I am on the fence on what swap to do on the crx. I like the sohc because the engine bay is smaller on the crx and Its easier to make power. I like the H2B because its all motor and can make a very fun street car. Has anyone had both on the EF chassis? any advice to help me decide would be great. A built turbo D would cost me the same as a h2b with a built head.

Thanks

 

I have had both in a Ef sedan, my d15/z6 head turbo mini me made about 180whp, stock bottom end with a Ford Thunderbird turbo on it. It was a fun daily, not very fast but great fuel economy and never gave me any real issues. I also had a built H2b in the same car, sleeved block, 89mm bore with 12.5 to 1 comp and skunk2 tuner 2 cams. Hauled ***, ran 12.5 first pass on auto x slicks at 110mph. Ground clearance sucked, hood clearance sucked. It was also a fun car but you can’t lower them much or the pan will hit the ground from the angle you get with H2b setups.

i would say it really depends on your taste more then anything. If I were to do a Sohc turbo I would probably do a d16 block with d17 stroker crank, h beam rods and vitara pistons decked to fit the block right along with a decent cam in it and a smaller sized turbo. Been thinking about putting a setup together like that using a evo8 Divided housing turbo and making my own manifold for it. Sohc’s do great with smaller turbos, usually the 8 to 1 comp vitara builds with large turbos feel like complete turds to me even when they are on 25+ lbs of boost. They have too much lag, not enough useable power band and too long of gearing to make the power work for the cars.

if I was gonna build a na Crx it would be b series for simplicity’s sake. B20v making 220whp is really all you’d need for a Crx.

 

What do you want to swap for? Do you have the stock engine in there?

 

I have a sohc zc in it. It was my daily for a while. At one point I put 800 miles a week on it for a year. Luckily it has no rust on it and I got a full paint job. Now I just want to make it a fun street car. My biggest concern with the h2b is the clearance and lack of room in the bay.

 

I have been reading up more on the h2b swap into the ef and it does not seem as straight forward as most other swaps. however its not too bad. gonna have to grind the frame and part of the block.

 

I was in a similar position... I originally was going to build up my D16 for moderate compression and later turbo, but went with a B swap instead. My argument was that I spent too much time messing with my car as it was, and the build/turbo route would make it worse. I really just wanted the car to be fast-ish, reliable and fun to drive.

That was 6 months ago, now the car is a blast to drive, handles well and doesn't need to be messed with anymore. All in I probably would have spent the same amount either way, but this way I have a fun reliable car that I don't need to mess with too much. The last things I need are brake upgrades and paint.

So, I guess look at what you really want to do with the car and go from there.

 

This is good advice. In my opinion, most turbo retrofits are going to stay in the "project" category and require tinkering. A B-series swap is fairly straight forward and can be extremely reliable. The decision is up to you based on your goals.

 

Great advice guys. I definitely need it to be reliable as I already have a turbo s2000 as my main fun/project car. I was hoping the d would be reliable under 400whp if built but I have not had much exposure to turbo single cams.

 

I feel like I didn't cut any corners on my turbo single cam, and I'm already dealing with a blown HG, about 4K miles and 3 months after completion of the build. For reliability, I'd just do a clean refreshed B-series swap.

 

How much power are you looking for? I turbo'd my 190,000 mile d16y7 and put 25,000 miles on it with no problems. The only upgrade I did to the engine was ARP headstuds and a new HG. I used a mitsubishi 13G turbo and ran ~9 PSI. It spooled instantly and was lots of fun to drive.

 

If I go h2b around 250whp. If I go sohc turbo around 350whp.

 

When it comes to the EF chassis you don't need a lot of power to make them fast. I had a fully built b20/vtec that was pushing almost 300whp and as much fun as it was to drive it wasn't very streetable. Now this was also back in the days of the first-gen Hondata so the tuning wasn't as precise as it is today. I think if you were to do something like an ls/vtec or b20/vtec with around 220 or a little more and make it reliable you will have plenty of power in an EF

 

I have had a b20/vtec with 220whp already in my hatch. I agree that it is plenty of fun. Its time to try something new.

 

With all the mount options nowadays I would just go with a straight h22 swap (as in with the H trans)... the h2b is very quick but the gearing (esp in a b16 or b18c trans) is super short.. which I'm sure you are familiar with in your hatch.. I had a 90 hatch with full jdm h22a swap with nothing but I/H/E and a tuned phearable ECU and I would smoke just all kinds of legit sports cars (m3's, m5's, roush mustangs, s2000s, suped up chargers and challengers).. and what was really clutch about it was the much longer gearing for 3rd and 4th... and the torque just can be matched or the cost of the swap.. I also loved the fact that you can hang with the k-swapped cars (stock for stock motor). just my .02

 

The only thing I dont like about the h trans is having to drill to run shifter cables.

 

Fair enough, but if you source the shifter cables well and get the fat daddy grommet that is used to seal the hole in the prelude, it can do the same in the hole you have to drill