I am doing an extreme budget build on on a 90 Integra LS with a B18A1 motor for a sport compact series circle track racing league. The engine must "appear stock" due to track rules. We are handicapped due to the fact we run against basically any 4 or 6 cylinder car. We have purchased a reworked head with performance springs and 5 angle valve job. We have already chipped the car to remove the rev limiter, added an aftermarket intake and header (disguised to look stock). I was told from the guy who sold me the head I could swap 95 GSR pistons in my block to raise the compression a bit. Is this true? I know both are 81mm, but am worried about valve clearance. We are running the stock LS cams.

We are forced to run the car in second gear as the track is very short, and run out of rpms on the straightaway but there is really no time to shift to third and then back for the turns. So, we are looking to squeak some more ponies and rpms out of out motor (cheaply), Any advise is GREATLY appreciated.

 

I believe that will give you a little higher compression, but I think you can use B16 pistons to raise the compression even more. If you go too far you may need a tune. I do the same type of racing you do...where do you run?

 

We run in southwestern Ohio, how bout you?

 

Just a note, this sounds like fun racing. no thread jacking intended. good luck with your project and i'd like to see some pics of how you disguised different parts.

 

im not sure if theres a difference in gsr and b16 pistons but I know the b16 pistons will fit without clearance issues, i did this in my ls to bump the compression up a bit. I remember reading somewhere that the ls rods would have to be shaved down a bit to fit gsr pistons but not positive on that.
As for the second gear thing, maybe try the S1 short geared tranny from the b16.

 

The racing is a blast, but since we are up against 3.1L probes and 3.4L Berettas...we need all the help we can get. Once we get the motor back in I will post some pics. But still need an affirmative one way or the other on the 18C or B16 pistons.

 

I was told the same thing by the guy that sold me the head...will it give me more MPH in second or would I be able to run in third?

 

second gear will end a bit sooner so assuming you have time to shift you should make it into 3rd

 

I ran the b16 tranny in my b18a1 crx and the acceleration is alot faster. your gears are shorter so you may be able to get into 3rd to pull more MPH. Probably one of those things you'll have to experiment with though.

 

with the gsr pistons you will have to have the ls rods milled down the b16 pistons will fit on without machine work.

Any B series piston will directly fit onto any B series rod without milling or machining , EXCEPT the B18C's and B16B {i.e. the "R family" of rods} .

The connecting rod bearing width on the B16A,B17A, B20B/Z, and B18A/B is apporoximately 19.5 mm. The connecting rod bearing width for the B18C1, B18C5, and B16B is approximately 17.5 mm (ca. 1.4-2mm narrower at the crank). The same narrower width happens at the small end of the rod. The B18C small end width is approx. 2mm narrower than the other Honda B series rods' small end width.

LS owners who want more compression, you can this from a B16A and B17A piston and it is a direct fit at the piston pin to your rod.If you want to put a narrower B18C piston onto your rod, you must mill 1 mm off each side of the rod at the small end to fit.

 

i think this should answer your question

 

Wow, that is exactly what I am looking for. Am watching a set of used pistons on eBay for the B16 as we speak. If anyone has a good used set cheap, I am interested.

 

well i dont know how much you are looking to spend. you can get a new set with rings from hmotorsonline for like 270 or just the pistons for 170. the p30 is what i would try and get it will raise the compresion more the the us b16 pistons

 

all 81mm pistons will fit. b20 pistons wont due to the fact they are 84mm

 

I run in NE Pennsylvania and the Southern Tier of Ny. I am using a '95 integra RS chassis (no abs, no sunroof, switched my power rack to a manual one out of a civic cx, vx, dx) with a GSR engine swap. As for transmission...I am all over that. Because my car has the hydraulic transmission, there are many choices for me. I actually have three trannies right now: a B16 for longer tracks where a nice short 3rd gear works well, a gsr for shorter tracks so I can run 2nd nicely, and an Ls for tracks that where 2nd in the B16 or GSR is too much, and 3rd gear is not enough. From there I just use tire size to dial it in. For your car you have the transmission that would allow you to pull longer in 2nd than any other. Unfortunately most of the times, as I am sure you know 3rd is just not enough. The only thing you could do would be to get a custom 2nd or 3rd gear for your transmission or I believe as someone said above, the cable B16 transmission (JDM only as far as I am aware) should have a much shorter 3rd gear than your trans maybe allowing you to run 3rd instead of second. Check out the gear ratio calculator on this website: fatboyraceworks.com

 

Last year was our first year, and we finished 10th in points, 25 car field, so we are not doing to bad, and our driver took Rookie of the Year combined for the entire region across all classes. As far as the 'teg goes, we have no experience with it per se, I am a muscle and drag car guy, and our other mechanic is a Harley mechanic, so this is all new. We decided to do it ALL ourselves, we even built the roll cage from scratch. I appreciate the info on the trans' as well as that may be an option especially if we can get a short third gear, since all of the guys who are actually winning are running in third. Do you know if any of the automatics are decent?

 

On dirt I know they get hot, and start slipping. I have never seen one consistently win races. They (integras) just don't make enough torque. I am a track jumper around here as I ran 6 different tracks thoughout the year. I never finished worse than 3rd, except for the one time I ran asphalt against purpose build ford mustangs . I finished 7th out of 11 that time. The last race I finished 2nd out of 45 or so in a 77 lap race with the teg. Anywas to be honest your car should be a better platform than a probe or a beretta IMO. Good luck!

 

Well that is what we are hoping for, to at least compete evenly, and yes, they tweak the rules too. We are a concrete track, modified "D" shape. Once we modified the control arms to add some serious camber to front and rear, lowered springs, and stiffened the chassis cage additions, we got seriously fast, even qualified first twice, but best finish was one second and one fourth, and several other top tens. The beretta's are still eating our lunch. Any ideas on toe, camber or tire pressure? Also, any ideas on timing? We are running stock cams, but they are new. We attempted to follow a Haynes manual on how to time it, but was unable to get an accurate reading...and where the heck are the timing marks?

 

The timing marks are on the crank pulley, and you line them up using the sights on the timing belt cover at proper idle of course. I always run mine to factory specs, but I know there is some play there. I don't screw with timing other than to set it to the factory specs so I am no help there. A guy from ADK speedway in NY is running a crx with all kinds of **** done to it. The car handles amazing, and from what he said using an adjustable rear sway bar (bigger as well) in the rear made a huge difference. As for toe and camber I don't do much with them because I race mostly dirt where I want the car to slide, and we aren't able to modify the suspension at all. I have an alignment machine at my garage, so this year I may try some things with toe, not sure yet. All this talk of racing has me wanting to go get my car out and start working on it. Got any pics of yours?

 

Here are a couple pics, we plan on new paint and some more professional lettering this year, after replacing the drivers door, and and front fenders which got bent pretty good when our driver started getting more aggressive and stopped letting the "rookie" get pushed around. We had a rough time finding 15" rims, but finally found some out of Florida...again have to be stock or at least stock appearing. No one has a clue that 90 tegs only had 14s in steel, unless you had the factory aluminum, which are a bloody fortune.

BTW...this car had 219,000 miles on it and smoked a little when we bought it for $600. An oil change, tune up parts, and a can of Restore in the oil was all we did to the internals in the motor, and we ran it at max RPM and beyond, due to the rev limiter being disabled for the entire season, and aside from a blonde moment when we did not realize our exhaust was being directed directly onto the fuel pump, causing the wiring to melt, she ran flawlessly...aside from the cooling fan not wanting to shut off (remedied with a manual switch) and that irritating idle speed up and down thing when idling.

90 Integra LS - Circle Track car
94 S-10 - 383 Stroker, ZQ8 Suspension
08 Harley Ultra Classic - Ultra custom as well

 

I have a set of 15's and 14's as well. Certain '01 - 05' civic models had the 15 inch steel rims stock. Thats where I sourced mine from. The car looks pretty nice. My car is real beat on the exterior due to the high amount of "rubbing" on dirt. When I get it out this spring and put new panels on it, I'll snap some pics, so look for it on this forum in a few months. Good luck!

 

So does stock mean "stock for that model car" or "factory parts"? Like could you put, I dunno, an h22 in it? Its technically a "stock" honda motor, just a swap.

 

We have actually considered that...but the real issue is the supposed "value" of the car. If you sink a ton of money into it, the track has the right to buy your car for $800 less tires/wheels, seat and safety equipment. SO if we sunk $2-3000 in it, it might win us a few races, but we could easily risk losing our money. Refusal to sell the car means you and it are banned from the track. Now this has never happened, but why risk it?

 

ah. thats interesting.

 

i have a ? not meaning to thread jack i have a b18a1 and a p72-1 head. i dont want to have to run more than 91 octane so i dont want really high compression and im only looking for 200hp out of my motor. should i use the gsr b17 or b16?