February/March 2008 Exhaust Notes
First off, I would like to say that I love your magazine. I wait impatiently for the next issue to come out as soon as I get the current month's issue. Were you guys sleeping the day you decided to edit volume eight, number nine's issue or were pages 56 and 57 just stuck together? The reason I ask is because the two pictures of the motor are the same two pictures on page 48. I don't know anyone who would swap an LS/VTEC into an S2000. Ha, ha! One more thing, Honda Tuning should feature some cars like the sexy JDM-Spec Honda Odyssey RB-1 Type Absolute. I mean to see people put blood, sweat and tears into cars like this is amazing. I am a person who likes to step out of the box and be different. I want to see what's under the hood of this thing. Is it an H22A turbo? Who knows since it's just a picture! I just think it would be cool to see some JDM Hondas other than the Civic, Integra and S2000. Thanks for your time and for this nut-busting magazine! - Johnathon A. Brown
Don't you know? LS-VTECs in S2000s are the new thing. F20 what?
I wanted to try something different and swap an S2000 drivetrain into a '95 Accord four-door. What is the best way to get it done? - Sam Gonzalez
OK Sam, there's really no easy way to get an S2000 gearbox, driveshaft, axles and rear end under your Accord. Then again, getting an F20C or F22C engine stuffed under your hood is no walk in the park either but it's at least conceivable. If you're serious about doing this, you've got to at least consider the possibility of keeping things FWD-or else spending quite a few dollars in fabrication expenses to make your Accord RWD and even then it likely won't handle like a true RWD chassis would. So first, forget about using the S2K's transmission, instead you'll need to find a FWD gearbox to bolt up. A custom-tailored adapter plate and flywheel will let you bolt up a late-model K-series transmission-it's been done but it's pretty custom. You'll also need to figure out a way to mount the engine under your hood, which involves more custom work. Plan on paying someone to fabricate some engine brackets for you and one or two for the new gearbox as well. You could say that getting the engine and transmission underhood is the easy part of the job-comparatively at least. You'll need to sort out a set of custom axles, deal with a ton of wiring if you plan on getting the S2000's ECU to work, figure out a bunch of trivial issues like cooling hoses, A/C compressor placement and power steering pump positioning as well as find a throttle cable that works (assuming you don't end up with a drive-by-wire F-series in which case you'd have even more wiring to take care of). We're really not so sure this swap would be the best idea for you. The Prelude VTEC's H22A is a straight bolt-in and, with a few upgrades, can easily produce F20C power figures. It'll ultimately be a heck of a lot cheaper too.
What's up Honda Tuning? I'm new to the tuning world and have an '06 Civic Si coupe that I'm ready to tune out. I wanted the immediate gratification of boost from the GReddy turbo kit but don't have the funds to go that route just yet. Not wanting to wait, I've decided to go another route and have already installed an Injen cold air intake and have a DC sports header and Thermo-tec heat wrap on the way. I want to add a Tanabe Concept G cat-back exhaust, throttle body, an intake manifold and Hondata intake gasket. I'm having problems finding any aftermarket intake manifolds and throttle bodies and was wondering are any out there or would parts from another K-series work to increase power? I was also wondering what kind of numbers I can expect if I do all of that and add on an 8-pound flywheel and lightweight pulley set. Also, do I have to make any upgrades to any other parts of the car like the fuel system so that it runs right? Also, just for future references, what can I keep when I upgrade to boost?
If you haven't already, be sure and check out this month's Wrenchin' section where we review Hondata's '06 Si ECU reflash and intake manifold gasket. We were able to pick up 30-midrange hp on a relatively stock Si with bolt-ons similar to yours. No fuel system upgrades required. When you decide to pick up that GReddy turbo kit, keep in mind that you'll need to remove that Injen cold air intake and DC Sports header. There's nothing wrong with those parts, they're just incompatible when it comes to turbocharging. The Hondata ECU will also likely need to be reflashed. Hondata's programmed in some fairly aggressive fuel and timing maps that just aren't designed to work properly once you add boost to the situation; good ECU reflashes tend to work that way and are not one-size-fits-all propositions. GReddy will also address your fuel concerns once you go the turbo route. We'd also recommend keeping your stock intake manifold in place. There's little power to be gained by switching to something else at this stage in the game and, frankly, you've got the manifold most other K-series owners are looking for.
I've been a subscriber for a little over a year now and I have to say, I'm happy so far with the contents of Honda Tuning magazine. However, the main concern that I wish to bring to your attention is that there is a very little amount of issues that have content other than Civics and Integras. I understand that these are the more popular Honda models therefore more issues should have content related to them. It would also be nice if the magazine could come up with some issues that would have other Honda models as the main article. I own a '00 Honda Accord V-6 and have yet to receive an issue that at least has something related to this model. I completely understand that management knows better than myself what they're doing to run Honda Tuning magazine successfully but I just wanted to bring this up as feedback.
- Ricardo
Thanks, Ricardo. Actually, there really is no concerted effort to stamp out Accords, Preludes or whatever else some readers feel aren't covered enough from the magazine. The truth is, most Honda enthusiasts opt for the Civic or Integra platform and, as a result, these are the cars we hear about and ultimately feature. Will we turn down magazine-worthy fifth-generation Accords or BB Preludes for features? No way. Are fifth-generation Accord and BB Prelude owners beating down our doors and flooding our e-mails with submissions? Unfortunately, this just isn't the case.
I have a question about the good old LS/VTEC swap. For the longest time I thought a stock LS crank was not fit to spin at the high rpm that a VTEC head wants to (at least not for a very long time), but I've heard several people around town say otherwise. Care to clear up this little argument?
- Jimmy Alexander, St. Louis, Mo.
We get this question a lot Jimmy, so it's about time we address it. The simple answer is: those people around town are right. The crank isn't any less reliable than a VTEC crank and, frankly, can spin just as fast. But there is also a more complicated answer. The LS crank indeed can cause problems for you, assuming you're revving the engine high enough. But the crank is indirectly responsible for your new problem, not the problem itself. The LS crank's slightly longer stroke forced Honda to fit the block with a slightly shorter piston (B18 VTEC and non-VTEC blocks feature equal deck heights and piston pin heights). The results are faster piston speeds. The faster the piston speeds are, the more prematurely you can expect to wear piston rings resulting in inadequate sealing inside the cylinders. Will this happen overnight? Probably not. Are we looking at some sort of catastrophic failure? Nope. Step back and compare the B18A/B non-VTEC's and B18C VTEC's rod/stroke ratios with some other manufacturers'' engines and you'll see that the difference between the two Honda blocks is pretty small. On a side note, we should mention that Honda's B-series VTEC cranks are typically balanced from the factory to closer tolerances when compared to their non-VTEC counterparts. With that said, the better balanced a bottom end's reciprocating components are, the less likely it'll be to experience high-rpm fatigue.
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