I have a b17a1 and I was wondering if there are any simple ways of getting a little bit more out of it…I have been hearing from friends that this motor is pricey because of rarety but I want to ask you all first. I dont want to turbo or put nitrous on it…just all motor
try get a hold of some b16 pistons to bump up your compression ratio a bit, because everyone knows the b17 has low compression which makes less power. since the b17 is just a stroked b16, the pistons will fit, keep in mind you use the b17 rods. maybe after that you can invest in some better cams. your question is kind of vaque, you would have to let us know what your goals are, what is your use for the car, and what is your budget, because there is sooo much that can be done on a motor now, the possibilities are almost endless!
buy my stroked ls bottem end. 
you wont get much power from the stock pistons. they are flat top, no dome at all. if you are set on keeping the b17, i would go .25 over ctr or aftermarket pistons(probably 82mm 11:1 c/r), with some stage 2 cams. it is a pretty small motor but with high compression and cams it will scream.
What have you done so far to the B17A?
Do you have any mechanical skills? Labor can be expensive if you have to do a rebuild.
I’m assuming that you have the regular bolt ons. ie. intake,exhaust,header and such.
i/h/e dont do much. do internals and tune. stock intake and axleback kick ass. the aftermarket header and test pipe make things a little easier to work on it tho.
I’ll be honest…as much as I loved my B17A, she didn’t she didn’t wake up until I increased compression to the 11:5+ range , S2S2 cams and got tuned.
funny because I was just looking into the same thing, juicing up the B17. Are there any all motor B17 setups that you can show us? I tried searching lightly, but nothing really stuck out quite yet.
Also I have a question, would the CTR pistons be TOO close to the valves on a stock block/head? And if anybody knows what kind of compression numbers that’d pump out, would be interesting.
It’s close but I’ve sheared teeth on a timing belt without contact.
When I rebuild this thing I’ll be using a thicker head gasket. High compression without the octane to use it is worthless. Sure I can mess with the cam gears to lower the dynamic compression but there’s a trade-off there as well.
im planing on rebuidling my b17 it burns oil in high rpm and i want more power. what hp do you guys think it can run if built corrrect
I hate to say it but going n/a in a b17 is going to be pricey. I’m in the same boat as you (basic i/h/e/c setup) I want more horsepower but don’t want to hurt my 83k b17. It sucks having a rare obscure car…
Why would it be pricer than any other B-Series NA build? Other than the connecting rods and crank, everything else is compatible.
so let me get this straight if i run stock b17 rods with ctr pistions and a thicker head gasket will be in the 11:5 area and will be able to run 93 oct safely with a tune.
If I had 93 octane, I won’t bother with the thicker head gasket.
i heard the ctr pistions wont clear the valves with a stock headgasket.
The All Motor route is expensive if you can’t do most of the work your self.
I struggled to keep my B17A’s all numbers matching. I’ve learned so much going the All Motor route…it makes it hard to appreciate a turbocharged Honda.
The bottom end is fine on the B17A… and usually hold up well to abuse and high revving.
Shit, I revved my stock bottom end to 9000 for over 1 year daily and 20 times a day.
They have great compression for boosting right out the box.
Compression, Cams, Intake Manifold and throttle body… would wake that motor up.
8500-8900 is doable on the stock bottom end but you’ll need the cams and flow to make the power up there.
so DB2 what kinda setup did you go with to get into the 11:5 range? I saw you purchased the s2s2 cams. I was thinking about picking some up first, but they suggest with stock compression you might actually experience a power loss…
archon: you clayed your motor right? how much clearence was there, and what cams did u use?
You heard wrong.
Kraz, I used CTR cams and the piston to valve clearance was around .040" IIRC.
The CTR pistons have really deep valve pockets. The sparkplug tip to piston dome clearance worries more than anything else.
Sorry for the crude line but it illustrates just how little room there is.
wow thats a tight fight, so what could potentialy happen from it being that close. and could you add washers around the plug to give it more room?