* B18B block
* Custom Crower Maxi-Lite connecting rods
* USDM ITR pistons
* B16A head with mild porting
* ITR valvetrain (springs, valves, lost motion assemblies)
* Crower Ti retainers
* stock B16A cams
* RS Akimoto short RAM2 intake
* JG 64 mm throttle body
* ITR intake manifold
* JDM 98 Spec R 4-1, 2.5 in. collector exhaust manifold
* Z.Speed 60 mm stainless exhaust
* B&M adjustable FPR
* RC Engineering 310 cc injectors
* Crane ignition (noisy ass crap)
how the ls-vtec came about.......
The first ls-vtec was built in denver colorado at Speed Image, i worked there from 96-98.
It all started one night in the summer of 97 when we were driving home from work. I was in my 92 GSR and hoang (the owner of speed image) was driving his cousins 92 CX hatch with a gsr motor. while we were driving home the CX died on the freeway . we towed it back to the shop, pulled the head off and found that one of the stainless steel valves had broke, taking out the entire motor. after some investigating we finally found out that one of the other cousins had over reved the motor and bent the valves but didnt want to get in trouble so he didnt tell anyone.
I felt really sorry for Tin the owner of the car. he spent a lot of money on it and now this had to happen. Tin literaly spent every penny he had getting his motor in the car and running (everyone knows how that goes).
Hoang and I looked everywhere but could not find another GSR motor. at least one that we could afford. the only thing we had at the shop was a 90k mile LS block that someone had sold us for a $100 and a GSR head.
I started comparing things, like heads, blocks, head gaskets, oil pumps, etc. it looked close enough for the most part and i decided to see if we could put the 2 together.
The first problem was the dowel pins had to be relocated to the other side of the head, no big deal. i went and bought a 9/16 drill (couldnt find a 14mm) so 14.2 would have to do. i mocked up the motor with one valve in each side of the head caddy corner so i could look through the exhaust port and see the intake valve and visa versa. with GSR cams there seemed to be just enough clearance when vtec was locked on.
after that i installed the head (all stock) and put the motor in the car. when we finally got it running it felt great but there was no vtec. so back to the drawing board.
I took the blown up motor and did some more comparing and noticed the oil hole where the vtec got its oil pressure from wasnt in the LS block. so i pulled the head off and figired if i added oil pressure to the passage it would work. of course i had to plug up the hole in the bottom of the head so it wouldnt leak.
With the head back on we took it out for test drive and it worked. not only did it work but it felt faster than any na motor we had felt. i took it to Dyno Pro (the local dyno tuning place owned by Bear Lynch) and it put down 154 whp and 125 tq
about a month went by and we saved up and bought some type-r piston from the local honda dealer. i wanted to see what would happen if i put a point of compression in it. but when i went to install them the rods were too wide and would not fit in the pistons. so i took the rods to a local maching shop and paid 50 bucks for them to shave 1mm off each side of the small end of the rods. they looked at me like i was crazy.
it was a friday night and i worked on the car till about 12:30am and finshed putting it all back together. i really just wanted to get this guys car back and running, since it was his only car. i could definately feel a power increase.
everyone took turns driving it that weekend and we all wondered how much power the pistons made. the fallowing monday i took the car back to Dyno Pro and rebaselined it. wow it made 165whp and 130 somthing tq. the car felt really good even considering it was in denver (5280 feet above sea level). the pistons picked up 11 whp.
a few weeks later i drove it to dynamic autosports for a type-r intake cam and a throttle body. aslo is was a good test to see how reliable it was, since it was an 1100 mile trip each way.
i made it no problem the motor didnt miss a beat. we installed the type-r cam and throttle body and put it on their dyno. we hit 180whp with a full exhaust, a new NA record for their dyno. but the next day some guy came in with a full race ls motor on carbs and made 182. lol , at least i had the record for a day.
after that, i drove the car back to denver and there it lives to this day. it has changed owners 2 times. it even won a burn out contest. and up until a year ago it was still running but i havent kept track of it since then.
thanks everyone for your interest. omniman