The cheapest way to go fast is to put a good motor in a light car. Take a close look at your car and decide what you can take out(or lighten). If you can get a 10:1 wieght to hp ratio you should be able to hit low 13’s. In other words taking 250 lbs out of your car is ~ to adding 25hp at the crank.
These are small motors. 10 hp is a lot when your only working with 1.8L. I haven’t seen any streetable 190 whp b18a/b DA’s(they’d be running high 13’s). A poormans itr without the port and pollish will make more hp than a b18a/b with the port and pollish, for the same money or less when you consider the cost of rebuilding(higher comp pistons, rods,cams,springs ect…). When you port and pollish the head on the poormans itr you leave the b18a/b way behind. IT’S NOT THE VTEC, ITS THE VTEC HEAD THAT MAKES MORE POWER.
Any motor from any manufacturer if driven hard will start to lose low end power after 15 to 30kmiles. I’m not saying that it won’t run, or be fun to drive. It will be slower though. Do a leakdown test after the rings have set and after 30k miles of spirited driving. I’d expect about .20 sec loss in the 1/4 after 30k… Doesn’t sound like much but .20 sec is a lot when you consider how much power it takes to gain .20.
A rex only wieghs 1900lbs. A stock rebuilt b18a with I/H/E in a rex will pass a seriously modded ls motor in a DA.
BTW, I’m not slamming LS motors. You can get about 100-105 hp/lter from a streetable ls motor. You can get about 120-125 hp/liter from a streetabe vtec motor. It would just be too expensive to make my goal of mid-low 13’s with an NA LS and still pass emisions(and idle).
I expect the motor that I’m piecing together to last 20k miles before I do a refresh. You’ll spend $$$'s to add that last 10 hp to your motor so why accept that you lost about that much average power on your low end just because it still runs good.
If I were to stay with the ls motor to begin with, I would have built it for turbo, but I wanted to stay all motor, so I went with the b16 head not for it’s vtec only, but mostly because of it’s better flow characteristics. The typr R head is the best flowing of the bunch, but I didn’t have the easy access to one, like I did with the b16 head. The ls is a good motor, but it’s flow capabilities aren’t ideal for all motor applications, just my two cents…
Yeah, I know that the LS motor isnt the best you can use for an all motor application for a power:liter ratio but I like the challenge of making it fast. There is just something about taking out someone who has a vtec motor and talks shiz about non-vtec then gets smoked by one. I just like that.
Somewhere down the road I will build a vtec one, but for now I am having fun with the LS. I will run it until it blows up, if it does.
Another thing is that I am not concerned with peak horsepower. I have no interest in drag racing. I go to the track about once a year to run my car just to see how much further I have come with it in that time. I like autoxing and cornering more. That is where the torque of the LS comes in and makes it fun.
An LS turbo is definately the way to go if I wanted to fo FI. That would be a fun project, but honda motors need a lot of work to run turbo and be reliable…
I totally agree with BR about the fact that turboed hondas require lots of work just to have it tuned properly and maintained, I also feel that autocrossing is where it’s at:werd:, our tegs were not ment to be dragged…but be careful, autox can be very addicting:crazy:
Originally posted by B R Yeah, I know that the LS motor isnt the best you can use for an all motor application for a power:liter ratio but I like the challenge of making it fast. There is just something about taking out someone who has a vtec motor and talks shiz about non-vtec then gets smoked by one. I just like that.