Planning a build. Looking for feed back and help
 

Ok so I am new to this forum and I am starting to plan a build for my 98 coupe. I'm looking to get feed back on weather to go b16 or b18 boosted or all motor b20 vtec. I am looking to drive it as my summer car. I want more reliable and decent fuel milage but want to have some power there I'm looking to make 200-250 whp. Let's start with motor pros and cons and we can go into parts later the feedback and ideas would be much appreciated

First thing to consider is that a B16/18 will be easier to find a complete swap with everything you need to go from D to B, compared to a B20.

Stock vs stock B16's tend to handle boost better, but built and properly tuned, doesn't really matter what you have, and it can be done reliably and still be easy on gas.

If this isn't your daily and you can afford the down time, the money you'd spend on a motor swap and the parts needed/recommended for the swap, personally I'd just build the D series for boost, and get an LSD and maybe a carbon syncro kit for the trans with the money you didn't spend on a swap.

All that said, I've had a boosted D, a few B18's and driven quite a few B16's but so far the motor I have in my daily driver, is the most fun. I don't have dyno numbers so I can't say what kinda power I'm actually making but I keep up with my friends lighter Civic CX and his motor was claimed to make just a hair over 200hp 170whp with a very similar setup to mine. He's got better cams then me, I have a better TB/IM setup and by better cams, I mean he's got st2 cams that kinda put the power band a bit high for a B20, I have ITR cams that keep the power down under my 8k rev limit I set my ECU to.

Also keep in mind, the trans, if you're going NA then a B16 trans with 4.4 FD is great, boost you might wanna go with an LS and have the 4.2. You'll have the power to get thru the gears anyway, and this will help you launch as well as lose less time shifting and save you gas as well. My B16 trans means I'm kinda high revving at highway speed, like around 4k at 60mph