vtec turns on, but doesnt push
 

HEY GUYS
heres my problem
-once the cars warmed up I'll run the vtec, but for some reason it feels like the car just gets louder and doesnt push any harder. Its a b16a1 head and tranny.
I jumped into AcuratePauls teg and his feels so much different (I know his is the type R) and mines not. But once his vtec kicked the car just moved.

-I do have a head gasket going (I know I shouldn't be pushin it anyways)
would that have anything to do with it
-compression test was done (200-205) all around

hows the oil level?

Possible one of the solenoids is not functioning? intake/exhaust side?

oil level is topped up and fresh, intake and exhaust are good from what I know but Ill have a better look tomorrow

Paul just called me and asked me what the problem might be.... and to be honest dude, its totally normal lol.

Its a friggin B16A in a heavier Teg. The combo doesnt mix at all. The B16 isnt a big power motor man, i should know cause i had one in my EF before i swapped it out for a B20B...what a difference btw. I could hear the Tec kick in but it wouldnt start to pull till 7,000rpm. But the Tec was set at 5000! lol

Fact of the matter is you have a weak motor in a car that was meant for bigger torque(B18B). So i highly doubt that anything is wrong with your motor.

Oh and do yourself a favor... Buy a low buck B20B dude. Trust me on that LOL

oops, one more thing. Pauls car is a Type-r and the head/block is alot better than a B16A. It pulls like that because of the many R and D hours Honda put into developing it.

Oh, ask paul whats better... a CRV motor or his Type-R motor? hahaha!!!!

lol a b16 is still good but in a da!!!!
ryan just talk alot of talk to get his way!

oh btw ask him how on earth he convinced me to buy his motor! lol

Yo Marius, as you seen above I called Ryan to ask about this...like he stated makes sense it's a 1.6L motor and orignally had a 1.8L so It does lack in certain areas. I'll have a chat with you tomorrow night I got a few ideas :yeah:

ryans making me want a b20....hahhaha

how much would it cost me? a general estimate?...

theres still something wrong with it, I dont think Honda would make an engine that just gets louder when the vtec hits haha

LOL! Welcome to the B16 son. Get a type R to "feel" the Vtec...OR buy a Nissan and get a SR20VE motor...now thats Vtec

And the reason you cant feel it is because you have a boat anchor of a car. Too heavy man... B20B!!!

its that bad eh haha, oh well I'm starting fresh soon, after working on Pauls I wanna find another teg asap and put it under the knife for a long time. I really want that front clip he has.

correct me if Im wrong but I herd that putting in a turbo in the 1.8 is one of the best things you can do. I might go that way in the next teg

Yup the b18b is great for boost and gives your great power and a fun toy to own.

shouldnt you be working haha, your day must be going really slow

ya boosting a B18B is better than boosting a B20 cause the B20 is a bored out B18B which means it has thinner cylinder walls.

B18 for boost is WIN!

might be the way I'll go, just gotta find a steal out there. I only wanna spend about 500-$800 bucks haha, I want it rusty and ugly but running

dude, i bought a B20B that was FRESH and looked brand new under the VC for just over $300! You can find a B18B thats running but used for $200.... ask paul who gets the deals around here? lol

Oh and i forgot to tell you. I went for a ride in my buddys 2000 civic SiR last summer and he had intake/.exhaust upgrades. When the pushed it to redline the Vtec hit, sounded great but went no where hahaha! I even raced him in my 99 teg(B18B with intake/exhaust) and ran with him. Trust me... a B16A in a DC is a bad idea

if you can get me a full driving teg for around 200, let me know and I'll give you some cash too, around here there are no tegs for sale, thuink there are about 2 or 3 but they want like 4000 for them

sorry i meant a B18B engine...only lol.

You can probably find a 94-97 integra for under $1000 that's running and in decent shape. Like it will have quarter rust be that's doable lol.

What Car do you have?

options? Ac ABS 4 door Ice etc?

Yes that can all account for weight.

But your B16a at higher RPM has MORE HP than the stock B18B so you should feel the car pulling well. Down low you are a little weaker on torque but thats all.

Maybe you do have a mechanical issue. Check you cat for a rattle. Maybe the exhaust system is restricted somehow. Is timing correct?

The B16A can move along a 2500lb car quite well.... but is your car 2800 maybe?

Let me chime in a few words about the b16.

I've had one for the past 4.5 years and put about 165k on it. In my 00 civic SiR which is a few hundred pounds lighter than a DC, it pulls nice and is a decent match for the ~2500lb car. The block and head are very similar to the b18type-R with the exception of some mild P&P done to the head to help it flow better, slightly more aggressive cams, a bit higher compression pistons and longer stroke (same bore) so that it displaces 1.8L instead of 1.6L.

That being said, the b16 is still impressive for it's displacement (stock 160hp(USDM) or 100hp per litre, which most oem engines today still can't touch without adding a turbo), but a side-effect of being just a little 1.6L NA is that it doesn't make any torque. At all. Period. I mean mine barely made 100ft-lbs at the wheels on the dyno when it was stock. lol.

I could always hear vtec and it always pulled nice through the rpm range, but you couldn't "feel" it when vtec engaged. At least not until I installed a jdm ITR 4-1 header, (which I ported) and built a fully custom 2.5" exhaust system for it. That in combination with a custom short-ram with BPi velocity stack really woke the motor up. Now you can actually 'feel' when vtec engages. It has a significantly better mid-range and the top-end has definitely picked up a few ponies.

Doing that work to yours won't really be that noticable. It's a 1.6L NA motor in a fairly heavy car. (yes, I think DC's are heavy...lol). The combination isn't great. The lighter the car the better. B16's in eg hatches and CRX's will fly becaus it dosen't require mountains of torque to move a ~2000lb car. B16's are impressive for their size and no other oem 1.6L engine can compete with it. There might be a nissan 1.6 that was in the same category but thats about it. But put the b16 in a heavy car, it'll suffer. It just doesn't make enough torque to pull the weight. I'm very careful of the weight of my car. With one passenger or even 50lb's of extra weight, I can feel the difference and the b16 doesn't like to haul extra mass. It's not a "working engine" so to speak...lol.

With todays engine prices, b16's are over-rated for the price. You can get the same or better performance from much cheaper engines like the b20. If you have a heavier car like a DC, the b16 is not the best choice, performance-wise.

However, if you have one, enjoy the fuel mileage. It's probably the best b-series engine for fuel consumption. It's for that reason I'm leaving the b16 in my car for daily driving. It's got enough punch when I want it but the fact that I can get 700kms to 45L gas (approx 37mpg) from highway/city driving, is fantastic. :)

wow you know your stuff, thanks for your time and all the info.
what do you think would be my best bet for my next teg, Im going to leave mine after changing the head gasket and letting it be my daily driver as is.

After working on Pauls I really want to find another DC shell and start fresh.
I really want to go with the same front clip he's got and the stock 1.8 with a turbo. but after talking to my dad he said its a waste of time and money haha and chances are it wont pass etest for some reason. Is that true about some turbos,

true- etests are a bitch with a turboed car and not proper tuning

I hate it when my dads right haha, oh well I still have lots of time to think about it, by the time I find a dc and get all the body work done, front clip ect... Im sure I'll have tones of input to what I should put in.
One thing I do know is, (I wont cheap out on this car) even if it take 5 years to build,

its gonna be fun, Ill learn lots and Im sure there will be lots and lots of headaches, oh and of course the gf bitchin at me for spending all my money haha
but Im up for it

marius if you going to put it under the knife you should get a da!

forgive me if im wrong but i heard that the head of a b16 or vtec head flows better with boost alot better than the stock b18b. as well because they have oil squirters and what not.

I might, depends on whats out there, I love both, but to tell you the truth I would love to find a 89-89 teg
find me a da shell for for super cheap haha

Um what? The b16 cams were never designed to be as high lift as type R. Reason why it gets louder but not faster is because the transfer into their efficient rpm band in time and transition is not noticed. Now if you had the cam lobe spec of the non-vtec side and the vtec never engaged, you would feel a power drop.

Moreover, the whole b20 thing, if you do get a b20 make sure you got a vtec trans to go along with it. IMO its a better bang for a buck compared to absolutely anything else that you can buy.

Oh and if you headgasket is on its way out, you may be loosing quite a bit of compression, which would leak even more when vtec is engaged due to more air/fuel and higher compression.


OHHHH and to all those comments "i think..." or "i heard..." do your damn research and dont pretend to know what you are talking about. You just sound foolish...

Marius if you do go with boost there are way's of getting around E-Tests :yeah:

IM on it! lol