My advice:
The crank is OK, it’s the rod bolts that fail. The redline on the LS bottom end ~6900 (ish). When you rev it to 8K and up on a stock bottom end, the rod bolts fail and you lose an engine. This is why you either A: keep near ~7200 on stock rod bolts, or you B: install ARP rod bolts and play near ~8000 (ish).
Balancing (according to my machinist) stock Honda parts is mostly a waste. He could use his grinder, take off a fractional amount of metal and pocket my money. Now the reasoning he gave was that Honda is much better at turning out quality factory work than domestic automakers (like GM). Now if you’re building a bracket racer, balancing might be worth it.
ARP head studs are a far better way to go Vs. GSR head studs. ARP makes things that last a while. You’re sinking $3K plus into this engine, don’t skimp on this step. Good enough for NASCAR/CHAMP/F1, good enough for me.
Now for my do’s and don’ts
DO:
Buy all new seals/gaskets for the block
Get a new thermostat
Use Hondabond
Use a '92 - '95 VTEC oil pump
Have the head/block surfaces checked for straightness
Use the GE kit
Break your engine in properly with a dino oil
Get the crank micropolished.
Search. Often. We’re serious about this.
DON’T
Fall for marketing hype
Listen to the kid down the street who’s cousins-friends-neighbor talk about V-TEK (yo!)
Spring for Eagle rods, Arias (sp?) pistons, etc. Not unless you’re really trying to break your bank or have a trust fund. OEM pistons are fine. Same for rods.
knife-edging. Bad. That is unless you’re into bracket racing.
Everything you read here is part fact/ part BS. The more knowledgable you get, the more you’ll be able to make head/tails of this all. There are real knowledgeable people here, but some of them like to lurk due to the tons of LSVTEC/CRVTEC and “j0! I gotz my JDM altezzas! I’m the shiznit!1!11oneone!1” posts. Be nice when they decide to join a thread.
This is so true. This site isn’t as bad as some (ie…honda-tech), but when someone asks a question, there seems to be alot of people who are quick to call them stupid or give snide remarks. I understand some questions are repetitive and annoying, but if you don’t like them, just don’t answer them. Sometimes i just don’t understand people. However, thank you very much for all of your input, you are obviously one of the knowlegable ones. Thanks again for the info.
I really don’t like H-T, but Team-Integra seems to be a good source of technical knowledge. A word of advice though: They’ll lock your thread in a heartbeat if they don’t think you’ve searched enough.
G2IC is a large community, with lots of good information, but we still expect you to do some of the work. After all, it’s your money that you’re playing with.
right on man, i’m a member of honda tech, gsr.com, team-integra.net, and this site, and i must say, this is the most user friendly of them all, but it is in a tie with the gsr site. The guys there are really cool too. Thanks again for all your knowlege and wisdom…
