Should i bother?

[dls0451]

Hi everyone, this is my first post to the board, though i've been reading here for some time.

Ok, so a little background first, the car is a 1993 accord ex, with about 136k miles on it. I'm a student, so I have very limited funds, and I plan to enlist in the military in about a year (september of 07 is my plan right now), which is relevant because I will likely either sell or park the car once I enlist. My question is this: Should I bother trying to get more power out of my engine, or should i just save up for a swap? I DO plan to do a swap in the future, but it will take me a while to get the extra money to do it. I know that 136k is getting up there, but I figure by doing some basic performance upgrades, i can squeeze out power in increments (few hundred bucks here, few hundred there) rather than dropping the 1500-2000 all at once. It's not so much that I'm cheap (as I said, I do plan to do a swap eventually), but I'm just not sure if my f22 right now will ... eh hem ... last that long. Also, and this is a huge rookie question, would headers that fit my f22 also fit an h22 in the even of a swap?

Thanks a ton everyone, this forum has already been a huge help!

[NAiL05]

The f22a header will not swap over to the h22a. The h22a header flange is a lot larger. You can get your basic bolt ons and such or turbo it. Cheap cheap way would be nitrous but then you have to refill the bottle. Those would be good ideas if you knew if your engine was in good runnin order. If its not healthy I wouldnt bother modding the motor just tune it up and drive it as is until you have money for the swap. You could work on suspension and all that other jazz while your waiting on it so yea.

[Maple50175]

f22's will last a long time if you do the right maintance. I've learned, and blew up one car due to lack of oil :-[

[Bboy_Trevstuh]

Just take a look around this site bro and see all the turbo f22 that's making some nice power!

[dls0451]

Great, thanks for all the input everyone! I just saw owequitit's cb7, and he has 220k miles on it!! The only thing I'm really worried about is the auto transmission... what's the lifetime on one of these? And when it does go (I'm sure it will eventually) how difficult is converting to 5spd?

[defjamon22z]

DIFFICULT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!! lmao. alot alot alot of WORK!!!!!! u need alot of free times! the worse thing about the auto-manual swap is the parts. u neeeeeeeed to get EVERY Single part b4 u even TOUCH the engine underwise u will be angry about ur missin this and ur missin that going back n forth to the junkyard. cuz i'm bout to go on my 7 or 8 times RIGHT NOW!! all because of the bolts.

[NAiL05]

Great, thanks for all the input everyone! I just saw owequitit's cb7, and he has 220k miles on it!! The only thing I'm really worried about is the auto transmission... what's the lifetime on one of these? And when it does go (I'm sure it will eventually) how difficult is converting to 5spd?

Auto trans will last quite a while as long it is maintained at the proper intervals, and such. Also no stupid shit like manual shifting or downshifting with the auto those decrease trans wear but people still do it. auto - 5 spd is not really bad as long as you get all the parts and read some directions it really shouldnt be hard at all. Around ther forum is a auto-5spd sticky saying all the parts you need and then there are directions. Just gotta use the search function to find it.