B18c1 rebuild

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916em1

New Member
I got a b18c1 swap from my buddy, gave him my d16y8, $200 on top and will help him pass smog lol.
The motor has 180psi in cylinders 1,2,4, cylinder 3 has 90 psi. The head is off and now im debating on what parts to bye. The swap came with AEM tru time cam gears which my brother wants for his b20vtec which been shaved 80 thousands (yes i know thats a lot but he got the head like that) what are the benefits of those AEM cam gears if I keep them or will they be of better use to my brother?
Now to the rebuild, which main bearings should I use? will the new rings fix my compression problem? Is it worth getting ITR pistons and will they work with my rods, wanted b16a2 (PR3) pistons but they wont work without modification to the rod :(
Thanks in advance for any advice and please ask if u have any questions. Thanks.
 
Welcome to Hondaswap!

.080 is a LOT to shave off a head. Is the combustion chamber still usable? With 2mm removed from the head I'd really worry about the piston hitting the chamber ceiling.

AEM cam gears will help you tune the overlap and cam timing. They're good to hold onto if you're running aftermarket hardware and have a setup that can be tuned at a dyno.

Main bearings- what's your budget, and what are your goals? I go through hundreds of dollars of OEM bearings to get the exact fit across all interfaces, but most people are happy with just hitting somewhere within Honda's recommended tolerance range with "one size fits all" bearings. Way cheaper.

Rings MAY fix your compression problem- there are a lot more places that compression can leak out through. Run a leak-down test on the engine if it's still together. If not, take it to a shop and have them check all the possible leak areas, or do it yourself if you know how to block off different parts of the block/head to check.

Not sure off the top of my head if ITR pistons will work with your rods, but they should.
 
Thanks for replying.
Yes his b20vtec is running, but hes afraid to actually get a vtec ecu and do vtec until he can advance his timing.
Im not really looking to beef the motor up as much as have it a RELIABLE DD, so my question is do the ACL bearing hold up to OEM spec or would it be better to leave my old OEM ones (vtec solenoid gasket didn't have any copper shims or metal shavings)
The pistons did seem to have burned oil residue at the tops. As for the ITR positions, will I need anything else or will they work alone towards increasing my cp without doing harm to the motor.
I will go ahead and check the head for any leakage
 
ITR pistons will help to increase the compression, but clay everything to make sure nothing will hit. ACL bearings WILL hold up to OEM spec most of the time, but just dropping in a set of generic sized bearings won't match all your clearances all the way across- but the factory doesn't either.
 
What do u mean by "clay everything to make sure nothing will hit"?
Well Iv been reading about ACL vs King vs stock and I need to order something by tomorrow because I will be rebuilding my block Friday. Form what I read, ACL come in to sizes, and race or normal. which would be best for me? Like I said it will be my DD and I want it done right the first time so 10k or even 50k down the road I wont run into any trouble. If its not to much to ask a direct link of the recommended bearings to an ebay posting would be great :)
Thanks
 
#3 is usually the cyl that lets go first due to it being inside (less water than 1/4) and firing order (gets the hottest).
Before you buy anything, I'd suggest doing a full inspection/tear down to make sure the sleeve isn't cracked.
 
Please dont scare me like that.
Would the cylinder still hold psi if it had a cracked sleeve?
 
What do u mean by "clay everything to make sure nothing will hit"?
Well Iv been reading about ACL vs King vs stock and I need to order something by tomorrow because I will be rebuilding my block Friday. Form what I read, ACL come in to sizes, and race or normal. which would be best for me? Like I said it will be my DD and I want it done right the first time so 10k or even 50k down the road I wont run into any trouble. If its not to much to ask a direct link of the recommended bearings to an ebay posting would be great :)
Thanks

Clay = use clay for engines or plastigage to check clearances on things before you bolt them together for good. With that much milled off the head you could run into a hard interference problem.

ACL come in two sizes- factory comes in about a bajillion. If you want your clearances just within spec (like most general shops would rebuild) then you're ok using a straight bearing set. If you want all your clearances to match perfectly within a few ten thousandths (very few do this) then you'll have to sift through a ton of factory/OEM bearings. This isn't cheap, because once you open a bearing package, torque it, then check clearances with it- it's yours.

Please dont scare me like that.
Would the cylinder still hold psi if it had a cracked sleeve?

Doubtful, but it could.
 
Okay so I went with ACL main and rod bearings, new aftermarket ITR pistons with rings, new aftermarket oil pump. Me and a buddy stripped the bottom end today, all cylinders looked fine:) however the pistons did slid out way to easy, my guess is if they were replaced, the idiots must of not honed the cylinders before installing them, however the head seem to have never been removed so I'm not sure.
I'm going to take my head into the machine shop tomorrow before work to have them check it for leakage and get it hot tanked. If all goes to plan you can find me at Thunder hill raceway on 9/28/12 :)
 
Forgot to mention, my brother tried a vtec ecu in his b20vtec today Was fine no piston to valve contact, but didn't feel as fast as it should. Maybe because of the retard timing he has from the shaved head, so hopefully the adjustable cam gears and a tune will fix that.
 
So I kinda bent one of my connecting rods (maybe more then one) when trying to get the new ITR pistons on :/ please don't ask how. My question is what will I need to do once I get different connecting rods?
 
put them back in without bending them???? lol what did you do?
 
A buddy though it would be wise to put a thick metal plate underneath the end of the rod for support when pressing them out. Total fail on are end lol. Just picked up some used p72 rods with a melted piston for $30 and dropped them off at the machine shop on Monday. Only if I though about doing that earlier :(
 
Found some used ITR cams, with adjustable cam gears for $80 on Craigslist. My question is will they run fine with my stock gsr ecu or will I need a ITR ecu or OBDI and a good tune?
 
Any time you change from stock parts to something else, fine tuning is something you should do. You can probably get away with out doing it, but you risk detonation, and won't make as much power as you could.

If you're going to do ITR cams, you should also upgrade your valvetrain too to hold the higher lift/durations.
 
I'm already $1100 in so I'm not to sure about the ITR valve train, but I would like to get the ITR cams unless it wont be safe without the valve train? Just got my head back from the machine shop, had two bent valves in cylinder 3 which they replaced. What about the ITR ecu, would that be a good upgrade since I have ITR pistons and thinking about getting ITR cams?
 
ITR ecu has an imobilizer in it. will be a pain to get working without its matching keyset.

i wouldn't do the cams without the valve train. you'll probably just end up bending more valves and having to pay more to do it right the second time.
 
Cool, thanks for the advice. What about the different compression ratio, will I need to run OBDI and tune or will it be okay with the P72 ecu?
 
Finally have everything I ordered and just got my parts back from the machine shop :)
 

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