Mr Revhead wrote:ok so, if the b16a is so much better, howcome hardly anyone uses them for racing?
People do use them for racing, I use mine for racing, I can point my finger at a few other people too. There's a Honda racing competition (I don't know what it's called) that was run last year (or was it this year?)
You look over seas & there's plenty of Honda racing, take State-side.
They also have a honda only race series, Honda's are very prominant in drag racing - both pro & 'amature'
As someone mentioned, it boils down to cost & compatability, I saw advertised the other day, a B18CR engine with 140km on the clock and it was priced at $2850.
No Gear box. Just engine. The gearbox that came with this engine will probably sell for somewhere in the region of $1600-$2000.
Admittidly, that's an 1800, but take a B16B block... BLOCK! no head, no intake or exhaust manifold and you're handing someone $1200.
The fact that the Bseries engines spin 'the wrong way' also hampers the compatability with RWD gearboxes, I'd love to see a B16(A/B) between the struts of a AW11, I'd also love to see a Turbo B18C(R) between the struts of a 3SGTE, I reckon it'd be an eye opener.
And I'd also hold the engines complicated nature against it too, without an aftermarket ECU, small problems can really kill your fun. Water temp sensor's on the blink, no VTEX, No Speed signal, no vtex, Cam angle sensor in the dizzy = no engine work.
The Dizzies alone cost around $600 for a full over haul. The fact that the Igniter, crank/cam angle sensor, and other associated bits are all inside the dizzy hurt. A dizzy on a hard driven engine can die anywhere from 120kms, it's usually the bearings that go too.
Mr Revhead wrote:the advantage of the b16a is vtec. when modding for racing, eg cams etc that advantage is negated..... and it would appear the 4age is the prefferd option for that.
But the idea of VTEC is also to have a flat torque curve.
One of my dyno sheets looks like a drunk catapiller has crawled up & down the torque curve, but when you actually work out the torque difference bewteen highest & lowest it's only around 10NM (iirc).
Do 4AGE's have a flat torque curve? over a 6,200rpm range? (dyno started at 2krpm, finished at 8,200rpm)
And as for VTEC being 'negated' when you upgrade cams, not really.
Stage 3 cams from Skunk 2, Toda, etc are 'not recommended' for road use for various reasons (I'd take a stab at the lumpier + higher idle, degraded fuel economy, having to wind out to 3.5-4krpm+ for any real
useable power), but it is possible. And, when you get up in the rev range, you've still got the ultra lumpy race cam profile. I see no dis-advantage?
I'd like to see you try & daily your 4age with a cam profile that has an effective power band above 6.5krpm, the VTEC engine will have a better fuel economy in low cam mode than the 4age at the same revs with a nasty race cam.