I thought I would share this tidbit of information. As some of you may know my engine is a F22b3, I was curious to find out what the differences were. I emailed Honda NZ and this is their response. For what it's worth, however I found the history interesting.
Hi Ryan
You may well receive two replies to you enquiry. I hope mine is the more
informative. I cannot help you with technical enquiries but my long service
with Honda sees me as the unofficial historian of the company
I feel your engine was assembled in New Zealand in the days of CKD
(Completely Knocked Down) "Local Car Assembly".
In the early 1990's, Honda New Zealand tried to get access to the then
highly protected Australian Market by increasing the "Local" content of the
cars we produced. Our cars where about 39 percent local content through
labour, tyres, glass, seats, upholstery, seat belts and other components.
We calculated that by building engines this would increase local content
to 50 percent and that the Australian Authorities would accept them as New Zealand Imports under the terms of CER (Closer Economic relations with Australia). Unfortunately the Australians where able to circumvent our actions by insisting that the Radiators be Australian made. There was no suitable Australian made Radiator available and cost of setting up tooling to produce a Unique Honda Radiator was prohibitive. We feel they knew that.
However, Engine Assembly continued at our Nelson Assembly Plant until its closure in 1996.
There are no technical differences to the engine other than it being
assembled in New Zealand and I believe utilising locally produced gaskets.
Early engines suffered problems with oil leaks from the sump due to
incorrect translation and interpretation of the Japanese Build Manual but
this was rectified and cars in owners hands were modified during normal
service checks
In a small way Ryan, you own a piece of New Zealand Automotive History. I hope you enjoy many more years of motoring pleasure from it.
Ian
HondaCare Associate
Honda New Zealand Limited
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