my block is getting built right now, (balanced internals, sleeves, CP pistons, Pauter rods, 9.5:1... i am shooting for 400 whp.. my question is how important is it to build the head? i know that porting and bigger valves will help with power, but how much? is porting gonna free up 50 HP or 5 HP? how about valves? how big is big enough? also how much power can that potentialy free up?

 

with turbo you will gain as much as 50 to 100hp depending on who does your heads and how mucch $ you are willing to spend. on B18b its key to do some head work for better flow to keep up with the vtech heads.
you can only go 1mm over on vavles, do some ports and polish, don't open up the exh ports alot , and get some custome bullfrog gorilla cams. you can rev up to 8,000 and make go hp.

 

not worth it for a b18b head. dont waste your money. are you getting your work done at IPC?

 

nope.. im not going to ipc..

why do you say its not worth it?

i have basically heard the same thing that non-vtecAl is saying... head porting is key... i was just wondering if i was hearing correct, and doing the bottom end will result in the gains i am looking for... from what i understand, the head is what makes the power, the bottom end is what contains it, and allows it to make the power reliably... but for the mst part the level of power an engine can make is determined by the head.. i had always heard that 50 hp was possible.. but i always thought that seemed kinda high.. i guess it is about right...

 

u think it is worth it to do valves??

i was told by the guy at my machine shop that the valve area is the most restrictive area in any head... which would lead me to believe that that would be the most important area to enlarge?

 

i was just saying its not worth it to do it on a b18a/b. Many people have played around with the b18a/b. its been discussed before, search for "LS head" or "b18b head*"

 

depends on how much you are going to spend. if its close to a grand...get a vtec head and do a conversion.

The cams are the shittiest part of the LS motor so you're looking at anywhere from $400 to $800 for just cams. add another $300+ for valves, Then add the expensive part...machine work.

You can make alot of power on an LS head but its MUCH easier with say a gsr or b16.


LS/VTEC is were its at.

 

I fail to see how porting something that flows like a turd would result in anything except for noticeable gains. You'd have to combine it with a decent camshaft, stock LS sucks goat ****. In the 400 whp range you could get 25-40 hp depending, more if you go with bigger intake valves.

I've been over this subject with Speed_PHreak and Brad @ RLZ a couple of times.

 

I have a JG P&P B18/B20 head for sale https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=694937

 

you can buy some bullfrog custom racing cams they are like $340, they are able to make power up to 8,500 on non-vtec. spending money on valves and cams is just the same as buy them for a vtec head. talk to the onwer of gued they have work alot on non-vtec heads... when the work is done right they are just as strong as vtec b/c you have low end power and top end power till redline.


Modified by 1.83Tc at 8:45 PM 12/9/2003

 

Ill sell you my LS head with TI valvesprings, retainers, valves, web cams, P&P head, chrome valve cover. z speed cam gears. 1200 shipped. That will save you some money.

 

If you're bent on sticking with the LS and you want to rev like a VTEC head, might want to consider this: http://www.titanspeed.com/content/rocker They have applications for Honda B18B's but it's not listed on the website, so call them and ask. It's definately possible to get your LS head to flow better than a B16a head. And with aftermarket rockers, you can spin them beyond what would you'd normally consider the upper limit of an LS head. Plus, when you pop your hood, people see nothing but an LS motor