jaje

i'd also suggest a block girdle to prevent blown headgaskets b/c of cylinder wall wobble

1stGenCRXer

Yeah, I couldn't rightly remember if the B16 had one stock or not, so I just left it out, my brain's fried and school's about ready to start for me... Also if you go to the trouble of building the engine up, be smart enough to blueprint the engine [balance the rotating mass].

Hondaholic

So how much are all those extras?

1stGenCRXer

Eh... Figure about $2-3K in parts, $600-1000 in labor at the machine shop, and another $600 or so in tuning costs at the dyno, this doesn't include the cost of the engine, turbo kit, or engine managment system.

skubb

yeah but with a turboed ls or built turboed b16 you'd have to have a roll cage after your first night on the track.

nice post guys...I'm going to check out a rex tommorow.

ronaldmcdonald

Hmmm...It seems that upgrading the internals are really costly! I wonder if it's just a simpler, if not also cheaper route to just go get a Greddy turbokit or a Supercharger, and bolt the thing up to a stock B16?

I'm just worried whether or not the B16 stock internals would be able to take the stress on aftermaket forced induction? Then there's also notion of what aftermarket parts will be work with other afterarket parts? For instance, can you expect to get Toda cams on a B16, the throw on a Vortrag supercharger w/out compatibility/reliability issues? If possible, I'd rather get all my engine related upgrades from one tuner, but I'm not sure if this is possible if I'm going w/ forced induction.

Maybe I'm wrong, but tuning the Honda B16a does seem a little intimidating. The VW 1.8t I'm used to appears to be slightly more simple, you just bolt on a turbokit, supercharger, or chip, and voila...instant increase in power w/out the need to mess with the internals or go through extensive tuning.

I guess what I'm looking for is a simple and reliable route to tune the B16. Performance is important, but it's not worth it if you have your car at the shop more often than when it's running.

Hondaholic

What about a B18A bottom with a B16A top? Could I get to mid-low 12s cheaper wih that than with a b16a+massive boost?

IrradiatedKitty

i always get to these posts all late. but oh well, i'll still put in my two cents. ... I say get a CRX, they're great lil cars... quick, reliable (as all hondas are with proper mantainence), cute =), they have awesome gas mileage (like 35 miles/gallon), they handle well, and you can swap a variety of different engines into it. I say if you're gonna get one.. and swap the engine anyway, go for the Si, the main reason the HF weighs the least is because the suspension components.. well, they're built for a car with 65 horsepower. And besides... the Si would be more fun to drive before you had the engine swapped out. and it has a sunroof! The hF wouldn't end up weighing a great deal less after you had to upgrade the suspension, and had a bigger/heavier engine in it anyways. If you were gonna go for a CRX Si, and you're looking for it to be light... then go for an 88-89, cause those don't have the side impacts beams.. and you can pull the A/C (drops about 40 lbs)... anywho, that's just my opinion. Good luck with whatever you do

rex90

WHAT!!?? everybody loves a rex. Bro, if a shop is gonna do it, find yourself a '94 b18c1 and have them swap that for you. Waaayyy better than a b16a (in my perspective. not to talk down to those who run that engine.) The b18c5 compression is way too high to boost, if you choose to run F/I. Although N/A with the b18c1 is not a bad choice either. We can all dream and hope but it really comes down to what you want and have the $MONEY$ for.
good luck

daveb91

Dude this is 05 not 02 and yes the crx is damn sexy! I love my 91 Si most fun car I have ever had.