Shifter cables-the bracket on the tranny doesnt work right with the cables-any suggestions?

Radiator hoses-i remember Team123 said that the upper hose works, but it doesnt seem to line up right. I will need to make a custom hose for the lower.

Anything else you guys see from the pics?
 
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#66 ·
The car is now at the shop for tuning. Dont know how long its going to take-he is a pretty popular honda tech around this area and had about 10 other cars there when i brought it.

Cant wait to get it back!
 
#77 ·
Thanks guys for all the props!

Car is currently still at the shop. The guy decided to close down his shop however, he is finishing all the needed work that is left behind, so i should get this thing back in about a week or so. I cant wait to get it back on the streets again!
 
#82 ·
Greetings from Afghanistan!

So, small update. Just before i left the states, the guy who is finishing the car asked me if i wanted to get the car re-painted. I told him "yes" i was actually thinking about doing that. So, When i get back, i will have a properly running car with a new paint job. Just going to do OEM Blackhawk pearl. I saw some of the guys work and its really good.

im pretty excited to say the least!
 
#84 ·
yea, im pretty excited to say the least! something to really look forward to after this deployment.

however, this has turned into the eternal project. I started this whole idea back in 08 and it will finally be "complete in 14. I am one to not give up on projects.
 
#85 ·
Thread alive....AGAIN!

So to make a long story short, this project has been nothing short of overly-long and a nightmare. The car basically was at a shop for over 2 years for repaint and to get it running properly. I got the car back in my hands about a week before I was to move to St Louis. Lots of issues still with the car which I will discuss.

The car was given back to me tuned on Hondata S300. However, it only put down 166 WHP. The car sat in my wife's mothers garage for 2 weeks before being hauled to St Louis.

Got the car to St Louis-windows locks and mirrors don't work. Had to pull the door panels off and re-connect them. The idiot didn't re-connect them before he put the door panels back on.

As I was on the highway headed to my buddies house to install my K-sport Coilovers, the trans popped out of 5th gear. This trans didn't have any issues before I did the motor swap and was never driven until recently. SO, my assumption was that the transmission was either swapped while it was at the shop (guys were really shaddy cats) OR the fluid was gone and driven on dry. I can only assume, but regardless, the car needs a tranny. 2nd gear whines so bad it sounds like a supercharger and the aforementioned 5th gear pop-out.

One other problem, the crank pulley hits the A bar of the suspension on hard bumps. I do have an ESP traction bar so I think that will remedy the issue.....? If not, I may ground down the A bar, reinforce it or try to find a slim line H22 Pulley w/power steering to use.

Also, to my ears (and my friends), VTEC is not engaging. Maybe that's why it only put down 166 WHP.

I will take a ton of pics today and upload them soon.

Any advice/recommendations are welcome here.
 
#86 ·
Welcome back

Sorry to hear of all your troubles, but welcome back and I hope you're happy in St. Louis.

I'm starting on my own H22A swap into a '91 Si. I hear ya on the mechanics issues. Before this project I'd done all my own sourcing of engines and all other parts (just Jeeps up to now). This is totally different (and takes a lot longer!) having to depend on everybody else.
 
#87 · (Edited)
I am going to attempt to keep this thread up to date as I am the new owner of this gem. Thanks to Eric for making this a smooth transaction as I told him I would keep him updated.

I've only had the car a few weeks (trailored it from STL to Indy)



Since getting it home I've addressed/tweaked the following:

- Installed traction bar. Now the crank pulley does not rub the trailing arm. I don't know how some of you h22 owners DON'T have an issue without it.
- Welded in a battery tray in the trunk
- 195/50/15 BFG Comp2 summer tires
- Flushed all fluids (Oil, transmission, brake, clutch, and radiator)
- Tinkered with coilover height. Now has a 1/2" rake
- Installed the mustardcat strut bar in the rear
- Installed BT radio even though it has no power. Chasing that issue down currently.
- Adjusted the intake. I wasn't a fan of the filter placement as it just sucks hot air from the radiator. I will probably eventually do a true fender CAI.
- Installed new front bushings (upper and lower ball joints and new tie rods). I was going to install some of the urethane bushings Eric included but the shop i took it too get it pressed out did not have any luck so I said screw it. The rubber is in good enough shape for now.
- Shift adjustment. Eric mentioned a 2nd gear whine and 5th gear pop out. I have not had any issues of this sort but I did notice almost NO fluid was in the tranny when swapping fluid. No bueno.
- Alignment coming this weekend.



Near future plans:

- Wetsand the terrible orange peel and compound/polish/wax.
- The engine has a terrible supercharger whine that is independent of the transmission. From researching it is due to the timing belt tensioner being too tight. I will most likely address this issue this winter.
- Install resonator (wayy too raspy for my liking). I may actually put a OEM muffler on it to be stealth but I'll see how it sounds after the resonator.
- Paint window trim
- Respray header
- Lots of little odds and ends. The goal with this car is to keep it clean.






 
#88 ·
Lude AEM, what part of Indy are you from? There is fellow prelude owner down there named Brandon, he has a bb6 Turbo prelude.


Anyway, great to see continuing on with the build of another and keeping another lude on the road!!
 
#91 ·
Small update for those interested.

I lost my job a few months ago and contemplated selling it and just going down to one car. In the end, it is just too unique to get rid of and cheap (compared to the Corvette I just got rid of).

OEM Euro R bronze tinted shift knob
Red stitched leather shift boot
Momo Monte Carlo with red stitching (350mm)

I have also been refurbing the trim work on the car and it is already looking great.

 
#93 ·
Quick update. A lot has happened in my life since getting this car including moving to Greenville SC but I still have it and have been tinkering with it every now and again. Some notable additions:

- Hytech replica header
- 2.5" exhaust with high flow cat, vibrant resonator. Not too loud but still kind of haggard. Will redo sometime next year.
- Aluminum radiator with two 12" slim fans
- Walbro fuel pump
- Garfields 22mm rear sway

This Tuesday I have a dyno appointment and will FINALLY get this bastard tuned. It will be on a mustang dyno so probably won't read too high. I'm guessing around the 170 whp area. I will post results next week.



This car needs to be raised because this damn H22 sits too low and my new header didn't help haha. I have done some minor mods to the header to help with clearance but I plan to do 17" RPF1s with a 205/50 tire. From the calculations, it should give me about 2.5" of clearance which will make this car more enjoyable aka not cringing when you see a dip in the road.
 
#94 ·
You could try 1Funryd's traction bar with the skid bar option. I know his has taken some hits and is still holding up.

I don't know if you ever saw my original H swap thread but on my Hytech replica I was able to trim the tubes at the slip joints and make it hug the oil pan much closer.
 
#95 ·
That's exactly what I did to my header. Helped but doesn't hug the pan as much a as it could. Any more trimming I would have to have the trim off the welds. I've seen the skid plate but to me it didn't cover enough. If anything I may fab up something in the future.
 
#96 ·
You dont need an entire plate under the car.

1. I will look absolutely hideous.
2. It adds unnecessary weight.
3. My skid bar is designed similar to the OE but way stronger.
4. If you put a skid plat it will catch on things on the road which my Skid bar does not.

When designing the skid bar I took into account all normal daily driving scenarios and this was the most affordable and durable of the designs.
 
#99 · (Edited)


Ground clearance! Initial gains appear to be in the 1.5-2" range. It's meaty, but will grow on me I think. I haven't touched the coilovers either so I'm sure I'll tinker with that in time. Either way, I dig it! I better for the price! :)

17x7, 43 offset with 205/50 General Gmax RS tires. The total combo weights about 3/4 lb lighter per wheel than the 15" Civic Si wheels with 195/50 tires. Not bad.
 
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