Probablyaround $500 or more. If you can find a mechanic that would do it. You would probably need to look for a specialty shop. A dealership or Honda shop wouldn't do it.

 

sorry it was a picture that said VTEC just kicked in

 

ok, so my budget has changed a little bit, thanks uncle sam for the tax return, so to overview, i have a 96 lx with a 2.2 non vtec and a 5 speed tranny, with 194,xxx miles, only had it for about 5,000 of those miles, so how it was taken care of before me is unknown, here are my options

1. swap heads and ecu with 96 vtec.
2. go turbo, but with 194,xxx miles, could it hold the boost??? maybe, maybe not
3. of course the h22 swap

i believe i could along with my father in law perform any of the three options above with just parts costing $$$ no labor costs , keep in mind this is a dd, so anything done must be able for 2-3 people to complete in a weekend, so what do you guys think will be the best effective way to get some horsepower , i appreaciate any and all comments and opinions.

 

Also keep in mind that the junk dealer will probably not guarantee the head, so you might want to add about $400 to your budget to have a machine shop go over it.

If your current motor is running good you probably won't notice a big difference with the vtec head.

 

thats a good point white, i think i am leaning towards the turbo or the h22 swap, the thing about the swap is it is very involved and exspensive, i think i could piece together a turbo for less, but i am not sure what kind of shape my internals are in, so thats my problem with that, i feel my car is running fairly strong, i have a aem cai , catback exhaust, which made a good difference, but i am a speed junkie I need more!!!

 

Before turbo, I would either rebuild the current engine, or buy a fairly low mileage engine from a salvage yard (you should be able to find one dirt cheap) and then piece together a turbo system. Then on a weekend when you have enough time, slap it all together and swap the replacement engine in there. You may even be able to sell your current engine to a salvage yard once you're done.
H22 swap will get expensive and is pretty complicated. Just ask live2rice.

 

I agree with Jon, you're only going to be able to pull of a head swap in a weekend. And why blow money on a turbo if the accelerated wear is just going to kill your already old engine faster. Rebuild outside of the car and swap in when you can. F22s are fairly cheap motors.

 

so you think i should buy an f22 from a salvage yard and rebuild it to handle the turbo boost, on one hand that would be a good idea, because i would be able to build it to handle a good amount of boost, with stronger pistons, rodsand rings etc. , but on the other hand if i am going to end up doing a swap anyways, why not just do the h22 swap? hmmmm decisions decisions... but it is clear you think my 194,xxx engine is to worn out for the turbo, basically just asking for trouble putting a turbo on it? thanks everyone for your opinions, i value everyones thoughts on this board, alot of knowledgable people on here and i appreaciate that.

 

It would be much easier to swap inanother f22(just built and turboed) than it would be to do an H22 swap.nJust make sure you get one from a 96 or 97 Accord soyou canuse yoursame ECU. Plus if you build it for boost, you could easily add enough boost to stomp an Accord with a stock H22. h22's are also not the best motors to turbo.

 

i don't know how or what you said that did it, but you just made my mind up, i'm gonna build a f22 to boost with turbo, what kind of budget do you think i need to do all the building except for buying the engine, i already checked my junk yard has one for $250 with what theySAY is only 85,xxx , but i don't care b/c i'm going all new from the bottom up, thanks for the input guys