It was a c1 block the guy bought from honda and then put his original ITR internals in and mated to his ITR head. The machine shop saw that the sleeves were splitting - the aluminum and steel were separating from each other. He said I might be able to get away using it as is, but it makes me nervous. So, with that news it makes this swap I bought nearly useless to me. The trans was fucked and I couldn’t sell it for much to recoup what I spent on the swap and now the block is also unusable too. What looked like a good legit deal originally has turned into a costly waste of my time. I just need to figure out the best way to move forward.
Damn Colin, I’m sorry to hear that. All you really need though is a bare block right? You have everything else still needed? So all you need to do is source either a B18c or B18c1 block. There, I figured it out for you. 
I wired up the firewall side of my MAP/VTEC subharness today. All new pins and seals on all the plugs I’m adding. I chose to use a green plug because theres already a 6 pin plug originally from the driver’s side shock tower that is almost identical and I didn’t want to have any confusion when I finally install it. It looks like I shouldn’t even have to extend the inside wires from the plug to the original MAP wiring. So all I’ll need to do is pin them and run the two VTEC wires to the ecu.
I also started removing some seam sealer from the driver’s side shock tower area.
Yeah, I should only need the block, but I’m not having very much lucking finding a clean one that I trust it’s origin. I’ll keep lookin’. I almost bought a new OEM short block from Honda but found out it was more expensive than the prices I originally found. I’m so tired of this debacle, I’m tempted to just say “fuck it” and drop in a b16a, lol.
Glad to see you’re making some more progress 
If you plan on running any gauges don’t forget to add some extra wires to your engine harness now so you won’t have to later…
I’m sure you’ll figure it out. A complete jdm motor would be the easiest/quickest way to get it all back together. I have a feeling though that you’d rather build an ITR rather than settle for a CTR. You could always throw a B16A in now and build your B18C to have as a backup/upgrade motor for the future…
I’m not really planning to run any gauges, at least not electronic ones. I’ve kicked around the idea of running a mechanical oil pressure gauge but that’s about it.
The problem is that this money pit is just getting deeper and deeper. Even figuring the parts I’ve sold off I’m already out of pocket a nice chunk of change only to be in the position of having to almost start over. I need to run over some of my numbers again and see how bad it really is…
I’m actually switching from mechanical to electrical. Originally I was hearing mechanicals were more accurate but everything I’m seeing now is saying the difference isn’t all that big, if any, especially with nicer gauges. Personally I’m a big fan of gauges, IMO they’re mandatory - I want to know what’s going on with the engine. If you do decide to get a mechanical oil pressure gauge, lmk, I have an Autometer one that was in my car but I’m removing. I have all the steel braided AN lines for it as well as a firewall bulkhead.
Don’t run the numbers! What happened, happened. Running the numbers will only discourage you. Just try to figure out what you can afford, what you want, and what kind of timeframe you can realistically expect to get it done in. I’m sure whatever you decide to do you’ll get back out there and enjoy yourself and that’s what your race car is all about.
I don’t have a problem with electrical gauges, I have heard that mechanical are more accurate though. I just have this idea that if a mechanical gauge fails you’ll know it and it’ll be obvious. If an electrical gauge fails its more likely that it would still give a reading, just not an accurate one. I could be completely wrong in my theory.
As for not wanting to run a lot of gauges, I just don’t see a clean way of mounting them where they’re actually in a useable position. I definitely wouldn’t want to mount them on top of the dash and I’m not a fan of pillar mounted gauges either. Any other place in our car that there’s space to put them is out of your line of sight without drastically taking your eyes off the road. Meh, I’ll keep kicking the idea around but anyways that’s my reasoning behind not wanting them.
Thanks for the offer on the oil pressure gauge, I’ll let you know if I do decide to go that route. I’ll do it through email though if I do decide to. That reminds me, I still need to find you that vss…
Those seals look so… Clean! This thread keeps tempting me more and more to do something like this.
Off topic but damn Colin that is terrible. You’ll catch a break though!
Doooo iiiit!
Colin - If you have all of the internals in good shape from the b18c, why don’t you use a B18a/b block and put your internals. The only reason I see that will make you not want to go this route is that it cant be bard, but then again if your setup is going to be highly modified your still going to run into problems passing the smog. Or is it just a preference to go with an original vtec engine.
rollinmyda - great work on the wiring. your making me want to redo my whole engine harness all over again. lol Although mines will probably be a little easier since I have already made it before. would only need to make a copy and get new pins.
Thanks! The more and more time I spend looking at it the more I want to redo all the other plugs to match the new ones. It’s time consuming but I think worth it so I probably will. At the very least I’ll do the rest of the visible plugs. I’m still undecided on what type of loom I want to use anyway so I have some time.
Mike, yeah, I’m just trying to find the most economical way to move forward, until then I’m gonna try to keep plucking away at other projects. I’ll probably put that gauge up for sale eventually, I have some stuff I need to sell and undoubtedly will have more when I’m done. But I’m thinking I’ll hold off on selling stuff till the end so I don’t have to deal w/ the hassle - so it’s not going anywhere anytime soon Totally agree about the gauge locations. I liked the look of my previous gauges but I would have to look down. I’m thinking of trying angled gauges where the radio goes but that is still looking down and away from the road. I too don’t like the pillar mounts, but for a track car it does make a lot of sense. I wish they made gauge cluster bezel pods like they do for the DC. That setup would be a good compromise. I’m interested to see what you choose for wiring loom. I’m trying to figure that out as well. Heat shrink alone has a nice look to it, but the heat shrink break out junction boots are EXPENSIVE and really you’d need to use those. Lots of people use that mesh loom but I don’t get how that’s a good idea. You’re not actually sealing up the wires, you’re just covering them aesthetically. That mesh is bound to hold in dirt and debris making it nearly impossible to clean. For me this is critical because my car will regularly have “offs” when at the track so the car will get completely filled with dust. One off road trip like that and the whole harness would be brown, lol. I may just end up doing what I did last time and use the OEM style split loom in conjunction with heat shrink. No worries on the VSS, it’ll clearly be a while till I’m putting the motor together…
Jose, I guess that is an option. I would like it to be a “b18c” though to see if in the future I could BAR it. I’m really just confused as to what direction to go at the moment, and may not decide till a good deal pops up on something. Only time will tell.
Rollinmyda - if you don’t mind, here is a photo of how I have my gauges installed. I was also thinking on making them at an angle facing the driver side.
IMAG1279.jpg by aftermath1312, on Flickr
Colin - I guess your pretty much stuck with a b18c if your going with bard plans in the future.lol
That gauge location is perfect except you have to delete your HVAC 
or relocate them to another place, but you still have to delete the center vents.
Great work on everything so far. The wiring brings back some memories.
Colin- The more I look at the OEM interior the more I think I just want to keep it OEM oriented. I like your idea of the cluster mounted pods and I wouldn’t mind blocking partial view of the gas gauge since you don’t check it very often, especially during aggressive driving. I don’t really like the idea of blocking the temp gauge though. That’s probably more necessary than any aftermarket gauge you would mount in front of it. It could be a cool project though! As for loom I’m thinking of just using OEM style split loom and possibly covering it with the braided loom for aesthetics. That’s where I’m running into a wall though, I can’t find split loom big enough for my main part of my engine harness. Since everything is running together now and I have a lot of wires looped because there’s a ton of extra, now my thickest area is about 1.25-1.5 inches wide. Biggest stuff I can find is 1"…
Aftermath- I don’t mind at all. The gauges are functional there but I cringe thinking about deleting my center vents or HVAC altogether. I don’t think I can bring myself to do it.
Jdecks- Thanks! It was guys like you with your super clean bays that made me want to do it!
Update to come soon, I’m uploading pics now
So I spent a few hours removing seam sealer today. Not much of any left in the bay. I scraped the majority off with screwdrivers and scrapers and then hit the seams with a wire wheel to clean them up all the way.
These areas are hard to reach and need some more time
Then I went shopping to get loom to finish the harness and can’t find any large enough for what I need. I literally called and went everywhere within 30 minutes of me. So I got my welding tank filled and picked up some wire. Looks like I’m going to divert my attention to the bay while I’m stuck on the harness.
I need to figure out which wires to switch to convert to gas…
I also picked up some spot weld bits so I can remove the core support.
mike I see you’ve got a project on your hands. looking good:)
Those spotweld bits are pretty handy to have, provided your drill will keep up. I found electric was the way to go for me.
Try to only cut through the first layer of metal, and separate the sheets with a chisel… doing your best to not deform or rip anything. If you drill through both sheets of metal, its a pain to weld back together… whereas if you only drill through the first skin, you have a backing to weld to versus an open hole.
Stop with the updates already! lol It pains me knowing I won’t be working on the Integra anytime soon.
^Yup, take it easy w/ the spot weld drill till you get the hang of it. I stopped frequently to try and chisel it off or break the remaining weld that way so you didn’t drill too much into the lower material. Overall though you’ll get the hang of it if you’re paying attention.
As for the split loom, you’ll probably have to buy it online. I found some with a really quick search, you can probably find better options/pricing with a little more searching.
http://www.amazon.com/Flexible-Nylon-Convoluted-Diameter-White/dp/B00DP41JS0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1384019333&sr=8-1&keywords=1.5"+split+loom
http://www.amazon.com/SPLIT-LOOM-DIAMETER-BLACK-POLYETHYLENE/dp/B0051969W8/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1384019478&sr=8-13&keywords=1.25"+split+loomhttp://www.amazon.com/Flexible-Nylon-Convoluted-Diameter-Black/dp/B00DP1S6VG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1384019517&sr=8-2&keywords=2"+split+loom
http://www.amazon.com/Flexible-Nylon-Convoluted-Diameter-Black/dp/B00DP1S6VG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1384019517&sr=8-2&keywords=2"+split+loom