Building GSR (B18C1) for my Honda CRX.

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Britton Coursey

New Member
Hi, my name is Britton and I'm fairly new to the car game. I've fallen in love with imports and bought myself a 1991 Honda CRX with an LS swap in it. I've been in the game for about 2 1/2 months now and this past friday I bought a GSR head and valve cover. My plan is to eventually boost it and push some high power out of it to send my CRX flying.

My question is...
where do I start?
This is my first time to build an engine, and in fact first time to actually see a head without a block. So I'm unsure where I start, I'm wanting to build from the ground up for performance and high HP and durability to handle boost, so can someone help get me started in the right direction?

I want to have the experience of building my own engine to put into my CRX, I'd have a much larger appreciation for the car as well.

Thanks in advance.
 
start by buying a Helms (not Haynes) manual for the engine and for your CRX. will be the best $120 you ever spend for your car.

do you have your engine converted to obd1? or is it obd0 still? a little bit of "big picture" understanding is going to be required for something like this. what you are wanting to do is build an LS/VTEC engine and then boost it. you shouldnt worry about boost just yet. unless you are planning to spend the money on getting it sleeved. either way, theres no reason to not also go with ARP head studs too.

you will need to have the block bored and/or honed if you plan to replace pistons. then install the pistons and rings. and install the rest of the internals. you will need some specialized engine building tools as well as be prepared to pay for machine work.

unless you are just planning to slap the head on, do the vtec conversion, then try to boost with stock internals/sleeves. you can do that, but i wouldnt recommend it if you want any kind of reliability or durability.

you sound like youre getting a little over your head. if you are serious about this, i have 3 suggestions:

1. pay someone else to properly build your setup

2. do TONS of research, then do more research. look up exactly how an engine works and what is needed for disassembly and assembly. research what setups have worked for others in the past, etc. get advice from professionals, and others who have done this before. plan out the build before buy or assemble anything. figure out what tools you will need to get the job done. dont just buy a ton of parts then realize you dont have the tools to put it together. dont easy/cheap take shortcuts.

3. look into possibly forgetting about the VTEC head, and boosting the LS block as it is (or built internally for boost) . many people have been very satisfied with the results. sometimes the added complexity of the VTEC can cause issues and headaches for little additional gain.
 
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start by buying a Helms (not Haynes) manual for the engine and for your CRX. will be the best $120 you ever spend for your car.

do you have your engine converted to obd1? or is it obd0 still? a little bit of "big picture" understanding is going to be required for something like this. what you are wanting to do is build an LS/VTEC engine and then boost it. you shouldnt worry about boost just yet. unless you are planning to spend the money on getting it sleeved. either way, theres no reason to not also go with ARP head studs too.

you will need to have the block bored and/or honed if you plan to replace pistons. then install the pistons and rings. and install the rest of the internals. you will need some specialized engine building tools as well as be prepared to pay for machine work.

unless you are just planning to slap the head on, do the vtec conversion, then try to boost with stock internals/sleeves. you can do that, but i wouldnt recommend it if you want any kind of reliability or durability.

you sound like youre getting a little over your head. if you are serious about this, i have 3 suggestions:

1. pay someone else to properly build your setup

2. do TONS of research, then do more research. look up exactly how an engine works and what is needed for disassembly and assembly. research what setups have worked for others in the past, etc. get advice from professionals, and others who have done this before. plan out the build before buy or assemble anything. figure out what tools you will need to get the job done. dont just buy a ton of parts then realize you dont have the tools to put it together. dont easy/cheap take shortcuts.

3. look into possibly forgetting about the VTEC head, and boosting the LS block as it is (or built internally for boost) . many people have been very satisfied with the results. sometimes the added complexity of the VTEC can cause issues and headaches for little additional gain.

Thanks for the info. I do apologize, I failed to mention that I'm building a complete GSR engine, block, head, valve cover, internals etc. I am going to do further research pretty intensively before I build it, I want to do it myself for the experience and appreciation of when I put the key in the ignition after swapping it. I plan on doing it over a period of 6 months (give or take a month or so).

I have a buddy that's gonna sell me a GSR block and I'll have it bored out to 81.5mm from the stock 81mm.


But, however, these are the parts I've got myself listed for the build:
CP Forged Pistons (Acura Integra GSR b18/b18c/b18c1/b18C5)
Eagle H-Beam Rods (Honda/Acura GSR b18/b18c)
Cometic Complete Bottom End Gasket Kit (Integra GSR b18c/b18c1)
Cometic Complete Top End Gasket Kit (Integra GSR b18/b18c1)
ACL Race Bearings (Acura Integra GSR b18/b18c/b18c1/b18c5)
ARP Main Studs (Honda/Acura GSR b18/b18c/b18c1)
ARP Headstuds (Honda/Acura GSR b18/b18c)
Supertech Block Guard (Honda b18/b18c/b18c1/b18c5)
Genuine OEM Honda Type R Oil Pump (GSR b18/b18c/b18c1)
Toda Heavy Duty Oil Pump Gear (Integra GSR b18/b18c/b18c1)
Gates Racing Kevlar Timing Belt (Acura Integra GSR b18/b18c/b18c1)
ATI Street Super Damper Crank Pulley (Acura Integra GSR b18c1)
Eagle Forged 4340 Crank (b18/b18c/b18c1/b18c5)
Darton Flanged Dry Sleeves (Integra GSR b18c1/b18c/b18c5 Type R)
and a b-series engine mount kit cable tranny.

Please let me know if I missed anything, any personal opinions, I'm an open person and I'd greatly appreciate some guidance.
 
If you're going to sleeve, you don't need a block guard. Hell, you don't need a block guard, ever.
And if you're going to sleeve, you might as well tkae it out to 84mm while you're there.

Unless you're going to run over 300 whp, there's no point to sleeving. Stock internals hold 300 all day. 350 with rods/pistons. about that level is where you want to start looking at sleeving.

don't bother with a crank unless you're stroking it. stock crank will hold 800 all day.

You don't need a damper pulley unless you're running the CTR n1 stle crnak pulley that isn't interally harmonically balanced.
 
If you're going to sleeve, you don't need a block guard. Hell, you don't need a block guard, ever.
And if you're going to sleeve, you might as well tkae it out to 84mm while you're there.

Unless you're going to run over 300 whp, there's no point to sleeving. Stock internals hold 300 all day. 350 with rods/pistons. about that level is where you want to start looking at sleeving.

don't bother with a crank unless you're stroking it. stock crank will hold 800 all day.

You don't need a damper pulley unless you're running the CTR n1 stle crnak pulley that isn't interally harmonically balanced.
As i did mention before I plan on eventually boosting the engine so since I'm building it from ground up I want to make it as durable as possible and I may eventually be pushing beyond 300 whp so I will be debating about sleeving or not.
I know it's an amateur question, but what do you mind by "stroking it"? also if you wouldn't mind please elaborate a little on the damper pulley subject.
 
stroke is the distance the pistons travel up and down. Usually a shorter rod with a longer crank so the top is still the same but it can go further down the sleeve. creates more displacement. Makes more low end torque. Top end suffers a bit. Puts more stress on rods due to rod/stroke ratio increasing. ie, more angle on rod to piston / instead of mostly straight |
generally, you don't need to do it. it's expensive and 1 psi of boost will beat it. That's like a 700 whp thing to do to get more power IMO. so if you aren't going for that figure, it's an extra expense you don't really need to get in to.

The oem crank pullies are harmonically balanced. think wheel weights on your rims. The CTR n1 pulley is NOT balanced. Thus, things like the ATi damper exist to actually make it dampened.
The n1 pulley is a race set up with only an alternator pulley, no psteeting or ac grooves. its also lighter and decreases rotating mass for better accel/decel of spinning the rotating assembly. think of it like the other end of a light weight flywheel. it doesn't add any power, but it allows you to move up the power band quicker.
it also drops out faster so streetabiity is reduced as the second you clutch in, revs drop right away and makes for a bouncy ride when you're not IN it.
 
stroke is the distance the pistons travel up and down. Usually a shorter rod with a longer crank so the top is still the same but it can go further down the sleeve. creates more displacement. Makes more low end torque. Top end suffers a bit. Puts more stress on rods due to rod/stroke ratio increasing. ie, more angle on rod to piston / instead of mostly straight |
generally, you don't need to do it. it's expensive and 1 psi of boost will beat it. That's like a 700 whp thing to do to get more power IMO. so if you aren't going for that figure, it's an extra expense you don't really need to get in to.

The oem crank pullies are harmonically balanced. think wheel weights on your rims. The CTR n1 pulley is NOT balanced. Thus, things like the ATi damper exist to actually make it dampened.
The n1 pulley is a race set up with only an alternator pulley, no psteeting or ac grooves. its also lighter and decreases rotating mass for better accel/decel of spinning the rotating assembly. think of it like the other end of a light weight flywheel. it doesn't add any power, but it allows you to move up the power band quicker.
it also drops out faster so streetabiity is reduced as the second you clutch in, revs drop right away and makes for a bouncy ride when you're not IN it.

okay so correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't need the eagle forged crank shaft nor the ATI street super damper crank pulley? just a stock GSR crank will be sufficient and it's already balanced? P.S. i'm not running any AC or power steering anyways, just in case that information is at all helpful to provide.
 
Yup, you can just run the oem stuff. You'll just have 2 empty spots on the pulley where those belts would go.
 
Yup, you can just run the oem stuff. You'll just have 2 empty spots on the pulley where those belts would go.

okay cool, so does that mean I should find a b18c1 crank or would my b18a1 crank cross-apply? i'd probably end up buying a newer one since this one has roughly 160k on it just to be safe. also, the crank pulley would cross-apply aswell right?
 
a1 and c1 have different strokes. you can't swap them with out getting properly sized rods.

I really wouldn't even bother to touch it. Do the bearings and call it a day. 432434234 other things will break before your crank does.
 
As long as your crank takes standard size bearings you'll be fine it's when you oversize the crank bearings you have problems
 
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