Before anyone asks, I've done plenty of searching and research on this site and many others over the last couple weeks. I didnt know hardly anything about building a motor for N/A before I started. The H22 will be going in my 97Accord and will mostly be ran on the street. So my goal is to have a reliable motor that produces around 210+whp with a stock bottom end. I'm from PA so the tuning and headwork will be done at Jeff Evans Tuning. Here's what I currently have and what I'm planning on buying. Let me know if you agree/disagree with any particular parts of my planned set-up.

Here's what I already have:
94 JDM H22a motor/transmission
Euro-R IM w/ITR TB & Hondata IM gasket
Skunk2 Pro Cam Gears
Greddy timing belt
Apexi WS2 muffler
Exedy stage 1 clutch & lightweight flywheel
Unorthodox Racing Pullies
NGK Plugs/Wires
No a/c, p/s or c/c
H23 Manual Tensioner Swap

Here's what I plan on getting:
Skunk2 Pro 1 camshafts or Skunk2 Pro 2 camshafts
Evan's Tuning stage 1 head work includes 5 angle valve job & new seals
Skunk2 valvesprings
Skunk2 retainers
Skunk2 Valves
Hondata S300 tuned by Evans Tuning
Private Label tri-Y header by Sublimnal w/2.5" collector
Prelude BB6 Type-S oem intake kit w/K&N filter
Get Euro-R IM & TB bored to 68mm
2.5" or 3" exhaust piping

I've been told many people were having problems with Skunk2 cams failing so I've been thinking about going with Brian Crower cams even though Skunk2 is what I really want. The guy at Evans Tuning told me he's no longer selling Skunk2 camshafts because of this reason. I've also thought about using the Kaizenspeed balance shaft eliminator kit but I havent done much research on it yet. Again any insight from the N/A experts around here would be great. Thanks.

 

Dont worry abt the manufacturer of the cams besides profile, unless there are actual physical problems as you stated before. I run a Skunk2 profile on a custom make cam. There is enough r&d into them and it works well. Get crower to grind a set for you. Cams are def. gonna be a necessity if you want to make more power n/a. I have reved to 8000 on a stage one profile with factory springs retainers no prob. If you already are planning to upgrade springs go more agressive on the cam profile, but youll need the compression to match. If your not looking to rebuild the motor get a shop to mill the head for a small compression boost. Also look into a good exhaust manifold (stepped/equal length). Ive been building h series for a while now you can make 210 easy enough. I wouldnt worry too much abt a balance shaft eliminator kit when cutting the belt does the job. Just make the setup is tunable for evans like fuel press. reg adj. cam gears u got the hondata they can do the rest evans is the BEST for n/a or for tuning in general but its not cheap so make sure they can get it done the first time.

 

Thanks for the helpful info. Evans actually told me themselves to stay away from S2 bc they've personally had 3 customers have problems with broken S2 cams and it pretty much ruined their engines. This has happened all within a month. Not to mention S2 wouldnt do anything as far as honoring their warranty. Do you suggest any good machine shops in PA that are familiar with Honda engines? As far as the fpr, is aem the best way to go?

 

It's been a long time since I've heard of a broken Skunk2 cam, especially the Pro series.

 

Evans is also a dealer for Skunk2 from what I recall, which makes it even odder that they would say something like that and have no luck getting warranty coverage for customers that experienced broken cams? I know the most common mistake people make is applying stock torque levels on cam gear bolts even though the aftermarket cams require less torque due to their different method of construction/material used.

 

Yes Evans is a Skunk2 dealer. Thats why i was shocked. I've heard of older Crowers breaking but that was the first I heard of S2 pros breaking. Here's the email:

Ryan,


We are no longer selling skunk2 camshafts after the few cam failures we have seen recently. A few of which ruined my customers entire engines. Crower cams in the past had serious issues with breaking. Brian crower and crower are different companies. I know of at least 20 different people who have broken pro 1 cams, and recently 3 of my personal customers have had it happen to them. Skunk2 left them high and dry, with no refund, help, etc. That says alot about a company in my opinion, and I have a hard time selling a product to a customer that has a potential failure issue. I will sell you the skunk2 package, but you need to realize the risk of the cams breaking and their lack of customer support when it does. The stage 3 BC cams are what i have been using and getting good results with. They are between a pro 1 and tuner stage 2 cam. They have larger primary/secondary lobes so they do make good midrange power.

Thanks!

Could it be possible that Evans got a bad batch of cams from Skunk2? Do you guys think I'm ok buying the S2 pro 1s from somewhere other than Evans? Also Evans told me I would lose power running the pro 2s on a stock bottom end but dyno sheets on this website say otherwise. What do you guys think?

 

Personally, I'd use pro2 cams and a 72-74mm TB. I'd also mill the head a tad.

 

I'd be curious knowing if it was all the pro 1 cams (including the B-series) or if it was just the H22 pro 1 cams. There are a lot of people on this site alone that run the pro 1's and you'd think you would have heard about a few of them breaking by now and I don't personally recall hearing about any. You'd also think it would apply to the pro 2's and 3's as well since I would imagine they would all be made the same.

Evans has a good deal of experience tuning but like you said, others have said that the pro 2's will make good power on just about everything they're installed on and then an unbiased dyno graph gets posted recently with proof.

Again, from what I know, 90+% of cam breaks are related to installer error with to much torque being applied to the cam gear bolts. Evans doesn't say if that was the case with the examples he mentioned.

 

Installation error was what I assumed it was also but Evans didnt specify. When he told me about the cam problems the first thing I did was search this site for others having this problem and I couldnt find anything. I'm just not sure whether to go with the pro 1s or the pro2s.

 

What header do you plan on running? Looks very similar to the setup, I'm putting together.

 

 

What he said^^^


I can get a pretty good deal on used S2 Pro 2 cams. But I'm not planning on upgrading the bottom end or messing with the compression. Would I be better off paying the extra $300 and getting a brand new set of Pro 1s bc I dont wanna mess with milling the head or doing anything like that. I'm fairly new to the N/A world and I'm hesitant to try too much at once and end up messing something up.

 

From what I've read while researching on and off this site, I think the pro 1s are going to be best for me. Without upgrading the bottom end, the pro 2s are too inconsistent from one motor to another. Plus the S2 website says a minimum of 11.1:1 CR is what works best for power gains on the pro 2s. Anyone agree/disagree?

 

yes with stock bottom end pro 1 will be perfect.

 

Get the "rmf" drag header.

Pro1s would be good for that setup. Do not run the stock intake pipe, get a 3.5" pipe with a stack. No need for the underdrive pulleys, sell them. Get a 3" exhaust too.

Balance shaft kit would be great too.

 

stock bottom end...look to sig

 

Are you saying run a 3.5" short ram intake with something like a BPi flowstack? I dont know much about them but I've done a little reading on them.

 

What intake are you running? Why so big on the injectors? Are you running an upgraded fuel pump also?

 

You have a pretty good plan in my opinion. The WS2 muffler is fairly restrictive, it's not straight through, which will hurt power, so keep that in mind. I would probably go with the Pro1's as well since you are leaving the bottom end stock.

 

Ummm yes the ws2 is straight through. The 780s are for upgrading to e85. Stock fuel pump. Stock intake no secondaries with an euro r tb 3 in tuned to length 3in pipe with bpi velocity stack

 

Thanks Joser, completly over looked the header.

 

From what I've been reading, intake differences dont really matter too much bc none of them produce much power. I think I'll go with an ebay 3" cai with bpi stack/k&n filter combo.

 

Ive been running the same set of skunk2 stage2 cams for 5 years im making 252 to the wheels right now with them and no problems just thought i would share that.

 

Search before you spread misinformation. A cold air vs a short ram(on an H22), have a way different power band. But I'd agree with you on the intake choice. That's what I'm running and the only complaint I have is the huge *** filter rattling everytime I go over a bump.

 

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