I'm building up a B20z2 Motor to put into my 1998 Honda Civic Hatchback. I was just wondering what kind of extra mods should I add in. I plan to use it as a daily driver. I also want to stay away from heavy mods like turbo and vtech since I'm going to let my son learn to drive manual on it. All I want is a fun car that'll go good. So far I'm planning to have the head ported out, and the block honed out. I've also been looking for performance cams but no luck. Any suggestions would be great, this is my first post.

Thanks a Bunch

 

Stock longblock
LS (b18b1) intake manifold
Any kind of stainless steel aftermarket header
Aftermarket/custom air intake/filter

And then, the most important part, TUNE IT.

B20's LOVE a good tune. I have seen night and day improvements over stock ECU. And no, a basemap is NOT a tune...


Also, a GSR or B16 transmission will give you much greater acceleration than an LS.

 

you just explained my daily driver exactly.

b20z
p75 intake manifold and oem tb
old edelbrock 4-2-1 header
2.25" exhaust with cat
3" short ram
neptune full street tune (plug checks, knocksense verified etc)

i had a b16 trans with gsr 5th gear in there but swapped it out for an ls trans for increased mpg since i drive hundreds of miles per week.
according to my datalogs and virtual dyno(take it as you will but it seems to have relatively accurate feedback) the motor makes 145hp/142tq.
its a fantastic combo, gets out of its way very easily for merging traffic etc. stock internals are quite reliable. my only gripe is the city mpg is in the upper 20s. i see 36-38 on the highway with the ls trans @70mph


i have seen(even had one myself around '09) a lot of cammed setups over the years and only occasionally see really good results. the compression isnt really enough for moderate or larger cams. then with the higher compression pistons you wind up running bigger cams and being a 1 lobe you loose out on the low end (which is why vtec is amazing)and then the cycle continues. with all that you wind up using an aftermarket intake manifold which all have pretty much a **** design for the nonvtec. the p30 im ive concluded is the best plenum/runner size combo but requires a bit of work to fit. overall i would keep it simple as F22 and myself have suggested its a great place to start

 

"Stock" B20 with a tune is my favorite daily motor. "stock" b20 with a stock p75 ecu is 2nd lol. These motors are just such a great package for the money. I can buy a 60k mile (or less) completely untouched longblock for $535 out the door, everyday of the week, with a 30 day warranty! You just cant beat it.

And with the same trans, it will beat any stock B16, B17, or non-vtec B18, stock for stock!

 

Thanks for all the posts guys. Sorry I forgot to mention that I have the LS intake manifold and an LS ecu right now. Thanks for the quick replies.

 

Vtec head , small tube tri y or toda rep header, itr cams and itr map (if no tuner is available ).

 

my fav. b20b non v 175whp build is ycp pistons stock rods pistons come with rings for 170, crower 300or brain crower stage two 356 cams the brains are easyer on stock vlave springs yes both work fine to 7500 on stock springs, p75 intake or skunk pro series 250 nothing bigger then a 66mm 200 tb 3" cold air 40 with a blox v stack and filter 60 bucks 285 cc injectors 100 (h22a4) with obd2 to obd1 jumpers 20m,and a ebay 4-2-1 try y header 140 with adjustable 2.5" test pipe 40 and 2.25 cat back 120. 255 pump and fuel gauge and reg. ive done this build serval times for my friends and makes from 165whp with stock intake to 175whp on the skunk they idel great and get between 34-38mpg the 34ish where in auto teggys.

 

this seems like a good blog to query. I have a B20Z2 motor that I pulled out (incomplete build) of a 1990 EF wagon. The transmission label is missing. Any idea what transmission it could be?

 

It could literally be ANY B series tranny, as they are all interchangeable lol. As for the build, the above advice is good for how to get decent power, but the most cost efficient way hands down is to go with a VTEC head. Getting a bone stock PR3 or P72 head and a complete LS/VTEC kit is the most cost effective way to get power out of an all motor B18/B20. It's not a very hard procedure to accomplish and a stock internal B20VTEC with stock valvetrain, stock cams, stock B16/Type R intake, stock port head etc. will make more power than a non VTEC setup of the same displacement every time. Even the most modest and low budget B20V setups are good for an easy 175whp with basically just a VTEC head and tune. Do the basic bolt ons mentioned above; intake, header, exhaust, and some OEM Type R or aftermarket cams and your easily at or over 200whp without ever having to touch the shortblock. To get this kind of power out of a Non VTEC engine you would need head porting, big cams, and crazy compression. Also another benefit of going the VTEC route is that you get all that extra power when you want it, but daily life driving and fuel mileage stays the same as a stock car as long as your driving habits are sound. I see a lot of people say they go to an LS tranny to increase fuel mileage, but in reality it is totally unnecessary. RPM is only one small part of fuel economy and throttle position is much more important. I returned a consistent 32-33 mpg with my full weight EM1 when I had my B20V in it, and that was with 12.5:1 compression and 230+ wheel HP with an S4C trans behind it. Highway RPM was a good ~4500 rpm at 80, but my TPS to maintain that speed was like 12%. With a good tune and a steady throttle position, it doesn't matter if your at 3500 or 5000 RPM on the highway, you can still sip fuel lightly. It's a very common misconception that just because your revs are high a ton of fuel is being sprayed. The reality is depending on the type of driving you do, changing your gearing to longer gears can actually hurt mileage around town. Ideally for fuel economy you want the leanest mixture you can safely run in your tune at low loads, and gearing to allow for the least amount of throttle input possible to get up to cruising speeds. If your running an S80 or S4C it may only take 12-15% throttle to accelerate to the speed you wish to travel, but in the same chassis an LS tranny might take 20-25% throttle to get the same speed desired in the same time frame the driver wants. This in turn means the LS tranny equipped setup will get worse mileage than the shorter geared B16/GSR tranny cars. Again, the overall tune and throttle input matter a lot more for MPGs than engine RPM.

 

thanks B20VtecVillain. That's a lot of information. Would there be any markings on the tranny, aside from the sticker that was on there?
It does have a VTEC head and an Edlebrock intake; even chrome headers and exhaust pipe. I came across a post, on this website, which someone had sold some of these parts; which was why I decided to register

 

Discovered it's a Y1