Old school B series rebuild - FULL story

[BabyNSX]

Wow! I'm impressed with your numbers, 222/146 will be fun.

What are your first impressions from the coilpacks?

Thanks! These results definitely make me pretty happy.

The coil packs definitely make the engine feel much smoother. I found that when setting the timing that the ignition didn't seem to bounce around as much and was consistently firing right on the marks. Idle is very smooth (Lawrence was very surprised how rock solid it was - with Pro2 cams!!).

I'd do this again.

[coolhandluke]

Thank you for the input. The COP has been on my radar. A smooth idle with bigger cams is a plus.

[Dave7CDMTYPER]

Hehe... I've been around a while but am still learning stuffs as time goes on. I also have great respect for those who have skills in areas where I don't. That is why I'd rather have my engine assembled by someone with plenty of experience putting race engines together. It's not a part of the build were I feel I need to develop specific skills.

I have piece of mind that my engine is properly assembled and that with worth a lot to me when things are flying around at 9000+ RPM.

Thanks. My question didn't come off the right way haha. I'm just curious how people build engines, and even people that know what they doing, what they choose to have experts do is interesting. I want to learn how to build a b18c5, so I'm starting to see what I might be able to do and what I should probably let a professional do.

[g3teg97]

Thank you for the input. The COP has been on my radar. A smooth idle with bigger cams is a plus.

On my radar as well. Glad to hear great feedback from the COP.

[Underrated99si]

What compression are u running?
Pump gas?

[BabyNSX]

What compression are u running?
Pump gas?

CR is about 11.5:1 which is pretty low for a build like this, but I'm also running on crappy 91 octane California fuel.

Hehe... I've been around a while but am still learning stuffs as time goes on. I also have great respect for those who have skills in areas where I don't. That is why I'd rather have my engine assembled by someone with plenty of experience putting race engines together. It's not a part of the build were I feel I need to develop specific skills.

I have piece of mind that my engine is properly assembled and that with worth a lot to me when things are flying around at 9000+ RPM.

Thanks. My question didn't come off the right way haha. I'm just curious how people build engines, and even people that know what they doing, what they choose to have experts do is interesting. I want to learn how to build a b18c5, so I'm starting to see what I might be able to do and what I should probably let a professional do.

No worries, I hope my explanation did help answer your question though. There is more to it than just deciding on what I let others do or not. One other key factor is the costs for specialized equipment (mostly measurement tools) for doing a build correctly. These costs add up to several hundred dollars and could exceed the actual cost of having someone do this part of the build.

I do trust myself to actually put something like this together, but it just doesn't make practical sense for me to spend the money and time on this when I know there are people I trust just as much as myself (and even more so) to do the job right.

I have to say as well, that having Lawrence work on my engine is the strongest form of endorsement I can give someone. I don't just let anyone touch my car and I've been very impressed with his approach to engine build planning and assembly. This was a collaborative project and I'm very pleased with the way this all went together - and the results.

[white rocket]

Great build Doug . I love these kinds of B18C5 motor builds as they take what Honda created and improve it without sacrificing power delivery.
All motor, all damn day

Curious why you chose 83mm and not bigger? Stock stroke? And why not more compression? Perhaps fuel selection isn't the greatest where you are located?

[BabyNSX]

Great build Doug . I love these kinds of B18C5 motor builds as they take what Honda created and improve it without sacrificing power delivery.
All motor, all damn day

Curious why you chose 83mm and not bigger? Stock stroke? And why not more compression? Perhaps fuel selection isn't the greatest where you are located?

Thanks! I remain faithful to the B after all these years.

Good questions...

We kept compression down because the gas out here sucks - we had to dial back timing quite a bit as it was.

83mm was to keep things just that much more durable for sustained track use. I could have run a larger bore but would have needed to refresh the engine sooner - this also gives me some material to work with for the next build.

Stock stroke because I already had some decent rods and a reworked crank from my previous build. Didn't think I'd gain too much by going for a longer stroke - diminishing returns, extra wear and tear, and $$.

[aklackner]

Beautiful build, looks like it will put in some fantastic trouble-free miles.
It reminds me a lot of a build I've dreampt about doing when it comes time to update my bottom end.

Since this seems track focused, did you consider eliminating vtec? If so what was your calculus for keeping it?

Any thoughts on the pro2 vs pro or tuner 1 cams at 11.5? I'm guessing the pro2 is more usable with the increased displacement but I thought they liked a CR closer to 12 to shine.

I feel your pain on the 91 in SoCal. I'm planning to do a JRSC kit for my current build and looking at water\methanol to boost the octane to keep it cool and safe.

[white rocket]

Thanks! I remain faithful to the B after all these years.

Good questions...

We kept compression down because the gas out here sucks - we had to dial back timing quite a bit as it was.

83mm was to keep things just that much more durable for sustained track use. I could have run a larger bore but would have needed to refresh the engine sooner - this also gives me some material to work with for the next build.

Stock stroke because I already had some decent rods and a reworked crank from my previous build. Didn't think I'd gain too much by going for a longer stroke - diminishing returns, extra wear and tear, and $$.

Good stuff. I figured the c/r was due to the bad gas in your area. Thanks for the reasonings one the bore and stroke. Makes sense