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My LS/Vtec Project

PostPosted: Fri May 09, 2008 11:55 am
by 1926vtec
I started planning this conversion on my 180E from last year July when i bought the car. I sold my 160i after going turbo on the D16!
So i decided to go bigger this time around.So i bought the 180 and started my planning.

Finally about a month and a half ago i did the conversion over a weekend with the help of some friends. All went well and we finnished within a day and a half. The next morning we started the car and started finnishing it all off.The car didnt want to idle constantly and we had to plug some vacuum leaks.Then we found the idle control valve wasnt working.After that was sorted the car was ok but idling was still sorta rough.

The next day i planned on fitting the oil feed line because i was given the wrong fittings.On the way to the hydraulic shop the car started making very weird and loud noises.After some inspection it seemed like we blew the headgasket.After removing the cams and all to take the head off we found that infact on 5 of the headbolt holes in the block we had stripped the thread straight out of the block because the VTEC headbolts are too short and dont screw all the way down to the bottom of the hole and only bout just halfway.So i went and bought ARP headstuds.Problem solved.

Drove the car for about 2-3weeks and then started seeing some very odd things starting to happen.

On cold starting or starting after letting the car cool down for 2 hours or so it would take up to 40secs to build up oil pressure.Eventually the oil pump packed up.Luckily not while driving.Replaced the oil pump with a VTEC one and all was fine for about 4 days.

The same started to happen.So about two weeks ago i dropped the car off with a friend of mine to open the engine and find the problem.

It wasnt good news.When he removed the crank there were hardly main bearings left.Of course its sorta a relief coz now i know where the oil pressure went to but it was also hurting coz it aint going to be cheap.The problem in the end was that i made a very amateur mistake and im really pissed with myself coz i should've known better.Before the conversion i had the valve cover sand blasted to respray it.I must admit that after the sandblasting and spraying it looks better than most i've seen.BUT, i never cleaned it properly.There was still sandblasting stuck under the baffle in the valvecover and as time went by it washed through the entire engine and fcuked everything up.

So here's the grocery list for the car:

-B18B3 block
-ACL Race bearings(mains,thrust,big ends)
-ARP headstuds
-9mm ARP rod bolts
-B18 rods which have been plasma nitrated and shot peened
-Nissan 83mm high comp pistons
-Brand new oil pump
-B16A6 head

PostPosted: Mon May 12, 2008 8:54 am
by 1926vtec
So after the first dyno and sorting out the car made 108kW(145hp) and 175Nm(129lb-ft) at the wheels running a CR of 12.8:1 with standard cams and custom header and 2.5' exhaust.

Take into consideration that this was at an altitude of about 4500ft

What you guys think?

PostPosted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 4:35 am
by dogfight
what cam are you running?

PostPosted: Sat Jun 07, 2008 1:02 pm
by 1926vtec
dogfight wrote:what cam are you running?


Running standard cams out of the B16A6 which is the same as the B16A2

PostPosted: Tue Jun 24, 2008 2:04 pm
by Eli'sEG94
This leaves me to wonder because I'm doing a similar setup, right now i'm running the stock B18B pistons which are garbage, but it's running at least, I'm going to step it up to P30 pistons but I want to work on the bottom end a bit, cuz I can only rev till 7K, I'm not using the full capabilities of the B16A head. Hope it gets better for you mang. :thumb:

PostPosted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 5:37 am
by 1926vtec
Well,i broke sideshafts and did damage to the diff a while ago and the valvestem seals and guides packed up. So redid the whole head with new seals all round and new guides and also had the head ported and flowed.

Replaced the diff and sideshafts and the car should be mapped by next week!Hoping for 120kw atw which comes to anout 160hp atw

PostPosted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 5:39 am
by 1926vtec
Well,i broke sideshafts and did damage to the diff a while ago and the valvestem seals and guides packed up. So redid the whole head with new seals all round and new guides and also had the head ported and flowed.

Replaced the diff and sideshafts and the car should be mapped by next week!Hoping for 120kw atw which comes to anout 160hp atw

PostPosted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 5:40 am
by 1926vtec
Well,i broke sideshafts and did damage to the diff a while ago and the valvestem seals and guides packed up. So redid the whole head with new seals all round and new guides and also had the head ported and flowed.

Replaced the diff and sideshafts and the car should be mapped by next week!Hoping for 120kw atw which comes to anout 160hp atw

PostPosted: Fri Jul 04, 2008 4:13 pm
by Greasedmonkey
Holy triple post batman! You did alot of damage there.

PostPosted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 2:52 pm
by Eli'sEG94
^^^^ Hahah nice one, but yeah you sure did quite a bit of damage, I my self am worried about my Bottom end, I would love to get my hands on a B18C Block since it has the oil squirters that would put me at ease to use the full RPM Range. But ohhh well I gotta make due with what I have for now. :(

PostPosted: Sun Jul 06, 2008 3:23 pm
by suspendedHatch
Some pics would liven up this thread quite a bit.

PostPosted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 5:29 am
by 1926vtec
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 5:57 am
by suspendedHatch
And the engine? The build in progress?

PostPosted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 4:48 pm
by Greasedmonkey
Yea, pics of the motor and the damage.

PostPosted: Thu Jul 10, 2008 6:38 am
by 1926vtec
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