dab

I was hoping you guys can help me out with deciding which engine I should swap into my 96 EK. I have narrowed it down to either a b18c1 (eventually turboed) or a b20 vtec. I would like to acheive aprrox. 200-220whp and as much torque as possible. This will be my daily driver for the summer season so I'd like to keep it reliable as possible. Either way I was considering upgrading the valvetrain and boring out the block... Let me know what you guys think...

Thanks in advance

D.T.P

i would say go with b20vtec since b20s have more torque if built right.
are your goals 200-220 na or boost? since you mentioned b18c1 eventually boost. also whether or not you are going to turbo, that will affect your build greatly. you could achieve 200whp from a b20vtec or a build b18c1. you would have to go with forged internals for n/a but then you would not want to use those pistons for turbo application.

dab

well with the b18 I was thinking of turboing down the road but the b20 i would ride NA...i think lol. I forgot to mention I would like to track this car a few times a season as well...

Trybal

If you have the money to build a b20...go for it.

For a quick swap with turbo to achieve 200whp...you'd be fine with a B16 or B18.

F8i

iTrader: (10)

b20 vtec...
or maybe get a B18B and boost that

dab

well i plan on doing majority of my work myself and dropping a b18 into a EK looks much easier than the b20 swap but I don't mind the extra work if it's worth it. So I'm assuming the easiest and most efficient way to reach my power goal would be b18 turboed? Will there be a dramatic difference in torque between the b18 turbo and b20?

Trybal

Indeed....Turbo's give much more wheel torque than any small other small NA 4 banger.

Hatorade

B20vtec!!! ya gots to keep up with the Ks!!!

dab

b18 turbo won't be able to hang with the Ks?

Xscorpio

^it will smoke build K anyday....that is if gsr turbo is done right

Xscorpio

check this vid out, pretty simple setup and making some nice numbers at 9spi:

YouTube - Turbo Integra GSR

Bone-Stock GSR Engine.
Peakboost Ver. 1 Kit. (Garret "57 trim" t3to4e)
Neptune by Evans Tuning.

At the dyno, car made 360whp on 93 octane at 10psi. Brought boost down to 9psi and detuned the car (made it safer) and made 325whp/245wtq.

MPR

If you're looking for a 200-220whp daily driver, I'd go with an NA B20 vtec.

You'll have plenty of torque to move your light weight civic, it'll be pretty quick and very reliable.

That GSR turbo mentioned, even though it's de-tuned to 325whp, it would still be quite unreliable compared to an NA b20 vtec.

dab

So breaking this down into pros and cons i guess i can say that...

B18C1

Pros: Easy and quick install, minor modifications required, can meet 200whp and beyond
Cons: unreliable compared to b20

B20

Pros: fast, very reliable
Cons: difficult install (compared to b18), higher cost than the b18 build?(not too sure which would be more costly)

If I could afford it, I was thinking of boring the b18 to 81.5mm with cams, valvetrain upgrades, and pistons, of course, and the same with the b20 but obviously a bigger bore. Would this be necessary for the b18 turbo build if I want reliability? And I guess it depends on what cams, valvetrain upgrades and so forth but what whp figure can i expect from the b20 with the mentioned mods?

seanv98

Any motor can be reliable it is built properly. Even if it's not, how do you figure that a B20 is more reliable than a GSR.

dab

I'm not too sure that's why I'm asking you guys lol. I thought that a NA b20 motor would be more reliable than a forced induction setup...

D.T.P

I think what was ment to say was a stock gsr turbo will not be as reliable as a properly built motor. If the OP decided to drive heavy...daily the constant boost on the motor will not be healthy. Ofcourse its quite the same with n/a, if you drive hard all the time, it will not last but atleast when its n/a you will not be tempted to push it, as much. Haha.

MPR

An NA b20 vtec making 200-220whp will be more reliable than a boosted B18C1 making the same or more power.