when doing a b20/vtec conversion can you just leave the dowels out? I think they just help to locate the head in the right place, but I will have arp studs. I dont feel comfortable drilling on my own and cant really afford anyone else to do it...

 

also, what are some good sites with B20/vtec info?

 

http://www.crvtec.com

 

if you cant afford to have that simple thing done, don't build the motor because it will just blow up.

 

you can leave them out , but have fun trying to line up the block/gasket/head with the head studs

 

http://www.c-speedracing.com/howto/b20vtec/b20vtec.html
I would think that the dowels help to keep the head from moving under extreme use, when i say move, i dont mean inches or cemtimeters, but milimeters. I imagine that it wouldnt take much to jack the whole thing up.
if you dont feel comfortable drilling into the head, then who is going to tap and plug the vtec oil supply hole in the bottom of it.
surely there is a machine shop in the yellow pages that will do it. i didnt take me but five minutes tops to do mine.

 

thats what head studs are for
the dowels just line it up.
do it. its not that hard.

 

you absolutely must use dowel pins because under a load the head will begin to "walk" move this= blown head gasket everyday.

 

Who ever thinks thats what head studs do uses good drugs. You MUST have the shuffle pins (dowel are solid shuffle pins are hollow) to keep the head on straight. That is one of the many reasons frankenstien engines get a bad rep. People overlook what they believe to be a minor detail, and later is goes ka-boom.

On Porsche's the piston actually comes out of the bore slightly, without this alignment on a Porsche you get the pistons beating the valves.

That tolerance is as important as valve clearance. If you dont have the money to do a frankenstien engine right, you should go turbo.

 

thanks for the replies.. it obviously is nto worth the risk to chance it..

my main fear on the dowel/shuffle pins is drilling in the wrong spot and screwing the head up.. I gues you just try to align it with the headgasket and drill?