Hey guys, I bought a 93 honda civic del sol last year and now that I'm not in school I am really considering doing some cool work to it, but I am split because I have heard so many different opinions that I do not know which route to take. My current motor is a d16z6 and I have been told that building this motor is a good idea but as I researched I found that people that built nice b18 motors have much greater potential. I want to keep this car because everyone builds hatchbacks and del sol seem a bit different and I like different even though it is heavier. Any suggestions on whether building a d16z6 is worth it with the right things done or is it better to invest in a b series which will cost a lot more money. Thanks

 

what is your build budget if you were going to build your D?

 

nothing wrong with building a d series b series is nice 2 but depending on ur budget your better off sticking with what u got and going from there either way going from a d to a b depending on which motor ur only gunna get about 20 more hp with a stock b18b over a stock d16z6

 

I'm biased towards d series, i have had a lot of luck building some quick d series motors. They're lighter motors, cheaper and available, and have large aftermarket support. it's really depending on you're budget and skill level though.

 

Dude, keep the car as is, But if you can find a B18 short block, have it tested for micro cracks etc.Take yourtime and build it up. It'll run you some money but in the meantime you'll be driving your D16z6. So what if they goof on you for awhile, One day you'll finish that B18 and swap it, and then you'll have the last laugh! quite gratifying cause he who laughs last, laughs the best. Good luck dude.

 

I'm building a D, simply because when I type "Honda D16" in on craigslist and i can find crap loads of used parts for cheap, & i know alotta ppl building D series stuff right now. I just based it on whats cheapest and most available. I'm not really trying to build the a race car either tho. Mines for my enjoyment. I do want to do a B20 later on down the road tho, Hope that helps

 

We can't tell you what would be better, since you haven't given us any hard, set goals.

 

Thanks for all the replies, budget wise I'd like to cap off at 5000 thousand maybe but I don't have the money upfront so I was thinking of doing a little bit at a time. Currently I really want to turbo it so strengthen the bottom end and all that good stuff, make it as fast as I can and as reliable as I can as a daily driver

 

currently i already have a nice neuspeed header and a shaved head for extra compression because i bought it like that, only 150 k on the engine too

 

The most power you'll get for five grand would be a vitara lower end build, and a turbo on the Z6. You could B swap for that money, but you won't see anywhere near the 300whp you can get out of a boosted vitara Z6.

 

That would be amazing, I never heard of a vitara lower end build. What does that include? I was also thinking of building the lower end and leaving it for a while until I get money for a turbo set up and then doing that work on it.

 

Pistons and rods, basically. Lowers your compression, allowing for higher boost. It's worth Googling - there's a lot of information out there about it.

 

Hell for 5000 thousand ($5,000,000) I'd get a different car. Look into Ferrari, I hear they make decent cars.

lol

 

Lol how is 5000 thousand anything close to 5 mil

 

What you can do is spend part of the $5k on the B series swap, sell the z6, and have extra money to work on the B. OR sell your del sol and get the B16 del sol.

 

5000 thousand is five thousand thousand, thus 5 million. When you put three zeros on the end of five, you don't have to type thousand. It's either "5000", or "five thousand".

For squeezing the most out of $5k, a B swap is stupid. B swap = most of your budget gone, and maybe 200whp if you're lucky. Vitara Z6 build = money left to burn, and 250-300WHP easy.

 

I'm not sure what B swaps run you guys down in the States, but up here in Canada you can get a B16 or GSR swap for under $1500 easy (that's parts and assuming you do the work yourself of course). I just put a B16A2 swap in my EK that I picked up for $1200 with everything, engine, tranny, harness, axles, linkage, etc. The only way you can say you'll blow most of a $5,000 budget on a B swap is if you have to pay a shop to do it, or if you're buying some built engine.

Honestly I was a big promoter of keeping the D series - until I swapped in my B16. NA you can dump that whole $5,000 into your D and still be lucky to make stock B16 power, and sure you can build your D and boost it, but that's pretty close to your max potential. And if you're talking about building a Vitara bottom end and saving up for the turbo forget about it, you'll need to waste money to tune it to run without the turbo and make even less power because of lower compression.

B Series has far more potential, and for $1500 or less you can pick up a GSR, B16, even an LS or B20 swap and just NA it'll feel a lot better than the D. Then spend the rest on piecing together a turbo setup. That 300 whp with a built turbo D is what you can safely boost your stock internal B (assuming tuned properly), and then further down the road if you want more you can upgrade internals and crank up the boost. That's my two cents.

 

Agreed, I picked up my EK hatch with a b16a already in it for 1500$ US.

 

You can get a near 200 hp B Series with everything shipped for 3500-4000 from HMOTORSONLINE or you can spend the same for a turbo D series built, up to you.

 

IMO the best win/win situation would be to pickup a spare D16z6 of Craigslist and build it in your spare time. then when the time comes you can drop it in and hookup a turbo. tuning will run you a few hundred but you can be fully built and boosted to 300whp with a 5k budget if your smart with your money and do most of the work yourself.

As far as vitara for daily driver i currently daily a vitara built d16 and it drives great. not as "weak" as some wouldd have you believe. currently its tuned on a t04e turbo to about 18 pounds. with a little advance in out of boost ignition doesnt feel slow at all. and when the turbo spools it pulls hard.

 

i have to disagree with most of this i am new to the tuner world. have built muscle cars. but i just bought a civic ex with a d16y8 in it. i put a turbo on it with exhaust and vitara lower end chipped ecu 550cc injectors and a stage 4 clutch the whole thing cost me under 1500 us. i did the research before hand on wether to swap it or not. you can get a motor trans trans axles ecu and linkage and wiring for for a round 2500. i know for a fact that i am putting out a whole lot more power than a b16 for a lot less money

 

Not trying to call you a liar, but if you did that whole build for under $1500 then it must all either be eBay or junkyard stuff and street tuned by yourself. A decent dyno tune (around my parts anyway) will run you $500, and a decent turbo just the turbo itself another $500 atleast, so realistically a reliable build will cost more. You're talking pistons, rods, bearings, ARP head and rod bolts for the bottom end, injectors, all the turbo parts, a chipped ECU and an exhaust.

You could certainly have a fun car within your budget with a D or a B, but make sure you add up all the costs of both options and don't just go off people telling you they did their build for whatever dollars. And you can do more of a budget build but if you cheap out on parts expect to have to replace your engine at some point down the road.

 

There are other factors you are missing!.............

A b series setup has a better tranny design, using an intermediate shate, aloowing for equal length drive axles....BETTER than a D series with more torque steer

A B series engine, even a cheap one like a B18B, is far stronger, part for part over a d series. More block webbing, larger rods, higher flowing head, and oh yeah, it's a bigger engine, it makes more tq. Any mod you do to it, one on one with any D series, the B WILL make more power, period!!

A B series engine is a DOHC.....this provides a more broad powerband.....not a "peaky" one as compared to a SOHC of the same size....i have had both, there IS a difference. Secondly, having two cams allows for better tuning options also, as you are able to have more control on overlap between intake and exhuast valves.

 

For the price of a B-series swap, you could boost your stock D series and make 220-240whp safely on the stock bottom end....throw a little more money at it and build a Vitara/FJT or Vitara/Eagle build and you're looking at mid 400whp. If you already have the D, just rock it until you run out of potential or come up with more money. Even if you were to swap to a B later down the road, most of the turbo components will transfer between the two engines. You'd need a new manifold and would have to reconfigure the downpipe, but the rest is pretty much a straight swap.

It all comes down to budget, goals, and preference

 

Looks like you're going to come down to the choice between turbo D16 and n/a B-series.

If it were me, I'd build a B-series, then drive the z6 for as long as I could at 9000 RPMs before it blew up. Unfortunately, you'll probably make it for many months before that happens