SARS

Hi all,

I've been lurking for a while and have never had the courage to create an account or post until now.

To start, I have a 2000 Acura Integra GSR with the B18C1 that has been smoking and leaking oil for some time. The biggest problem I know that I have is that one of my piston rings is bad. Potentially the valve stem seals as well. It has also started falling flat on its face between 2 & 4K RPMs, and is drivable, but a pain in the butt.

Being a lady, new to cars, and finally on my own, I have no idea what to do or where to start. My now ex-fiancé was savvy with Hondas (and in fact pushed me to purchase this one), and always made it so we (I) was financially unable to have it rebuilt or swapped. Out of the abusive relationship, but now out of a car!

We were originally going to do a high comp b20 swap and have the rod bolts replaced. Also purchased an H23A vtec but... I think I'm good. That's a little over my head...

Any recommendations on what I should do? The last thing I want is to be taken advantage of at a shop, and really, I just need advice as far as a direction because I am getting the runaround.

StayKrafty

Are you wanting some pointers on what to do to diagnose your current issues, or a general direction on where you should go with the car?

AYB18c

First of all, welcome to H-T! Glad to have ya, pull up a chair...
I recently had the pleasure of having my b18c1 in my gs-r start burning gobs of oil, so I know how you feel. All is not lost though!

The way i see this boiling down is to 2 major points:
1. What are your goals for the car? Daily driver with reliability? DD with a little extra oomph but needing a little more attention? Crazy big power drag strip car? Track weapon?
2. How deep are your pockets?

If you're looking to keep the engine mostly stock (which will probably be the most reliable, b/c it's backed by honda r&d) you can get a shop to pull the motor, clean up (machine) the head & block, replace the valve/valve seals, replace the piston/piston rings, clean it all up and drop the motor back in. Change the timing belt & water pump while you're there and you should be good for another 90k miles. Approximate cost? All depends on the shop, but I was quoted for that service for around $2500.

If you want to make more power you can look at changing internals (pistons/rods) and "head-ware" (springs, cams, retainers, etc. etc. etc.) along with other bolt ons (intake, intake manifold, header, exhaust, etc. etc. etc.) and you can stay naturally aspirated and reliable-ish (as long as you don't go too crazy). 2 problems arise with this method though: cost (of course) and the need for modifications to flow together, which requires research. Also, to truly obtain the gains from the expensive parts, you need a capable tuner and an engine management system: Hondata is a popular one.

Last but not least, you could scrap the motor and attempt to find a used b18 or b16 or hell even a b20 and swap that motor into your car: Pros *may* include cheap-ness (b16 longblocks can be had for $1000-$1200 in some scenarios, b18b's and b20s even less sometimes), however Cons are...well...anytime you buy a used motor, you're never sure what you're getting or what problems the motor might have....

Where are you located? If you're located in an emissions/inspection-requiring state it also might get a bit more complicated as well.

SARS

Mostly just pointers and where to go... I'm in Sacramento so Comptech is up here and they gave me some recommendations for local shops, but so far have turned me away with my questions or told me $4K for a rebuild. Kinda why I'm hesitant because I know I will be taken advantage of.

SARS

thank you! Lol you pull up a chair! I'll tell you more...

this is is my build back when I was in Idaho. I have since moved back to Sacramento Which is great because everything is more readily-available and there are real shops here... Here are some pics, largely unchanged but I did find out I have an aftermarket/type R exhaust.










So far it has (I'm probably missing a bunch of stuff since I'm not ultra familiar with everything JDM):
ITR championship white
96 JDM ITR front clip & hood
96 JDM ITR spoiler
Big lug ITR wheels (I currently am on F1R's)
Shaved moulding
Honda front & back emblems
ITR door panels
JDM carbon fiber trim bezels
USDM cluster with JDM carbon fiber bezel
JDM ITR shifter
ITR emblem b
Nardi quick release steering wheel

Other little things:
Comptech intake
Comptech valve cover
clock delete
Back wiper delete
spoon oil plug

I think I also have a sway bar... tbh can't remember.

This is my daily and it has been super reliable, but since day 1 I have had O2 sensor issues. I loved my little engine but according to my ex it never ran as well as it should have. I enjoyed the power, I don't need much. Really, I got it because it was my dream car, I'm the 2nd owner, and it was babied.

As far as pockets, I don't know what to expect. I sell cars for a living, so my income tends to be pretty decent, especially now that I'm not caring for a manchild and can focus on getting my baby up and running.

Not sure if that helps. I'm just lost on what to do, where to go, or what to start on. I know I need an official leak down test, but I do already know that my first cylinder reads low and pressure raises when oil is added. So that indicates the piston ring. It has always smoked in vtec (as you can see from my dirty butt), but it was so bad to the point of where the black was literally black just a few months ago within a couple days of going to work and back. I leak about a quart of oil every day if I'm going to and from work. My coworker disconnected the mass air flow sensor and it ran great for a couple hours but went back to falling on its face. Everything reads that the cat is good, but the ex did the O2 sensor bypass, and that's when the face falling happened.

SARS

To add, this was originally a Honda-tech build. Can't remember the original owner, but his build is on here somewhere within the last 6-7 years.

AYB18c

Damn that's a nice looking Integra! I love the JDM front, always have. And tasteful ITR touches throughout, really making it look like an ITR replica....now you just need it to run like one!

That's a lot of oil to be burning. Like a lot a lot. And with that much going through your exhaust, it's not unlikely that the cat may be clogged or at least the O2 sensors have malfunctioned, which may be why your O2 sensors are failing. That being said, you said you've had O2 sensor issues since day 1, so maybe the sensor failed a while back. I'm not sure the cause, but the root cause is clear: your engine needs to be rebuilt.

I agree you need a compression test and leakdown test (yes they're 2 different things). Once you have both of those a shop will be able to give you their best guess as to the diagnosis of your problem. But you are correct, the most common causes of low compression and burning oil are piston rings and valve seals. So while the tests will give you more info, you already know what you need to do. Unfortunately there's no easy fix for this scenario.

If it were me this is what I would do. Take it with a grain of salt ;-)

1. Rebuild the engine. New piston rings, reuse the pistons & rods if they look like they're in a good shape, if not replace them with OEM gsr ones. Same with the head; pull it, inspect the valves and refinish/replace them if necessary, new valve seals; springs & retainers are probably fine to be re-used if you'd like to keep cost down, if not you can replace them with OEM spec as well. New OEM gaskets all around (cam seal, head gasket, oil pan gasket, valve cover, intake & exhaust manifold). Basically refreshing the engine back to stock....you said you're not looking for huge power, you just want reliability & a fun car to drive; the b18c1 when running well is a Fine motor.
2. Replace the timing belt/water pump while you've got the damn thing pulled apart, why not? Purely for preventative maintenance.
3. Replace the O2 sensors.
4. Clear the codes, drive that bitch & attack any CELs that pop up.

Rebuilding the engine & replacing the sensors should get rid of your falling flat on your face problem assuming you're still on your stock ecu, which I have a feeling you are. Also, rebuilding the car with OEM specs in mind will keep you emissions legal and on the road trouble free for a long while.

Here's the problem with all this: Being that it's unlikely you can do much of the work yourself, you're going to have to pay a shop to do it. I don't know what the going rate is for labor in Cali, but I'm sure everything costs more out there. But, you clearly love the car, so in my opinion it would be worth it.

First things first sell the H23A and take that money and put it towards your rebuild.
Second, get a compression & leakdown test with formal, printed results so you can walk into a shop with it in your hand so they know you're serious (and they know what the problem is).
Third, shop around & go with a shop with which you feel comfortable. They might not be the cheapest or the most expensive, but it's your money and a lot of it! And they're a freaking business! So if they don't have the patience to answer your questions and take you seriously move on; it's not always easy to find a good shop, but when you find the right one you'll know it.

CandyRedRC46

Well being a girl is kind of a double edged sword. On one hand, yes dealers and shops may take advantage of you, because you are a woman, but on the other hand, I am sure you will get tons of help on the forums, with minimal trolling and attacking.
Also try not to stress too much about being a girl in the car scene, not everyone and everything is out to get you because you are a girl, a lot of dealers are just scum bags in general, some shops too.
With that being said, here's something I wrote yesterday for a guy doing a turbo D-series build, but I just tweaked it a little for your circumstance. Hope it helps.

Find a competent, machine shop/engine builder and tuner that you trust and has a good reputation. Put reputation as priority to cost.
Decide if you want to rebuild your current engine, (safer but more down time) or buy another engine and either just slap it in there or refresh/rebuild it first then swap it in (possible can of worms if engine isn't as described or blown/damaged)

Pull the engine out and strip it out to bare block.
Have it mic'd and see if the cylinders are out of round or just need a hone and re-ring (if the cylinder cross hatches have been polished away and or rings are worn out).
If the cylinders are still round, just have them honed and get the block/pistons/rods hot tanked/cleaned up, then order new piston rings. (I think Hastings, Nippon or oem is the way to go?)
If your cylinders are out of round and oval'ing, you can order new OEM or quality ebay pistons sized 81.25 or 81.50 (depending on what you machine shop advises) and have it bored over.

Piston choices if you actually need and want an over bore to 81.25-81.50mm:

P72-A0 (USDM B18C1) what you have now and will net 10.00:1 compression
P72-00 (JDM B18C1) Japanese gsr and will net 10.65:1 compression
P73-A0 (USDM B18C5) usdm type r and will net 11.10:1 compression
P73-00 (JDM B18C5) jdm type r and will net 11.65:1 compression

Obviously the higher compression and bigger bore will net more power, but will require betting tuning and complimentary parts to be the most beneficial....

Have the cylinder head cleaned up and ensure that the block and head mating surfaces are straight and true. You might need new valve seals/guides and a valve job as well, no need for fancy porting/polishing etc at this power level, but would be nice.
At you power level goal, there isn't much need for a forged or low compression aftermarket set up, but like you were saying, ARP rod bolts and ARP head studs are a great idea...
I would maybe consider having the rods shot pinned if you have some money left in the budget and want a little more rpm/power holding potential than the stock rods can handle, but less than investing in forged rods.

Mic all your clearances (mains/crank/rod journals etc...) and then order the appropriate sized OEM main and rod bearings. Don't let any just slap standard size/non oem bearings in there without mic'ing all clearances. (no plastigauge is not mic'ing)
Order a new OEM timing belt, oil pump and water pump.
Order a new OEM head gasket and all the miscellaneous gaskets.
Maybe look into upgrading the intake manifold/header/cams depending on what your goals are, you have to let us know. I guess you were leaning towards, "factory power is fine", so you probably don't need/want to mess with these...

Replace the fuel filter, have your injectors inspected/ultra sonic cleaned, maybe add a new walbro 255 fuel pump and look into a Hondata s300 ecu
You would probably want a new nice quality clutch while you're in there, maybe an exedy/oem level or stage 1, (nothing too extreme like stage +2/3 etc...), maybe some Hasport 62U motor mounts/ filled torque mounts or new oem mounts and new axles (if you need them) while you have everything out. So when your engine is out, its a good time to look over that stuff, as it would be much easier to replace engine out, than engine in....

Find a competent machine shop/builder and find a competent tuner, as those are the two most important things...

thewrai6th

This is all really good advice. I'm in the same boat as the OP, burning oil like crazy. If you did a Pri O2 bypass, that is horrible for the tune and may explain your black bumper in a day of driving and the limp mode (won't rev past 4400). Burning oil, plus rich AFR = instant black bumper. My car is white too, I hate the soot.
Being in Sac, you have a lot of options for shops but I wanted to throw this option out there. Buy a GSR block, either rebuilt or out of a running GSR. You may even find an entire donor car for less than the $2500-$4000 a shop is going to screw you for.

These come up on Sac and Bay Area Craigslist all the time:
https://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/pts...224966630.html
Sometimes buying other's failed dreams is the most economical solution.

If you have access to an engine lift and a mechanically inclined friend to help swap motors, you can be back in business this weekend. If you don't already have your shop manual get it here: Google "hondahookup manual".

In addition to the engine rebuild/replace, you will need a new cat. Burning oil destroys them and you'll start getting P0420. Most likely a new O2 sensor as well, but a torch can clean those up sometimes.

Good luck with the rebuild and welcome to the site!