I have had a 1992 Honda Civic with a turbocharged B18C1 for a couple months now. I am planning on converting the motor back to N/A in order to make it a better daily driver.

When I took the turbo kit off earlier this week I noticed that there was a ton of carbon build up on the turbo, inside the turbo manifold, and in the exhaust ports. And I also have noticed that my civic has blueish smoke coming from the tailpipe. Does anyone know what these symptoms are caused from?

I was told it could be possible that I have leaking valve seals or burnt valves, which would require a rebuild. Since I have no idea what the history of the vehicle is I figure that would be a good idea anyways. So I plan having the head rebuilt with OEM GSR parts.

As for the block, since I am converting back to N/A, I am considering either getting the stock block rebuilt or getting a B20B block installed, because I have heard the extra torque makes the car much funner to drive even though it has a lowering RPM limit of around 6,800.

I have done a little research on the b20/VTEC swap but I am still a little confused. I know that I will need a Golden Eagle B20/VTEC conversion kit and a shorter B16 water neck.

Where I get confused is in selecting the internals. I have read that I can make decent power by using my GSR crankshaft as long as I use the GSR connecting rods, 84mm B16A pistons, and the correct sized journal bearings. Is this option pointless since the B20B comes with a longer stroke? Couldn't I just buy the 84mm B16A pistons and connect them to the B20B connecting rods? Or am I just better off rebuilding the stock B18C1 block to OEM specs and forget about doing the B20/VTEC conversion?

 

If you are looking for torque go b20 vtec. Get them Rs machine type r pistons, have your rotating assembly balanced and you should be fine.

 

i did a b20z/b16 head

STOCK b20z block, had 88k on it.
STOCK 00 b16 head, had 55k on it
STOCK 01 LS tranny, had 24k on it.

put the stock head, on the stock block, rev limit is 8200, tuned on crome, been ran about 25k miles, and together for about 2 years. ran mobil1 10-30, and it uses NO oil between changes. Gets 27mpg around town, 35 hwy driving.

its in a fully loaded 96 ex coupe with 2 10's in the trunk.
it will out run a gsr swapped EK hatch(it has all the bolt ons)....wish i had a b6 tranny instead of LS!

ONLY thing i had to buy was a LS/vtec oil line kit, it was about $80 i think...got it from stan at fast-turbo (flamencoT here)

please use a OEM honda b20 headgasket...modded vtec gaskets tend to leak from experiences read about on here

 

i have a b20b block with a b16a2 head that is getting boosted. i think you are a little confused with combinations that you should use... the b20 has an 84mm bore and a 89mm stroke while a b18c1 (GsR) has an 81mm bore and a 87.2 stroke. you always want to match your rods to your crank. (ls rods, ls crank) and since you want to go LsV you should probably shotpeen your rods with some ARP rod bols so you can rev to whatever you want. as for making the engine an LsV or b20vtec you can get the conversion kit from GE. it comes with a head gasket, dowel pins, sandwich plate, line and a tap for the head which you need to plug. its simple and easy which is why i personally would go with the b20 block with some Rs Machine ITR pistons on LS rods with an LS crank (89mm) stroke

 

Thanks for the all the info. I ended up finding a great condition DA Integra LS for $800. So I am going away from the B20/VTEC idea.