My B16 City Review - behind the scene

[Ford Rocam]

It all began in last year after my Ikon car crash i had decided that i would scrap it & start over again with some other car & was thinking of doing something different... something worthwhile... something which has not been done before many people told me to buy OHC/ OHc Vtec Turbo blah blah with already OHC turbo done up & running i didnt wanted to do that i consulted many people, i met one of my friend who owns a pump in townside & gave me an idea of engine swap trend which is going around the globe & which is common there i liked the idea of swapping but at the same time i was bit worried that such kind of stuff is never done here & risks were too high but my friend told me that there are cars already running swapped engine in malaysia/philipines but in india it will be first of its kind i needed some time to finalize so i started research on Honda OHC & Engine swap options.
I was given two options a Honda b16a & b18c the price difference was huge between them, since i was running on tight budget i found b16 to be more practicle & economical to me, sufficient power for a light weight car plus tons of performance parts available for future modifications.also during my search i came across this person on net nick name "bryan"
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2230292
after seeing his ride i was more confident & happy about my engine choice & the swap, only thing was to get the engine from right source for which my friend has some real good contacts & i left it to him. now i had ordered the engine but didnt bought the car yet!!! i managed to find 1 decend 1.3 OHC i upgraded the rubber & alloys the car was perfect, i was damn exited about this entire project & was waiting for my engine to come in & soon that day arrived i waited at his pump till 10.00pm one night when the container came in & my god what a sight it was, my love has finally arrived a neatly packed HONDA JDM B16A Engine with entire stuff suspension chasis brakes wiring ECM ,everything the engine was neat & clean & looked as if it has been just removed from a donor car.
These are the first pictures of the engine before install


i wanted to see the entire process of installation & capture it on a camera but during that period i had to go to punjab for some work & i had no option but to leave my car & go but just before leaving i managed to click some more snaps from my phone cam

engine inside the bay but not mounted


Front View of the Engine (note OEM headers removed)


Here we go Stainless Steel 4-1 Headers


I have some more pics but they are not worth enough for posting, after clicking the above pics i left for punjab next day for 10 days, during these 10 days i never called up my friend & asked him about the status on my car but i totally relied on him & his men do their best job & the result showed, when i came back to mumbai the car was ready, i was waiting outside dadar (c.r) rly stn to meet him,that was a cool evening & i was exited to see my ride & then........... a terror struck... A Sound.....Roar......as if a king kong has arrived the mighty exhaust note of B16 City, i knew thats him but car was not visible in sight & after few sec i see my Golden Honda city coming towards me fffffast & then as he slowed down the mighty roar disappeared as if a tornado has come & then died of its own, the first thing i did was pop the hood & then that sight was mesmerizing the OHC had a new soul looking at the engine ifelt for a moment as if she is looking at me & smiling may be my perception but the results were astonishing i have never seen such a neatly done job in my life.

This is how it looked like


now it was time to get at driver seat, believe me guys in my life i have never driven an OHC Vtec the first hands i got to drive upon any Vtec was my very own B16A DOHC Vtec.initial pickup i felt as if driving a normal car but as rpm increased it was a total diff experience with every increase in RPM the car was pulling harder & harder the moment vtec kicks in 5500 rpm the sound changes the rpm keeps climbing & you find suddenly you are out of road the vehicle which was far enough is now in front of you in no time that was my first experience with a b16, after dropping my friend at sion i drove down way back to home.
now comes the reliability part, after going through a major swap i knew there would be some teething problems in the beginning & i was ready to face that, one should not expect his swap to be 100% ok in first go, in my case it was related to engine mounting & few things here & there, few major problems which we face in the beginning were
1)too much engine vibration during turns & initial pick up
2)Throttle getting jammed
3)Clutch Slippage
4)Gear lever use to snap off (V1p3r has experienced it when i was in banglore)
5)Rear mounting use to break frequently

Engine wise there was no problem at all i was lucky enough to get a very good engine with L.S.D equipped which even my friend didnt knew that its present, mostly problem were related to engine mountings only after doing some more research & spending time with their mechanics all problems were sorted out,
1)new reinforced mountings got rid of vibration
2)throttle body was opened & serviced no more jamming
3)worn out clutch was replaced by Clutchmaster 4puck Stage4 clutch with lightweight flywheel
4)Problem 4&5 was sorted out me he he, for problem 4 we had to increase the lenght of gear linkage by 1/2 in, for problem 5 after doing some research on the original car from which the engine came it was from an Civic EG chasis

Thats exactly where we had to increase the shift linkage by 1/2 in its below exhaust pipe hence u cannot see


The Rear mounting plate


The nut gone


Thats me figuring it out


At 1 instant it broke the housing where the nut attaches we had to re weld it


we observed that the engine was slightly tilted towards the backward of firewall & front mounting was not playing any role so engine was relying only on 3 foundations 2 in sides & 1 in rear, so when we use to accelerate from standstill it use to put too much of strain on rear mountings & use to break frequently, to solve this problem we slighltly change the angle of engine facing towards front side & made it equal we used two oem front foundation link as in EG & welded it to Chasis using oem mountings now engine is setup on with 5 mountings 2in right, 2in left & 1 in rear with this operation the car is running as if its an OEM Fitment no more rattles & vibration.

Its been quite some time now the car is running extremely reliable & it feels as if an OEM fitment from factory, this is my daily drive & she gives me about 10kpl in city (normal driving) & around 14kpl on highway crusing, at around 4000rpm in 5th gear the engine runs optimum air fuel ratio & gives maximum avearge in highway driving above 4K rpm it starts getting richer for more power,only problem is sometime the clutch is irritating in city traffic conditions cause its very aggresive stage 4, 4 puck design for those who are not hardcore racing fans should stick to oem or stage1 clutch.

The engine is totally stock & since its running completely reliable i can now comfortably do my next upgrade.

[karthik247]

Very nice review there..Looks like in the end all the hardwork finally paid off big time. You must have changed literally everything like brakes, clutch, suspension and all rite?

Can u just quote how much power it puts out in stock condition, and any timings if possible.

[viper]

Hey Jitu,
Very nice review. Can vouch for a fact that your car is a beast having experienced it first hand. Hats of to your tuner friend also for doing such an excellent job.


Viper

[yogi1771]

hi how much did u spend overall

[Rtech]

Great write up Jitu! Its been a long time coming.

I remember the first time I took a look under the bonnet. The instilation was so clean it looked like it came from the factory.

Your Bangalore Speedrun results proved that you surely have one heck of a beast! Well done.

[Shan2nu]

when i came back to mumbai the car was ready, i was waiting outside dadar (c.r) rly stn to meet him,that was a cool evening & i was exited to see my ride & then........... a terror struck... A Sound.....Roar......as if a king kong has arrived the mighty exhaust note of B16 City, i knew thats him but car was not visible in sight & after few sec i see my Golden Honda city coming towards me fffffast & then as he slowed down the mighty roar disappeared as if a tornado has come & then died of its own, the first thing i did was pop the hood & then that sight was mesmerizing the OHC had a new soul looking at the engine ifelt for a moment as if she is looking at me & smiling

Boy that must have been some experience.

Don't ever sell that car man, keep updating it.

Shan2nu

[janeckozzy]

how much did the entire project cost you. And can you give me the no of your guy who did it ....and what the price difference wrt the b18c

[Ford Rocam]

Originally Posted by karthik247

Very nice review there..Looks like in the end all the hardwork finally paid off big time. You must have changed literally everything like brakes, clutch, suspension and all rite?

Can u just quote how much power it puts out in stock condition, and any timings if possible.

Brakes i will be upgrading soon its stock as of now, Clutch i had to change cause oem was worn out, OEM suspension replaced with adjustable one front & rear & stiffer springs it improved overall handling, stock hp for this JDM 2nd Gen B16A is 170hp, with I/H/E & pressure regulator it should be approx 180hp as of now. it does 0-100 in about 6.7sec.

[n_aditya]

Originally Posted by Ford Rocam

Brakes i will be upgrading soon its stock as of now, Clutch i had to change cause oem was worn out, OEM suspension replaced with adjustable one front & rear & stiffer springs it improved overall handling, stock hp for this JDM 2nd Gen B16A is 170hp, with I/H/E & pressure regulator it should be approx 180hp as of now. it does 0-100 in about 6.7sec.

180 HP? u sure need a parachute to stop dude...

man that sure is tempting.... tell me... i have an esteem 2002 model... what options do i have for an engine swap and how much would it cost? please let me know the A-Z of the whole stuff...

what about the legal aspects? etc....

thnx.

[Boom Shiva]

Hey, how's the handling with that much power? Stock Vtec feels scary after 150. This must be mad!

[GTO]

Whoa, that post is filled with your excitement. Great report. I still cant forget the way you killed my Vtec in a straight line drag. Uptil 2500 rpm, I was pretty much on par. By 7000 rpm, you were like 2 - 3 car lengths ahead.

Clutchmaster 4puck Stage4 clutch with lightweight flywheel

Thats my only concern. Isnt it a little too harsh for daily use? Its not exactly smooth when transferring the power to the wheels.

[Shan2nu]

Thats my only concern. Isnt it a little too harsh for daily use? Its not exactly smooth when transferring the power to the wheels.

Last time i drove that car, the clutch felt like a switch, it was either engaged or disengaged, nothing in between. But GOD, did it feel good while shifting, i could shift hard, fast and more efficiently than on a stock car.

That hydraulic gearbox is amazing.

Actually i didn't realise the car was on stock brakes. Braking power was pretty good.

My Vtec managed to partially lock it's wheels at 170kmph (this was with 195 GIIIS), if it can do that, you bet it'l handle 180bhp. Moreover, 30 mins of non-stop, hardcore driving on track wasn't enuf torture for the brakes to fade.

I feel tyres would be of greater concern than brakes.


Shan2nu

[Mpower]

Congrats. Car looks sweet.
You could have bought a more expensive brand new car for the money...but you went out and did what you did and thats really commendable.

Noticed that the engine came with the double wishbone suspension. Did you just junk it? what spring and shocks are you using for it.

Originally Posted by Shan2nu

That hydraulic gearbox is amazing.

I think you mean hydraulic clutch

[manson]

great write up jeetu, a real eye-opener for people who are looking at an engine swap in future.
can yet recall that evebing we met at the sea link, am sure you must have kicked yourself so hard for letting me behind the wheel, but then you can't really blame me for that, can you?
love the exhaust note of your car, just how a fast car should sound.
looking forward to seeing you go through the upgrades you mentioned on another thread. All the best bro.

manson.

[balenopower]

Finally got to know about ur project ..amaazing work man....amaazing...btw..i got my free flow...from motosports bandra..yet to get teh headers though...