year of motor, help needed

is there a way by looking at the motor or something on the motor to tell what year it is? and is the 95 gsr motor the only one to come with the upside down intake manifold? or do all the 95 and up gsr motors come like that? thanks for any help.

All 94-01 GS-Rs have that intake manifold.

You might be able to tell if it’s a 94-95 or 96-01 pretty easily. The 94-95 is OBDI, the others OBDII. Other than that, time to pull the serial # and call an Acura Dealer. They might know the # range for each year.

I have a service manual for my Teg that I got from the Acura dealer ($67), and it’s like 3 inches thick. For my 91 LS the serial number is located on the block itself right under the cam gears. It’s pretty cut and dry on telling you the year and size and where it was made and what factory it came from. I can get into more detail later if you want.


  • 91TorinoTeg

But he needs for a B18C1. Our manuals (well G2s) have information specific to that model year, so if the motor is a 95, only the 95 manual will have that info.

I think the dealer is the best bet, unless you can locate the serial ranges somewhere on the net.

thanks for the help

Look at the casting marks on the head above the header. it will tell you the year . The year is the first two casting marks on the left side (reading left to right)

ok ive looked on the head right above the header and they are 9/3 in the first mark, 2 on the second, 1/5 on the third and 8 is on the last one. so according to that its a 93? if so that doesnt make sence cuz the on the block it says B18C. but i understand that it could be a 93 gsr head on a b18c block, but the shop i bought it off of told me that he wasnt sure if it was a 94 or 95 gsr motor, but he said it is and OBD1. so according to that when i buy the p72 ecu(according to teg tips its the ONLY ecu i can use) everything should work right? just wanna make sure that im am going in the right direction here. and ive tried looking under the cam gears but all the writting is in japanese, so that didnt help me out to much. again thanks for the help,and ill be sure to keep you guys updated on the progress, weather any one cares or not.

Originally posted by Turbo1.8Hybrid
ok ive looked on the head right above the header and they are 9/3 in the first mark, 2 on the second, 1/5 on the third and 8 is on the last one. so according to that its a 93? if so that doesnt make sence cuz the on the block it says B18C. but i understand that it could be a 93 gsr head on a b18c block, but the shop i bought it off of told me that he wasnt sure if it was a 94 or 95 gsr motor, but he said it is and OBD1. so according to that when i buy the p72 ecu(according to teg tips its the ONLY ecu i can use) everything should work right? just wanna make sure that im am going in the right direction here. and ive tried looking under the cam gears but all the writting is in japanese, so that didnt help me out to much. again thanks for the help,and ill be sure to keep you guys updated on the progress, weather any one cares or not.

it doesn’t matter what year the engine is. It matters what obd the componenents are. if it turns out to have obd2 components (i.e. distributor and injectors) you can just swap them for obd1 parts. If you want to keep the upside down intake manifold then yeah, you will need an obd1 b18c1 ecu (non chipped --usually the chipped ones are for better intake manifolds w/ only one set of runners). If you replace the intake manifold w/ a skunk2 piece you can run any obd1 ecu (assuming its dohc vtec, or has been chipped for that). If you’re really lucky you can save yourself some $$ and have your stock nonvtec chipped and turned into a vtec ecu for $160! check it out at www.jdmhondaparts.com

If the head says 93, the motor probably came out of a 94 GS-R.

Of the two heads I have off of B17A1 (both 92s), one says 91 and the other 92.

i don’t know about the rest but the b18a’s go like this if 100… is beginning of long # under b18 plate then its 90. if its 91 then it starts 200… and 92 starts 300… except b17 starts 100… again 93 starts 400… and b17 200…