Hello everyone. I am new here and simply had to join in this forum as I couldn't find anything else as good as this. I recently acquired myself an Integra DB8. Manufactured in 1994 and then came to my country in 1999 from Japan as a reconditioned car. It has been my dream to get an Integra. I would have gone for a DC2 if it also came with 4 doors. Anyway, I am happy with my ride and wish to learn more about it. This is my 3rd car and my second Honda but this car is totally different. My first car is an 1982 Accord and that was the reason I love Honda's.

Ok, here are some things that I know about this car, if what the seller told me was true. I liked the car, so I just bought it without checking if whatever said about it was true. Foolish of me but what else can I do when I was already in love with it. LOL..

Internal: ITR dashboards and trims. The only things not changed are the seats.

External: DB8 Type R conversion. White. Advan RG 16" wheels with Yoko tyres.

Performance: B20B block with B16A head (dont know why is it so), non LSD gearbox, rechipped ECU, 2.5" piping with Nissan muffler, Evo fuel pump (how do i verify if its true?) and many more.

Suspensions: Type R

Brakes : Type R

But having said this, I dont have the slightest clue if all of these are true. So I hope to you guys here could help me verify.

Overall, I am happy with the ride. The meter cluster is till 190km/h but i have gone past it. I think its easily at least 210km/h. Is this the normal speed for a car with this settings?

If I wanna upgrade my performance, where do I start? I checked with a few tuners in my area. All came up with different ideas. 1 told me to change my cam shaft and ECU just by test driving my car. The other guy told me to change my ECU and use VAFC. The previous owner told me that I only needed to get a VAFC/emanage.

I am really new to this tuning world. So I dont know what is best for me. I would just want a ride not for races. A car that is fast enough not to be smoked my tuned Civics or others. And it must give me the feeling of driving a really fast car. LOL!

The pics are coming up soon. Need to get it cleaned first.

Till then, shed me with some light!!! Many thanks!

 

pics

 

I thought ITRs weren't made till 97. Did the OP get the model year wrong or did the car just get the ITR treatment?

 

yes u r right. ITRs werent made till 97. mine is not an ITR. mine is the 94 DB8 that went thru some conversions to make it like an ITR. lol. pics coming soon. any one could advice me on the above stated issues?

 

edited

 

guys, can anyone tell me what or where should i start first to increase the performance? to me performance is important but its only for daily driving, not racing purpose. so what are the things i can do and what r the things that i dont have to do for daily driving?

 

Are those still 4X100 wheel hubs?

Pic of drivers side of car please? 94

 

sweet ride bro. i personally did a full tune w/ aftermark parts for increase power

here are some...
1: Intake
2: Exhaust
3: Halfshaft, port and polish throttle boddies
4: Port upper and lower intake
5: have a 5 angle valve job and Port and polish heads
6: Larger cams
7: Custom made equal lenght long tube headers
8: Reprogram PCM and fuel upgrades (larger fuel pump and injectors)
9: Higher compression pistons or FI (forced Induction)
10: Have a custom transmission made to replace the one you've probly fried by now

 

more pics coming soon. its not 4X100. Its 4X114.3. i thought 114.3 was the original one.

thanks for the info. mind sharing what was the outcome like? u mentioned aftermarket parts, what are the brands i should be looking for? whats ur stand on skunk2 products? its quite popular here besides spoon.

 

Eh, that was kind of a weird list. Sk2 makes great engine parts (e.g. cams) but not-so-great suspension parts.

You've got two major options when it comes to making power -- forced induction or 'all motor' (i.e. no forced induction).

Forced induction is far cheaper per hp you gain but it requires a major upfront cash outlay and it can wreck an engine very quickly if done incorrectly or overzealously.

All motor builds are easier to piece together slowly but getting major power requires an engine rebuild (to increase compression). You can get significanly more power from stock internals using FI than you can all motor.

The B20 isn't a great candidate for FI, though, due to it's weak cylinder walls, so it's something to consider. Read up on the different builds and ask more specific questions.

What route you take depends on your power goals and more importantly your budget.

 

Thanks for the info mate. I have no plans to go with FI. I want it to a NA car. I have been reading quite a lot lately but i guess because i know nothing, i dont understand most of what is being discussed. I appreciate your advice. Will try to gain more knowledge on this but till then please bear with me. I am new and still learning.

So, now that i have stated that I would go for "all motor" build, where should i start? i dont have the budget to do all at once. I have to take it slow. So, i am sure there is a step by step cost effective way of building ur engine. Thats what i need to know for now. I would appreciate if you could give me a link on this if u have read it somewhere.

Apart from that, I was cheated by the previous owner of my car. He told me that it comes with semi-lock lsd. My fault for not checking before buying. Anyway, do i need to change the whole GB? or can i just change the thing with many 'teeth' in the gb that originally comes with lsd gb? or i was thinking of getting f20b lsd gearbox since its cheaper but i dont know if it would fit? would it fit?

 

it looks really nice. I have a db8 my self. i am getting it painted this weekend as a start. and i bought Form function type 1 coilovers. which what you have is probably better. lol

 

thats pretty damn clean.

 

thank you for your comments.

Mattcuzko, wishing u luck in painting ur ride. what color is it gonna be?

any idea about getting my gb to lsd without changing the whole gb?

 

B20 complicates things a little bit. Do some reading because you've got some big decisions coming. First is VTEC or no VTEC.

B20 all-motor builds can be very strong, but there are some special considerations you don't have if you're starting from a B18C. I recommend starting by looking to see what kind of power you can get for what kind of cash.

The nice thing about all-motor builds is that you can really piece them together as you go, particularly if you can handle a/f tuning on your own and as long as you have a clear idea of where you are heading with your build.

 

basically, i first need to ensure that my engine is strong enough for high revvings. i know that b20 is quite 'sensitive' compared to b18. so, before i do anything else to make it more powerful, i want to make my engine reliable and so that i can worry less about my block being blown. but here's the thing. previously, b20 was a problem because not many tuners knew how to tune it properly. now, more researches have been done and proper tuning can make b20 more reliable. but what do i tune? what do i say to the tuners? i was told that i need to do engine balancing. is that all to make it more reliable?

and as for vtec or no vtec, i have to say definitely i wan vtec. right now with the current setup, vtec kicks in at 5.8k rpm and i love it. one thing i would want to improve on is the time it takes to reach 5.8k rpm. if this can be done quicker, much better. any idea what i can do?

besides that, i was thinking of using vafc due to my budget constraints. i have no intention of changing the ecu yet. i want to get better camshafts, better CAI, better A/F ratio and so on. I guess, I know that these things can get my car to gain more power. But which should i do first? I have no means to leave my car with a tuner and tell him to do everything at one go. I have to do one at a time. i need this as a guidance.

I would just want a fast car, at least fast enough to be on to smoke most cars. I am not willing to sacrifice too much of FC. So, not a racing car, not a car that drinks petrol, but fast enough for the thrill of driving fast on freeways. 0-100kmh in like 8 sec would be good enough. So, if u ask what i expect, this is what it is.

 

Sorry, I forgot you already had a vtec head on it.

Since I'm not planning on building my only B20 (in my CR-V), I don't know much specific about their issues. I believe that #1 is weak cylinder walls, which you fix with sleeve reinforcement (requires some engine work). Compression and rod angles may also be an issue -- I'm just not sure. Which pistons you have is very important here.

Perhaps a bigger question is, how is your car tuned? I'm seeing so many people running basemaps on highly built engines these days that I wouldn't be at all surprised if your car is hobbling on an insufficient tune, but it's possible the previous owner did it right (then again, Evo fuel pump?). What ECU do you have and how is it chipped?

Unless it already has a proper tune, IMO a tune should be your first mod anyways. And I don't trust any tuner who would recommend VAFC. For an insignificant amount more you can get a NepTune and a much better tune. Keep in mind this is going to improve reliability, peak hp, AND dd performance. A built B20v with cams is a fairly exotic build anyways and needs a proper tune.

First step I would take is:

-find out what compression you've got (estimate with a compression test or tell us what pistons you have)
-find out what tuning solution is already in the car and what the tune status is

Can't really make proper decisions till you have that information clarified.

 

RHD NICE!!

 

Are the pistons in the B20 block stock? If they are stock pistons, the largest cams you could run would be ITR or CTR cams otherwise you'll have piston to valve contact. The main weak point on these b series non-vtec blocks would be the rob bolts. The stock sleeves of the B20 can handle N/A power just fine, as long as everything is everything is properly maintained, and no shortcuts were taken when building the engine. First thing I would do is pull the head and see what kind of pistons you have in there, and go from there.

 

yes, this is what i've been hoping to know. thanks. any honda mech should be able to know what kind of piston is being used right? ok, now lets say that the pistons are stock. what do i do? upgrade it to a better one? which means i have to change the piston rings as well right? any suggestions on type og pistons i can use. my aim is to make the engine more reliable.

thanks.

 

i am planning to do a compression test today or tomorrow if i can find a place doing this in my area. just a question, will this be able to tell me what pistons i have? or do i still have to open the head to see whats in there?

about the vafc thing, it was just a suggestion from the previous owner. he told me that i just have to do that for now n should be able to see significant improvemt. so, i thought that its cheap and if it really can give me significant improvement as claimed by him, why not? i thought that vafc id the best bang for the buck. i had a tuner suggested to change the cams and the ecu. but they cost too much for me right now.

bout the ecu, i will need to check what ecu. i was told that its a usa ecu rechipped. thats the only thing i know for now. even this, is said by the previous owner. so no confirmation yet.

as for what tuning solution the car already has, again, the previous owner said it has been balanced. he said that this car is not like other hybrids engines. he meant b20 + b16 because it has been balanced. i dont know what that means and i dont know if it was really balanced.

i dont want to take his words for granted. i want to be sure tht i face no major problems.

may i just ask, Neptune, is it a standalone ecu. its not very heard of here. this is my first time hearing it. its not a suprise as i am new to this entire car thing.

 

any idea why do ppl use b20b blocks with b16a heads for integras? i thought the b18 that comes stock with this car has more hp?

 

B20 with vtec heads are cr-vtec or b20vtec. They use the b20 block for the torque. Alot of stock b20vtec setups seem to put out more power than stock GSR's, LS-vtec, and seem to not have as much power as an itr engine, but ive still seen them pass em up on the quarter mile (in cars with similar weights and trannies).

So b20 vtec is a good setup, all motor and FI, I have a friend with an all motor b20v with a semi built b16 head and completely stock block, and hes had the setup for 6 years and its his daily driver (that engine takes a beating). Only thing that its needed was a headgasket once, and rings are starting to go out.
Also know another guy with a b20vtec setup turbod and tuned. Completely stock block with built b16 head. Boosting 10 i believe.

It all comes down to tuning, If you have a good tuner, everything will work together which means more reliability. B20 blocks are said to have weaker walls due to the uni-body design, but ive seen them take a beating so they seem strong to me.

 

See this thread:

https://honda-tech.com/forums/all-motor-naturally-aspirated-44/how-build-%22reliable%22-lsvtec-b20vtec-1676914/

Should have a LOT of info for you to chew on.

You can do a compression test yourself very easily. Get a compression tester $20 USD, disconnect fuel/ignition by pulling a fuse, put the compression tester in each spark plug hole one-at-a-time and record the psi that builds. It won't tell you specifically what pistons you have but it will give you a guess.

Only way to be sure about pistons is to pull the head off.

VAFC is a 'piggyback' unit. It tricks the ECU into adding more fuel by faking data from the sensors. It can only cut fuel so you trick the ECU again by giving it higher fuel pressure than it thinks it's getting, using an FPR. It used to be the only way to tune these cars, but it has serious drawbacks because you're essentially limited to the stock fuel/ignition maps. So the more extreme your build the more 'compromises' will exist in your tune.

The modern tuning solution is to socket an OBD1 ECU with a chip burned with a dyno tuned fuel map or to put chip emulating hardware in the chip socket.

Hondata and Neptune are two ways that let you do both of those things. For a low amount of money, you buy a license to have a chip made using the Hondata or Neptune software. Alternatively, you can buy the chip emulating hardware (e.g. Hondata S300 or NepTune Demon), and it acts like a chip that you can rewrite on the fly. It's a circuit board that plugs into the chip spot and that can interface with a laptop. So you can make on-the-fly changes to your tune in real time.

Standalone cost of a NepTune RTP is $400 US, but you can get package deals if you need other items like an O2 wideband. Depending upon what you have/need it's probably $0-200 more expensive than VAFC and a FAR better option.

However, either option still requires you to get a tune. Here's the breakdown:

1) chip & pro tune (cheapest option, best full throttle tune, but must re-tune with subsequent upgrades)
2) VAFC & pro tune (a bit more expensive, worst tune, must re-tune with subsequent upgrades)
3) standalone & DIY tune (similar cost to #2, pretty good tune, can re-tune for free)
4) standalone & pro tune (by far the most expensive, best full throttle tune & street tune if you DIY the street tune, can re-tune for free DIY or take to tuner to finish it off)

 

ok, over the weekend, this is what i found out. its running on stock pistons. i did not do a compression test. i was lucky that the shop that i went to, a famous one in m area happened to be the ones who built my engine. they were nice enough to show their records of my car which the previous owner did. its basically a stock b20 block and b16 head. no high cams, nothing.

so, whats next?

i have read the write up by bambam. it was a good one. what shall i do now to make it reliable with a tight budget. Guys, please take note that my country has to import almost everything mentioned in that write up. so, what may be cheap in the US might cost a bomb here. Even cars here are expensive compared to other countries. I paid close to US$20000, just short of a few more dollars to that figure. hope u understand when i say tight budget.

thank you.