B16A1 cams in a ZC??????

[4GZChatch]

Hey Guys, I heard a little rumour and I wonder if anyone has tried this or heard of it being successfully done. I **heard** that you can take the cams from a B16A1 motor and slap them into a ZC. The supposed result is a wicked new cam profile, huge boost in power, and a cool sounding loping idle. The cost of these is so much lower than a ZC cam regrind or the like that I wonder why everyone isn't doing it if it works. Anywho, I would be interested in knowing if anyone has tried this successfully. :flash:

[Phat_Si]

I'm pretty sure you cannot do this! usually b series parts don't fit d series engines! I'm pretty positive that this cannot be done! sorry

[sastanley]

I think that b16a Cam gears will fit a ZC, because '89 Integra cam gears don't fit a ZC. Maybe that is the rumor you heard

[tbk49]

my buddy suggested taking the dohc and putting on the b18 head? Im not sure if this works but he said it should.

[Moppie]

Ok, Honda has a strong philosophy of keeping things in the family when it comes to enginering cars.
(i.e. thier all inbred)

But this can lead to some interesting hybrids. (why do you think Honda's are so popular for engine swaps between models, its becasue compared to many manufactors its so easy!)

Now the ZC and B16a engines altough totaly differnt, actualy share a common ancestor, and a look at all 3 engines together will show what I mean.
The common ancestor is of course the old 2L DOHC B20 from the mid to late 80s Prelude. This engine effectivly became the B16a, B18 and new B20 in the CRV, while the head was effectivly stuck on a modfied D series block to the make the ZC.

What does this mean? Well you can take an old B20 and slap a B16a head on it with some minnor enginering work to both head and block, and use a custom head gasket.
You can also stick a B16a head on a ZC with similar work. (altough why you would want to is beyond me).
It also means it is theoritcaly possible to swap heads between the ZC and B20.
Also the TB of a B20 is visualy identical to the TB on a B16a, except it has a differnt TPS, and a vacum pot to stop it closing to quickly.

So, its quite possible, that the cams in a B16a use the same bearing size, and are the same length, with the same distrubtor slot in the end as the ZC and B20 cams. (hence why B16a cam gears work on the ZC)
What does this mean? well if, and only if the extra lobes on the B16a cam do not interfer with the design of the ZC head then its quite possible that they will fit, and work. Of course they would only ever be running on the high lift lobe, and the other 2 would sit there never doing anything.
It also IMO pointless, as for the cost of getting a set of B16a cams im sure you could get your ZC ones reground to match the B16a profile. (or better yet, ground to a profile that will work with the ZC, and make more hp than the b16a ones)

Of course if you have a ZC lying around you want to play with this dosnt rule out the possiblity that some cams from an old B20 might work, and since they should be cheaply avliable from a wrecker might be worth it.

[Setanta]

Can I go one step simpler?

B16A cams are designed for a motor with a very different bore/stroke/power and torque curve. That means that the grind will be very wrong for it so why bother. You are better off tracking down the mugen R1 or R2 grinds for the ZC cams and getting them resurfaced or redone from a billet.

Lets face it, the Mugen ZC grind is dedicated to the ZC's specs, a B16A grind is dedicated to... the B16A.

Oh, and no, they won't fit, it's been tried

[marked001]

can I take it another step simpler.....it dont work!