Ok, here's my dilemma, I am torn between two pathways and just don't know what to do. I either want to P&P my stock head and get pistons (and whatever else is necessary) or no P&P and build the head/block up.
So basically my question is what is the more reasonable solution for everyday driving, money is a slight issue (not interested in paying tons of cash, but I have a little stashed away for a rainy day aka car parts).
Currently I have the mods in my sig, but any input on which pistons and compression to run keeping in mind that I will be running on 91 octane (gotta love Cali for that ) for each of the two pathways as previously laid out. Thanks.

 

CTR pistons. they'll bump you up to bout 11.75:1 and give you a nice jump in power. PnP on the head is your call... won't see as much power as you'd like to from the money you spend on it - but it will yield some nice results.

 

No is right , the pistons will have the biggest effect, And will work well with the JUN3's. Spend the rest of your money on cam gears and the dyno.


[Modified by CRVRX, 1:20 PM 12/10/2002]

 

CTR pistons will definately raise it, and are pretty damn cheap.

 

What about pistons higher in compression than the CTR pistons? Are they very streetable?

 

If you want pistons higher than CTR pistons, you'll either have to order custom ones from JE, SRP, Arias, Manley, Endyn, Wiesco, etc... and you might have the piston slap problem that I have... I forget if you've heard my car yet! Sounds like a diesel needing a tune-up on cold mornings.

If you're gonna get headwork done anyhow, get the CTR pistons and have the head machinist shave off a few thou off the deck to bump up compression a bit more... but since you're gonna be in Cali for a little while longer, I'd advise against that...

 

You can get forged internals if you wish, and they are built to whatever spec you want. There are a few people here who are running around 13:1 compression on a daily driven car, and some of them still get good gas mileage as well.

You can also consider getting a new thinner head gasket, like the Mugen or Spoon 1 layers, and bumping you upto about 12:1 compression. The pros of the CTR pistons are they are a good cheap alternative to help raise compression. There is no (usually, or so I've heard of) piston slap. With forged pistons, you'd get a lighter piston with is good to have less weight on the rotating mass, however it will usually cost you more, and you will have piston slap during colder days / cold starts.

One other thing to consider is OEM internals, (IE CTR Pistons) can take more of a beating them their forged counterparts. In beating, I mean handle detonation better and are less likely to break on you. Yesh, thats just my opinion, and yesh, its very vague.

 

How exactly do the CAST CTR pistons handle detonation better than forged pistons?

Casting makes them more brittle if I'm not mistaken and forged packs (more) denser material into a certain shape (pistons)

Cast wheels are more prone to breaking than forged wheels no? Not exactly the best comparison....but somewhere along those lines.....

 

bump

 

Don't post if you are going to spread idiotic info such as this. Honda pistons are Hyperpunetic cast (spelling) meaning they have a higher silicon content (greater than 12% I think) than normal cast pistons. The advantage of this is tighter clearances. The higher silicon content keeps the pistons from expanding as much as normal cast pistons. The side effect of this is that higher silicon pistons tend to be more brittle. Forged pistons are as much as 6 times more dense than normal cast pistons. The also have better heat dissipation properties which also lowers cylinder temp. Lower temp= less chance of detonation.

 

spend a few extra bucks while the motor is cracked open and do it right. Go forged, you`ll thanks us later.

Ryan

 

That's about right...oh and a B18C5 block with ctr pistons and a mugen head gasket yields ~12.5:1.

Austin

 

Are we talking about the standard or oversized CTR pistons.

 

Bore size will have little or no affect on C/R.

 

They're almost the same regardless, but I was speaking about oversized, because that's all that we should be using after a rebuild...at least in my opinion.

Austin

 

So if I were to change pistons, I might as well bore it out too? Is that what you are saying?


[Modified by Yellow3TypeR, 10:57 AM 12/11/2002]

 

bump

 

i would get the head done first then tune it, and see how you like it.
building the block will cost the same as a full rebuild on the block since you should
replace all the bearings and seals while you are down there anyway.

ctr pistons alone are good for over 12:1 compression whoever says otehrwise needs
to check their math.

 

i like sgts idea

also remember if you rebuild the bottom end, it will cost way more, and you wont have your car for as long.

what is your goal hp?

if you rebuild with ctr pistons, new bearings andother fun stuff. it will cost in the 1-1.6k range. depending upon labor.
your car will not be in usage for a while too.

just get the head done. turnaround is very fast. and once you rebuild your bottom end. your head will flow so that it wont be the weak link when you get a better bottom end.

just remember to K.I.S.S.

i would look into getting forged internals and spending more to have your block sleeved to 2.0. lotsa tq. but you are looking at around .5k for getting it re-sleeved

 

I don't really have a specific hp in mind. Labor is cheap for me, my cousin owns a shop so basically I pay him nothing but for the parts. The only concern is reliability and the wear on my car, I want to keep the R for a while, so I don't want anything that will blow up on me.