Hello and here is my story

[KryptoKid]

Hello all,

I've been trolling this forum for a couple weeks now and I like the place so I am moving in. I am active duty coast guard and was recently stationed in the bay area. After a couple months it dawned on me that my old 86 Jeep CJ7 wasn't going to cut it in the bay so I sold it off and went shopping.

I found a 92 Integra LS, 5sp, 135,000Mi, clean title, all stock w/new (new as in within the last 20,000 miles w/ receipts) cams & bearings, valve cover, head gasket, oil pan gasket, distributor, ECU, brake pads and rotors, wheel bearings, CV short shafts and boots, catalytic converter and a tune up.

It had a very mild crease in the body panel just rear of the passenger door (looks like someone clipped a cement poll at the gas pump at real slow speeds), a few chips a dings in some faded stock red paint, a rusted out muffler, stock steeles with hub caps w/ Yokohama Assoh's 195/60/r14 with 90% tread.

I bought it for $2500, which ended up being a little more that $3000 after tax on the registration and getting it smogged (I didn't know it was the sellers responsibility) I hate California laws.

I found a site called craigslist.org, which is a local bay area site to buy and sell. Picked up some old school 1 piece racing hart 17"x7.5" C2's with some decent curb wear for $400 and got some almost new (95% tread) Yokohoma Parada Spec-2 215/40ZR17 for another $300. I also replaced the muffler with some no name fart can because it was way cheaper than stock, no performance gain but atleast I sound rice. It was another $100 after all said and done.

I met a guy who works at the Kraigen Auto down the street from my place who has his fingers (somebody's cousin) in a company called Weapon R (sorry if I sound like a newb and they are crap or the messiah of race, but hey I am a newb right?) He got me some new dual spring coil-over setup for my lifted looking car (at the time I was still on stock springs). I paid $150 for them after checking out the site and getting his word that these coil over’s were different from all the rest and I could swap out for different rate springs and mix and match as I please.

I may not know a whole lot about Acura's but I do know a good amount about cars, and I have yet to find a good riding coil over setup that didn't cost a pretty penny. But hey I gave em a try and I really wanted adjustability, not as good as most drop springs, but I only dropped the car about 1.5" so with some quality struts It should ride fairly nice. Atleast nice enough to not make the CD player skip on bumps or tweak the body over time.

I have worked on mainly V-8's my whole life, but I can proudly say I have never paid anyone to do any work on my vehicles other than menial things I am too lazy to do myself. I have rebuilt many a motors and am pretty comfortable with just about in motor you sit me down in front of. I have also torn down and rebuilt a couple Honda motors, a prelude H22, and accord F22 (I think that's its model it’s the 4 cyl 2.2L).

So here I am a little over $4000 invested into a car that seems to have some potential and I have been itching for a project since i sold my jeep. Here is where you all come in. I was informed by a friend who is pretty into the scene before I bought the car that the 1.8 non-vtec is a good motor to turbo. I have been shopping the turbo kits out there and that looks to be a viable option I am leaning towards. The problem is with 135,000 miles this motor won't handle much boost.

So before I dive into all the info on which kit to buy and how much horsepower I can pull out of this motor I'll start with the must fix questions. I need to rebuild this motor to handle some boost, I don’t want to go overboard but I will definitely make it strong enough to last.

Ok here come the questions...finally.........are you ready.....?....??
Please provide Links or prices if possible (keep in mind this will eventually be a turbo motor).

1) Why is it so hard to find specs for the B18A? I can find good specs on every motor out there except for this one.

2) Where can I shop quality knife edged, balanced, shot peened, rods and low compression pistons and what brands and or models are out there to choose from.

3) Stick with the stock crank and have it balanced or is there better out there? Is an upgraded crank even necessary?

3) What is the best company for motor bearings? Any special criterias for bearings under boost operation?

4) Same ? for gaskets?

5) Do i need any special flex plates or reiforcements for the bottom end of the block?

6) Should I sleeve the block while im in it?


Now for the top end....

7) How in depth do i need to go on my porting and polishing for a turbo 4 cyl?

8) What type of Performance cams?

9) What parts in the head can I replace to gain torque and pony's when it comes to the internals of this motor? I.E. valve, springs, retainers...ect

10) With big blocks, quality precision balancing porting and polishing of the internals will add an easy 20hp, can I expect the same gains from a small liter motor?

Thank you all for you time, if you reply it is greatly appreciated.

[sassage]

In my opinion, the best way to go about getting a turbo kit is to do a custom one. You get all the parts you need, and the brands you want. You can also save some bills by getting some used parts. I.E, injectors, manifolds, piping, and maybe even a low mile turbo. I think this will save some money in the long run. One thing you should save for is a good EMS. Whether it be Hondata, or AEM, or whatever. If you're a DIY guy, get a wideband and a chip burner and you can do Uberdata or Turbo Edit. They both are freeware. All you need is a chipped ecu and a chip burner. Along with a laptop and the free software. Good luck.

[dxTYPE-R]

companys like JE make great pistons for lower compression, CROWER makes good forged rods...def. sleeve that blco and yes port n polish heads will give u good gains for boost uhm...balanced crank should be fine,....and for cams its all up to you man are u gonna be fully built?.. i mean stock cams are good but if u want built shit then go with turbo cams...it all depends on how u want ur to be and wat type of power ur looking to get in the end...i senn this gerl in a mag she had a 93 civic hb with a ls motor with some big boost and all she had was a GOLDEN EAGLE block gurd! and she was in the 11 second 1/4 mile easily..so it all depends on wat u want

[dxTYPE-R]

companys like JE make great pistons for lower compression, CROWER makes good forged rods...def. sleeve that blco and yes port n polish heads will give u good gains for boost uhm...balanced crank should be fine,....and for cams its all up to you man are u gonna be fully built?.. i mean stock cams are good but if u want built shit then go with turbo cams...it all depends on how u want ur to be and wat type of power ur looking to get in the end...i senn this gerl in a mag she had a 93 civic hb with a ls motor with some big boost and all she had was a GOLDEN EAGLE block gurd! and she was in the 11 second 1/4 mile easily..so it all depends on wat u want... this is just my opinion

www.jepistons.com
www.crower.com

[ABCsR2EZ4Me]

if you want a GREAT source for your integra, theres *edit* that cover's everything possible for your integra. Once I got my integra, I'ved moved to *edit* because well... theres about a bazillion other crazy teg lovers there with alot of opinions on alot of different stuff. I suggest you check it out.

[CRVTEC0WNZJ00]

Alright here is my take, take everyones advice so far, however I would start here.

Block, zyglowed and then resleeved (AEBS T-Sleeves, Golden Eagle Sleeves, Darton Sleeves just have it professionally done) bored, honed, and hottanked, I'd go for the 84.5mm bore for the 2.0L displacement personally. Magnaflux your stock B18A1 crank to make sure its in good shape and have it balanced. ALL NEW OEM BEARINGS Mains and rod bearings, as for rods for boost you want the Crower 4340 Forged Rods if you're planning on being serious. Go with some JE 9:0:1 pistons for turbo application, go ahead and tear down the head while you're there, get some Crower 402T cams, some crower valve springs, and some new valves and retainers. Make sure this is all done professionally not that I don't think you can do it there is alot that goes into building a reliable strong engine you're clearances and tolerances need to be PERFECT. That right there is you're foundation to start with, the transmission I'm sure is in good shape I'd go with a good ACT 6 puck clutch if you plan on big power and if you want boost I'd go with the 12.5lb streetlite ACT Flywheel as well. You're just going to have to do alot more research but that would be an excellent start for boost. As for boost there is really only one option in my book and that is a totally custom kit.

[IcemanGSR]

welcome to superhonda. weve got tons of info here. but also check out team integra, honda tech, and g2ic. ull find ur b18 specs there. good luck.

[KryptoKid]

Thank you all for the replies. I am deffinately looking at boost, but it will be a while before I actually piece together a turbo system.

Will i have any adverse effects to running those crower cams without a turbo installed? Also with such a low compression ratio am I going to lose power after a build up but before a turbo kit?

-Me-

[KryptoKid]

I have been also looking into an all motor LS. I am balancing the pros and cons of the two. Obviously there would be suffeciently less power in an all motor setup, but it would also be much less in price.

I am trying to find an even medium where I can build an all motor setup that would be reliable motor that gave pretty decent power gains over stock, but would allow easy upgrade to a turbo once money becomes more ample.

My main goals are torque and reliability, so a LS/Vtec is pretty well out of the question. Here is what I am thinking, but once again I am fairly lost in a sea of knowledge.

I really think that getting the bottom-end machinework done and getting the block bored and then resleeved...new bearings, gaskets...ect to make a 2.0L will be a start. I deffinately want to get head work done, so I am thinking get the stock manifolds port matched to the head, so I don't waste money on I/H/E that is just going to go up for sale later when I go turbo.

So now I am stuck. I am trying to decide Rods, Pistons, And Cams. If I did a motor built for turbo and ran it without, am I going to loose a good amount of possible power? I am not too speed hungry on the street, but I don't want to dump a good chunk of money and loose to a stock GSR due to my motor only being internally complete.

If any of you have tried to have your cake and eat it too, I could really use your sea stories and experiences.

-Me-

[Curufin]

While I dont have the knowledge most pple on this board do, im in kind of the same boat... 94 LS, 178k on the motor, looking to go either all motor or a turbo LS... From what pple on this board of have told me is that you can get these motors to 250+ hp on a N/A setup, but it will be loads more expensive than a F/I setup... Im a N/A kinda guy, but I think that im gonna go with a Turbo setup til I get the funds to do a N/A motor... Long and the short of what I have read is a turbo setup looks to be about 4-5k when all said and done to get between 220-250 hp, and most pple seem to agree that with a N/A setup it looks something like ~ 100$/hp gained. I agree with your I/H/E comment, Im doing more or less the same.. As for will a turbo setup minus a turbo be decent, I dont know... I would guess that you will seem some power gains, but as to how much... /shrug All I know is that the hp differences between a VTEC and non-VTEC is only ~30 some hps, but there is a lot more to a VTEC than hp.... Good luck to ya man, keep us updated... And PICs lots and lots of PICs...

[4DGSR]

Originally Posted by KryptoKid

I have been also looking into an all motor LS. I am balancing the pros and cons of the two. Obviously there would be suffeciently less power in an all motor setup, but it would also be much less in price.

I am trying to find an even medium where I can build an all motor setup that would be reliable motor that gave pretty decent power gains over stock, but would allow easy upgrade to a turbo once money becomes more ample.

My main goals are torque and reliability, so a LS/Vtec is pretty well out of the question. Here is what I am thinking, but once again I am fairly lost in a sea of knowledge.

I really think that getting the bottom-end machinework done and getting the block bored and then resleeved...new bearings, gaskets...ect to make a 2.0L will be a start. I deffinately want to get head work done, so I am thinking get the stock manifolds port matched to the head, so I don't waste money on I/H/E that is just going to go up for sale later when I go turbo.

So now I am stuck. I am trying to decide Rods, Pistons, And Cams. If I did a motor built for turbo and ran it without, am I going to loose a good amount of possible power? I am not too speed hungry on the street, but I don't want to dump a good chunk of money and loose to a stock GSR due to my motor only being internally complete.

If any of you have tried to have your cake and eat it too, I could really use your sea stories and experiences.

-Me-

Just send the motor off to get built for the application you want. That is the best thing to do in my opinion. You can build a custom kit but that will be trouble some. I bought the Drag Gen 3 kit for my car and the parts that I didn't use, I sold them and bought the parts that I needed.

[KryptoKid]

Does anyone know of a reliable affordable machine shop in the bay area who can take care of the machine work I need for this motor?

Still trying to find out if I build a motor that is a perfect turbo setup, but I don't run a turbo. Am I going to have a poor performing motor until I get the turbo kit for it?

-Me-