does anyone know how much boost a b18c1 block can hold before it needs to be sleeved?

 

Boost pressure isn't the determining factor when considering sleeves. The power created is a better guide. From what i've seen, 500-550whp is doable with stock sleeves, but if you're up in that range and have the money, it wouldnt be a bad idea to get it sleeved.

What are your power goals??

 

roughly around 350 whp. its just going to be a daily driver. im thinking about going ahead and sleeving the motor anyway even if i dont need to, just in case. you can never be too cautious especially with my luck with motors.

 

If you're shooting for 350whp, a simple piston/rod build will be more than enough. I made 315whp on a stock block if that makes you feel any better...

 

i say its all about tuning also, i had my block crack due to bad tuning. I was doing around 300whp

 

yeah. i was planning on doing some 8.5 pistons and some eagle h beam rods without sleeving the motor. but i dont want to chance any problems that could come later. i want the motor to be long term reliable. thats why i would just go ahead and sleeve the motor now when its apart and build it for 500+ hp. im weird like that. i want it done right the first time and have it last rather than just throw something together and have it come apart in less that a year.

 

What fuels do you have available in your area? Since your power goals aren't insanely high, you shouldn't have to run low compression like that. For example, i'm shooting for 450whp with my new build. I'm going to be running 9.8:1 compression and tuning on E85. Having a higher static compression increases off-boost response, but lowers the amount of boost (aka power you can make) you can run a certain fuel grade.

 

we have 93 octane. anything over that and its special order only. but im going to try to get the motor tuned to 350whp running 87 octane. thats why i want to go with the 8.5 pistons, that way i wont have to rebuild the block later on if i decide to go with more boost. so is this a good idea or bad idea? i know a decent amount about what to do to get power out of a motor, but i would rather find out from some people that actually have experience with it before i do something wrong.

 

also another problem im going to face is finding a place to the the car tuned. the closest dyno i know of is over 100 miles away in Florida and Louisiana. so choosing a qualified person to do the tuning is not an option. it would come down to finding the person that would let an import on their dyno. it sucks living in Mississippi. the only thing most of us can do is just motor swaps and simple bolt ons. anything other than that is a risk to your motor. i know of a few people that tried to bolt on a turbo and just turn the fuel pressure up and the motor didnt last a month even at 5-6psi. i really want to learn to do the tuning process myself. but without a dyno, its almost pointless.

 

For starters, i would run ONLY the 93 octane because you'll want to avoid detonation as much as possible. You might be able to squeeze out that kind of power on 87, but i dont think it'd be worth the risk for a $.10 savings per gallon. As for the tuner issue, be sure you get a good EMS and find a qualified tuner...sometimes traveling a little ways isnt a bad thing. For example, my tuner is over 300 miles from where i live...i just suck it up and drive there on the basemap.

 

yeah, but i would feel safer trailering it to the tuner. so what would you suggest that i should do about the compression? should i go with 9.8's or around 9.5's? im wanting a little room for future power. around 400whp. i really dont want to go over that in a daily driver. id build a play car for more power.

 

9.5:1 or even 9:1 would be good...i'm only going with a 9.8:1 because i'm tuning on E85 which is effectively 107 octane (and its $2.24/gal )

 

are you serious? thats cheaper than 87 octane pump gas here.