B20 or B18
 

A buddy of mine has a 95 RS Integra and wants to do an engine swap since his head gasket blew. Were wondering what would be the better choice? A B20 series engine, and which level (A or B) or B18 series engine?

Thanks

well i would say b20 because there cheaper by a bit and have more torque and roughly the same horsepower, and b20 b or z is what you mean not a or b. A b20 z is higher comperession and has about 20 more horse then a b20 b but they are more expensive by about 300-400$ and are alot more rare not to mention who knows if youl make that power unless you run the b20 stock ecu for that engine.

if you were going to go turbo, which model would hold it better and how much could it take?

B18.....if hes goin turbo imo is better to get a B18....at 10psi he could be makin aorund 300+ whp on stock internals.....and im sellin a B18C if hes interested ;)

b18 revs higher and just as fast as the b20

re: b18/b20
 

b20 if u wanna built it in the future
b18 if u wanna boost it in the future
depends on ur future plans, as for DD it doesn't matter they're both the same hp wise, b20 is more torque where the b18 u can rev higher as mentioned earlier

i had a buddy making just under 300 on a stcok b20 b turbo would say that the b20 is good for turbo becuse of the compression ratio. You could do the same to a b18 its really what engine you want and what are your plans for your set up.

yea since there pretty much the same hp wise like Mr-Rumble said....it is really only up to him which motor he wants.

plus and i dont really know alot about the B20 (and correct me if im wrong) but i believe the b20's cylinder walls are thinner than the b18's and the sleeve is more prone to crackin if boosted

I'd have to disagree with you on this one, black_gsr...

On the contrare, the higher your compression ratio, then the less boost you have to run to reach the same hp goal.

I'd go with a Vtec engine for boost; turbo's love high flowing cylinder heads, and again, it'll help with volumetric efficiency (which basically means free horsepower, with less boost).

Go with a GSR swap, and when you've got the cash, simply swap on an ITR head, and you'll see an increase of around 30 whp.

Which ever way you go, make sure you grab a short-geared tranny with an LSD. Most valuable upgrade by far.

^^^ lol doing axles on the side of the road is not fun

i'm just saying with lower compression you can run more boost, either way i dont encourage shoemaker setups if you want to do it porper you should pic you engine and buy internals and build it right.

Hahahahahaha... Shhh... Open slip ftwww!!

Don't get me wrong, you're 100% correct; lower compression means higher boost reliably. Unfortunately, this also means more boost required to hit the same HP.

I'd much rather have a high compression, highly responsive engine (more power out of boost), then have no power until the turbo is spooled. I made 291whp on 8.7 psi with my GSR, running a stock compression ratio.

Fuzzy is running (I believe) 8 psi, and making about 250whp on his LS (with lower compression?).

Basically, I had stock performance outside of boost, as opposed to having sluggish response with lowered compression ratios.

To address your 2nd point, stock engines are capable of fair boost levels. Don't think raw boost and horsepower; concentrate on efficiency and you'll make more power with less. A general guideline, is no more then 300whp on a stock engine.

Anything over 250whp I'd consider internal work, though.

One last rule I've always followed...

Don't boost in 5th gear, and don't boost longer then 10 seconds.

ya i guess with a good tune and lower boost a stock engine can handle boost to a certain extent. I just built mine becuase i want the reliability of stronger rods and just a better flowing setup to make good power and not have to worry about ---- blowing up. And now i can make more power without worrying about the engine. Even built i'm only going to run maybe 15 tops. I still want to be able to hook up with street tires and whatnot.

I agree with you on building the engine's internals, as i had done with mine; pistons, rods, and fresh bearings etc. But i have seen quite a few stock setups running boost for prolonged periods of time trouble free. It all comes down to luck of the draw, really... what kind of life the engine had, tune, maintainance, etc...

15 psi is more then enough to kick out your tires; i chewed through my falken ziex in about a month, and had trouble maintaining traction once i hit 3rd gear vtec. If you expect traction in even 2nd gear, your going to definitely have to invest in an LSD and some uber-sticky tires.

If you go with high compression and low boost on a DD, you can't lose.

As opposed to simply touching the boost dial, I would concern myself with exhaust flow path (i.e. wastegate position, runners/turbine collector, downpipe, etc), charge piping, a fitted intercooler (not the biggest, shiniest thing you can find; keep turbo lag to a minimum), a turbocharger properly built and suitted for your goals, fuel maps, and alot of dyno time.

If i could do it all over again, I'd touch the boost dial as an absolute last resort.


PS; you only replaced your rods? What other prep have you done?

no i did every thing i could i just was saying rods for an example of something stock that may give under that much boost. My engine has Brian Crower internals for the head and eagle rods, JE pistons, and darton sleeves, and a new main bearing kit and arp studs. I'm still waiting for the block back so i can put the engine together and then put my turbo kit on. The car was turbo on the stock gsr but a bad tune had me lean and i burnt out my exhaust valves in 2 cylinders. So i just want things done right this time i only had the car turbo for under a month.

u need to consider ur budget and what ur expecting out of ur motor

b20 is a 2 litre therefore has more potential if built

b18 is known to be more reliable oem and has a large oem and aftermarket support

so its really up to you and what u want

how much hp can you guys get out of a natural aspirated engine..?

I knew a guy that had a supercharger on his and was blowing the doors off Porches and stuff.

Is Turbo better or Super or what..?

Also I have a stock RS 95 engine and was wondering what I can build from it. Do I need to get a new block to get any real gains, or do I need to turbo is I want and hp in the end.. I want to stay as cheap as possible and get the most out of the car. I have been a show car for many years and the car is now my daily driver so I want to go sleeper look and do engine..... help please... thank you for your information above as well.
B 18 looks the way to go for me... now there 2 different ones as well..? b and z..? whats the dif. how can you tell?
James

I like the b18's

so the vertic is ?

well deppends what u plan on doing and how high u wanna rev or how much boos't u plan on running. the b18b is a great motor for boos't and more rev's the b20 lots of torqe but u sould not rev it to high or boos't to high because of the piston wals are tiner putting more stress to them and the have known to crack, but if u want u can put sleve gard or what ever any one else calls it and it takes care of that and makins it stroonger, but some will say it will raise the engin temp but it really does not affect it all that much but u get more raliabilety, this is my two cents and im sure some one does not agree but the b20 is the way i would go more torqe and what it does not make for hp the turbo will make up for it.....

B18 if turbo charging, b/c stronger block!

You want a B18C1 though, the GSR. The B18C5 is not as good for turbo.