I just got a civic with a B20 in it, but i have to get it smoged (in CA). The guy gave with the car a B18 that needs a little work done. So i plan to have the B18 put in for the smog, but i don't know if its worth the money and having to change it back every two years. So how much better is a B20?

 

more torque

 

so you think its worth to have it put back in. how much do you think the B18 and the B20 is worth?

 

That whole smog situation really sucks for you. The B20 will always make more power mod for mod, however the B18 will probally be more reliable. B20s can be reliable, but you have to know what your doing. If you can do the swap yourself, its not that hard, I say swap them back and fourth. If you have to pay someone every time well that just depends on how much it cost. It also depends on what you want to do. Do you want to build the motor or just have a car that gets you from A to B?

 

yea i know. i dont even know yet if they will pass a B18 yet. I wish i did, but i don't know enough about cars to do it myself. And from what it sounds like it will probably cast too much to have to keep swaping them in and out. I just hate to think about losing horsepower and torque. what do you mean by more reliable?

 

The B20 has issues with the sleeves. They tend to crack when the motor detonates. The B18 sleeves are cast diffrently so they can handle the detonation a little more. Dont get me wrong you should never have detonation with any motor and thats where a tune will keep you safe. Also the B20 has weak rod bolts so you really should upgrade those if you plan to rev past the stock b20 rev limit.

 

Hmm interesting. Thanks for the advice. Do you know how noticable the power lose would be between the two?

 

sell the B20, put the $ towards a re-sleeve/bore from ERL, and you'll have a 2L that still reads 'b18' on the block.

 

B20 is considered a truck engine in Califonia. Honestly, I would invest heavily into the B18 and forget the whole idea with the B20. The additional torque gained is minimal at best. I assume you are comparing a B18B to a B20B.

 

Yea that sounds good. How much do you think it would cost for re-sleeve? How does that work?

 

yea i know its a honda CRV motor. To be honest i just bought the car and i'm not sure if it's a B18B, but i'll assume it is. Does any one know about how much a used B20 is worth?

 

The sleeving cost 950 at golden eagle and they are in cali so shipping shouldnt be to bad for you. As far as how much you can get for the b20 is it a longblock or just the block. For the long block maybe 500 for just the block 200. Maybe. Its gonna be hard for you to sell locally because you cant bar it in cali.

 

so you cant just give them the car, stick an o2 in its tailpipe and play dumb about the B20? cant you take it somewhere where they would just not notice that you have a different engine?

 

you should put a 350 in instead....it has more torque than both of them combined...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MikeSarr_GSR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">so you cant just give them the car, stick an o2 in its tailpipe and play dumb about the B20? cant you take it somewhere where they would just not notice that you have a different engine?</TD></TR></TABLE>

he's in CA; he might be able to find a shady place to pass him, like he could find a mechanic to work on his car if it had no cat, but most places aren't going to want to be bothered with the risk of being fined or shut down for failing to comply with the state's (money) "green" policies. 'ignorance is no excuse.'

passing a sniffer test is easy. making sure that your shift **** has the proper pattern printed on it, that your johnson rods and muffler bearings are in spec is much harder.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MikeSarr_GSR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">so you cant just give them the car, stick an o2 in its tailpipe and play dumb about the B20? cant you take it somewhere where they would just not notice that you have a different engine?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Theoretically, no.. That shouldn't work.

 

Yea, the plan when got the car was to just take it to some shady little smog place and pay a little extra, but after buying the car the DMV said that I have to take it to a test only place. This is going to be much harder because they aren't just going to let things go. I'm sure they're going to say i have to take it to a referee. So I need to know when I take it to a referee what they are going to check.

 

your wallet or your ***; likely both.

 

From what I heard everything. Supposedly the REFs are trained to look for certian things especially on Hondas. I have even heard of them making issues with vtec conversion kits because they spotted the extra oil line. They will notice for sure that you have B20 block.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by smileycvc &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">From what I heard everything. Supposedly the REFs are trained to look for certian things especially on Hondas. I have even heard of them making issues with vtec conversion kits because they spotted the extra oil line. They will notice for sure that you have B20 block. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Umm. Its more then obvious something like a B18B isn't supposed to have a Vtec head on it. Not only would it no longer match the "picture" of what the engine should look like, it wouldn't match the specifications either. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to tell the difference.

Last I heard, ALL Honda/Acuras in California have to go to a test only station. High profile status is the reason why.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Hybrid96EK &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Umm. Its more then obvious something like a B18B isn't supposed to have a Vtec head on it. Not only would it no longer match the "picture" of what the engine should look like, it wouldn't match the specifications either. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to tell the difference.

Last I heard, ALL Honda/Acuras in California have to go to a test only station. High profile status is the reason why.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Im not saying there geniuses, but they are a hell of alot smarter than the guys here in washington. I had argue with the guy at my emissions place that my 96 civic was an OBD1 because I was running a jumper harness. He was like thats totally impossible. Then he sat there for 20 minutes trying to figure out why he couldnt get a reading from my OBD2 port.

 

Just my $.02 for what it is worth, I am currently finishing up my build on a b20z high compression vtec, and I have to say if your going all motor on a b series, this is the only way to go. Don't get any other b20 unless it is a Z because it is the highest compression block and has thicker side walls than the b20b. My brother and I compared it to a GSR block laying around and they appeared to be the same size if not bigger. Don't worry about the side walls, only the bottom end. Change the rods and pistons, especially the pistons. My motor before began to knock after only takeing it to the stock rev limit, however I later found out on the breakdown that the motor had 2 cracked pistons that I did not know about when I recieved the car, luckily I didn't hurt the cylinders. As far as torque, it picks up alot more than what critics are saying. Sure, HP numbers are great, but really torque is a number you really need to look at, and if you can pick up 20-30 foot pounds of torque, you'll notice a difference.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bluestreak_1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Just my $.02 for what it is worth, I am currently finishing up my build on a b20z high compression vtec, and I have to say if your going all motor on a b series, this is the only way to go. Don't get any other b20 unless it is a Z because it is the highest compression block and has thicker side walls than the b20b. My brother and I compared it to a GSR block laying around and they appeared to be the same size if not bigger. Don't worry about the side walls, only the bottom end. Change the rods and pistons, especially the pistons. My motor before began to knock after only takeing it to the stock rev limit, however I later found out on the breakdown that the motor had 2 cracked pistons that I did not know about when I recieved the car, luckily I didn't hurt the cylinders. As far as torque, it picks up alot more than what critics are saying. Sure, HP numbers are great, but really torque is a number you really need to look at, and if you can pick up 20-30 foot pounds of torque, you'll notice a difference.</TD></TR></TABLE>

The B20Z has a higher compression stock piston, but the sleeves are the same as the rest of the b20s. Also b20s dont have sleeve problems because they are to thin, they have problems because they are cast diffrently than any other block. Detonation can cause them to crack easier than other blocks. Rod bolts are also a weak point.

 

yea my whole reason for the difference between the two is because i have to get the car smoged. i have a B18 that needs some work im told and a B20b thats in the car. i know the B20b will not pass smog if not for emissions than because its a truck motor. so i need to swap out the B20 and either fix the B18 and run that IF IT WOULD PASS smog or buy a stock motor pass smog and switch the B20 in after. any suggestions on which is more cost effective and which is better performance wise?