B16 vs B18
 

As many of you know, I am going to swap out my weaksauce d16 for a nice dohc in the summer. Originaly I was kinda set on a B16, but after looking into B18b's my choice of engine is being tossed around again. I have a 97 ex btw.

So give me your opinions on which I should go for AND WHY. Don't just tell me B16 cause of veetack yo!

Here's what I have for pros/cons for each. (NOTE I don't plan on boosting any time soon, n/a all the way.)

B16
Pros:
-Dohc
-Vtec (vtec is everything yo!)
-Nice starting hp, and don't have to necesarily build it to have a quick car
-Fairly simple swap from what I've looked in to
-Plenty of potential

Cons:
-Price, price, price. Looking at easy $1.5k and thats off craigslist not knowing if it runs or mileage, $2k+ for a jdm one
-Barely more torque than my d lol, not that torque is super important, but still.

B18b
Pros:
-Dohc
-Pretty cheap, easy to find
-Pretty cheap to build from what I've read, and I'd be willing to put a few $100 in to it to pull out some more hp and give me some top end reliability.

Cons
-Non-vtec and to do a vtec hybrid isn't cheap, put me close to the cost of just getting a B16 to do it!
-I don't know as much about swapping them such as mounts and what not
-Hp isn't very impressive, not a ton more than my d
-I don't plan on boosting and they take boost better than anything


So let me know what you think. I don't want to spend a ton, but I do want to get my moneys worth. If I have to spend the extra for the B16 and it's worth it I will, but I don't want to regret getting something. I would get a jumper and run obd1 and get my ecu phearable chipped too.

So things to consider:
Price
Difficulty of swappage
N/A potential without throwing a ton in to it

Thanks for any input. I just want my car to be quicker, the D16 is just embarassing lol. And I prefer n/a over boost just since I don't have experience with boost, swap I can do, turbo not yet.

All B series mounts are the same. I have the Hasport B mount kit for my b18b1. Its SOOOO much better than a D motor. I wouldnt buy a B16 because of the super low torque. Get a GSR swap if you have money for VTEC.

The thing is I don't want to spend more than I need to. GSR's get pretty pricey, I mean they come up on craigs but you know those are beat to sh!t and jdm ones are super pricey.

Why is the B20 left out, things are cheap as hell and best for N/A applications.

Everyone says b16 is the same as a D until you hit Vtec. Go GSR or B20. Like greddy said in the thread earlier this week [exact same thread as this one] LS/Vtec isnt reliable all the time, althouggh some people have it set up good, my friend had an LS black GSR head and couldnt get the kinks out, he ended up blowing it out of stupidity but yeah..... haha

There is a guide on Honda Tech on how to build a reliable LS/VTEC. It can be done, there are a few in my area, but to do it right is almost as expensive as just buying a VTEC swap in the first place. Im happy with my LS swap as a daily, its quick enough to have fun in and faster than all the ricers D motors around here. All I have done is the basic bolt ons and new ecu from phearable. If you put in a b20 or b18b and do some head work you'll enjoy it. Im still debating not doing LS/V and just building the head and boosting.

I am kind of leaning towards a b18b just because it's cheap and I'll still get some nice gains out of it. My Civ is my dd from school and work every day so I need something reliable lol, and it will be ride to college every day next year. My plan is once I am out of college I am buying a sol and swapping it and making it in to my autox car, so I don't want to slam a ton of money in my Civic now. I just want something that'll pull harder than my d, I don't need the fastest car on the streets, just something that does work.

Pleth with your car chipped and the bolts, how does your car do against a b16? Do you actually keep up or do they walk on you. I'm sure you could at least keep up for most of a race.

lol keep up? I have pulled past two b16 swapped EG hatches. From a stop, b16s are crap. If were going from a 30 roll, I can keep up, but I think thats the stage 3 clutch and 12lb flywheel helping me out.

WHAT!?!?!?!?

i believe carroll shelby said " Horsepower sells cars, torque wins races"
but im not completely sure he said that

^ lmao .

Thank you for the very useful post you contributed cryo, I think you helped me choose what engine I want. Leave the post whoring to supersize honestly.

As of right now I am leaning towards b18. Looking on craigs there's one up right now, full swap out of a 97, for 1k. I'm not buying a swap until summer but if I find a good one for a good price I'll grab it and rebuild throughout the year.