opinions on b20b or just get a b18b

alright guys well im from CA and know about the law of the b20b in a car but i dont care but i wanna get some opinions on it if people liked it and what they didnt like and will it be a good motor if i put intake, headers, exhaust, and later on crower 402s or 403s and b16 tranny would it be a good reliable motor and or should i just save up and do a b18b because the b20s are only 450 compared to the b18b being 650 so let me know your opinions on the b20 if it was stock or had bolts on and if you liked it. thanks

there are alot of topics and discussions about a b20. of course you get more torque, they are bigger. reliable yes…if you have money. do some research with google and you will find alot of info. it is how i started my build, b20 vtec all motor.

B20 for sure, I hae buddies that ran a stock b20 for a year and ended up getting crower cams, springs and retainers with good bolt-ons and made a lil over 215 on a good obd1 tuned ecu. “theres no replacement for Displacement” later on you can go with a b20v but that takes a lil more time and money.
I have a tuned all motor 00 jdm (98 spec) itr swap with mild mods and take dude on b20v setups that are basically slapped together, other b20vs are really quick and take me by a full car if in a lighter chassy like an Eg/crx civic.

just have fun with your b20 all motor if you do get one.

the b20b cams are terrible, from a performance standpoint. look into swapping them out if you do get one. or just get a b20z

always use the ls head, never the b20 head. and a b20 z has a lil more horse, but more expensive. from a 00 up crv.

alright thanks for the info guys. i cant wait to see what i end up getting

'96-01 B18B cylinder heads are the exact same part as the PR4-cast B20 motors.

The instance where a B20 head is better is if you happen to have the P8R-cast head… these have vtec-sized valves and flow great, and also come with an 84mm bore combustion chamber.

B18B/B20Z cams are the same.
B20B intake cam is slightly smaller, the exhaust cam is the same as the B18B/B20Z.

alright guys i just did some more searches on the b20 and im really leaning towards one if this is true on the one with low compression the hp is low but people say when you add a ls manifold and ecu it will have as much hp as the b18b and still have more torque also i will stay obd0 for now until i have more cash to go obd1. And will i need tuning after i drop the b20 in

The low-comp B20 is 8.8:1, the LS is 9.2:1.

So while the intake manifold and a tuned ecu (why run a B20 on a B18 map and risk running lean?) would be great upgrades… there IS a compression difference. Will it be noticeable on the butt-dyno? Probably not with the added torque you get.

well i just read that in japan they only had b20bs and the b20zs are usdm and to tell if the difference the one with high compression it had the p8r head and the low had p75 well ill find out which one i have when it gets here but no matter what im going to run obd0 for now and just use a b18b manifold im hoping i get lucky and its the high compression one but after i drop the b20 in which ever one i get do i have to tune it or can i drive it like that and have no problems i just want to make sure

An LS ecu will run the motor, but its definitely not the best thing to do… your A/F ratios will be off by a bit and this will probably cause slight detonation. Someone correct me here if I am thinking it out wrong.

People say you can correct this by throwing a Fuell Pressure Regulator on and tweaking the pressure. But without a wideband/dyno you still won’t know exactly what to do to correct the A/F ratio. Blindly adjusting fuel pressure is just as bad as running it on the wrong ecu.

so if i have to worry about all these other things i might as well stick with b18b but if i do go b20b would i cause any problems running lean

All you have to do is get a chipped ecu.

so i can run a b20 and just get a chipped ecu can i just chip my obd0 since i am going to stay obd0 for a while i also have seen some already chipped on ebay and ready to plug in but will i still need to tune after a chipped ecu and putting a b20 in im really appreciate all the help bro.

Just because an ecu is chipped, doesn’t mean it will run your car correctly. A socketed/chipped ecu means that you can change out the chip. So you would need to chip/socket your ecu (or buy one that’s chipped/socketed) AND get a basemap.

You need to have someone (Xenocron, Phearable, or preferably someone local to you who is reputable) make you a base map.

A base map is a chip that someone has burned for you… the reason you need to go to someone reputable is because a base map is just a guess as to how your car should be running. the more experience someone has with tuning, the better their basemaps will be. The only way to get your car running 100% is throwing it on a dyno and tuning it.

Just buying someones ‘chipped’ ecu off eBay, or buying one of those Spoon/Mugen/whatever chips won’t do you any good unless its programmed for your motor.

Don’t let the technicality scare or confuse you… making a basemap for a stock (intake/exhaust etc) B20 should be cake for any experienced tuner.

Staying obd0 will really limit the amount of people who can/will work on tuning your car. Lots of people don’t work with it, many prefer obd1.

alright thanks i appreciate all the help i guess ill make the desicion this weekend of what to get the b20 or b18 thanks for your guys help.

the b20. so many versions and elusions.
on a b20b with the ls ecu, you will probably run lean. i’m certain that my random misfire is caused by this. grapevine says run an adjustable fpr @ 50psi and you’re golden. i’ve got it, but haven’t installed it yet to confirm myself. you won’t detonate running the ls ecu at 8.8:1cr. hell, my timing is advanced to 20* btdc with no problems there. a friend of mine told me the best non-obd ecu to run on the b20b is the dohc zc. never tried that either but just throwing it out there. if you want to know if you have the high compression phk pistons in there, just look for the knock sensor on the back of the block

so running the ls ecu with the b20b wont cause any problems except for running lean i just want to make sure about all this before i decide to order it.

no. not that i’m aware of

alright thanks for the help im going to price out how much to convert to obd1 and contact Phearable and tune it but if i end up going b20 looks like im going to do it underground smog since i have to test it this year but i dont mind hearing and reading about b20s with bolt ons gets me excited about dropping this motor in.