[91EGGURA]

Looking at getting new pistons, rings, valves, springs, and all of the goodies. I'm shooting for a short term goal of around 200 n/a horsepower. what's the correct compression ratio i should be shooting for with new piston ring setup. leaving room for improvement later on down the line. i can hang with bolt ons, but kinda stupid when it comes to internals. i'm trying to get my budget together with this info, so i can scare the wife

 

[CapnToll]

Are you looking for 200whp out of your LS motor? Which motor do you have?

Assuming you've read all about the pros/cons of building N/A, and you still want to go that route, you're going to have to do everything right to hit 200 streetable whp in your LS motor.

11:1 compression will be the absolute lowest compression that could make 200whp. The head build will be important...a nice aggressive cam setup, with a machined head is required. A bore/stroke would definitely help things, but you could still hit 200whp peak on the 1.8L.

Best of the best bolt-ons will be needed: Comptech Icebox (or another 3" intake of your choice), Edelbrock Performer X Intake Manifold (Throttle Body and Hondata I/M gasket is up to you), HyTech style header (or equivalent with 2" piping and 2.5" collector in a Tri-Y configuration), Hi-Flow cat or Test pipe, and a 2.5" exhaust of your choice.

Check out Honda-Tech to read about a 195whp LS build. I would bet with 12:1 compression, and something like a Skunk2 Pro 1 cam, Brian Crower or Crower Stage 3 cam setup would do it for you along with all the other goodies. A good tune will also be the difference in 10-15 peak whp.

Derek (9400rpms) would be the best guy to talk to for experience in what different setups can pull out of 1.8s.

My setup could definitely hit 190s if I swapped in B16A P30 pistons and another step up in the cam area. It's peak of course...which means like 100whp or less below like 4500rpm.

 

[91EGGURA]

so pistons setting up a compression ratio of 11.2:1 would be a good start? yeah, i'm pricing cams, valves, fuel pumps, rails,injectors, crankshaft, pulleys, throttle body, intake manifolds and anything else i can think of right now. now, i don't know if anyone considers magnaflow "highflow" cat to be highflow or not, but that's what i got for now. it's a b18a1, and i'm trying to make it like new with more horsepower while doing it. not sure if i'll hit the 200 hp mark, but i'm gonna give it a shot.

 

[CapnToll]

Alright, well make sure you read a bunch of the discussions/arguments between N/A and boost. In general you can make 300whp turbocharged for half the cost of 200whp N/A.

We don't need to get into that whole discussion now as it will go on for pages that have already been argued hundreds of times.

Keep your stock fuel rail, keep your stock crankshaft (unless you're going for a stroker kit that comes with a different crank). Your fuel rail is good to twice the power you're looking for, and the stock crank is good to like 700hp.

If you know you've got a great tuner, and you don't mind spending more money on 94 octane, and the supporting fuel mods, you could go with 12:1+ compression....the drawback is that it will be slightly less streetable than 11:1 in terms of rough idle, etc.

As for some of the other stuff you talked about. The Magnaflow Carsound cats are nice hi-flow pieces. Forget the pulleys, it will just piss you off in terms of other in-cabin comforts/accessories....and you won't notice much of a power gain....unless you're a dyno queen wanting to hit a certain number. You don't need oversized valves, as you'll get all the compression you're looking for in aftermarket pistons. The lighter valves that can come with the valvetrain kits will free up another 30rpm or so probably....on top of the 50rpm from titanium retainers.

Edit: Sorry, that RPM talk was for every gram you save on the valvetrain components. I know Crower claims a 7 gram savings for like another 300rpm you can tack on before valve float.

 

[91EGGURA]

ah, thanks for the much needed info. it's easier to convince the wife to rebuild the motor than it is to sell her on the turbo idea. so when she lets me rebuild i'm going to gain every ounce of power i can with the money she'll allow me to spend, and going off you're advice i just cut some costs not having to worry about a couple of things there.

 

[CapnToll]

You can always choose to do what I did for a nice kick in performance, but still costing less than most turbo builds. I did half of a total all motor build. I just built the head, and upgraded some of the bolt-ons.

If my car was tested by Car & Driver, or Motortrend, it would be in the range of cars that are 0-60mph in 6.0, and high 14 second 1/4 mile times....although my powerband has allowed me to take down such cars as 350Zs and Cobalt SS SC cars in certain runs...heh heh

If you want to keep going though and attack the bottom end as well, just make sure you have a chat with whatever builder you're thinking about going to, and see what kind of labor charges you're in for. This kind of build can escalate to 4-5k if you aren't doing much of the work yourself (and then you hear the argument of being able to build a 300whp turbo car for under 3500). Talk to a dyno shop / tuner as well - it's arguably the most important step, and will probably run you another $600 for tuning paraphernalia and dyno time.

 

[slow_eh2]

Are you looking for 200whp out of your LS motor? Which motor do you have?

Assuming you've read all about the pros/cons of building N/A, and you still want to go that route, you're going to have to do everything right to hit 200 streetable whp in your LS motor.

11:1 compression will be the absolute lowest compression that could make 200whp. The head build will be important...a nice aggressive cam setup, with a machined head is required. A bore/stroke would definitely help things, but you could still hit 200whp peak on the 1.8L.

Best of the best bolt-ons will be needed: Comptech Icebox (or another 3" intake of your choice), Edelbrock Performer X Intake Manifold (Throttle Body and Hondata I/M gasket is up to you), HyTech style header (or equivalent with 2" piping and 2.5" collector in a Tri-Y configuration), Hi-Flow cat or Test pipe, and a 2.5" exhaust of your choice.

Check out Honda-Tech to read about a 195whp LS build. I would bet with 12:1 compression, and something like a Skunk2 Pro 1 cam, Brian Crower or Crower Stage 3 cam setup would do it for you along with all the other goodies. A good tune will also be the difference in 10-15 peak whp.

Derek (9400rpms) would be the best guy to talk to for experience in what different setups can pull out of 1.8s.

My setup could definitely hit 190s if I swapped in B16A P30 pistons and another step up in the cam area. It's peak of course...which means like 100whp or less below like 4500rpm.

i wou;ld soooo aim for 11.8:1

so pistons setting up a compression ratio of 11.2:1 would be a good start? yeah, i'm pricing cams, valves, fuel pumps, rails,injectors, crankshaft, pulleys, throttle body, intake manifolds and anything else i can think of right now. now, i don't know if anyone considers magnaflow "highflow" cat to be highflow or not, but that's what i got for now. it's a b18a1, and i'm trying to make it like new with more horsepower while doing it. not sure if i'll hit the 200 hp mark, but i'm gonna give it a shot.

alot of times you can make damn good power from damn good bolts ons honestly. you could probably hit that 200 wheel mark with type r pistons. maybe some crower stage 2s or stage 3s if you feel horny, add a gooooood dyno proven intake. with like a hytrech or rmf header. a nice mandrel bent exhuast with the piping size perfect for your build add a nice clutch and flywheel combo and maybe a few supporting mods. IM (i wont tell you sk2 because i hate that intake manifold. but killer bee does an awesome extrude hone port job for b sereis intake manys) and TB and a hondata gasket. run on 93 octane and get that shit tuned. you could possiblle break those numbers. but your looking at alot of time. and money. good luck bro. let us know what you come up with.