langjairicer

Alright so, I really am at a loss at what to do. Right now I have a 1994 GS-R. The engine is getting kind of old and miley; 174,000miles. The car was modded before I bought it, so the engine is a little "sore" if you know what I mean, and I commute with it everyday, putting on heavy miles, but it still runs and kicks fine. The thing is that I definately want to keep the car and my choices are, when the time comes to a)rebuild the engine b)swap in a new(used) b18c1 or c) Swap in a B18C5 ITR engine.
So, money is not a huge factor, because I will have a while to save up. I am kind of looking for a bit more power, so am I better off going all out and swapping in a B18C5 or should I just stick with the b18c1 and rebuild or mod it for the performance I desire? And if I go with the B18C5, will I need to worry about the transmission not being able to handle it? And will a B18C5 even FIT in my 94 GSR since they didn't manufacture ITR's in 94?

Sorry if all this seems like a stupid **** question but I'm really not all that mechanical savy if you know what I mean mate Thanks a bunch to whoever takes the time to help a not so smart buddy out !

sp00ledbseries

It will drop in fine. Tranny will be fine. For the price of the c5 just buy the c1 and mod it.

95LS1t

for the price of an itr motor you can just rebuild your GSR and make it faster, i wouldn't waste the money

although if you arent doing any of the work yourself, it may end up being cheaper for you to buy the swap

i've never seen an itr motor without a tranny, but lets say it costs 3k for it

for 3k you can have your gsr motor rebuilt with ITR pistons, find used rods, get some rod bolts, fresh bearings etc etc and be way under your 3k budget

total for everything would probably be about 1200$ ^

you could then get your head rebuilt with itr valvetrain for about 700$, it wont be ported but meh whatever , get itr cams for another 250$ off of here, and buy a blox manifold (which is an itr replica) for about 185$

get yourself an exhaust, etc etc, get your ecu chipped and tuned

all of this would be about 2500$ and you would have yourself a brand new motor basically, and would be as fast/faster than a stock itr

racebum

if you know of a shop that actually has a clue how to rebuild these correctly you may have a thought but you will spend more than the $2700 a JDM ITR engine will cost doing it. you can spend $1000 just in hondata and tuning. cams, intake and header $1000-1500 more. my vote is to not buy a c5 since they are almost all high mile being in the us market or rebuild yours unless you have the cash to do it right. a JDM ITR is a solid choice and super easy to make run right since the ecu is plug and play.

hickle

id stick with the c1. get it rebuilt and go from there.

95LS1t

i think either one is a solid choice, you just dont know about these motors tho, i dont trust most engine sellers

a positive to buying an itr motor would be that you can still sell your gsr motor for a pretty good price

langjairicer

Thanks for the imput...and if i rebuilt the engine with ITR mods or if I just dropped the c5 in my car, I wonder if it would pass smog and be legal in California =P

racebum

a b18c5 is not a JDM ITR, i have the feeling some people are refering to it as one but it's confusing. i THINK they can be smog legal in cali if you do the USDM conversion for a USDM ecu. i know the JDM ecu is not legal.

anyway i found you the complete write up on how to make one legal

https://honda-tech.com/forums/hybrid-engine-swaps-18/legalizing-your-jdm-itr-motor-906684/

langjairicer

Oh thanks for that!

redGSRguy

I had my gsr motor rebuilt. It cost more than a used type-r motor but it was a lot more fun. Unless you go with a mild build you will not pass smog. ;P

racebum

another post on here mentioned a law with JDM engines. you should check into it before buying. if the ITR swap is now illegal for non ITR cars it could be an issue.

rhymeshark916

$2700 for itr motor or motor with tranny? If it is just for motor, it is not worth it.

racebum

spoken like someone who has never built an engine.

you can get the full deal for $3500

$2700 is just the engine with shipping.

you can spend $1700-2000 on just cams, valves, springs and hondata when doing a build. that's just your garden variety skunk cam & VT package. honda s100 or s300 with tune time. this does not take into consideration any machine work, any replacement parts need or any exhaust or intake work. it's very easy to spend $4000-5000 doing a 200whp build when it's all said and done. the JDM ITR puts down around 175whp and can do more with a better header and a little more aggressive tune. 185whp has been done this way more than once. for a plug and play $2700, i'd say it's a great deal.

hmoobhero

so true. i was trying to build a ls/vtec and hoping for 200hp. after all my calculations it would cost me 4000 and thats with some free parts like block and itr pistons. so i decided i'm gonna throw in a k24 and call it a day or get a legit jdm itr motor and upgrade from there.

4drctr420

i personally would have went with the c5, just the reliability and having a mint running motor, hand built and over 60 modifications from the b18c1. that motors a beast, and it was built to race. everyone interested in a b18c5 should watch "best motoring international-vol. 1- type r legend"

SlayANT

Who really knows what the engine has been through. It could've been oil starved, poorly maintain, or just driven to the ground. It really comes down to the luck of the draw in regards to a used motor.

DC2junkie

I've been thinking about doing the same thing, droppin in a b18c5 in my gsr but, i was wondering if it's just an easy swap, no mods to the motor mounts needed or anything? someone told me i might have to change the computer and some other stuff. I live in california so i kinda need it to pass smog. I figured the b18c wont pass so go with a usdm b18c5. Any ideas?

racebum

you live in cali, don't mod

that's thought number 1.

save your money for a quicker car, s2000, 350z, vette etc

too much time and cash in cali, on top of that you can't run jdm motors down there

the R swap is more or less direct but you'll be forced to register the car out of state

phaphon

You are allowed to ref a Jdm motor and you can always find someone to cheat smog I even heard of someone being able to cheat ref not to sure on that but cheat smog yes

DC2junkie

If i did an R swap why would i have to register outside cali? how does the usdm type r pass smog in cali? couldnt i mod the car so that it pretty much is just like a usdm type r from cali? I hate calis laws nd ****, but what can i do ya know? im livin here till im outta college.

da9licious

in like 2002 i got a used itr swap off a good friend of mine for $3000 with the lsd transmission. i've also built/rebuilt a few motors. If it were my choice to make i would just buy the ITR and swap it out. You're looking at a one day project as opposed to however long it takes you (or the machine shop etc) to build a motor. if i ever were to buy another motor i would buy it from

http://www.hmotorsonline.com/shop/sc...USDM%20Engines

only had good transactions with them along with many people i know that also have

racebum

i don't live in cali, BUT, the problem you'll have is with the BAR. jdm engines are have to be running on usdm ecu's and with all usdm equipment. if you buy a jdm itr which is a MINIMUM of $4000 for a full swap now. the yen has strengthened against the dollar and the tsunami wiped out some of the supply. what i said in the above posts 2 years ago WAS true, now the engines have risen a few hundred.

you'll still need

1. usdm oil pump and crank sprocket
2. cfs sensor
3. usdm vtec solenoid
4. usdm intake manifold with evap purge.

you could probably drill and port the jdm manifold for the evap you also will need p73-a02 or p73-a03 for an ecu and they are getting harder to find.

the cash adds up fast

now if you have a gsr motor you can rob all of that from it except the evap solenoid and p73 ecu. the gsr evap solenoid won't work on a p73 ecu...not sure why, just doesn't

DC2junkie

okay so ima noob and i understood most of what you said, but pretty much if i just buy an ITR motor and get the usdm ecu, theres still more i need to buy and install?

B20ztek

iTrader: (1)

He made a list of what you need to buy and install kind of hard to miss or misunderstand..lol

DC2junkie

again.....ima noob. dunno what half that **** is. ill look it up later but yeah thanx. anyone think its worth it for the amount of money to how much hp gain u'll get. kuz looks like ima spend about 6-7k for an extra 15hp and pretty much the right to say that im running a b18c5.