I have searched for this but have not found it....
Are there any differences in the b-series VTEC blocks? I am talking about the bare blocks, no pistons, rods, or crank....

 

here is a bunch of crap i found on the internet by SEARCHING

you kinda have to read into it and you will find your answer




Killer B
Why the Honda/Acura B-Series engine is the powerhouse of the import revolution

By Mike Kojima
Photography: Mike Kojima

The Honda B-series engine can be likened to the venerable small block Chevy. It has powered two generations of hot rodders and is still going strong for the domestic camp as the engine of choice for an amazing third generation. Conceived in the mid '50s, the small block Chevy is stronger than ever, pumping out more than 400 hp in the latest Corvette Z06. In racing, the mouse engine, as it's affectionately called, serves yeoman duty propelling the fastest Winston Cup cars and many classes of domestic drag racing to victory. Even though the engine's design is older than most of us and has a crude (by today's standards) pushrod OHV, two-valve head architecture, the latest variants of this engine have an impressive power density. It has always been popular to the performance crowd and has tremendous aftermarket support, the best for any engine ever made.

The Honda B-series engine is the import enthusiast equivalent to the small block Chevy. It has enjoyed tremendous popularity as the performance engine of choice for the Honda/Acura nut. Stock in the Acura Integra, del Sol Si and the Civic Si, the B-series is also a popular and very easy swap into the lightweight Civic, making the classic hot rod: a powerful engine swapped into the most compact and light chassis. Since the B engine was available even more widely in the Japanese domestic market (JDM), there's an abundance of relatively cheap used JDM engines imported here to serve as a base for hybrid Civic swaps or other build-ups.

The B-series has gone through an evolution of sorts. The final most developed version is the B18C5, the rare powerplant found under the hood of the Integra Type R. This variant of the B-series pumped out an impressive 195 hp in stock naturally aspirated form. This is an amazing feat of more than 100 hp per liter, more than some factory turbocharged and supercharged engines. The B16A, first found under the hood of the del Sol Si was the first production auto engine to produce more than 100 hp per liter.

Honda's superior engineering helps the B engine put out amazing levels of power from small displacements. The B is blessed with excellent combustion chambers of a pentroof design, featuring a shallow included angle. This helps efficiency, as a shallow included angle has a lower surface-to-volume area to insure that more heat energy is used to drive the piston rather than heat the water jacket. The intake and exhaust ports, as well as the valves, are generously sized and contoured correctly for excellent flow right out of the box. Many variants of the B engine also have generous quench zones in the cylinder head to help improve combustion stability by improving fuel-air mixing and turbulent combustion.

The big B also features a lightweight die cast aluminum block with strong semi-girdled main caps and a fully counterweighted high alloy steel forged crankshaft. Forged high alloy steel rods with large bolts and generous caps combined with an excellent oiling system make bottom end failure on these engines almost unheard of.

Although many import engines from the established Japanese car makes like Nissan, Mitsubishi and Toyota share some or all of these excellent traits, Honda still has an ace up its sleeve with its wonderful innovation, VTEC. VTEC is what sets the B engines apart from other production engines. Short for Variable valve Timing with Electronic Control, it's Honda's system that combines the smooth idle, decent low-end power, good fuel economy and low emissions of a stock cam with the top end charging, high-rpm power of a nearly full-race cam. VTEC has none of a race cam's disadvantages like poor idle quality, total lack of low end power, poor part throttle driveabilty, poor fuel mileage and hydrocarbon rich tailpipe effluent.

The short-duration, low-lift, low-rpm cam lobes activate the intake and exhaust valves at partial throttle and low rpm, but when you boot it, the high-rpm, high-lift, long-duration center lobe is activated and the engine really sings. The high-rpm lobe has a lift and duration close to that of a full race cam, allowing VTEC-equipped B engines to rev to astronomical limits, like 8000 to 9000 rpm in stock form.

Unfortunately, the year 2001 was the production swan song of the mighty B engine. But fear not Honda fans. The B's easy availability on the used market and the tons of aftermarket support for this engine family will ensure the engine's longevity in the world of import performance. Most of the B engine's parts interchange between variants, making all sorts of interesting power and displacement combinations possible. This interchangeability also increases the used parts pool considerably. I'd bet many of these engines will be hopped up many years from now as hot rod projects for some of us when we retire, much like the small block Chevy is the engine of choice for the aging baby boomers retirement project T-Bucket.

The first of the popular B engines were the B18A (1990-1993) and B18B (1994-2000), commonly known as the "LS " engine (they were standard equipment for the LS Acura Integra from 1990 to 2000). These engines feature a bore of 81mm and a stroke of 89mm for a displacement of 1835cc and a compression ratio of 9.2:1. These engines pumped out 140 hp, an impressive amount of power for the displacement even today. LS engines don't have the much-desired VTEC but respond well to mods. The LS enjoys plenty of aftermarket support and are cheap and plentiful in junkyards for those wishing to make a low-buck but potent hybrid Civic. With the long 89mm of stroke, these engines are known to put out more torque than your average Honda.

The first of the VTEC B engines was the B17A1, making its appearance in the 1992-1993 Integra GS-R. This somewhat rare engine featured a 81mm bore with a 81.4mm stroke for a displacement of 1678cc and a compression ratio of 9.7:1. This first use of VTEC in a U.S. domestic market Honda four-cylinder pumped out an impressive 160 hp. Strangely, this engine was smaller than the base LS Integra engine. Why Honda/Acura chose to do this is beyond us. The B17A1 head on the B18A1-B1 bottom end would've been awesome.

The next VTEC B engine to hit our shores was the small but mighty B16A2-A3 which powered the 1995 to 1999 del Sol Si VTEC. The mighty mite featured a 81mm bore with a short, high revving 77mm stroke. With 1587cc of screaming power and a high 10.2:1 compression, the little B16A pumped out 160 hp, making it the first mass produced naturally aspirated engine to put out more than 100 hp per liter. In 1998 to 2000 the B16A also powered the mighty sixth-generation Civic Si. The closely related, almost identical or JDM B16A was available in Japan on many vehicles from 1989 to 2000, making this a fairly common and cheap engine in the import junkyards. The JDM B16A is an ideal engine to drop into your third to sixth generation Civic to give it a fairly economical VTEC fix. The JDM B16A head can also be grafted onto non-VTEC B engines to convert them to VTEC fairly cheaply.

In mid 1993, the Integra GS-R was given a greater power fix in the form of the highly desirable B18C1. This VTEC engine featured an 81mm bore and an 87.2mm stroke and a high 10:1 compression ratio, resulting in 170 hp. The import junkyard available JDM B18C1 was almost identical but had a higher 10.6:1 compression and made 180 hp. Not only do these engines have a ton of aftermarket support, they also drop right into most third- to sixth-generation Civics with little modification to create a very potent machine. In a lightweight Civic, it's possible to have a docile car that grandma could drive with factory-like reliability and fuel economy that can rip off a high 13-second pass at the strip. In 1997, the B18C5 was introduced in the limited production Integra Type R. This engine pumped out an incredible 195 hp right from the factory. The differences between the B18C1 and the B18C5 are more than you would think. The B18C5 has an open combustion chambered head with little quench, much like the B16A, with the same intake manifold port and bolt configuration as the B16A. The head is hand ported at the factory by Honda technicians. The C5 has a simple intake manifold with larger shorter runners and a larger plenum chamber. The engine also has a very high 11:1 compression with cams featuring higher lift and longer duration. The valve springs have been redesigned for these cams. The exhaust manifold is a fabricated stainless steel tubular header. The good news is these hotter factory parts will interchange along the entire B-series family line.

 

Deck height on B16A is shorter than B16B/B18A,B,C1,C5/B20B,Z.....and the B20 has a bigger bore than the others.