i have a special edition 98 teg with a B20 from a 98 crv in it. i have a header and new clutch/lightweight flywheel for it and it has a short ram cold air on it. i have a $1000 budget i would like to keep, can go upwords of $1500 at the most if needed. this $ is for parts and machine shop labour, as far as getting the motor in and out i can do all that, only labour will be from the machine shop. WHAT DO I DO FROM HERE? i have no clue what to do, i was thinkin along the lines of some high compression pistons, some port and pollish work, really not sure what i need and what its gonna cost, and whats worth doing in the long run... i plan on keeping the car and hate having anything cobbled together, i want it all built strong and done right. i may go vtec another year or throw some cams in, or both, but for now i want to get some more power out of what i have and make it STRONG AND RELIABLE. please help me with any comments or advice, thanks.

p.s. i want a strong build lol, i am having the car painted and i was gonna do a jdm front end conversion on it but i thought i should take the $ for the new front end and make the motor more powerefull and more reliable, really dont want something i have to f**K with in my garage every other day or something that feels stock.

also any ideas on paint would be nice was thinking a black with blue in there somehow maybe a blue flake or a pearl not sure, also maybe do my 16's over black with a blue lip??? any comments?

itr or ctr pistons (ctr is higher comp than itr), crower 62403 cams, dual valve springs, intake manifold, bored throttle body, adjustable cam gears, b&m or aem fpr, and something to tune with. Does that 1500 include tuning or just parts? Tuning and ems will cost some bucks. With that budget skip the p&p because machine work is not cheap. Should be reliable with a good tune.

I like the pearl paint on a clean car. If it is a sloppy looking car the paint really wont matter.

so are you saing i should not bother spending $ on bearings, seals, gaskets etc...? i want basically a new motor, not my old one with some more balls. i can get the port an pollish work done by a friend for 150-200$.... as i said also i dont want to put cams in because i may still go vtec, which would mean buying another set of cams down the road for a vtev head... also should i not maybe think about putting a new vtec waterpump and vtec oil pump just incase i decide to go vtec? i am not looking to make a bunch of power out of what i have, to know the motor is basically a new motor and have a lil bit more balls for now is great, i can then put a vtec head or cams or a vtec head with cams in another time, and if i put the vtec water and oil pump in now i would only have to take the top end off even if i did a vtec head later on... am i not correct? thanks for your advice but im not sure if its the advicve for what i am looking to build. please i want a motor i know a can put alot of miles on and still not feel nervous letting my girfriend take it with our kids.... my B20 already has some a decent amount of miles on it so i know i should be thinking bearings and seals and what not....

as for pistons i was thinking maybe itr pistons also to be honestly, really want a higher compression piston so when i eventually do put cams in i dont have to totally rip the motor apart. and no, no no no, i refuse to let my car become tacky or "sloppy" as you said, its a clean looking car now plan to keep it this way, was wondering if they thought it would still be a clean looking car being painted black with a blue pearl or flake in it with a black 16" wheel with a blue lip? or would it be to much?

i wouldnt bother with a "friends" port and polish work. unless he has proof that his work is worth it, regardless of price.

well are you going VTEC or not?

Pistons? higher compression with stock cams is most definitely not worth the trouble or cost. also as far as pistons go you just cant buy ITR or CTR's... cuz a B20 is 84mm ITR/CTR is 81. You'll have to go with RS Machine for pistons. They're $300 if they have them in stock. Which last I heard they were on back order roughly a month or so.

if you get a "VTEC" water pump you have to use a P72 timing belt. your b20 has the same exact oil pump that 96 and new b series have. same part number.

Lastly I dont thin you'll be able to pull this off with your weak budget. I have just over $1500 in my bottom end ALONE.

good luck though.

lol well my budget is 1700, but like i said i am not looking to really do any top end work yet either really, i want to hold off on that and make sure my bottom end is strong first. the top end will come next winter when i lay it up again. and i know the pistons wont make much difference till i put cams in (if i did put them in at some point at all that is), but if i did put cams in i wouldnt have to mess with my bottom end would i? i more or less want to know how to make my motor basically "new" and set my self up to build power later with the least bit of hassle, and maybe give it a little bump up in power now to, i also have a header and new clutch and lightweight flywheel for it. o ya, and the port and pollish is threw a friend that works at a machine shop, its usually about 75% gain of a good "proper" p & p that you would have done, or atleast a few friends of mine who have had him do it say...

my main worry is having a RELIABLE motor, new seals bearing etc etc, like i said the pistons and possibly the p&p work would just be done so when i do the top end its more or less put it together and tune.

and im not sure about vtec, this is goin to be a daily driver in the summer season for me and my girlfriend. because she is goin to be driving it lol i dont want to have anything to much for her or have things break. what is my best bet to make some power and also keep a reliable motor down the road... THIS IS NOT WITH MY CURRENT BUDGET, should i go vtec or just cams, i really dont see the need for both i am not looking for a power house to go to the track with. i love vtec honestly its fun, makes a fair amount of power and makes alot of noise lol, but with that comes me most likely turning the poor thing inside out.

i have had a few hondas now, this is the first one i want to keep. i want to honestly be able to say when its done i never left one thing to risk, that i did everything possible to make it as close to perfect as i could. but i dont want to pull my car apart every few weeks, this is why i want to do my dottom end first then do the top end later, its much easier to work on cams and shit later on then pull the motor out to put a seal in or replace my pistons.

If your going vtec then go vtec. I would say just go vtec because you sound like you are going to do it down the road either way. No use in wasting this budget on parts that you are going to need to replace. Go with vtec and do it right, should be a reliable motor.

think i may do a stock rebuild n bank the savings

now that i made my mind up not to do anymore then rebuild it stock and my check is here, what is a list of parts i will need to rebuild it? not lookin for any more power really just something i know isn't gonna let me or my girlfriend down

If you want reliable, & since you plan on rebuilding the bottom end, i would suggest fitting forged pistons. thatll make for a strong bottom end, meaning greater reliability. Dunno who makes forgies for the B20 though...

If your motor isn't running like crap. I don't see the point on rebuild it, when you plan on doing a b20/vtec in the near future. Just save the money till you have all the parts needed, & then take it to your buddy at the machine shop & have him put it all together(disassemble & reassemble using new rods, piston, seals & so on). I just don't see the point of taking the engine out twice if there's nothing wrong with it. you will also need a cat-back exhaust the stock b pipe will just choke your engine.

Probe & Arias both make pistons for the b20

cool i appreciate your opinion but the motor does have high mileage and burns a little oil so i figure since i am painting it, new clutch and lightweight flywheel, most likely full exhaust, not to mention the shit i already have for it that i might as well go the little extra and do the motor, my girlfriend is horrible for checking the oil (her last 2 cars have run dry on the highway) so i really want to make sure its not burning oil. no matter who says what i will be rebuilding the motor its just something i want to do while i have the $. if someone could leave me a full list of parts i will need it would be a great help. what seals, bearings, gaskets etc etc etc do i need? i want to have everything im gonna need so it can be back on the road asap

if its a high mileage motor, a rebuild wouldnt hurt at all. while your at it, you may aswell put forgies in there aswell.

THANK YOU!!! lol, can you or someone give me a freakin list of parts to order for the build>????? what do i need all

Hey man you're on the right track. I've gotten a ton of good advice from this board. I've also realized that some of my ideas for my build were completely stupid in the biggest sense of the word.
here's a couple of my mistakes/idiot moves/good ideas:

*Wait to paint your car until you can afford a decent paint job. I know you don't want your ride to look like satan shat upon it but hold out if you can. I got mine sprayed by Maaco (lucifer's part time job) and it Sucks!! I spent close to $1500 using every coupon and suckup I could think of and they still sprayed my SS catback/muffler, and didn't get my tail bolted back on correctly. POS retards!!
Granted that was @ the place I got mine done maybe others have had better experiences.

*Don't worry about different fenders/JDM front end/new bumpers/etc. the US 98 has clean lines don't F with 'em. (Just look at my guppy mouthed thinks-its-z3-fenders-are-cool ricer) yea it was cool when I first did it, you'll grow out of that quick enough. Besides, how much would a JDM front end clip(+ installation, paint, not letting it look ghetto) set you back? There goes that money for your build.

*gotta go, more on the way.....
*

lol doos advice man, may i ad my best friend has a body shop lol i am getting my car sprayed for a set of rims i have plus i buy materials, they do really really nice work there will be no issue about a shady paint job lol. as for the fornt end conversion i decided not to... i have like 4 grand to spend on it all together, my paint will be cheap BUT NICE! (this guy does EVERY car i have lol they all look MINT when he is done. the rest of my 4 grand is gonna be the motor bein rebuilt (stock) plus clutch and exhaust i think.... o i just threw some motegi wheels on it today, put 15's on it, 50 series rubber, kinda wishin i woulda got 16's though