Mentat Ghola

Theoretically speaking, seems to me that the price of b series motors will rise in the near future. One reason is the dicontinuaiton of the b series motors by honda. The new cars are k, d, f.... series powered, AND new models are not geting any lighter. Standard options are growing, multiple airbags, lots of electronics and so forth means that racer types will predominantly rely on the EF, EG, and EK hatches and CRX's as the desirable chassis for street/strip racing. Currently, the expense of puting a K series motor (The B of the future) is quite high, i think the B series motor will be sought after more. Thus, the decreasing supply and increasing demand will effect the market price. Also, when there are no longer any low-mileage stock B series motors left in Japan to export to America, enthusiast will probably rebuild the motors as soon as they get them, or build em from scratch: shorblock, matched to heads, a tranny and so forth. Therefore the prices of all these items will also increase. The abundant b16 heads will probably get higher and higher in price, as will b18 blocks, b20 blocks, all b series trannys. Websites that sell complete swap overs from japan will probably start selling complete rebuilt swaps at a higher price. Like the crate 350's and 454's that are built by pros for different applications. Seems to me that with the increasing weight of new Honda chassis and the (soon to be) diminishing abundance of the EF,EG,EK B series powered chassis the turbo industry will climb to new hights. And then the hydrogen cell and electric cars will TAKE OVER MAN!!!!!!!!! hehe, jk.

Team 4

Honestly, as much as I'll get flamed for this, electric won't be that bad.

Think about it: Any of you guys that have used a high powered RC car will understand. How fast do they accelerate? STOOOOOPID FAST! Match that with a 6 gear sequential box (due to the fact it would take more than we have to modulate the throttle) and you're set. Quick charge (<5 mins) batteries that would last for the equivalent of 1000 miles and you're laughing. I love my petroleum, but electric may not be all that bad. As for the sound? Get a stereo.

92b16vx

Are 350's hard to find? No. 11 years of production, and distribution to probably 50+ countries during that time. Maybe the supply from Japan will get smaller, but that leaves quite a few sources left. You can still go to Honda and order one brand new, expensive, but availible.

Jonathan_ED3

I don't see why any companies haven't jumped on this yet....

why aren't they making brand new aftermarket blocks, heads, etc like they do for the 350's and every other American V8? You can get brand new stuff very cheap!

The only thing I can think of off hand is the Dart Blocks...those are brand new aftermarket, aren't they?

Has Honda not released the rights, or is it because of some kind of legal reasons?

Mentat Ghola

350s are so abundant because GM hasnt stoped producing them for what...50 years?!! Theyve switched to aluminum, but the block is the same. I know B series will always be available, but the price will rise. Right now its easy to buy a stock b series motor, lets say a 96 B18c. 3 grand for the whole swap. What happens in ten years? How many crate motors do u see being sold with stock internals? The age of the engines necesitates rebuilding before they are sold. SOme are rebuilt to factory specs, some are built for racing. Look at a GM performance catalog. 5 different types of 350's at least. Pretty soon when the B's are up there in years, they will be sold rebuilt, crate style. Kinda like Mr. Gaskets b20 Vtec crate motor, 220 WHP and a huge price tag. SOme people will prefer to build their own motor from scratch, the price of shortblocks, trannys, and heads will rise. Im sure the aftermarket will step in, like DART did, but theyl have high-dollar price tags. Personally im looking forward to the hydrogen fuel cell cars. Hot roding will be a very simple thing they say, just add more hydrogen cells, stack em up. THe more you got the more power your making. Was watching a promo tape from GM, in auto class, thats what the director said.

IntegraTypeRice

You could be very right about this but think about the other side. It is possible that once swapping K series motors into older civics and integras everyone will ditch their B series and opt for the K motor. The price for K motors will eventually come down to B series territory and the B series will be obsolete. Im not saying this is what is going to happen. I just think that it is more of a possibility than the B Series going up in price. Then again you will find people(like me) who just want the B series because its what they have always wanted. They will sacrifice some power to have the motor that they grew up learning about.

HXMan

Aftermarket heads, blocks, cranks, pistons, rods, cams, springs, pumps, etc are all available for Honda B series engines.

I would like to see more variety and more manufacturers involved though. Lower prices would be nice too.

WHo knows....maybe the summit catalog will be 200 pages of import parts, and 10 domestic?!

Wes V

It's all supply and demand! The price will go up.

The fact that Dart (Payne) sells new crate motors doesn't really enter into it due to the fact that it's not a legal "replacement" engine!! It's not even legal in all drag racing organizations as a "Honda" engine.

I sure wish that they would make a b18c configuration that was a smog legal replacement engine in California!!!!!!!

Wes

4crx4me

Just a slight clarification, if I could.
The "small block chevy" is close to 50 years old.
I believe when first introduced in somewhere around '52-'53, (not a chevy expert) the original cid was 250 or 265.
The small block chevy didn't become a "350 cid" until the late '60's.
It might've started life as stroked 400, I can't recall for sure.
Now let all chevy experts start flaming. LOL Just my .02 cents.

aLLjDMRalf

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by IntegraTypeRice &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">You could be very right about this but think about the other side. It is possible that once swapping K series motors into older civics and integras everyone will ditch their B series and opt for the K motor. The price for K motors will eventually come down to B series territory and the B series will be obsolete. Im not saying this is what is going to happen. I just think that it is more of a possibility than the B Series going up in price. Then again you will find people(like me) who just want the B series because its what they have always wanted. They will sacrifice some power to have the motor that they grew up learning about. </TD></TR></TABLE> this was my first thought cause i saw a k series motor make like 280hp with minor intenal work so i think the price will come down the the b motors will eventually become obsolete like the guys that use that smaller musang motor in the classic stang even though there is a bigger better motor it will allways be used and allway be around

hassan_1321

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Jonathan_EH &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I don't see why any companies haven't jumped on this yet....

why aren't they making brand new aftermarket blocks, heads, etc like they do for the 350's and every other American V8? You can get brand new stuff very cheap!

The only thing I can think of off hand is the Dart Blocks...those are brand new aftermarket, aren't they?

Has Honda not released the rights, or is it because of some kind of legal reasons?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Honestly I dont think its a rights thing and i I think anybody from Honda engineering who reads that statement would cry ...j/k Honda heads and blocks are built far superior than domestic blocks and heads, and I think it would be pretty hard for manufactures to justify any reason you should use their head or block as opposed to the stock Honda ones. Honda engineers really know what they're doing when they design their stuff...just my two cents ...but I do see this happening in the future because the blocks are discontinued.