Hi all motor section, I'm currently building my first frankenstein egine (B20v). I have rebuilt other honda engines mainly sohc like the d15b,d16a6, and the f22a but never really messed with dual cams ones which will seem like fun. Anyways I have managed to scoop up a b20b with the 8:8:1 p3f pistons which are a no go, I'm planning to go with the YCP china ITR reps but the ad has no real compression numbers for the piston (guessing maybe 11:5:1 which is roughly what the itr piston are). I want to avoid running high comp near the 12's, I reallly want to stay closer to 11. Reason is because I will be on a basemap for the mean time and I live in California (91 octane only). I really want to avoid having detonation which is the main reasons that these engines crack sleeves (correct me if I'm wrong). Anyways my setup will be listed down below:
B20B block honed
YCP pistons with Hastings ring combo
JE proseal 84mm 0.033 thickness
Stock non-milled B16a2 Cylinder Head
aem fail safe wide band
chipped obd0 ecu with xenocron basemap
the zeal comp calculator puts me in the 12:7:1 range which doesnt add up, Thanks for looking.

 

How sure are you that the head has never been milled?

Also, you want a chipped obd1 ecu, and I cannot stress getting it tuned enough. It will not run well on a basemap. Basemaps are for getting to the tuner ONLY. No one pays attention to that around my part of the world, and then they wonder why they have engine issues. Budget for the tune.

As for your original question, you can always use the USDM ITR pistons which are a little bit less compression. I made 200 at the wheels on a dynojet with those, 89mm crank, and Crower 402 cams.

 

As for the cylinder head, the wear indicator has lots of room, came out of a wrecked 2000 civic si with just below 100k, I even went as far as looking through the service records in the glovebox only to find that the only major overhaul was a distributor.
And for a tuning solution, only thing I have as of now is turboedit, kinda regret blowing 300 bucks on the wideband...didn't know how finnicky the obd0 ecu's were. For the tune I have someone doing the tune for a flaterate price, but I thought I could get away with the basemap for city drving for bit since I'm starting in college and still wanna get around.

 

B20 w/ R pistons and B16 head will be 11.6-11.8 depending on the HG thickness and milling done. The zeal calculator uses the wrong compression height when calculating, the aftermarket R pistons are different from the stock.

That being said, that compression is low enough to run on 91 without an issue as long as the tuner knows what he's doing. I had my 12.1:1 B20 on pump and never had a detonation issue. Running a larger cam will help bleed off some compression as well.

Just don't drive like an idiot until you have a real tune done...seriously.

Hope that helps

 

Ok perfect answer exactly what I was looking for, not even looking to drive fast or have power just want to put the engine together to gain some dohc know-how

 

Also curious to know, if I were to run the phk pistons, would that be less of a risk?

 

Depends on cam choice honestly. PHK pistons don't have deep enough valve relieves for most aftermarket cams

 

I put the b20 on hold due to the risk of damage if detonation were to occur if something were to happen, so I went lsvtec since its a little more forgiving with the different sleeve design.

 

Regardless of sleeves, the tune will dictate how long either motor lasts.

My B20 was 12.3:1 on pump gas. made 220whp and I beat the hell out of it for about 5k miles. They I jumped into E85. Still beat the hell out of it for 2+ years. 9500+ RPM on a stock block, crank rods and ycp ITR pistons. When I took the head off before I sold it, everything looks spotless. Why? I had a good tune.

Don;t let the internet scare you, 95% of the people who say it wont work have never tried it, don't know how to do it, or didn;t do it right.

 

^this

 

If I believed in god, i'd say AMEN!

 

Must have been a hell of a tuner, as well as you doing your part on the assembly side. As for the b20, I'm thinking of doing do a non-vtec build if the ls blows, but I really do appreciate all of the recomendations as I will put them all into consideration later down the road(still want to experience a b-series with torque), again thank you very much!

 

LOL thanks fellas. Trust me, I was scared at first but I knew I built it right and let it rip. Pro 3's were a definite stretch for the block I had, but it made power and it screamed. Too bad I couldn't keep a clutch in it lol. I figured if it didn't break the first 10 passes, I was golden.

Spend the extra hour driving or 200 for a better tuner, your motor will thank you. I like to play with the limits, if you research and crunch numbers you won't have an issue....with a good tuner behind the computer.

I'll go back into hiding now

 

hell yea man. we all should like to play with the limits, we can learn lots from that mindframe of thinking instead of just going by what we see here(the skepticism). and the OP should most definitely make sure its tuned by a reputable tuner to make sure he gets the most out of his build.

 

[QUOTE=swamp_ass;51490016]Must have been a hell of a tuner, as well as you doing your part on the assembly side. As for the b20, I'm thinking of doing do a non-vtec build if the ls blows, but I really do appreciate all of the recomendations as I will put them all into consideration later down the road(still want to experience a b-series with torque), again thank you very much![/QU






The torque you think you're gonna achieve more from the non vtec b20 isnt gonna match that of a well-built b20 vtec. hell, i had good torque on my b20z vtec with a half-ported head and ctr cams and e85. it had lovely midrange, so i can imagine the more it would have with bigger cams in it. You may feel the non vtec being torquier at the low revs since whatever torque it'll have you see more of it due to the engine peaking faster, but i think that'll be about it. Maybe unless youre gonna do a b20 non vtec and buy a 95mm crank with big cams

 

*VTEC* b-series torque is what I meant haha, I'm going to have to take the B20 all apart since I found shavings on the pickup tube as well a a welded bearing on the crank

 

ah ok then, cool. well me personally, i've never really had an issue with making good torque with my engines. even the b16 i had. it was stock block with ported head and milled damn near to the limit on the head and it was pretty decent for b16 cams and no tune haha. but probably because it was in a 92 cx shell with no interior

 

I just hope its better than the 60whp d15

 

Haha, oh it will be

 

I never got around to it but I wanted to throw M5 at my motor. Pretty sure I could have hit the 270-275 mark with really nothing special in the motor. Literally all honda parts in the block (I consider YCP ITR pistons honda parts still) and off the shelf parts everywhere else. It's not always about big money and custom stuff, just figuring out what works together right. Keep it simple.