My wife has had her CRV for a number of years and while the body is in surprisingly good condition, I am not sure about the motor. Mechanics said it should last to 300,000 miles but I am not so sure.

I've been using Synthetic oil at 3,000 mile oil change intervals.

The ignition I beefed up 30,000 miles ago with an MSD rotor and cap, MSD plug wires, and an external coil.

I've been getting a misfire code, and now found out about the valve adjustment issue and that the valves "mush" into their seats/head and that reduces valve lash to where the valves don't seal. So I have a fear now of burnt valves. I'm pulling the cylinder head cover Saturday morning to adjust the valve lash. Hope to Endoscope inside the cylinders to see the valves. Will check compression.

Also it seems that I have a main seal leaking, very slowly but enough to be annoying.

If I keep up with the Tranny fluid and dual pump fluid, what should I expect there for life?

I've replaced shocks and struts and several suspension components (tie tods, upper control arms, axle shafts).

I see people doing B20B/VTEC upgrades but it seems like it may not be worth it for this car. If I do have burnt valves and need a head, would there be any harm to using a VTEC head and just not bothering with the solenoid? I hear the 2nd cam profile doesn't kick in until 4,500 RPM anyway. I'm thinking in terms of what I can find in my local junkyard. Is the external oil line used for lubrication also, or just to operate the VTEC cam profile adjustment? If I don't hook it up, will it just run on the first stage profile, or will the head be damaged from lack of oil?

Again I am thinking in terms of junkyard availability of another head. I don't want to spend big bucks ($500+) on another head. Conversely, I hear that B20B heads in good condition might be available from people doing B20B/VTEC upgrades.

I just joined here to pick some brains. Thanks anyone and everyone for help.

 

Don't put a vtec head on if you aren't going to use it. It's far too much money and hassle for no benefit. Just have new seats installed by a machine shop if you have a seat issue. It's like $10 per seat. If for some reason you are stuck on replacing the head then pick up an Integra LS head and put your cams in it. You will spend just as much doing that as fixing yours though.

Also get rid of that MSD garbage. Sell it to some ricer kid and put oem parts back on. Stock parts are solid to 600whp. I personally have made 520 on a single cam with 100% stock ignition parts except for going 2 steps colder on the spark plugs.

 

From what I can gather the local junkyard charges $90 for a DOHC head regardless. The issue with the machine shop is the car will be torn down, whereas if I can get a replacement from a yard I can get the car back running again the same day. I may find a VTEC head in the junkyard. The odds of finding a CRV B20 head is slim.

Is it fair to say that the VTEC head, even with the bigger valves, makes better low end torque than the B20 head due to be better flow and a good profile on the low speed cam? The only extra money in my scenario is if I still need to use that external oil line. If I don't change the ECU and don't use the 2nd stage lobes, do I still need the oil line? Does it provide lubrication also or just operate the solenoid?

 

Look at how much it would be to fix it, and then look at how much it would be for you to have to buy another vehicle.

Plus I fine putting the MSD stuff on a stock engine, your not really getting any better performance from it, since the engine is stock, so kinda wasting money there.

Like what was said above. Doing a Vtec is a bunch of work. You do see and feel a difference, but it's not like what most people think.

I also myself would not be using synthetic oil if your doing the oil changes every 3K. Your just wasting money there. It's designed to go longer on a oil change and can stand more heat temps, for higher RPM range. I'd just go back to normal oil and save your money.

 

Are you guys reading my posts? Where is the "bunch of work" opinion coming from? If my only intent is to use the first stage cam, the only extra "bunch of work" would be that oil line, and I still can't find out if that is needed for lubrication or to activate the high speed cam lobes. My question about VTEC is that I expect that type of head to be more available in my local junkyard, much more likely than finding a B20 CRV cylinder head. All DOHC heads are $90.

I am not a racer. I have a car I need to fix and I want to do it as easily as I can. Pulling the head and sending it to a machine shop for over a week, the shops around here are always busy, leaves me short a car for over a week.

 

There is still work involved to make the head work on the block even without vtec functioning. It's much more than just bolting a head on. Then the list of things to go with it. You need the intake manifold to match the head. If you get a b16 head then you end up with the super short runner b16 manifold meant for 8500 rpm. Your torque is out the window. So you get a Gsr head, well you need the Gsr intake that has the IAB's in it. Without those functioning you are killing airflow and your stock ecu can't control them. You also need the distributor that matches the head cause yours won't bolt on. On top of that your stock ecu tune will be way off of what's needed with either option with or without vtec functioning. You can't tune your stock ecu and if your crv is auto, you can't convert to obd1 and tune it either. On the chance that your crv is manual you are looking at $40 for an ecu conversion harness, $140 for a chipped ecu then $100 for some stupid kid with a chip burner to street tune it and cause countless issues or $300+ for someone like me with a dyno and a reputation to tune it. So, your $90 vtec head is getting up around $500+ and a couple weekends worth of work. Opposed to a machine shop having your head for a week at most and charging you $150 to resurface it and install valve seats.

 

I looked on Autozone and the Felpro MS92506 intake manifold gasket crosses over to a bunch of 1990-2001 Acura 1.8 L engines. I take it those are not V-Tec heads? I wasn't aware the intake change was mandatory. A couple other sources made it sound like there are more parts interchangeability between these B engines, comparing them to a small block Chevy. Needing different intakes for different heads isn't so friendly.

As far as the tune goes, we get that debate on TDIClub about diesel engines. My car is a 2004 VW TDI Diesel 1.9 PD with PD150 injectors and European VNT17 turbo. Some tuners want you to get a new tune every time you do even the tiniest mod to your car, others say that a decent tune shouldn't have to be changed every time you do the slightest mod. Of course with a diesel you have a lot of room to play with so long as you stay lean and don't blow in excess fuel and make a lot of smoke. Still on a gasser with closed loop O2 control and if the ECU builds fuel maps dynamically as you drive the car, it should keep a naturally aspirated car running pretty close to spec unless the cam is really wild. Unless you can tell me that Honda modulates the fuel injector based on gas velocity based on the dynamics of the cam, valves, and intake. I didn't think these older injectors were that fancy. Just on or off, and the final mix to get the air/fuel equalized occurred in the cylinder.

Know anothing about this Acura 1.8 L motor that matches the gasket pattern for the intake gasket? Might find that at a junkyard.

 

I agree with what the others have said, stick with the stock ignition system. It will prove to be more reliable and trouble free compared to that MSD unit. If the stock pieces worry you, just keep a replacement distributor on hand in case the one on the car fails.

Just a quick reminder if you haven't thought of it already, the chassis with almost 220K miles is going to need an almost complete suspension overhaul to get the ride back to "like new" condition. At 110K, my 1st Gen V needed the following replaced (in addition to what you have already replaced):

-front lower control arm bushings
-ball joints
-rear trailing arm bushings
-sway bar bushings
-sway bar endlinks

That might not sound like much work nor much money, but that depends on how much time you want to keep spending on the car. Best of luck with the decision!

 

You are correct that a good tune can handle minor changes but cylinder head flow, cam differences and completely different intake manifold designs are huge changes and all multiplied since you will be doing all 3 at the same time.

B series are very interchangeable and intakes are one of the few parts that aren't. The header flange is identical on every B series ever made except the bastard b20/21 of the 3rd gen prelude.

Hondas do have fuel adjustments that work off of the o2 sensor but it is very limited and won't do much of anything in that situation.

The integras you are seeing that match the head bolt pattern are non vtec. Lucky for you the casting is the same and the intake bolt pattern is the same so a non vtec Integra head with b20 cams and b20 intake is a direct bolt on and won't change the tune requirements.

 

A better analogy of the Honda B then would be to the Ford FE series engines (332, 352, 360, 390, 410, 427, 428). They used a lot of different combos of intakes and heads that didn't interchange so well, but usually the exhausts matched up.

If I can find an Acura Integra 1.8 non-VTEC then at the junkyard, particularly if it has lower miles, that might be a good option. I think I will zip up to the junkyard tonight to see what they have. Then I can have a game plan on Saturday when I get into the valve adjustment.

 

I'd still consider just fixing the head you have. You know the history of your head, you don't know how hot the junk yard head might have gotten or if the engine may have spun a bearing at some point and been rebuilt, etc. You will be $90 in and still have to send it to the machine shop to be resurfaced at bare minimum. So you are $140-160 into a head with unknown history or spend the exact same amount fixing yours that you know has lead a decent life.