Hello all, I recently purchased a bare b18c1 block, head, and crank from a 95 gsr. I am new to building and was wondering what my next step should be from here. I would assume the machine shop would be my next step, but what are the things I am going to want to tell them? If you are uncertain if you want to go boost or all motor, do you have to decide which before you do? If so, what recommendations do people have versus one or the other. Will different parts be used in the building process if I go boost or na? Do I need to buy any parts before the machine shop that will need to be installed by them during this process? What brands are the best for turbo builds? or na builds for that matter? What is the difference between sleeving and not sleeving for either build? Any help, and I mean any help at all will be GREATLY appreciated! This will be the first engine I will be building on my own and really want to enjoy the process. Thanks to all who have the time to help.

 

If you want to go boost and you plan to make 350 + whp then you need a good piston and rod set up. For boost, you want lower compression like 9:1, etc. If you go all motor you want bigger compression pistons such as 11:1, etc.

 

Well, what is the average cost of a fi build versus the average cost of an na build? As well as average life expectancy of each motor if built properly.

 

The costs are about the same in the block whether it is FI or NA, hard to tell "prices". The difference is in the headwork. Most FI projects don't require it. The life expectancy of the motor is as long as the equipment, assembly and tune are done right, and whether or not you like to "abuse" the car often.

Plan on about $2000 or so in costs of equipment and assembly. This depends also upon the resources in your area.

 

2000 sounds like a pretty conservative estimate, but it really all depends on what you want to do. I spent over 2k on the head alone - things get expensive pretty quickly. The engine setup that I have was suggested by a couple of guys in DFW that really know what they're doing. It's a GE sleeved and o-ringed 84mm gsr with Wiseco ~9:1 pistons, Manley turbo tuff rods, and an Endyn head.

You'll have to send your pistons with the block to the machine shop so they can get the right piston:wall clearance. That means you'll need to know which pistons you're going to use, which means you'll have to know whether or not you're doing FI or NA.

As far as sleeving goes, I think the conventional wisdom is 85mm max bore on a sleeved turbo app. I don't know about na. 81.5mm, stock sleeves, aftermarket pistons and rods would probably be adequate for a solid first setup.

As for brands: you're going to get a million different suggestions from a million different people, most of whom sell whatever they're recommending. So take everything with a grain of salt (including what I've written).

 

My estimate was based upon the block, as the head doesn't require as much attention when going FI as compared to NA. The rest I'm in complete agreement with.

 

For my FI build, I have spent $7,400 so far just in turbo parts and some misc parts that have to do with being boosted, and for the head to get sent out for a fully rebuilt head with Supertech Valve Springs + Retainers. My bill for labor/IC piping, Neptune EMS, etc isn't even included yet.

Getting into a FI or NA build is going to be more then what you think. I had a set of all my parts I needed, and it seemed every week I was adding something new to the list. How ever, I went with top of the line products, so its a bit more for me.

 

Well, I believe that I will be building an na for my first build, as I suppose that will be the more traditional route to go here. So what would be my first step from this current position? Also, if a motor is going to be supercharged, the build would be similar to a turbo setup correct? as in parts and such.

 

Don't waste your time building for N/A you will be pissed with the results... Honda motors just don't have the torque. I went all out N/A on my first build with a B16 and spent over $6,000 on the motor alone. Sure it could Rev to 10,500 RPMs all day but that gets old after a while especially changing rockers out because of high rpms. Do yourself a favor and go turbo the first time and don't waste your money on N/A. You don't have to build a motor for 10 lbs of boost and you will smoke any N/A Honda with the same motor and thousands of dollars more under the hood...

 

I agree. Boosting your car is generally cheaper and will likely be faster.

 

I agree. All motor builds are sick if you put alot of money into them. How ever, FI is cheaper (dpends on how much power you want to make) and likely faster as you said.

 

Why would you ever want to go NA once you have had boost...? haha i ask that question to myself everyday. But to the OP: simply put, you have a great start with the motor you have choosen, Your first step in my mind is (A) boost or NA, from my perspectiive and experience you will be happyer with boost. With that said your next step is decide if you want your block sleeved or not (looking at about 1000 for that all said and done, maybe a bit cheaper, do your homework and shop around) (B) your going to need pistons and rods, so start looking into those, but hold off on the piston size untill you decide whether you want the block sleeved and what bore you will ultimately choose. Machine shop is irrelavent untill you answer these questions. Stock sleeves are good till 5-600 so if your power goals are sub 500 stay stock and buy a good set of pistons/rods.

 

In my opinion, since I do not intend to race, I would say 500 hp would be the max I would ever want. I do have brand new piping, pte intercooler, tial 38mm waste, tial 50mm bov, and all the oil and vacuum lines. So maybe I will look into this. Anyone have any good posts on builds matching around the 500 hp buildmark I could check out to see what their setups are? Thanks alot guys.

 

LOL whats the point of having 500HP and not racing???

just wonderin.

 

I would not want to race the vehicle on an everyday basis. I never raced a vehicle before. But knowing that the car has the ability would probably eventually drag me into it.

 

I like both NA and FI builds for different reasons. To me, Honda's vision of "Power of Dreams" was originally in an NA concept

 

I have to check out some posts about what other people have used buildwise and see what I can do here. Thanks.

 

Ru planing on keeping ur ac

 

sorry about hijacking ur thread but i heard that u cant have ac with a tubular turbo manifold like a ramhorn so this goes out to the gurus is this tru if not who builds ac system compatible manifolds and what size DP can i fit 2.5 or 3 inch

 

Spoolin makes a mini-ram that ac compatible...

 

Hey you should start a new thread and ask the same questions.

 

i cant yet have 2 wait 15 days dats why i said sorry 4 hijacking

 

thanks