Hi, I’m looking to dive into the Civic scene and have been racking my brain trying to decide which motor swap to go with. The car will most likely be an EK hatch. I’m getting the car sans-engine and I’ve been torn between three different engine options. Like I said I’m new to the Honda scene so I thought I’d ask the experts about the performance of the following setups and how they would compare to each other. FYI: the car will remain NA with the possibility of a small shot of juice since it will be a daily driver. Also, price is not huge deal, I’ll be working on a budget of $6k to $8k for just the engine, though like everyone I am also trying to get the most bang for my buck and save some cash for some body mods. I also plan on building the engine eventually (as in 5 years from now) no matter what engine I buy. This list is a compilation of what I plan to buy at the time of installing the engine.

My three options:

B18B non-vtec
High comp pistons- 11.0:1
Con Rods
Header
Intake
Exhaust

^^^^ This setup is appealing to me mainly because of the cost of the engine and the money I’d be saving towards my next level of mods, which would most likely be cams, valve springs, etc. I’m not soured by the fact that this engine lacks Vtec.

B18C1
High Comp pistons- 12.0:1
Header
Intake
Exhaust
(other items necessary for 12 to 1 compression)

^^^^ I like this setup because the engine is cheaper than a B18C5 frankly, plus the benefits of the GSR tranny. I imagine that running 12.0:1 compression would require beefed up ignition components but would it also mean having to run bigger cams or anything like that?

B18C5
Intake
Exhaust
Header

^^^^ I admit it, the Type R bug bit me a long time ago but I realize that the Type R legacy was created mostly by the cars handling ability and overall balance, not just the engine so I wonder if the money is better spent on the C1 with more mods. The high redline entices me and so does the amount of power out of the box. But I have heard that for the money, you can build the C1 to have more power. I also know that I wouldn’t want to juice this engine. The overall engineering of the engine does give me confidence that it would be a reliable motor for a long time.

Anyway, thanks for any advice you can give me. It’s not that I can’t make my mind up for myself, I’d just like to see some performance numbers and technical info before I do.