MXPX

I am goin to be buying a b18a in the near future for my 92 Civic Cx and i wanna do ls/vtec becuase its bad *** and its cheap as hell...(lets stay on the topic tho peeps) any wayz I wanted to know what are the BEST internals to use for that motor...I want high compression and strong rods..should i just shot-peen them and get high compression pistons???help me out folks

CRX_VTEC

What makes youu think LS/VTEC is cheap? Go ask atomic how much a real LS/VTEC cost. I'm sure everyone here that has a LS/VTEC has a different setup with different internals. I just want to know how much people have spent on their setups. And for that price... how much HP are they making.

accordking

Pistons
rings
rods
$1100.00

Bearings
$80

Machining
$400 appr.

Studs
$140

Head Gasket and Seals
$200

Major tune up (water pump,thermostat,t-belt Etc.)
$300

Smoking a V8........
Priceless

cjfinkle

Well, i went with Endyn Rollerwave pistons. I got ones that will give around 12-12.2:1 compression with an LS block and my ITR head. For rods, I went with Eagle rods. They are very strong, cheap and even come with ARP rod bolts. The pistons were $496 with the rings, pins and locks and the rods with bolts were $355.

stizzit

Might as well do the mains too! Bearings will be about $150-200 for them all - im not too sure - I just bought a complete set but not at retail. An entire gasket kit for the cylinder head is $250 about and for the bottom end its $50. Don't forget you'll need a header to mount to this thing and mounts along with other conversion crap.

Oh BTW - To do an LS/VTEC the RIGHT way it is not cheap at all. As a matter of fact I could've gone turbo for about the same price im at now - however I needed guaranteed reliability with low maintainence.

Good luck!


[Modified by stizzit, 12:08 AM 8/6/2001]

EVOCELICA

Ls/vtec is no way cheap if you are building the whole motor I have sunk at least 5 thousand dollars in to mine.
I have:
B18a block
B16a head
ITR pistons
B18b rods
Knifed crank
Billet steel flywheel
6 puck clutch
Motor has been balanced
Port and polished head by portflow
ITR intake valves
Portflow inner and outter valve springs
Titanium retainers
Adj. cam gears
CTR intake cam
ITR exhaust cam
JDM ITR 4-1
Head milled 40 thousands
New GSR water pump
New GSR oil pump
New GSR timing belt
New tensioner
B16 cable trans
New throwout bearing
Rebuilt axels
PR3 reproged ECU
RC injectors 270cc
MSD 6a with coil
PYR crank pulley
and tons more I could keep going for days, this project has taken me a little over a year and I am almost completely finished with it. I have this motor going in to a 90 civic si that has been lightened to the fullest, stripped all the sound deadening tar off the chasis lexan windows racing bucket seat 4point roll bar 5 point RJS harness Corbeau racing seats lenso drag wheels ect........

If I was to build my motor over again I think I would of gone with crower rods to get a little more RPM out of the motor

cjfinkle

EVO - your setup looks really good, but why didnt you go with some forged rods? i would think that you would considering this project has taken you round a year. it would be a bummer to see your motor fail because of a weak rod. Especially with those b18a rods, at least 8 years old.

EVOCELICA

I am using a set of B18b rods and Erick from Ericks racing says these rods are stronger and should be able to spin up to 9,000 RPM. He also said that the motor will make power up to 10,000 RPM but the rods are not strong enough to spin that high, I will just have to wait and see.

cjfinkle

10k huh? Well you must have gotten hooked up with some exclusive type-r cams. I am using ITR cams with Eagle rods and ARP rod bolts and I would never think of going over 9k. LS/VTEC's will not last long with that type of abuse. A less than perfect stroke/rod ratio, no oil squirters or cooling, etc. Whether or not your motor will actually make power up to what Erick says should not even be a thought in your head. There is just no need to go that high. Do yourself a favor and keep it under 9k.

B18C-EJ1

LS/VTEC = Cheap.

HAHHAHAHHHHHAHHHHHHAHHAAAAHHA

Ooohhh, god, I needed a good laugh tonight.

THANKS!!!!

HX_Guy

Ooo ooo...how's this?

CRVTEC = CHEAP!

EVOCELICA

I understand that 10k is out of the question but with a stronger rod set it could be done, I have had the ECU programmed to hit rev limiter at 9400 and I am trying to stay as close as possible to 9200

HX_Guy

9200 on stock B18B rods?

All I an say is why?
Why even chance it? All the money an effort in the engine and you skimp out on $350 for some good rods?

Did you get a crank girdle?

cjfinkle

EXACTLY!!! ...WHY??? You spend 5k on your motor and you want to chance it by taking it over 9k on stock rods. It just doesnt make sense. Anyone with any common sense who has an LS/VTEC setup will tell you the same thing. And you are right, you can bring it up to 9200 or so, but trust me, you WILL blow your motor and alot of that 5 grand will be in metal shavings. So i'll say it again, do your self a favor and upgrade your rods, rod bolts, get the crank girdle, have the rotating assembly balanced and do not bring it over 9k on a regular basis.

HX_Guy

BTW Im not saying what Ive "heard" and whatever..

Im talking from experiance. I had a B18B1 in my car before...revved the hell out of it...and what happened? Broke a rod in two and got a nice hole in the block

EVOCELICA

Well I guess I just wasted a ton of money for nothing huh! I have tons of friends that have built ls vtecs before and have used stock rods reving to 9k has not been a problem for them so I don't see why it would be for me. I didn't get crower rods at the time because the best price I could get on them was like around $640 which was way more than what I could spend.............

cjfinkle

look man, we arent saying you wasted your money. Do whatever you want. All we are saying is that you should have made a better investment and gone with some aftermarket rods. I just look at it as the local thing ot do. And they do't have to be crower's. I bought my Eagle rods with ARP rod bolts for $355 shipped. But if you have a lot of success with your setup, that would be great. And when you reach that 60-80k mark on that 9k motor and nothing has broken, then you can create a big thread for all of us to look at a realize that our extra rod purchases were not needed.

CRX_VTEC

well.... i dont think a built LS/VTEC will last 60-80K miles. The 60.. maybe... but the 80 part I seriously doubt. High compression motors arent built to last.... and as far as the rods are concerned I have stock LS rods too with ARP bolts. Stock rods are strong enough. Of course Crower is stronger and lighter but unless you have over 220HP and rev to 9,000 RPM on a daily basis..the stock rods will do fine.

HX_Guy

Like I said - I was speaking from my experiance. I know alot of people use stock rods and get away with it.

I guess it just depends on the person and their mentality - I for one want to know for sure that they will not break - even if 99% of the stock rods last...that 1% could be the motor you spend $5,000+ on.
Its peace of mind for me - and thats priceless.

stizzit

SO please explain why high compression motors don't last ... Are you thinking they don't because race motors don't last and they are high compression? Compression has nothing to do with longevity unless you have detonation and if THAT is the case well then you have bigger problems!!!!

EVOCELICA

If you run a high compression motor with out having the motor detonate it will be fine and should last a very long time if you take care of it properly, for example look at the S2000 and the new GTS celica they are high reving high compression motors and I think that Honda and Toyota have built them to last longer than 60k miles

CRX_VTEC

Those are engines designed and built to run on high compression stock. The LS block was never meant to be revved high nor was it built to for high compression. I might be wrong but i have yet to see a LS/VTEC running high compression last 60-80K. It might be possible but maintenance on a racing motor like a built LS/VTEC should be done alot more often. Dont quote me on that.... its just my 2 cents.

cjfinkle

I totally agree with you and it seems that most people do not understand your point. LS motors do not have a close to optimum rod/stroke ratio like the b series motors, nor do they have things such oil squirters and high flow oil pumps. Therefore, if a B series motor and an LS/VTEC were driven the same way, under the same conditions, obvioulsy the LS/VTEC will not last as long. And whether or not the motor will last 60-80k can only be determined by how it was built, the maintanence of the motor and the way it is driven. Now, look at a B series motor. Given the benefits of these motors over an LS block, they should last alot longer then the LS/VTEC. And as far as reving to 9k+, even this RPM range will destroy a B series motor. So doing this to an LS/VTEC with stock rods simply isn't the smart and locical thing to do. If it is too much for you to buy $350 aftermarket rods to help protect your $5,000 investment, I believe you are going about this year long buildup in the wrong way.

EVOCELICA

Well I am richer than **** and I don't care, I also have a B18C5 that has the head welded to the block with concrete in the cylinder sleeves with JE pistons with a 14:1 compression ratio and I am boosting 29 psi with a 200 squeeze of nitrous direct port. So if my LSvtec breaks I will just put the b18c5 in. All said and done.

cjfinkle

ok well, ill be quite now. Seems as though you are taking offense to what we are saying. Good luck with the motor.