Are second gen B16 autos worth the same as manuals? I know about the cams being different and the single intake springs. What do you guys think?

 

b16a autos came with a milder high cam profile (les duration, maybe in the 225 range) they also came with single valve springs in either intake and exhaust.. there's only one good thing about them: the high cam profile with less overlap promotes good torque caracteristics when boosted.. so the auto cams are pretty good cheap cams for turbo...some people in malaysia and singapore (where the auto B16a's are far more abundant) are testing auto B16 cams on manual boosted b16a's.. they are obtaining better power because the high overlap promotes too much blowdown of the fresh (and boosted) mixture in the end of the exhaust stroke and the beggining of the intake stroke...(remember that high duration-high overlap cams are good mainly for NA purposes, but the enhanced breathing of a turboed engine doesnt need too much overlap)

 

but when you go to buy an engine are they worth the same as a manual?

 

nop... they will cost a few less.. but if you wanna go NA you can swap the manual cams in the future...

 

I picked up a b16 sirII up for $1900 w/auto tranny, ac, ecu, axles. It was only like $200-$300 cheaper.