Suggestions for a D15B2

[methodm2000]

i have a 90 honda civic dx hb w/d15b2 stock engine. i plan to do a ls/vtec swap by next summer, but for now this is what i have until i get the swap. what can i do to get the most out of it? also i have a few problems with the motor. everytime i drive hard or drive on the highway the motor burns the oil. i have to refill it everytime this happens. i was told that i should change the valve cover gasket and seals to fix this problem but i heard from someone else that the piston rings and the bearings needed to be changed. the another problem is that i waited too long to do a tune-up and the motor is acting funny. it sounds like a go kart and sounds like its running on 3 pistons instead of 4. i get it a tune up and i check the spark plugs and the sp were black and smelled like fuel. i changed the sp and the same thing happened. what should i do???

[1990civicdxhb]

( methodm2000: i have a 90 honda civic dx hb w/d15b2 stock engine. i plan to do a ls/vtec swap by next summer, but for now this is what i have until i get the swap. what can i do to get the most out of it?)

you could:
snatch a couple of bumble bees before summer's over,tape them to your muffler,
& since you have a home computer,take the fan out of it,tape it to your air intake,(make sure you use duct tape)
& to top it all off,for the most hp,you could take 1 windshield wiper off to lighten up your car....(jk)

no but really,if your planning on going sohc vtec,do some stuff to your car,so you would be able to swap over the things you have,since their both sohc,so you already have it,start from the beginning,
if you haven't got you an air intake,get ya' one,(I perfer AEM)
go with a bigger exhaust if you havent done that,headers,muffler...
I'm not too sure if the headers that fit a d15b2 will fit a sohc vtec!
most of all since you have dpfi,you might wanna start up on your swap to a mpfi,but theres plenty to do,do a little bit of re-search on the mods for the honda civic's,its not too expensive if you know where to look.GL

and for you other problem,it sounds like you need a compression test,
it will tell you if your seals are leaking or your piston rings is burnt up,
I had the same problem with my old motor,it come out to be the piston ring on the number 1 cylinder,oil come out of my air intake,was on my spark plugs,I was using a 1/4 of a quart of oil a day,somtimes more,same problems your having,
a good way to tell which cylinder it is,is:
while your cars running,pull out 1 of your spark plug wires from the valve cover,1 by 1,which ever one you pull out & the car doesnt make a difference in idle,thats the cylinder thats bad,its real easy,
and for your tune up that you done,dont waste your money,
I done the same thing & nothing never fixed it,if you seriously plan on swapping motors,wait til then to do anything to the motor,
because if you get an intake,exhaust,headers,muffler,,,all that stuff is going to be thickened up with black dry oil,not that it makes a big deal for the headers,exhaust & muffler,but it'll ruin the intake & dont take the head off to fix the seals,because you could end up taking that off & it be a piston ring problem,then your stuck with a bunch of nothing to fix!but,thought I would give you a little info on my past,it may help you out it may not,
but n e wayz good lucc

[1PhatCX]

how is he planning SOHC Vtec? he wants LS/Vtec, which is an LS block with b16a head on it.
my advice would be to slap an Si cam in, intake, header, and exhaust, and do the mpfi swap

[1990civicdxhb]

sorry bout that,that was on me,
I'm not too familar with vtec,(althou i dont have one)
but,tryin to give a little info,
(least I got the mpfi swap right!)

[doug294]

Personally I would switch to MPFI and thats it. If you plan on going ls/vtec don't waste your money. That could be more money to make that motor better.

[methodm2000]

yea i actually wanna get option A: b18b1 block and get b18c1 head or b18c5 head,or option B: B20 block and b18c5 head. then MAYBE ill go turbo. one of my friends told me to just buy a 1.6 sohc vtec for now then get the ls but i figure that ill be spending more money than neccessary if i do that. he also suggested that i buy another d15 engine with less milege so i wont have a headache tryin to fix my current motor or to buy new car. i personally would like keep my civic and buy another car. but i need my car up a running to get a higher paying job so im pondering whether or not i should buy another motor or just rebuild my d15b2 motor. Which is cheaper? another problem that i forgot to mention is my check engine light keeps turning on.