Lots of motor questions. Need help. Greatly apreciated!

[JakeDrummer]

Wow you guys are going to love me after this post. I'm so sick of searching. But I need help. My '94 Gsr has went under the wrench this winter because my motor is starting to show its age. I'll just give a quick history of whats going on and the motor's health. Motor is a B18c1. Motor has 162,000 miles on it. Driven hard and near redline regularly. I have owned car since 110,000 miles. Motor is stock and un-touched except a 7.5 pound fidanza flywheel and Exide Stage 2 Clutch. Water Pump and timing belt are original as far as I know. Oil is changed every 3k, about a pint of oil vanishes between oil changes.

I have noticed recently;

-Quick Puff of blue smoke on cold startup after sitting for a few days. I acctully think its rich burn and not oil blow-by. Never smokes otherwise.

-Knock on cold startup, motor knocks almost like it has bad gas for what sounds like an audible "waump" 4 or 5 times immediatly after it starts. I always run 92 octain or better fuel so I am ruling out bad gas. Is this piston slap or rod bearings? I got the car out of storage a few weeks ago to bring it to my shop and i thought a little honda elf was under the hood hitting the block with a hammer the motor was knocking so bad.

-Oil leak around head gasket; I have noticed there is a slow seepage around the front side of the head gasket (ie - exhaust side) Its got 162k on it i guess hu??

OK thats the history. (Sorry this is long) Here is what I need to know:

I want to rebuild the motor. Since the car is used extensively for road trips the motor needs to be basicly as dependible as stock and get around the same gas mileage on the interstate. I have a secret desire to turbo the car in the near future to about or around 330whp. HOWEVER. If obtaining this amount of power will screw my interstate gas mileage its a no go. Around town, hitting it hard I don't care about my mileage. So I'm wondering if an all-motor setup is more practical. I don't know!! Help!! I want the car to be quicker, but it needs to be daily driver dependible, run on pump gas, and get good mileage on the interstate.

How much does C/R affect gas mileage?
How much does C/R affect HP and torque output.
How dependible is a built motor compaired to a stock motor? (in my situation)

___________________________
Basicly I have a few grand to play with right now, so should I Go?

-Stock rebuild and pocket the extra cash?

All-motor with a 200hp Goal?
-What Internals?? What else?? If its dependible, a couple grand, and fun, I'm all for it.

330hp Goal Turbo in the future: (Keep in mind I have a 5 grand budget in mind for for this option, which includes motor rebuild, and turbo kit later this summer once i have the cash.)
-What internals?? I understand the logical step here would be install 9.5 C/R Pistons, and new rods since about the time I got around to installing the turbo later this summer the motor would be broke in on its new internals. However will lower C/R pistons really really affect my power? If they will, what about running higher compression aftermarket pistons. or what about just my stock pistons? Advice?


So many questions...... your help would be greatly apreciated. Thank-you so much for your time. - JakeDrummer.

[Schister66]

dont' build an all motor car then tear it down for boost...make up your mind! You can boost on the stock engine if its in good shape. Then later you can upgrade to something better internally. Thats what i'm doing on my GSR....

[CivicSpoon]

Unless you leave the engine stock, you're going to loose gas mileage. Turboing your engine to get 330whp will kill your gas mileage. Constantly reving it high (near redline) will also kill your gas mileage, as well as put more stress on your engines internals. You need to decide which is more important, power or gas mileage; you can't have both.

[JakeDrummer]

yeah motor wise right now bottom end needs some help, as I said I'm thinking I have got something seriously wrong with it (the noise)
what will I see for mileage with a turbo and an all motor setup?? anybody got a setup going out there that could give me some numbers? thanks guys

[Schister66]

if you don't beat the hell out of it, a turbo won't really kill your gas mileage because they increase efficiency. I hope to get 22-24mpg in city and 30+ mpg highway in my GSR once its boosted....i plan to lose a little in city, but it shouldn't be bad unless my foot gets heavier...

[JakeDrummer]

yeah see thats what i was figuring would happen with a turbo. I get mid 30's on the interstate so as long as I stay someplace around there while on the interstate I don't really care around town. I decided now to go for building up the bottom end for a turbo so...

what would you guys recomend for pistons and rods.
I was thinking about eagle 9.5 C/R forged with eagle H beam rods... bang for my buck whats best?

what needs to get machined before i rebuild? keep in mind the motor seems decent right now.

[Schister66]

machining doesn't need to happen, but if you're going to run BIG numbers you might consider sleeving it. I would go w/ Wiseco Pistons and Eagle rods....9:1 CR....you'll be fine for 400whp+ on that...Get new ACL bearings, new rings, and maybe get the head looked at while its apart to make sure the valve guides are still true and the valves are ok....other than that, you're ready to boost away!

[JakeDrummer]

thats what i'm gonna do then. thats acctully what i've been finding is the best combo. my buddy has the equipment to do the head so i'm going to have him do the seals while its off. thanks man you've been helpful.

[Schister66]

np....if you have any questions or need any parts, just hit me up on AF or on Honda-tech....under the same sn,.....I can get you parts for a pretty good deal.....

[TurboGSR96]

with 440 injectors and a bigger fuel pump on your car you can and will get 20+ MPG on the highway as long as you stay out of boost. it wasnt clear but there is no way you get 20+ mpg with the engine living near the redline, but on the highway at normal speed that mpg is def possible

[puckman19]

whatever you do, you need to keep the basic necessary rebild stuff at the top of your list. Your blue puff on startup is oil leaking past your valve seals. New seals may be enough but you could easily need new valves and guides after that many miles. Your knock on startup is from low oil pressure. You would of course be getting new rod bearings with your rods witch will help but you also MUST replace your main bearings and especially you oilpump on rebuild, i suggest a gsr oilpump because it runs at a higher pressure. Just make sure you dont skip the more mundane aspects of a rebuild trying to squeeze more power out of your alotted cash, you'll just end up having to go back in later and spending more money. Good luck

[JakeDrummer]

well i pulled the motor apart tonight.

from what I can tell my rod bearing are bad (burnt looking) and the wrist pins seemed alittle bit loose. the rest of the motor looks perfect. the crank and the cylinder walls have absolutly no wear.

So far I've got a new OEM type-R oil pump to stick in. New water pump, timing belt, and gasket kit. and yeah I'm getting all new bearings, eagle H-beam rods, and pistons... having trouble deciding which pistons still though. (brand wise)

any recomendations on a harmonic balancer?? mine looks like crap, the rubber is really cracked on the sucker. I was thinking fluidine but they are like $350 bucks.

any recomendations on where to buy pistons/rods/etc from??

thank you as always guys. have a good night.

[TurboGSR96]

id either go with a stoc harmonic balancer or whatever you want. you have to send your motor to the machine shop to have it atleast bored .020 (roughly .5mm) to clean up the cylinder walls so the new rings will seat properly. if you put pistons and rods in your car and crack a stock sleeve you kinds did it for nothing in the first place so save a lil longer and sleeve the block too. I had www.goldeneaglemfg.com do my bottom end and you will see they are legit. It costs alot but its worth it. Go with the Eagle or Crower Rods and either JE or Weisco Pistons and you can go wrong. After 161,000 miles you gotta 50/50 shot on the condition of the head. At the minimum have a machine shop look at the head and give you their opinion. I think I paid about $1,200.00 for my head parts and got a great deal on the maching work...$500ish. I know I picked up 50 or 60whp untuned when I bolted that head on my car.

i got alot of my internals from this website
http://www.importperformanceparts.net/
they are not too bad