I read all the time about people boring/stroking a b16 out to 1.8 liters, or a LS motor to 2 litres. Why would you do this? You could just put a B18 block on a b16 head, or Just buy a B20 instead of stroking a LS motor. Is there a reason stroking the smaller block is better?

 

There's certain advantages of each.

some people put a b17 crank in a b16 block because it fits and gives them a slight bump in displacement.

There are two things that determine displacement (generally speaking)
Bore and stroke.

some people prefer the rod stroke ratio of the b16, because it's good for super high revs, however they want more displacement, so they sleeve the engine to say 84mm or 85mm.

the b20 and the b18a/b18b have the same stroke, only the b20 has a 84mm bore, where as the b18's have a 81mm bore.

there really isn't a reason to stick to the smaller block, unless you wanted to give someone the impression that it was a smaller engine or if you just don't want to spend the money on it.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by thizz &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I read all the time about people boring/stroking a b16 out to 1.8 liters, or a LS motor to 2 litres. Why would you do this? You could just put a B18 block on a b16 head, or Just buy a B20 instead of stroking a LS motor. Is there a reason stroking the smaller block is better?</TD></TR></TABLE>

There are some advantages to boring/stroking a B16 or B18. One of them is California smog. If, for instance, you resleeve an LS to 2.0 liters, nobody will ever know. But passing a motor with a B20 block stamp is going to be MUCH harder. The same goes for a resleeved GSR. Passing a resleeved, OBDI GSR is MUCH easier than passing a B20-VTEC.

Another thing to consider is the strength of the internals. A resleeved GSR is going to be a more reliable motor than a B20-VTEC.