like the title say i wanna got ls/vtec but dont know what block is better.b18b or b18a.. any advice would be appreciated..thanks...im planning on putting a b16 head with a b16 tranny... any other advice on mods would help..

 

look for one that was auto b18b becuz its newer and chances r its less beat

 

if the tranny was auto or manual...the block can be used for either?..

 

yes, the block between automatics and manual transmission cars are the same.

 

oh ok....so b18b is the way to do ls/vtec?...cause i heard the blocks are the same just the b18b is newer than the b18a....

 

you can do a LS-vtec with either of the blocks, they are the exact same, some people say they would rather go with the b1 as it is newer however some will say if the hone on the block is good then there should be no problems. I went with a b18a1 on my ls-vtec but it has been sleeved so it doesn't make a difference in my case what so ever.

 

what mods have you done to your ls/vtec? will it be safe to do ls/v completely stock or should i do some mods so it can be reliable? how far can you redline safely

 

i always was told to use a b20 block cause the bore is a bit better and they are a bit heavier in the side walls.. id say if ur doing the swap just to build ur block while ur at it...

it is safe to do it with a stock block.. but u mattas well get the extra power with building

 

yeah i heard the the b20 has more torque than the ls but that the ls is more reliable and can take more beatings... i could be wrong tho

 

b18a block (from a 90-95 ls block) because they have a breather box on the back of the block which greatly helps relieve high crankcase pressure. the breather box isn't a critical thing to a good motor but can't hurt and i think its nice to have.

 

My ls-vtec is fully built, it is a 84mm eagle block (b18a1), eagle knife-edged crank, eagle rods, cp 9.0:1 pistons, ported and polished head, super-tech valve train, and right now I am just running on CTR cams. It is built for boost though, if I were to be building a N/A ls-v I would probably atleast upgrade the rods and pistons just for the bump in compression. On the topic of the B20 block it is a good block obviously it is more torquey as it is a 2.0L (84mm) however they are not blocks that seem to enjoy boost especially with the compression bump that comes with adding a vtec head but if your goal is N/A with a pretty basic build this would not be a bad motor to go with. By the way BSballboyjk the a1 stopped in 93 the b1 took over in 94 with the DC body (still had the box on it) and personally, I think that box is a piece, I have had great luck with removing it and going with the Endyne breather kit so if you are worried about blow-by I would look into something like this. hope that helped out a bit.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by my_hidden_romance &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i always was told to use a b20 block cause the bore is a bit better and they are a bit heavier in the side walls.. id say if ur doing the swap just to build ur block while ur at it...</TD></TR></TABLE>

Who told you the b20 had "heavier" sleeves?

They're thinner then the b18, because it's bored out more to make the extra displacement.

 

oh i definately agree with you on that the endyne breather kit being better than that stock breather box. i was just saying between simply choosing b18a or b18b i would personally choose the b18a because it has that box and though its not really important, i just figure it cant do any harm. and my mistake i didnt mean to say b18a was 90-95 ls. so i guess my edited answer between which b18 to get would be any ls block betweent the years 90-95.

 

If you don't mod the bottom don't expect to redline past the stock ls redline. You can't just slap a vtec head on and rev out to 8 or 9, this is how they are rumored to be unreliable. If you do the work it's a solid motor, however much more expensive than you think.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SleeperGSR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If you don't mod the bottom don't expect to redline past the stock ls redline. You can't just slap a vtec head on and rev out to 8 or 9, this is how they are rumored to be unreliable. If you do the work it's a solid motor, however much more expensive than you think.</TD></TR></TABLE>


yeah i heard LS/VTEC is really not reliable but i also heard it is reliable but the person that told me it is reliable i asked him if i do ls/v and i rev to 8 or a little higher wouldnt i blow the motor and he told me no he said the block can handle it its all about the head and correct me if he is wrong cause i'm planning to do LS/V

 

same here, iv heard so much contradicting info on this setup, some say its a stupid idea, others say its a relaible motor in stock form as long as its properly maintained and not driven brutally

 

Its reliable if you build it correctly. There is alot that goes into it. The stock ls bottom end is not designed to rev past 7-8. You have to upgrade the bottom end to get to the higher rps that a stock vtec head is capeable of. The reason people say that its a stupid idea is that you can bolt on a turbo set up to a stock ls bottom end and make more power for less money. I'm building a 18c1, and i want to keep it all motor, it's expensive and i'm not going to see big hp #'s, but that's not really my goal. I don't know what your goals are it may be better for you to go a different direction. I don't have any experience with turbos but from reading on here you can get 300hp from a stock ls with tuning for alot less than it would cost to pay to have an ls-v built and the parts. Again i'm not sure of your goal, but usually the more you tweak a motor the less "reliable" it is. I'm not saying you can't make them daily drivers still, but expect things to go wrong if you are building a motor, especially an ls-v.

 

There is quite a bit of bad information in this thread, the B20 is not considered weak because it has "thinner" sleeves it is considered weak by people who want to boost due to the fact that a major % of the sleeves are aluminum unlike the LS block that has less aluminum. B20 blocks are not weak motors when it comes to building a naturally aspirated motor. As far as reliability on a ls-v goes, they are like any other motor, reliability is based upon the way you race it and the way you take care of it. HOWEVER a lsv with a stock ls bottom end is not too rev happy due to the fact that the stock LS cranks are not 0 balanced from the factory, they have very weak rod bolts that have a tendency to stretch, the lack of oil squirters and ofcourse no girdle. however the motor can be made to rev by removing the crank and having it balanced and throwing in new rods and pistons (basically). Finally a LS-T is no more reliable than an ls-v and DEFINATLY not cheaper! I daily drive my ls-v turbo integra at 438whp with no problems so saying expect problems especially from an lsv is not always true, people get them, beat the **** out of them without taking care of basic maitenance and then bash them when they blow up.

 

b18a and b is the essentially the same block. If you don't know that, you should do a lot more research before getting into ls/vtec.

 

Its reliable if you build it correctly. There is alot that goes into it. The stock ls bottom end is not designed to rev past 7-8. You have to upgrade the bottom end to get to the higher rps that a stock vtec head is capeable of. The reason people say that its a stupid idea is that you can bolt on a turbo set up to a stock ls bottom end and make more power for less money. I'm building a 18c1, and i want to keep it all motor, it's expensive and i'm not going to see big hp #'s, but that's not really my goal. I don't know what your goals are it may be better for you to go a different direction. I don't have any experience with turbos but from reading on here you can get 300hp from a stock ls with tuning for alot less than it would cost to pay to have an ls-v built and the parts. Again i'm not sure of your goal, but usually the more you tweak a motor the less "reliable" it is. I'm not saying you can't make them daily drivers still, but expect things to go wrong if you are building a motor, especially an ls-v.


couldnt get the quote thing to work

I have seen some really strong ls-v's...one of the fastest hatches ive been in was running a ls v on race gas.....Crazy fast, bangs gears at 9 grand..
But there is always that thought in the back of my head, about the rpms up high. Why not build a gsr block, it may cost a little more, but its built for the high rpm's stock. Why spend all the money to build a ls motor and just have it take a dump on you....I would spend the extra cash to get a gsr block, and go from there.

Something that wasnt designed for rpms, or something that is....thats my thought.

 

thanks a lot squigglez..yeah im planning on havinh an N/A....than maybe later boosting not too sure yet.. how much do the a1 blocks run for cause some guy is selling me one for $100... what times do you get on the 1/4 mile with your set up..

 

I have only got a chance to run it once and it went 10.88 at I believe 12x however I am un-sure of the speed. then I got kicked out of the track due to my cars lack of a cage, hopefully I will get it back out there within the next few weeks and see what it can do haha.

 

iirc isn't there a company that makes a ls/v kit? im about to start a ls/v build of my own and i was wondering if anyone had a link to the kit

 

b18 !

 

blueda9, yes there are actually a few companies that make LS-Vtec kits, you can buy a full kit from Eagle or Full-Race, or you could go another route and make your own which is also pretty simple get the plugs and sandwich adapter from GE, --6an hose, 2 -6 an fittings, 1 (dont quote me but im pretty sure) 3/8-&gt;-6an fitting for the head, and a factory honda headgasket for either you b18 or b20.


Deegz, the main things, as I have said keeping an LS block from being able to safely rev high are just the crank and the rod bolts. A well balanced A/B1 block can rev just as well as a C1 block. After the block is addressed the next part that needs to be worked is the head. I run my ls-v turbo to 9500 our shop car (ls-v turbo as well) shifts around 10,500 all the time, if the motor is built correctly it will have no problem with these high RPMs