hello,I new to this board ( i'm a former 5.0 mustang owner 12.7@110) anyhow I got tired of the fumes and bad mpg so now I've come over to honda,I have a 92 gsr teg ,I put on my own cold air intake,hauled out cat(lost low end) anyhow I really want more torque for driving away from lights ..Anyhow why does the b20 have 160 tq and my 1.7 only 120,its only and little bigger,is it the head design or just better internals,is it possible to get a b20 short block and put a short head gasket on it to increase compression and put on my 1.7 vtec head,what about piston ,valve clearance,would I have a lot more torque and what is the safe redline 6500,7K,8k..I thought about just adding turbo to my engine but I still will not have any low end torque and I don't want to invest a lot of money,and have another never ending project. I guess if I wanted I could always change the head gasket and lower compression and then put 7-10psi on it,I think that would be safe right. Thank you for any help you can give me.

 

if it were me and i had a stock 92 gsr (provided it is in good shape)...i would not touch it. i would leave that car as close to stock as possible...IT IS A RARE CAR. if you dont think so try to find a 92-93 drive train to get parts from. if you find one it will be expensive.
this is what i would do...dont touch the gsr and get a 96-00 civic hatch. put a stock b20z/jdm b20b in it and turbo that. i would keep crankin the boost up till the motor eventually blew up. then i would build the **** out of it.
but that's just me.

 

For speed, I would stay away from 1996+ Civics. Go for something lighter and non-OBDII like a 1988-1995 Civic HB. And stay away from SI models (they are MUCH heavier).

 

ill try and answer your questions...

the torque difference comes from the bigger bore of hte B20 and also from the empahsis on torque from teh engine.

the B17 is designed as a high revver with good power numbers.

you can put the b17 head on a b20, and have lots more torque, or you could just add a turbo.

hmmm, if you say you dont have heaps of cash, either is probly as expensive as each other...

good luck!

t..