yeah the oil control orifice was removed, before i did the swap i happen to come across
http://www.hondaplex.com/conversion.html and did what he said. and technically the guy doesnt say it wont engage vtec but rather states that it doesnt rev past 6500 if i remember right. therefore, he isnt getting the full benefit of vtec.
I do have a theory about the oil control orifice thing tho (which really doesnt apply to me). ok say if dont have an external oil line that goes to the head, then you want to remove it. but the oil line you can run to the head will work just like the gsr's oil system. its quite simple to run this line especially with the sandwich plate. only bad thing of using the sandwich plate is that it takes up alot of room thus not letting me get the oil filter on or off. earlier in the post i showed the plug on the back of the block that you can take out to put on a oil fitting for the oil line. this is just a theory tho, not a proven fact thats how come i made sure to tell the shop about the orifice.
as for a daily driver..... HELL NO. too much money into that sucker. I have a '01 mustang gt and '99 toyota 4runner if i want to go everywhere. I just built a honda prelude to be different in my area. going to use a p28 since its has the setup for the knock sensor
and yes, if you want to remove the head you'll need the camshafts moved to get to the headbolts.
tarheel, you sound interested in taking on this project but let me tell you that it probably isnt worth it. If knew what i know now, then i would of just bought a full h22 complete swap for 2,200 and started from there. As i said, i did this to be different. but i can tell you I learned alot from building this and alot from everybody that posts on Hondaswap. ----- brownie points.....