I have a 95ex and Im trying to decide what I want to put into it. Im thinking for the price an ls motor is looking good.
I still have a strong sohc in my car so I want to pick either the ls or b16. I havent heard anything good about the b16 and gsr would be alot more, as with h22. So im wondering what the potential of the ls engine is with some mods in coup with no boost.
I was thinking about not using the ls tranny and possibly putting a vtec head on?

 

I'm partial to the B16 myself if your not going b18C. B16 has about 20 more horses but about 10 - 15 less torque.

? Why not boost your sohc engine or are you going all motor?

 

I'd probably with a LS.

 

It all depends on what your goals are. Both motors respond well to turbo's although the lower compression of the LS and the tranny gearing is more ideal for it. Both setups could easily turn into an LSVTEC setup but the B16A swap would be better to have for that since you'll have the closer geared tranny and VTEC head already. If you are looking at it from a straight swap vs. swap, I would go with the LS.

 

I like the torque of the Ls too. I'm building a 1991 STD hatch right now, with a B18A.

For $1500, I found a CRX (body was real bad) with a B18A in it. Motor has 185 psi across the board. So, for the cost of a B16 motror + trans, I got:

B18A
S1 trans
Axles/hubs(I got the STD hubs, so i'd need to swap)
SI resistor box(since I have dual point injection)
New Place racing engine mounts
Place racing conversion harness
Place Racing shift linkage
Disc brake system from the CRX-Si
Brand new full width aluminum radiator
good tires and rims
SI seats
SI cluster with tach
and lots of CRX-Si parts to sell.

And its all running in the CRX, so I know I've got evreything, and can see how its hooked up, before I swap it into the hatch..(I wish the CRX was better shape, but its beyond repairing).

Driving the CRX, it was nice to hit the gas at 3000, 4000 rpm etc, and have power down low. Its my daily driver, so with the torquier engine, its just better for me, for everyday stuff.

Money I saved buying this, instead of a B16 swap, i've bought a PnP B18B head and some better cams. That will bring the HP right around the 160 of B16, but way more torque.

Next year I get another car, and this becomes a project car..then it gets a turbo :-)

 

Hey guys thx for the feed back. Id like to know what kind of benifits there is to adding the b16 head to the ls......? From what I hear an idea set up would be the b16a tranny ls bottem and b16 head? What kind of power do you think this would establish for me?
Or should I just stick with the whole ls set up and go all motor? At this time im not looking into FI.
Last how hard is the install of the ls into my 94 ex coup
thx a bunch!

 

Well, probably the best thing, would be to look for a B18B and matching transmission. That would be a OBD1 motor and hydraulic clutch to match your car.

Search around for the millions of LS/VTEC articles to read about putting a B16 head on a LS bottom end. In short, I wouldn't worry about it, or attempt it if this is your first build up.

The benefits is its adding a much better flowing head and cams to an LS motor. There isn't any magic about VTEC heads, they just flow real well, and have a big cam, while allowing a good idle/low end.

Get a more or less stock motor first, either the B18B or a B16A, and get that running. Get eveverything else the way you want it. Brakes, tires, suspension, etc. Then if you want more power, look into it.

If you want to go the LS/VTEC route, you probably want:

-A B16 tranny, so the gears are closer spaced together, to keep you in VTEC range
-To rebuild the bottom end with fresh bearings and good rod bolts
-Put B16 pistons on the LS rods
-Install the VTEC oil pump/water pump, to run better at higher rpms
-Get some good engine management(I'd go Hondata since its OBD1)
-Get it tuned on a dyno


You will be basically rebuilding the whole engine, so if you aren't comfortable doing that, just enjoy a stock motor for now. If you do plan that route, then like was mentioned, you will probably be better off starting with a B16 now, so you already have a head, correct trans, oil pump, pistons, etc.

 

Well I want the best bang for my buck, and the b18b-LS- is alot cheaper then the b16a2 and Im thinking id probably as fast with the LS stock as with the b16a2? Maybe a tiny bit slower.
Did all b18's come with hydro tranny? cuz I would not want to switch to cable or id buy a b16a1

 

The earlier ones, hmm at least 90 and 91 are cable trannys, later ones are hydro.

Early B18s are also less power 130hp vs 142 for later..

Depending on your location, you might need the motor to be 95 or later, anyway, to be emissions legal. I'd look for a B18B which is 1994 and newer, shoudl be the correct OBD1 for your cable and a hydro trans.

Yeah, the B18B is going ot probably be a little slower at the track, just a few tenths. Read the debates going on, on this board:

https://honda-tech.com/zero...age=1

But the B18B will have more power from 0 to 6000 rpms than the B16. Spend the money you save on some upgrades and you'll be there..

 

why not go half and half and get the best of both LS VTEC

 

ive been trying to search what is involved with the ls vtec. But i cant find anything!! as far as i know its a vtec head on an ls..........but is it hard to do? or to pay for the labour? since ive never worked on an engine?

 

If you've worked on an engine before, than don't even consider it.

Thats not meant to be rude or anything. Its kind of one of those old automotive things: If you need to ask, then the answer is no. There's nothing wrong with an LS/VTEC setup, but its basically rebuilding an entire engine, with a few extra things that you have to do/modify.

Basically you have to bolt a vtec head onto a b18a/b block. You need to redrill the dowel pins that locate the head or used offset stepped dowel pins. You need to plug an oil hole on the head and drilla nd tap another area and install an oil line to the head and a return line. you need to go through the bottom fo the engine to make sure its going to survive the high rev's you wil be subjecting it to now, new bearings, rod bolts, etc. Best if you are doing all that, is to also install higher compression pistons and rings(and hone the block). Also want a new vtec water pump and oil pump since the LS ones don't works so well at the highest rpms. etc. Basically rebuilding a motor, plus a few extra things. Once you get it together, you still have to get it tuned right. This is going to take dyno work, and new chip or hondata or something. Since you are starting completely from scratch here, if you buy all the parts to do this, and all the labor, you probably can buy a B18C.

All in all, its asking a lot of yourself to do this, if you've never done any of this kind of work before. If you really want to leave yourself open for the possibility of a LS/VTEC in the future than getting a B16 is probably the way to go, like we said. If you have built engines before, and can do it yourself, thats one thing. If you haven't and you have to pay someone to do it, a GSR motor would probably be better.

Best thing, get a stock motor whether its a B16 or a B18a or whatever. Learn slowly by doing.

Now, if you bought an LS motor, you COULD later down the road get a ported and polished head and some good cams, and bolt that one, can do that in the car with the engine installed, if you are careful.

Whichever you choose, have fun with it, don't worry about doing much at first. Just get a stock motor, some quality bolt ons, and you'll have fun with it.

BTW, if you use the search feature, you will find hundreds of articles on: LS/VTEC or B20/VTECor CRVTEC or CR/VTEC or whatever.