Hey fellars, i'm a bit confused here, i have a 94 Honda Civic hatchback with the 1.5 engine in it. I can't decide whether to do a swap to the v-tec B16A and work that or get my 1500 supercharged/turbochraged? What do you recomend on medium budget, about $5000-6000. Thanx

 

get a d16z6 or y8 and build it or get some sort of forced induction. u can find full d-series vtec swaps for well under a 1000 buks and than u have quite a bit of your budget left to play with. if u go with a b series swap your gonna spend at least 3000 buks and u will only have a lil of your money left too play.

 

i agree... but with a b series motor... specifically a b18c, u have much more to play with right out of the box and trust... ull have much more fun... and THEN in the future u can turbo... just dont kill yourself

 

Work with the 1.5, for less money you can make it flow more than the B16 and make a disbeliever out of the guys with swaps.
BTW...here's some close-up on my stage 3 D15B7 head.



[Modified by MrDX, 2:29 PM 8/14/2001]

 

hey mrdx, where did u get that head ported at its wicked!

 

that is bad A$$,i have a 1.5 also that i would like to fix up and i never even thought about porting and polishing the head,so if you do that and what else how much power are you going to be putting out of the motor?

 

i've got an ls/vtec i'm going to sell soon...

 

I had it done down here in Miami... at South Florida Performance. It's their stage 3 head, they gave me an estimate of 20% more hp over a stock everything, but I had the head done to a Gude cam that I have. Along with a OEM EX ported T/B, intake manifold, cam gear, custom mandrel-bent exhaust, header, factory cold air intake, fuel pump, and fpr, i'm looking for an overall 30-35hp after it's dyno tuned. The great thing I see about that is that 130-135 to the wheels is B16A2 power, and once I go turbo, I'm hoping for about 200hp to the wheels until I can get the bottom end done. For the $800 i spent on the headwork, this is my alternative to spending $3600 on a B16 engine.

 

....and this will be the guy i'll walk once i'm up and running. I think i'll use the priceless theme.

 

WTF are you guys talking about?

 

I take that quote as a doubt in SOHC engines... for example... why spend money on a SOHC when you can buy a DOHC.

So i said that he'd be the one i'd walk once i'm up and running.

 

if you are going to supercharge that motor you will want to replace the headbolts and headgasket- the 1.5s are known to have headbolt stretch problems- honda has a replacement headgasket that is metal- i believe the replacement headbolts are TRW- I would probably go with ARP studs.

 

Yes fix... I do have a set of ARP's that I bought where the head was done. I've done quite a bit of research on the 1.5 and I'm taking every precaution to get it at the high horsepower levels while keeping it's daily drivability in check. BTW, it's going turbo.

 

dont sleep on SOHC's. there are alot of them out there that can hand people thier asses. i think you should sleep and do the SOCH turbo

 

thanx jdm... and don't worry it's coming. Like I said, I'm doing it because it's different and people expect a swap instead of originality.... BTW, what's up with the MOJO-JOJO?

 

sweet motor dx finally others that believe in SOHCs! post your times when you get it up and running.

 

Most definately..... I'll post both dyno numbers and timeslips. Hopefully, I'll be well enough to run in the NIRA event at the end of September. I'm really looking for dyno numbers on the sheet... it'll tell me where in the rpm band that needs improvement... i'm looking for B16A3 numbers... 130-135hp to the wheels. BTW, I've been a SOHC believer a long time.

 

I happen to be selling a D15B7 if anyone is interested.

 

I agree, I don't have anything against SOHC( in fact, I have one) but the SOHC has its limitations. Go B16, then turbo-you will be happier in the long run.

 

You know guys I don't know why people have to argue about this subject. In my opinion unless you are going to build an all out dragster to run 8-9sec 1/4's then it doesn't matter if you have SOHC or DOHC. I have a 92 Civic Si wiht the D16Z6 SOHC VTEC motor in it. I think that it is pretty fast, I can hand a new Si it's *** in a platter all day long. If I really want to I can be going downhill and roast third gear on a whim. I don't think that it really matters what motor he builds. I agree that i can be easier to get power out of a DOHC, but the SOHC has jstu as much potential, just without the fine tunability of a DOHC. In my opinoin man, you should just build the SOHC, go turbo, and spank some *** with it. Let me know what you are going to do, mabey I can help you, I have built a few SOHC motors before.

 

really ???? I think that the way the dohc's perform NA is good alone. let alone with forced induction.

 

1.5 liters SUCKS!! the bearings are very shitty!
anyway all sohc never compared o a B series
B series is a formula desing!

 

Honda bearings are shitty?.... Not! So the fastest 1.5 running on boost 10.42@140+ is shitty? and the fastest all motor sohc is running in the 11's? please know your facts before you speak...It's ok, I understand, you say these things because you already foolishly spent your money on a B16 just so you can be the belly button.

 

I agree don't sleep on the SOHC...there are a couple dudes from va wit a STOCK DX or CX wit a fully built engine and turbo'd running low 12's and high 11's....BUT...the a b16 or a b18 would be my choice because less stress on the engine....then after that turbo the b16 or b18 at low boost for a daily driver...pretty SURE you'll have some "FUN"....

 

Think about what this guy is saying in the first place... He is only using a "medium" budget of 6 grand. If 6 is medium, what is big? 4 grand can get a complete ITR motor w/ low miles... if even that much, wouldn't that be enough? Either way b16, or d16... Honda makes good motors. Remember back w/ the 91 hatches and CRX US had no VTEC twin cams. Junior Asper and archie were both breaking 12's on those so called "POS SOHC" motors. With technology today, I think you can honestly make either motor fast. The advantage of SOHC is you don't have to swap anything, but if you build the block... the motor has to come out anyways. Decisions, decisions.