Hey guys first post but long, long time reader. Starting my first serious power (700hp drag only) engine build this fall and want to get some opinions on my build plan before I really start committing mooving towards this.

So far planned:
95 EJ completely stripped (A/C & P/S deleted)
complete B18B
Darton sleeves
Custom ram horn (Lutz Racing)
Custom exhaust (Lutz Racing)
Precision 6266 ball bearing
Manley Turbo-Tuff I beams
JE 9:1 pistons
ARP head studs
Cometic head gasket
ACL race bearings
Supertech full valvetrain
Edelbrock Victor X
Tial 44mm
Mishimoto half rad
Treadstone TR1045 intercooler & piping
Golden Eagle fuel rail
Walbro 267 twin setup
ID 2000cc's
Hondata S300 V3



My main questions are the following:
1) What should I do as far as axle/ traction bar set-ups go? I've seen Blox and NRG traction bars and they look like junk. What are my options? I am more concerned about running through axles.
2) My block is getting sleeved. Machinist is currently pinning and sleeving another GSR block. Sorry if I don't understand, but why would I want pinning if I get the block sleeved as well? I have a basic understanding of what both pinning and sleeving is but not technical.
3) Same machinist shot down my wanting Eagle rods. What is the prevailing theory as to why Turbo-Tuff is better? Not just someone stating their opinion.
4) I'm assuming my stock ignition won't come close to handling that power. Would like some direction which way to go.
5) The big debate. Looking at different heads. Comparing the p75, pr4, and LS heads. Asked my machinist and kind of got the run around. Am I better off just building an LS head or paying for the better blowing v-tec heads? What kind of different in performance compared to cost?
6) And last but not least. I currently don't have a transmission. I've read that the Y80 is the best for boost and I used to have one and loved it. Is going with straight cut gears overkill?

 

<p>1 - DSS axles will become your new best friend. &nbsp;I don't have any personal experience with traction bars of any sort, so I'll leave that for someone else.</p><p>2 - That's a really good question. &nbsp;Assuming you're using Darton MID sleeves, and not one of their other wet sleeve options, I don't see any reason to stud your block.</p><p>3 - Sounds like your machinist just gave you his opinion, so why would you expect any different here? &nbsp;Eagle rods are rated to either 900 HP, or 1200 HP, depending on which part number you get. &nbsp;There's no reason they can't handle what you're building for. &nbsp;Manley TT rods aren't...rated, as far as I can tell from their catalog, but they're I beams. &nbsp;You'd be fine with either.</p><p>4 - Not a chance. &nbsp;You might want to look into a COP setup for your power goals.</p><p>5 - No comment. &nbsp;I'm a non-VTEC purist, but that's not to say you wouldn't get a better powerband in your goal range with a VTEC head.</p><p>6 - An LS transmission? &nbsp;No. &nbsp;**** no. &nbsp;That retarded &quot;long gears for boost&quot; **** is wrong, and always has been wrong. &nbsp;Your &quot;best&quot; transmission will depend entirely on how much money you want to put into it. &nbsp;In a perfect world, you'd put in a spool, dog gears, a cuffed 5th, and custom gear sets to maximize your power delivery in 4 gears down the quarter. &nbsp;That **** adds up, though.</p>

 

I'm curious what the difference in material there is between Eagle and Manley rods. Sounds like I have even more reading to do haha. I must admit ignition tech stuff is my weakest link, what is a COP set up? And what do you have against the other Dartons sleeve options?

 

<p>They're both made out of 4340 steel. &nbsp;It more comes down to the design of the rod. &nbsp;Eagle rods are H beam, whereas Manley TT rods are I beam.</p><p>Coil On Plug. &nbsp;There are a few options out there for it.</p>

 

Aem is the only option

 

<p>Don't drink and post, kids.</p>

 

Haha wow I'm dumb I knew what cop was. As far as transmissions if I can swing it, I will just bite the bullet and put down 5k for a G-Force setup. Wonder if I go that route what I should use as the starting point?

 

Hahah I never got why people like AEM so much. Only would use their FPR's personally. I knew what cop was, I'm an idiot haha. And as far as transmissions go I might as well bite the bullet and put 5k down on a G-Force setup. But what should I use as a base to build up?

 

Dick riding?

 

*sips whiskey*
+1

 

Scotch is where its at

 

For the power level you are shooting for use a vtec head. A 700whp drag car will probably break stock gear sets a lot.

 

You can use Insane Shafts axles, just as durable as DSS but you aren't paying their huge overhead costs, I still have love for DSS but they've become pricey. User TurboLS uses Insane Shafts on his drag car and I don't think he's had an issue yet.

KTuned and Full Race make some of the nicest traction bars I've seen. Stay away from brands like Blox and similar companies as all that they do is copy other peoples products.

Pinning a block is an old school way to support the cylinders. It was ghetto as **** back them and is even more so today.

I personally don't like Eagle rods. For the longest time on here we had 600hp+ setups killing Eagles left and right. Manley Turbo Tuff rods are hard to beat for the price, it's what I put in my last built motor. They only other viable options for steel rods would be Pauter or Crower (not Brian Crower). However if this is a track only car then run aluminum rods. Less rotating mass means engine revs a bit faster and can turn a bit higher than steel rods (assuming other components could survive it), lower drivetrain losses, aluminum rods actually help absorb some drivetrain shock.

There are two companies that make them for our motors. Bill Miller Engineering and GRP. Personally I think BME is the better choice. Their rods are machined from a forged billet using their own proprietary alloy, unless GRP has changed their process then they simply machine them from a standard piece of billet stock, nowhere near as durable as a forged billet piece. If you want to learn more just google BME and read.

You'll need coil on plug for sure.

Skip the LS head idea. For the power you want you'll have to dump tons of money into the head and still get depressing results that a stock port stock can vtec could make. Look at LightningTegs LS to LSV thread to get an idea of the gains from just changing heads.

The Y80 trans is considered "good" because of the stock gear ratios. If you're putting an aftermarket gearset in any OEM B series trans then that obligatory rating system becomes irrelevant because basically every stock part aside from the gear ratios and if it has an OEM LSD are the same for every transmission so once you use an aftermarket gear set with different ratios then everything you read regarding OEM transmission performance becomes useless. It would be like using a Ford service manual to put a Chevrolet together lol. Cases, shift forks, seals, synchros, etc. Also don't forget you'll need a flywheel scatter sheild to pass tech at the strip. Golden Eagle makes the best by far, I love mine.

It seems like you have a fairly solid grasp on what components to use where for your setup and mostly of all you understand the financial investment that 99.999999% of the new guys here hate to read about and think they can have the fastest civic on earth with a 500 dollar ebay turbo kit and no tune lol. However remember that it's your car, your build, your money, and your style. There's nothing wrong in deferring to more experienced people in regards to certain aspects of the build but don't buy something just because they told you to. I think you'll wind up doing alright though.

 

hey killer, my stock sleeved block is posted/ pinned. been running strong for over four years.

 

Pinning the cylinders isn't a bad thing, if the sleeves were also installed proper and snug.

Sleeves used to have a tendency to sink when machinists didn't have full experience as to what they were doing. They'd get the sleeves in tight but not tight enough, so they pinned them to prevent sinking. Thus relying on the pins to hold the sleeves in place, less sturdy than full surface tensioned material.

A good installer can get maximum tension and you'll never have a problem without pins.

So, yours could be tight enough and pinned...

"Do you consider yourself lucky, punk?" Lol

 

Pinning is fairly rare in the Honda camp. You mostly see old hot rod guys doing it and it's much more common on stock sleeves than stronger ductile iron sleeves. It's not necessarily a bad thing but when it's done on a sleeved motor then in my opinion it was done to bandaid a poor sleeve installation.

The RHMT guys love pinning/posting stock sleeves but this process ultimately shifts stress to yet another point on the sleeve which just means a failure will happen somewhere less common. However you really have to know what you're doing because if you put too much tension on one pin it can lead to premature sleeve failures.

 

Thanks for the advice guys. Haven't had interest access this weekend (sailing on Lake Erie). I did some more talking around. I think I'm going to call up BME next week and get some more info about their rods. I think I have a pretty good baseline for getting my power goals, just need to sort some decisions out like rods. Still feeling a bit stupid about ignition set ups. I currently have all the electrical pulled on the car except my home made starter putton/ kill switch mod. Tried reading up how it works and just got more confused than I initially was haha.

As far as transmissions go I am really thinking about going with a G-Force set-up. But that's all I have planned so far. Not sure where to go from there. Also trying to figure out what clutch & flywheel to go with. Looking for some input.

 

<p>An Exedy multiplate clutch will be your new best friend. &nbsp;For gearsets, call up Synchrotech. &nbsp;They're pretty smart about this stuff, and will be able to point you in the right direction. &nbsp;Ignition is easy - COP. &nbsp;There are options. &nbsp;Look into them, and pick the one that would best match whatever tuning option you're using. &nbsp;Again, for rods, I'm a firm believer in Eagle rods, but I've never heard bad things about Turbo Tuff rods, either. &nbsp;If you want to go &quot;all out&quot;, you can't go wrong with Pauter X beams, but you'll be paying a price. &nbsp;Carillo is another good option. &nbsp;Whichever rod you go with, make sure you get reinforced/upgraded/&quot;beefy&quot;/whatever-the-company-wants-to-call-them pins.</p>

 

Going to give Dennis @ PRL a call today since they are tuning me and seeing what they can do for my ignition setup. Looking at cams today. Thoughts on Brian Crower stage 2 turbo cams? Read on here that the n/a cams are better but not sure. Would like to get the cams and cam gears together. Going to get started replacing the brake lines and adding the stage brake today.

 

Don't bother with the Brian Crower of either style. The Crower 404s are the best option for turbo cars. Please check out Lighteninteg's Integra via Google to get an idea of what to use for the B18B.

 

I looked at the 404's too and really like them.

 

The Supertech valves scare me. Lots of dropped valve threads out there. Most of the people making power suggest Ferrea valves and keepers. Supertech valve springs and retainers seem to have a solid rep though.

 

<p>I'm a proponent of always getting your valvetrain hardware from the same company you get your cam(s) from. &nbsp;They're made to work together, by one company. &nbsp;No need to mix and match. &nbsp;Crower 404's, Crower springs, Crower retainers, Crower valves.</p>

 

Could go either way between Supertech and Ferrea, doesn't really seem to make a difference in my opinion. I'm not really sold on 404s yet. I talked to G-Force today in depth about my goals for the transmission build. I think I'm going to go with the full G-Force build. Straight cut, dog engagement gears 1-4, handcuff 5th, stock reverse. Going with a Speedfactory SCHA, Quaife or MFactory LSD, compclutch multiplate, and Toda billet flywheel. Going to cost an arm and 3 legs but I feel pretty good having a 1000hp rated transmission.

 

Also tried getting my exhaust and ram horn & turbo set up but Lutz Racing is going drag racing the next 2 weeks so I guess I'm beat on that. Called my machinist and told him I wanted BME rods and found out he's a competitor haha. So still trying to figure out which way I'm going as far as rods and pistons go...