Okay everyone I have a quick question. I have a 93 civic ex with the d16z6 engine and I plain to do a full rebuild on it here soon and was wondering if I should go ahead and put a stage 3 cam in it or if I should wait and upgrade the valves, valve springs, and valve spring retainers first.

 

You're definitely going to want to upgrade the springs and retainers at the very minimum before installing a high-lift cam. Running a high-lift cam and the stock springs/retainers would be about the fastest way to float a valve.

 

^^ on top of that, a stage three cam is very vague, you will want to find out what the lobe lift and duration is to see if you will have to worry about valve to piston contact, probably not if its a trustworthy camshaft but just in case. When you install it, set the timing and clay your pistons to see where you're at. then get a good tuner because your ecu is going to freak when it finds out you've drastically altered the air to fuel ratio. and do the valve spring and retainers at the same time, and if you have the cash for it, why not do a three angle valve grind to get optimal seating? actually ive never checked this for some reason. does anyone knows if a stock Honda valve has a three angle valve grind?

 

Are you planning on increasing the compression of the motor? If you are keeping a close to stock compression they a stage 3 cam will be to big for the motor IMO. A stage 1 or 2 would be much better, go to big of a cam and you will loose power. Increasing the compression to 10-11:1 should be good for a stage 3 cam. Any time you upgrade to a larger cam you need to upgrade valve springs and retainers or you risk floating a valve.

 

So with stage 1 cams I would really not have to worry about much tuning correct?

 

No. Anytime you upgrade something like that you should get a tune. Not only will it get the most power from the cam and you should have IHE already, but tuning will get the best reliability. On a stock motor a stage 2 cam will get you a little more hp. Increasing compression while rebuilding your motor is a good idea.

 

What is the best way to increase compression? New rings and pistons?

 

Compressioned is bumped by either:

A. Shaving material off the head and block to create a smaller combustion chamber

B. High compression pistons. Running higher compression pistons make the combustion chamber smaller, therefore compressing the air fuel mixture, but since they make it smaller, it means the pistons come up higher in the walls. So you have to be careful that they do not come in contact with valves and that timing is right.

 

buddy club has some valves that raise compression if im not mistaken.

 

Flat faced valves will raise compression, but it isn;t much, just compliments higher comp pistons.