First off, yes I know there is a lot of information on engine building and whatnot but I have found nothing that is straight forward. I have purchased a 96 ex with the Y8 for 450 bucks. The engine runs good but I have noticed that it burns a little oil. We narrowed it down to the head. My buddy is doing some research on his civic and he said that I can get a Z6 head and cam for cheap and put it on my Y8 with a new water pump and timing belt for the Z6 and be running a higher compression and expect about 150hp. He also said it would be not to expensive and that it's easy to do since I am already setup for vtec. He thinks that I won't even need a reflash. I know this is refered to as the minime. Is this information acurate? If so what price range are we talking? Thank you for looking and thanks in advance for the help.

 

yea the z6 head will fit but 150hp i doubt it maybe 130-135hp(counting the "cams")
but if its burning oil then i suggest that the piston rings may be worn.
also i suggest just fixing up the motor you have and shave the head if you want more compression.it will cost about the same as doing all the work putting a z6 head on and replacing the piston rings.

 

Wait, what? I'm not understanding how you figure it'll raise your compression. The Z6 and Y8 share the same bore and stroke (75mmx90mm), and the z6 has a lower 9.2:1 CR compared to the y8's 9.6:1. Since the bore and stroke are the same, using a stock head gasket and stock interals, you'd be lowering your CR. Not to mention the y8 head flows slightly better than the z6 head. You're pretty much better off sourcing another y8 head.

Also, you're not going to see 150whp out of an all-motor D-series without a lot of both internals and bolt-ons. You have to remember even the "128hp" y8 usually just barely makes it into the triple digits when you're talking power at the wheels. Without a fairly high (10.5:1+) CR and a lot of flow work, you're not going to see much power out of it without forced induction.

 

For reals? Ive seen it said on here quite a few times that the z6 head flowed better than the y8 but the y8 intake manifold was better than the z6.... Im wanting to do a minime eventually so which is it? Should I get the z6 or the y8? How noticeable is the difference in the heads? And what about intake manifolds? Not trying to threadjack here i just figure the op and I would both like to know.

 

See this is why I like asking. I get a more direct answer so I have seen lots of information telling me that a Z6 head is better and now I hear that the Y8 is better. Hence my confusion on this. I also happen to have a venom 400 PCM sitting around. Is it worth putting on. Lastly with a cam gear adjusted for low end, 1-3000 and a venom chip that kicks in from 3-5 and then vtec at what 5500 would that be decent through the range? My friends and I are having a beater wars contest. the 96 tracks 17 seconds so i'm trying to get that down without spending too much.

 

I remember an issue of Honda Tuning a few years back that had a feature on mini-me swaps; I'm almost positive they said the y8 head flowed better than the z6 head, but I've never seen any numbers to back it up. Honestly, I doubt the difference in CFM is enough to make a real difference in performance though.

Hollywood, from what I've seen, the Venom 400 isn't really worth the money; I believe all it really does is make the car run richer (which would make a little more power at the expense of gas mileage). The only true benefit of it is if you have an automatic, since it reduces the lag they experience before downshifts. Of course, if you already have it sitting around, I don't see it hurting much.

Also, the SOHC vtec engages at 4800rpm; the B16 is 5500.

 

I need to find a Honda guy around NE ohio to start hanging out with the run me through the ins and outs of this. Give me a DSM and I can tell you all you want to know but I've been out of this honda game for far too long.