Im just wondering if anyone has ever succeeded in getting a hybrid motor bar’d in cali. Im thinking of going b20v but dont want the hastle that comes every 2 years to smog at a test only station and from cops. so I want to maek sure i can get the b20v bard by a california state referee and pass smog before i dump money in my idea.
If you read the rules regarding engine swaps here in cali then the answer to your question will be obvious. (the answer is NO).
I would suggest reading the technical rules so you understand exactly what they are and how they are applied. But in short, you are not allowed to mix/match cylinder heads and blocks which did not come paired together from the factory.
FYI. A B20 motor is labeled as a SUV motor and can not be placed in a passenger car according to DMV and the state ref.
yup, that would be another reason… If you swap a stock b20 you can usually get away w/ just not getting it Ref’d since it looks exactly the same as a b18a (assuming you swap the right parts over).
Sooooo there is a chance! 
b20, yes, a chance. b20/vtec, no.
B20B is a no, get pulled over and they’ll let you slide but get reffed and you’ll have to pull it.
Just get a B18A, sleeve it and be done with it. Once reffed, slap a VTEC head on it, shave the VTEC letters off and you’re golden.
That’s exactly what I was saying. The engine will look stock so they probably won’t notice. But if they look for the engine code for some reason you’re SOL
Ive seen a couple guys in orange county cali with bar’d b20s so i assumed it was easy.
And if i was to sleeve a b18 to a b20 then I dont think it would pass smog. and thats another issue here in cali.
Did these guys you’re talking about actually have BAR stickers with a b20 indication on them? Or did they just have a BAR’d car and a b20 in it? Often people will get the car BAR’d with one engine and then swap in another. Then they can usually pass off the new motor as being the old one if everything is similar enough.
Hey I never thought of it that way… sneeeeeeaky lil bastards! :stare:
Grind of the b20 and re stamp it b18a1 how would the know.
I don’t know many people that would be able to do that well enough to fool someone in the know… But it’s possible, I guess. Regardless, that’s not the question. We’re not really talking about cheating here.
If you grind off the b20 stamp you must also grind that sequence of numbers under the b20 and hm stamps, and stamp that shit exactly.
The bright side is aluminum is quite soft… so what I would say, is make a mold of the stamp reverse it and make a steel cast of it and then stamp it in. The down side tho is if you grind that stamp pad it will become shiny and will look odd, and whoever does the bar is going to see 100000000 hondas and will notice that that shit is not normal.
what model motor was in the 90/91 prelude . was reading on another form an some one said it was a b20 .so my question is if it was then a b20 is not only a truck motor
Yes, technically we are all saying the wrong thing when we talk about “all b series” engines. 99.9% when someone is talking about a b series engine they are talking about b16a’s, b18a’s, b18c’s… the ones we’re all familiar with. But yes, there were a couple “b series” engines which came in older preludes. They are not in the same family as the b series engines we are familiar with.
The older prelude B motors actually look like a hybrid between the more familiar B and H series engines. Here’s a pic:
You wouldn’t be able to BAR one of these older prelude “B” engines because state laws require the swapped engine to be the same year or newer than the vehicle it will be going into.
i think it was the 89s that had a 2.0i…
it also makes sense on swapping a same year motor or newer…
ok but if it a b20 then why does ever one say that b20 are truck motors an never came in any cars? i understand same year or newer but if it a 91 prelude an you have a 90/91 integra an the prelude is stamped b20 (all stock) then there were b20 in stock preludes in 91 so you should be able to put a new b20 in the car i would think
Dude, they are two entirely different motors classified in two entirely different chasis as Colin has stated.
New B20 in a CR-V is not the same as one found in the Prelude.
ok