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Administrator
10-01-2005, 11:49 PM
Building the Ultimate Street Car.
By Jeff -Owner IB

So you have a car and you want to build something really good. Where do you even begin? What kind of planning do I need to do to accomplish the mission? Many people just spring for a fully built block, only to get the block and have it sit around a long time because they were not prepared to install it. I am going to teach you what it takes to get things done quickly and reliably so you can get the most out of your car.



#1 Never ask a shop the question “is it going to pass smog”. That is not any shops responsibility that is YOUR responsibility. How is the shop supposed to know what passes smog and what doesn’t? Are they smog refs that have a smog machine in house with the big fat book with the carb numbers? They don’t have any of that; they just sell parts like any other shop. If you want to buy smog legal, then go to a smog ref or buy a smog book that has the list of every part that is CARB legal in your state. It’s got every header that’s legal, every turbo kit in it, everything. I went to smog with a DC header and he looked it up in the book and it wasn’t there. Because it was on a civic, where the CAT was PART of the header. So by moving the cat, it was illegal. You can’t move the cat so it seems. Fail. Buyer is always responsible for making the purchase of what is legal or not. So that being said, let’s get to it.

#2 Make a plan. Figure out how much money maximum you’re willing to spend on making your car faster. Make an excel spreadsheet for example. Make a list of every part you “think” your going to need. Let me help your list right here and now.

<TABLE class=MsoTableGrid style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=1><TBODY><TR><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt solid; WIDTH: 88.55pt; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt solid" vAlign=top width=118>Headers

</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; WIDTH: 88.55pt; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt solid" vAlign=top width=118>Intake w/Filter

</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; WIDTH: 88.55pt; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt solid" vAlign=top width=118>Injectors

</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; WIDTH: 88.55pt; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt solid" vAlign=top width=118>Oil change/filter

</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; WIDTH: 88.6pt; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt solid" vAlign=top width=118>ECU

</TD></TR><TR><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: medium none; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt solid; WIDTH: 88.55pt; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt solid" vAlign=top width=118>Axles

</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: medium none; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; WIDTH: 88.55pt; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt solid" vAlign=top width=118>Shift linkage

</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: medium none; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; WIDTH: 88.55pt; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt solid" vAlign=top width=118>Belts/seals/gaskets

</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: medium none; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; WIDTH: 88.55pt; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt solid" vAlign=top width=118>Carb cleaner

</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: medium none; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; WIDTH: 88.6pt; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt solid" vAlign=top width=118>Antisieze

</TD></TR><TR><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: medium none; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt solid; WIDTH: 88.55pt; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt solid" vAlign=top width=118>Assembly lube

</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: medium none; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; WIDTH: 88.55pt; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt solid" vAlign=top width=118>All bolts

</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: medium none; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; WIDTH: 88.55pt; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt solid" vAlign=top width=118>Mounts

</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: medium none; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; WIDTH: 88.55pt; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt solid" vAlign=top width=118>Rags

</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: medium none; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; WIDTH: 88.6pt; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt solid" vAlign=top width=118>All sensors

</TD></TR><TR><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: medium none; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt solid; WIDTH: 88.55pt; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt solid" vAlign=top width=118>Clutch/flywheel

</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: medium none; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; WIDTH: 88.55pt; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt solid" vAlign=top width=118>Helms manuals

</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: medium none; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; WIDTH: 88.55pt; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt solid" vAlign=top width=118>Tools

</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: medium none; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; WIDTH: 88.55pt; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt solid" vAlign=top width=118>Tuning Equip.

</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: medium none; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; WIDTH: 88.6pt; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt solid" vAlign=top width=118>Good mechanic

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

And then make sure somebody can tune it RIGHT AWAY. Make a list on your excel sheet of what motor your planning on getting, and what your going to need for it. According to the above list, or your list. Figure labor costs into it. When you get a swap/motor inventory all the sensors on the motor and belts/gaskets and if they won’t work, get new ones right away. Don’t waste time on this, it could take months. You can’t buy TPS sensors at Honda Dealers, you have to buy the entire throttle body, so locate one somewhere fast. Distributor too.

#3 Plan the budget. Set an amount you plan on spending, INSTEAD of trying to plan how much horsepower you’re going to make. You can’t make a ton of horsepower if you don’t have the money. Don’t make unrealistic goals of running 11’s on your car for like $5,000. Unless your doing all the labor yourself, and you have a lot of NOS or BOOST for cheap. All Motor speed is more expensive than any other speed available, for a street car. NOS is the cheapest way to go fast. Supercharger, well, that’s just not fast, its just fun. When you set your budget, reserve about $750 dollars for “unexpected” expenses. You buy a changeover and the distributor, and a few sensors are not working properly. Well, that’s going to cost a lot, and you didn’t expect it. Don’t expect the junkyard to “supply” you with every little part your unhappy with, that’s never going to happen. Most things sold at junkyards are “as is” and if you’re going to buy that route, go buy it in person.

#4 Choose a Shop to buy from. Choose a shop that has a track record for not lying to customers and not ripping people off, like mine for example. I have been in business about 4 years and I would not be in business and growing constantly if I was a crook. People know you get what you pay for with me, and I am genuine, honest and fair. Many shops have my attitude, choose one you like and trust. NEVER EVER just choose a place that has ‘the best deal”. Overall, you’ll pay for this in many cases. Buy from places that genuinely want to help you and care for you. I seek to educate every customer on how to make the best out of their motors, the most reliably. So when you buy from me, you get a lot more than just a good product, you get my help on your build which I have years of experience on a dyno to aid you. There are many shops that have similar experience.

#5 Think “BIG PICTURE”. Think about HOW you’re going to go fast when you have power, not just what motor you’re going to use to get there. Say you have a little Civic that’s stock, and you have a budget of $6000 for it. And you buy a Type-R motor for it for $4500. Then you pay a guy $600 to install it, and about $400 on a header and intake because your swaps header was all bent up. Then your left with $500 and you learn really quickly that your puny 13” rims with the 400 tread ware tires that are 175/70R13 can’t even hook up in 3<SUP>rd</SUP> gear. So you need rims and tires and probably some stiffer springs. That’s about $700-$1500 bucks for that! THINK about the BIG picture, which is:
More Horsepower = Car needs to handle more horsepower to drive.
If your turbo charging your car, or doing a lot of horsepower all motor, then your going to need a few more things such as:
LIMITED SLIP DIFFERENTIAL, SUSPENSION, STICKY TIRES.
A good limited slip is probably about $1100 installed, suspension could be as expensive as $1000, and sticky tires, well for GOOD tires, just for the 2 front wheels will be over $250 easy. And I am not talking Falken Alzenes, those don’t even compare to the Ultra High Performance Summer Tires.. Try like BF Goodrich GeForce T/A KD’s for example. Or Toyo RA-1 or something along the Ultra High Performance Summer tire line of things. You should also pay, after you get your wheels and tires, to get an alignment so when you give your car throttle, it drives as straight as possible. If you have a fast car, and I consider a fast car anything in the lower than like 13.3’s ET’s or less for the street, and your alignment is off, it’s flat out dangerous to drive. You give it heavy throttle and the car is 2 lanes over in a split second and you’re crashed.
#6 So what parts do I buy anyway? I have nothing right now but a single cam. I will make a good list for some of you that are considering a powerful street car.

ALL MOTOR
Lets use a 94-00 Integra or a 96-00 Civic/Civic Si as an example since most people that modify their cars are in this category. All those cars weigh in at around 2600 lbs give or take a little. For Civic Hatchbacks in the 92-95 range, you can take another 3/10 through 4/10 off the time they are much lighter.

<TABLE class=MsoTableGrid style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=1><TBODY><TR><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt solid; WIDTH: 4.7in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt solid" vAlign=top width=451>GSR Motor Shift linkage, ECU, Axles, Mounts, harness
IB Aftermarket Intake manifold

IB Bored out Throttle Body..you supply core.
Fuel Regulator + Gauge
Cam Gears... then installed
Cams from IB, then installed

Valve Adjustment..
IB Spec/Wiseco Pistons/Some gas ported 12:1 comp or so.

IB Spec Rods

All new Honda bearings/Thrust washers

All new seals for block

New Oil pump, and Water Pump

Bore and Hone block, cleaning

3 Angle valve Job to head, new seals

Install IB Valvetrain, IB Ti Retainers

Hondata Intake gasket for head

Aftermarket Mounts to support the power (Hasport perhaps)

Oil change, Tranny lube change, Fuel filter, Spark Plugs

New timing belt

Labor for Block assembly (or do it yourself)

Labor for Motor assembly + Install in car (or do it yourself)

ECU Chipping, Hondata S100 + Tuning

New Rims & Good Tires

IB Spec Springs

Oil pressure gauge, Water Temp Gauge, Cluster
Clutch, CM, ACT, ETC
Misc parts/sensors/cap/Rotor/Plug Wires
One of many good headers on Market

Injectors
Cold Air Intake

Optional Sleeved Block

That’s a good list…..it’s like a brand new motor top to bottom….

</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; WIDTH: 1.45in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt solid" vAlign=top width=139>$3800
$250-$550

$150

$150

$250

$650

$50
$440-$565

$355-$395

$225

$65

$220

$180

$220

$300

$62

$500

$40

$70

$400

$800

$500

$900-$1500

$140
$120
$385-$500

$300
$400-$900
$350

$200

$750-900

About 12 grand.

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

This car would probably make around 200-270 at the wheels depending on Piston, Header choice and intake choice through a free flowing exhaust. And no, Stock Honda pistons at the same compression do not even compare to aftermarket pistons from say Wiseco at all. Not even close! Get serious! The only motors I know of you can run really fast in these heavy cars with stock pistons, would be a K series motor, or a H series Prelude motor. You can achieve some serious power in a Prelude motor, or K series motor using stock pistons because the displacement is already so much and the heads flow so much more stock. However, you change the pistons to Wiseco; you’ll make WAY more and be even faster. No stock Honda piston compared to a Wiseco piston in power or overall performance. If you tear down a motor to put stock Honda pistons in your motor, you just made a mistake power wise. For less than a couple hundred bucks more you could have had probably 10+ more wheel horsepower. For 10+, and up to 30+ in some pistons at high compressions, you spend another couple hundred? Damn that’s a deal.

WOW that costs A TON! That’s not the end all be all, that’s just for an almost top to bottom, brand new motor with 0 miles, everything new and sized, machined to be better than stock. The above motor is something you would do if you could afford it, if you want everything new and every part that makes the MOST HP of the gambit of parts you could choose. People have NO IDEA how big of a difference just a header and intake can make on your stock motor. For example, you could have your JDM Header and a short ram intake and I could come along with an SMSP header, or some other Header IB recommends that’s great, with my special magic intake, I run on my car..and put it on your car and watch your Wheel Horsepower jump from like 200 to 220 WHP just like that. We put the magic intake on a car that was making 247 WHP on the dynapack, and right in front of the customers face, it jumped to almost 260 WHP in 1 pass with no tuning! People spend 3 grand on a block, and have short ram intakes, and low dollar headers and WONDER why their graph doesn’t look like a superstar like some of the IB graphs on www.importreview.com (http://www.importreview.com/) . Some of our graphs look great because we have the intake, and we have the headers. Its not that I can magically tune the car so much better than every other human, or that I know more about tuning than another guy, it’s that I know WHAT PARTS make the power, and we apply that knowledge to getting the most out of motors.

HOW DO I BRING DOWN THE COSTS!! The biggest way to bring down the costs is to do the labor yourself, or have your buddy help you. Also, notice I put a motor in there that costs $3800 bucks. Many of you already have the motor, so you don’t need to add that. Many of you have a good 5 grand of that already. You also don’t need all new seals, and all new gaskets, and all new everything like that listed. You CAN settle for lesser products, like headers, intakes, no cam gears, no intake manifolds, cheaper clutch, etc and lower the price another couple grand. For about $5000 bucks, if somebody already have a GSR motor, or an LS/VTEC I can ship them so many parts to make that car so fast is unreal. My prices are good, and the products are proven.

START SMALL!! If you’re on a limited budget of say $1000-$2000 dollars what should you buy? Well that’s easy. Buy the magic intake I will start to sell, and an IB recommended Header and get an exhaust done as free flowing as possible. Then after that, maybe change the pistons first, and do Valvetrain in the head at the same time. Then save up and get cams. That’s a good plan.

200-270 WHP With the same budget? HUH? Yes, for a “similar” budget above, you can make a difference of more than 50 HP. It’s simple, I can easily explain. Same head, same header, same everything, from going to a 11.8:1 IB Spec piston in 81 MM stock bore and making like 200-210 WHP, you could go to a 86 MM Ultimate Piston at 15:1 compression and make about 260+ WHP. And that’s just changing the PISTONS! So it can quickly become a street motor, in a street car, to a race motor in a street car in a matter of hours. Lots of people run 103 or higher octane on the street. Who cares? If you can afford that, more power to you, fast is fast. Or you could be like everyone online and just “lie” about running pump gas in your street car on your “made up” compression.

Going faster for no money? When you bought your Integra, or whatever, it came with most every luxury people want in the car. All that luxury weighs a bunch. Like my civic. I wanted it to be a true sports car, old school, so I removed the Power steering, Air Conditioning, back seats, stereo, all excessive bolts, and seatbelts in the back seat, all speakers, the A/C fan, the ABS, everything out. I didn’t cut the car, but it’s a good 150+ lbs lighter now. Carbon Fiber hood is good too, but that costs money.

TURBO MOTOR
Here is an example of a turbo motor that is pretty common.

<TABLE class=MsoTableGrid style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=1><TBODY><TR><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: windowtext 1pt solid; WIDTH: 4.7in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt solid" vAlign=top width=451>GSR Motor Shift linkage, ECU, Axles, Mounts, harness
IB Aftermarket Intake manifold

IB Turbo selection from the many we offer+
Turbo manifold, Intercooler, Blow off valve,
Wastegate, flanges, piping, down pipe
Fuel Regulator + Gauge
Valve Adjustment..
IB Spec/Wiseco Pistons 9:1 or 10:1

IB Spec Rods

All new Honda bearings/Thrust washers

All new seals for block

New Oil pump, and Water Pump

Bore and Hone block, cleaning

3 Angle valve Job to head, new seals

Install IB Valvetrain, IB Ti Retainers

Hondata Intake gasket for head

Aftermarket Mounts to support the power (Has port perhaps)

Oil change, Tranny lube change, Fuel filter, Spark Plugs

New timing belt

Labor for Block assembly (or do it yourself)

Labor for Motor assembly + Install in car (or do it yourself)

ECU Chipping, Hondata S100 boost+ Tuning

New Rims & Good Tires

IB Spec Springs

Oil pressure gauge, Boost Guage, Cluster
Clutch, CM, ACT, ETC
Misc parts/sensors/cap/Rotor/Plug Wires
Injectors, RC 550’s
Turbo intake filter

Optional Sleeved Block

That’s a good list…..it’s like a brand new motor top to bottom….

</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: windowtext 1pt solid; PADDING-RIGHT: 5.4pt; BORDER-TOP: windowtext 1pt solid; PADDING-LEFT: 5.4pt; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0in; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; WIDTH: 1.45in; PADDING-TOP: 0in; BORDER-BOTTOM: windowtext 1pt solid" vAlign=top width=139>$3800
$170-$550





$2100 est kit

$150

$50
$440-$565

$355-$395

$225

$65

$220

$180

$220

$300

$62

$500

$40

$70

$400

$800

$700

$900-$1500

$140
$120
$385-$500

$300
$350

$50

$750-900

About 13 grand.

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

Of course, this is a fully built turbo motor. But it’s nice, no doubt, and can easily make 370 WHP on anywhere from 10-15 PSI. Fast enough in most any of the Honda Civic’s to run low, low 12’s and high 11’s in most hatchbacks and properly prepared Integra’s and Coupes.
You don’t have that kind of budget! That’s doing it all up nice, all new. Most people choose to just change the pistons, the rods, and add a turbo kit with the stock head, and along that lines…with the $2100 dollar kit, and the Hondata, with injectors, pistons, rods, and labor with some new gaskets, your under $5000 installed and tuned. You can run 12’s with this, but you can’t run with motorcycles like the fully built motor can, with ease I might add. You don’t need ALL of that stuff, of course, this is just a GUIDE! The prices are not fixed, or set, those are AVERAGE prices. Of course, if somebody wanted a TON of that stuff, I would be knocking off a good deal of money for a “package”.

What are the most important things I need to buy to be reliable? Simple. If I was to tell you how to make your motor as reliable as possible, I would tell you to get 1 thing first. An oil pressure gauge. You lose oil pressure, you instantly turn off car, you tow it, and you fix it. No gauge, you melt it, bye bye motor and here comes $4000 to fix it. Oil pressure gauge detects a GAMBIT of problems including:
1) Low on oil (pressure will go down)

2) Block problems (bearing going out, or another problem) will cause loss of pressure

3) Broken oil pump, clog, etc. (Pressure will drop)

I can’t say enough about this little $50 dollar gauge. BUY ONE. DO IT NOW.

The SECOND most important thing you need to buy right NOW to make your motor as reliable as possible is a PLX or similar wideband and wire it up to a switch on your car so you can instantly see your “Air/Fuel” ratio while your racing/driving the car. Be educated! Know what air/fuel ratio is good, and at what throttle position. 13:1 to 13.6:1 is good for all motor at full throttle. 11.5 to 12.5:1 is good for Turbo cars at full throttle. At less than 50% throttle all cars like around 14.2:1 to 15:1 air fuel ratio. Your chances of blowing up your motor, or melting parts, or scuffing your pistons from overexpansion GREATLY go down, and I mean GREATLY, when you have proper air/fuel ratio numbers.
THIRDLY, I recommend all of you, every single one of you buys a Hondata dealer S200 with Datalogging and Romeditor from me with a chip burner as soon as you can afford it, so you can tune your own car anytime you want, day or night. All you have to do is turn on your wideband, start datalogging on your Hondata to see the area you’re running bad air/fuel and make the changes and burn the chip. You can buy one box for you and charge your friends nominal rates to get your money back. All I know is EVERY crew should have this to share among all their cars. A crew with tuning knowledge and know how is way better prepared for races then crews that rely on other people they barely know to tune their car all the time.

I don’t want to make it look like you need to spend 12-13k to go really fast in the 11’s. And I will leave you with 3 examples of how IB has helped with a few good builds in particular.
Car #1 We did a Turbo kit for a guy with a STOCK GSR in his 92-95 Civic Hatchback. I charged him about $4500 for everything installed, including the Hondata tune and injectors. Hi car made about 330 WHP on the stock GSR motor at 10.0 PSI. On 91 octane. He then proceeded to run 11.60’s in 95+ Degree heat with it and the motor never blew up, and went 1.5 years before the rings started to go out and he went to IB Spec Wiseco pistons and rods, where he can now increase the boost and run lower 11’s. That was in 2001, motor is still running. Changed the pistons in 2003. Fast fast car. About $6000 all in all with springs, and slicks + turbo kit installed and tuned by us (when we worked on cars, we don’t work on cars anymore, only sell the parts).

Car #2 Friend of mine did a similar turbo kit on a LS/VTEC in 2001 with the original IB Spec Wiseco pistons. I mean the first batch ever. Full rounds! Not the new style slip skirts, but heavier older style pieces. 81.5 MM bore on the LS block with eagle rods. 9:1 compression. Well, he only made 375 WHP on the stock map sensor with Hondata and his freaking car is STILL RUNNING RIGHT NOW, TODAY in 2004 and HE runs low 12’s in a freaking BOAT “fast and the furious” style coupe with body kits, stereo system, amps, the whole nine. Running 3+ years and he paid about $6000 including the turbo kit, the pistons, rods, and slicks.
Car #3 One of the first customers IB ever had when I first opened almost 4 years ago. He had a 99-00 Civic SI coupe, and the customer weighs about 235 lbs and is like 6 foot 4” tall. The car has A/C, and power steering. We did a package for about $6000 which included a CRV block at about 12.2:1 compression, with rods, new bearings, new gasket, Valvetrain, cams, DC header and intake. He made 200 WHP on the 2 liter, and runs mid 13’s EASILY at Fontana raceway with 1.8+ 60 foots! And the cams are mere stage 1’s barely better than Type-R cams! With an old DC header! Because none of the great headers were around in 2001!



So let me know how I can help you achieve your goals. I am a professional, and I can help. I have the parts, the expertise, and the tuning background from owning a dynojet for 3+ years to make you a happy customer.