New here but not to swapped hondas.. High compression LSV on a budget

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Iowa87

New Member
Hello from Iowa. Figured I would post up my current daily driver, and the car I am building on the side. For starters my daily driver is a highly controversial build that gets a lot of e-stats guys all riled up :) I love reading the numerous threads all over the internet with people making claims that the setup doesn't work, or if it does it won't be reliable and defenitely never a daily driver etc. If you're saying it doesn't work then you aren't doing it right. Tune Tune Tune, anyone who has been at this awhile knows the importance of the tune. And by tune I don't mean ebay chips made to your specs lol.

I am running an LS-Vtec that I built on somewhat of a budget, basically I didn't want to buy anything that I didn't have to, I wanted to get it done without totally braking the bank and then go have fun with it for the summer.
Setup:

B18B block
LS rods
ACL bearings
Micro polished crank
ARP rod bolts
RS Machine CTR pistons
Hastings rings
GSR head
Cometic head gasket
Buddy club valve springs
CTR cams
ARP head studs
Golden Eagle ls-vtec kit
Gates timing belt
GSR Honda genuine water pump
Type R honda genuine oil pump
CTR crank pully
ACT 6 puck unsprung
Fidanza 7lb flywheel
GSR tranny (soon to be CTR)
Blox intake manifold
Blox throttle body
AEM Fuel rail
AEM fpr
Walbro 255
RC 550's
DC 4:1 header with custom larger collector.

Tuned with Crome Pro on E85, made power to 9450, rev limiter is at 9600. So far I have 10,500 miles on the setup with the only issues being fuel related leaks a couple times in the beginning and a few cam gears getting messed up. This car has consistantly seen 9k throughout all 10,000 miles and when racing I have no problem taking it all the way to 9600, it has been there over 100 times easily. Still driving it now, the E85 and lack of IAC make for rough cold starts, in the mornings it takes a few trys before she will stay running but never an issue after that.

The car is a 97 with 2000 front end. As for other basic things on the car I run GSR brakes front and rear with stop tech rotors and pads, GSR booster and master, new oem callipers. Innovative motor mounts, dual core aluminum radiator, samco hoses, DC intake, Hasport shift linkage, skunk 2 struts with skunk 2 springs, Rota circuit 8s with parada spec 2 tires and mugen lug nuts. Exhaust is stainless mandrel with stainless flex pipe including easy access wideband bung, magnaflow resinator into a forza tuning muffler. Every bolt in the engine bay was replaced with new honda genuine bolts and we sprayed it with factory color doing etching primer, sealer, primer, 3 base and 2 clear. The exterior is original, not that great, primer 2000 front end, cracked windsheild, little rust on the quarters, scratches and door dings included haha. It isn't insanely fast but it defenitely rips. The best part is when you pop the hood, nobody expects that engine bay from a car that looks like it does.

The beginning:
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(no that underdrive pully was never actually used)

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Install2.jpg


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Nice ride. Are you using the ls rod BOLTS too? those are usually what fail first, not necessarily the rod itself.
 
Engine bay before paint, all prepped and ready
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Base coat
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Some more random pictures from the build
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Friends shop
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Arriving at the dyno
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Maiden voyage, breakin before tuning
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Dyno
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Now for the close ups of the car itself because unlike most I am not just going to take photos of the best angles. It's the real deal, 15 year old car, DD.

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very nice what numbers did you make?
did you dyno a 91-93 octane then e85 ?
just curious cause when i live in ND all
they suby/cobalt ss guys loved E.

It made less than I had hoped, needs retuned now that it's fully broken in. For being 100% OEM internals though other than valve springs and arp bolts, it didn't do terrible I guess. There was a run we pulled 140 tq out of it but the overall best tune we ended up going with was this one
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Still need to do cam tuning etc, I'm currently running OEM cam gears because my adjustables were giving me issues.
 
looking good! be careful adjusting the cam gears, your piston to valve clearance might be too close to advance or retard too much.
 
That's a lot of vtec!!!!! hehe might be able to pick up a little mid range by switching lobes sooner.
 
193whp is very impressive with those cams:) Are you running a stock thickness head gasket. With the gsr head and pct pistons, your compression will be well over 13:1 and clearances really tight. I suggest claying for P to V clearances before you run it with different cam timing. Not to mention those cams are in no way taking advantage of the compression. Thats why your power levels off just over 8k. Just like stock. I have the same setup but with an ITR head and skunk2 stage2 cams. I used a custom thickness gasket to drop CR just above 12:1.
 
That's a lot of vtec!!!!! hehe might be able to pick up a little mid range by switching lobes sooner.

yeah no kidding, might end up in a smoother high end
 
193whp is very impressive with those cams:) Are you running a stock thickness head gasket. With the gsr head and pct pistons, your compression will be well over 13:1 and clearances really tight. I suggest claying for P to V clearances before you run it with different cam timing. Not to mention those cams are in no way taking advantage of the compression. Thats why your power levels off just over 8k. Just like stock. I have the same setup but with an ITR head and skunk2 stage2 cams. I used a custom thickness gasket to drop CR just above 12:1.

13:1 is perfect for E85, that's 105 octane fuel and burns cool because of the alcohol.

I do agree taller cams would open up top end a bunch, maybe another 15-20whp.
 
Welcome! nice build!

Im surprised nobody mentioned that pos header holding you back, no offense but that right there could possibly put you over the 200 mark.
 
looking good! be careful adjusting the cam gears, your piston to valve clearance might be too close to advance or retard too much.

I have already had the intake cam adjusted almost all the way out with no issues, the geargot messed up while on the dyno though, there is more room than people seem to think
 
nice build! i agree that the right cams and a better header would certainly help the dyno numbers.
 
Keep in mind guys this was a quick budget built engine, bare essentials were included. The plan next will be to swap for a B20 block, sleeved, forged, stage 3s, hitec header, itbs etc etc. For a dd oem parts budget motor I can't complain. Yes there are some things that could defenitely be upgraded, always is! Thanks for the kind words though guys, compliments much appreciated.
 
why?


run it till it dies

yes, this is a good point. particularly for a DD on a budget. and believe me, i fully understand how there are ALWAYS some things that could be upgraded :) the list i have in my head never ends.
 
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