808kyle808

which one is better and why...?

rick_rabies

jdm engines have been ruffed up getting to the states and real crappy gas has been used in them so the "low" miles,30k is like 100k on a usdm motor. maybe the jdm comes with magic vtec

MonkeyMagic

neither, they are both used and over ten years old

btw, rick babies... who said japan gets crappy gas? are you drinking?

B18C5-EH2

It all depends on what kind of car you have.

JDM swaps are typically cheaper, but usually are missing misc. parts that can make the swap more of a PITA. "30K" isn't always 30K and unless you buy from a trusted importer you could end up with something less than desirabl;e sitting in your garage floor.

USDM swaps can cost more, but you can usually get 100% verified mileage, which is a plus. If the seller knows what he's doing it should be sold with every part you'd need for the swap including the axles, linkages, mounts, brackets, misc. bolts, header/exhaust manifold, convertor, etc. etc.

Help us help you:

What kind of car do you want to drop a B16A into?

808kyle808

well i have a b16a in my ek hatch.....
i was wondering if the b16a2 was better..?

rick_rabies

I read an article from japan about their gas. Its dirtier, hence the smog pollution law of ripping out the motors after 30k miles, if they keep the same motor in with high miles they get fined for polluting hence tons of motors from all kinds of Japanese cars for sale now

808kyle808

..........................

EG6KILIN

what the f*ck I didn't know that I'm gonna have to research that.....get back to you guys on that!

B18C5-EH2

Hmmm...

Was that article in Bullshitter's Digest?

There are no "pollution" laws nor do they get "dirty" gas in Japan.

Japan makes it harder to keep older cars because of the taxes and fees that their government applies to cars as they age. This has more to do with stimulating new car purchasing and their automotive economy more so than emissions. Imagine how many people over there would never buy a new car seeing that the older cars are reliable, and they do not drive the crazy thousands of miles that we do here in the US seeing as how it's not 3,000 miles from coast to coast over there.

Basically there comes a point in which it's not cost effective to keep an older car, and it's hard to sell since the buyer will also have those extra fees to pay for it being an older car - thus the used car market there is much, much weaker than it is here.

Cliff notes:

Government fees assessed on older cars spur the salvage/cut in half used car sales with somewhat low miles, not emissions laws.

B18C5-EH2

Side note:

There are certainly plenty of cars from Japan that exceed 30K miles - I'm not quite sure where importers pulled "30K miles!" as advertised, but there is no law that limits Japanese cars to have 30K then cut it in half and sell the engines.

In spite of their government making it harder to keep older cars some choose to and again there are plenty of JDM clips that end up over here with 80K+ kilometers which is well over 30k miles.

I will point out though that the mileages are overall much lower on their cars as they have much better mass transit, less interstate highways, and of course less real estate to even drive on over there. Many people don't even drive their cars to work there.

***EDIT***

Just got off the phone with my importer/engine supplier who is Korean and has lived in Japan. He told me many passenger cars such as Legends, Accords, etc. actually do have low, low miles because in Japan there are tons of toll roads on their highways that connect the cities, and that paying to ride the "slow" train is much cheaper than trying to drive from city to city. With bullet train fares being close to the price of the fuel it would take (fuel is over $7.00 there) and toll fees many people opt to take the bullet train - it's much, much faster than driving too.

High performance cars driven by younger people tend to have higher mileage because they will cruise a lot more. He told me it's more common to see SR20DET front clips with OVER 100,000 kilometers (not miles, but still more than 30K converted) than it is to see them under 65,000 kilometers.

EG6KILIN

that's funny because I just read an article on that on jdm-Canada.com an there is an article there....

B18C5-EH2

I meant to mention this the first time:

Biggest difference performance-wise between a USDM B16A and the second-gen and newer B16A JDM engines is that the JDM engines have .2 more CR due to slightly higher domes on the pistons. It doesn't usually equate into any noticable power difference, but it is a difference worth mentioning.

BryanM.

iTrader: (1)

IIRC the B16A2 wasn't available with an LSD tranny.

Some JDM B16As did, however, come equipped with an LSD tranny. Any good JDM engine supplier will give you the option of buying one with or without an LSD tranny.

turboteg90

buy a b16a3 like me so you can be different by having a 3 in your b16 lol.

94EG8

Just for the record when my friend bought his '92 Civic SiR-S from an importer it had 112,000kms on it (67,200 miles).

gearhead16

very simple the b16a2 mainly has 10.2:1 compression and the jdm b16a has 10.4:1 compression thats the bigger difference

j spec = better lol

Chalupa42

Do jdm motors always have more power then usdm motors or does it change depending on the motor?

rkcarguy

I used to import engines and can enlighten you about this in detail.
Japan has BETTER gas than we do, higher octane is availiable..over 100 octane at some stations. Due to this many of the JDM versions have higher compression as stated already.
There is no mileage limit. The inspection/fee process is based on the original MSRP of the car. When it's new you get 3 years before 1st inspection. It's a 216+ point inspection..you have a leaky CV boot, ball joint, or dent bigger than allowed you fail.
After that it's every 2 years. Being the cost is around $1800-$3000 plus, after the car is 7 years old most start looking for a new one. The majority of the cars available to me for 1/2 cutting were 7-9 years old. Typically there is nothing wrong with them, it's just like if your $3000 car required a state patrol inspection that cost $2500,you'd sell your car for parts instead too.
Lastly, some info I like to put out there, is there are "grades" of engines. When buying loose engines that were hacked out of cars, there is A, B, C, and D grade. A and B grade engines are considered in top shape and can be re-used in Japan. Typically they have a paper tag on them with info(japanese) of what it came from and how many km's. They may have blue or green dots/stripe of spray paint on the valve cover. C and D grade engines came out of cars that didn't pass emisions or had other problems, and are marked with yellow or red paint. These are for export only. Theres a higher probability that these will have something wrong with them, but in many cases for honda engines I've found a stuck open EGR valve and a oily intake runner the only problem.
I have traveled to Japan before and it's very interesting. Cars we would roll for 10 more years are scrapped and crushed. I actually saw a R32 Skyline abandoned in the industrial district. Nobody steals anything and the cars just sit until someone files the paperwork to salvage them. They have base model EG's that are carbureted, many of them end up in 1 yen auctions (1 cent) and often no one buys them unless scrap is higher priced and the car is a short distance away.

eg6206

id go with the b16a, the obd1 b16s that came in the eg6 sir stock have have the same hp as b18c1 170, the 88-91 b16a comes with 160, so does the usdm b16a2.