So like I put in my intro this car was basically given to me and I want to sell it and make a few bucks. It had a pretty nasty electrical problem that I've fixed and needed CV axles/boots. Now I am finding that the gasket around the valve covers is toast, that's really no big deal BUT a lot of people have been telling me that the H22a from a US Prelude is a pretty strait-forward swap and would render the car a lot more valuable. I found a wrecked BB1 and can have the motor with harness and ECU for $500.

First of all, is the H22a1 even the correct motor for this swap?
Second, if I do go crazy and drop a decent amount rebuilding the motor will that do anything to the resale value?

I have a "big" 16G just waiting for a project and with the H22 and some supporting/suspension mods that could make for a decently quick Accord. Do boosted Accord of this generation even sell well?

 

In my experience you won't get back what you paid for the head swap if there aren't serious issues affecting the drivability. If the body and interior is in excellent condition it could be worth some engine loving if it's running well, but don't do serious mods on it expecting to make big money off it. I would personally make sure it wasn't burning/leaking oil, smoking a lot and isn't knocking and sell it as it is. The average buyer won't really know/care if you swapped a new head on there and won't be able to tell the difference.

Now if you find someone who is looking for something with that H22a head on it for some specific mods and such it will make it more valuable for that specific person, but as I said before, generally you won't make back what you've spent on mods and you should just do them for fun. I do mods for fun, and I'd take a stock car over a pre-modded one any day. I'd much rather dump the money into it and do the mods myself than buy an already zippy car.

I know guys who had modded the heck out of their cars, pouring thousands into them, (head swaps flywheels clutches exhausts intakes turbos the list goes on) who ended up selling them for barely over blue book because people weren't looking for already modded cars, they wanted cars they themselves could mod OR they just wanted a good ol DD, which a lot of people looking at Hondas are looking for. I'm sure there are plenty of people who will argue this, I'm just talking from the experiences of friends who mod and then sell their cars. They get sold when they run out of mods to do, then in comes a shiny new stock car that they've got plans for.

If you REALLY want to see what you could get for what you're planning on doing, put it up on Craigslist and list the mods you plan to do on it in the description. See if you get any bites that way. If so, do the mods and sell the thing.

tl;dr - Mods are done by people with a purpose/look in mind, not resale. If there are engine problems and this will fix it AND you'll have some fun doin it, I say full steam ahead, otherwise fix the least you need to make it drivable and sell it as is. I'd save that 16g for myself.

 

Based on what you're saying is the head all that is needed? Iirc I read that the head alone was insufficient. That aside you're basically saying everything I was worried about, hence why I posted the question in the first place. As is I have less than $100 in parts in the fix and a decent sum of man hours, as is I think I can get good money for it once all is fixed. That's a good point about the market too, the last thing I need to do is get a free car and loose money on it. Still I'm curious to see what other people think too.

 

The problem is the 5g accords arent getting any younger. and with tons for sale under 2,000. I think you would have a hard time selling even the nicest one for more than 3-4k.

 

Hell, my 95 Accord with 160k miles, engine running great, AEM intake and exhaust and the only damage being a crease in my rear passenger panel couldn't even get an offer for over $2,300 on Craigslist when I listed it for fun a few months ago. They're great cars, but it's a buyer's market right now, everyone is losing jobs and having to sell their cars for far less than they want, so it's hard to sell even a great one for blue book value

Since you've only got $100 in parts I say you go for it, it'll be a fun and straightforward swap from what I hear, and if it were me I'd just raise the price by $150-200 after I did that. That is if you're not in a hurry to sell it. If you want to sell it now though, save/sell that head and go with what you have.

 

I read in another thread here that just swapping the head will actually lower compression and kill the low-end torque. Why would you just swap the heads if not intending to FI?

 

True, if it kills torque in a torqueless car, the only reason for the head that I can see is to turbo it. I hadn't read up much on the specs of the swap, just whether or not it would work. But again, if you put your turbo on it it won't necessarily be the turbo a buyer is wanting to have on there. You can do it, but don't expect it to boost your resell by a significant amount. If it were me and I got the car for cheap I'd just flip it, include the head/offer install if the buyer is interested for a couple hundred more and save the rest for the future.

EDIT: I noticed g22cd5 said this build is crap for daily driving, so if you decide to put that head on, do the turbo too. If you're going to sacrifice drivability you might as well squeeze some performance out of it. If you want to get this to someone looking for a regular old DD car it sounds like you might have trouble with that though. Just to reiterate, if it were me, the car would be up on Craigslist as-is and that turbo would be waiting for a better project that I wouldn't immediately sell.

 

Yeah, I'm petty much done with this idea if going FI to sell, but I wasn't sure if you had info that I hadn't yet seen on that head swap. Slapping the term VTEC in the ad seems to attract buyers, and I had a low price as is so an extra $200 wasn't a big deal. But if it kills the motors best aspect and reliability it's pointless.