A question for the AUTO GUROs was raised by one of our Facebook buddys:
How do you guys feel about the poormans swap??? Do you think it’s worth it??? And if so, how would you go about building it?? I’m tryin to make at least 250-300hp all motor. – Anthony Liranzo via Facebook
Honda Poor Man’s Type-R Engine
Here’s what our AUTO GUROs have to say:
THE KING says:
I use to own a Honda SiR with a B18C5 Type-R swap. It was a very fun car to drive! But to get the power up, you need to do alot of bolt-ons. All-motor at 300hp is tricky and may cost money. I’m not up to date with the prices anymore for the stuff.
There is a local group called H3 I think. I saw them tuning their turbo single-cam hatchback (Civic) in Autoplus before. He hit 300whp!
Good luck!
THE aSTIG says:
Before I answer this question, I’d like to explain what the Honda Poor Man’s Type-R swap is for the sake of the uninitiated.
A Poor Man’s Type-R is actually what it says it is – a cheap version of the B18C5 found on the Integra Type-R. Due to the high prices of the real Type-R engine, people have resorted to combining the B18C1 block from the old non-VTEC Integra GSR, and topping it off with a B16 VTEC head. Then just purchasing the real Type-R pistons and camshafts to complete the package. Oh and you also need the B16 water and oil pump.
Update: Here’s a good article from Wikipedia describing the Poor Man’s Type-R setup.
So now to answer the question.
If you want to hit 250-300hp all-motor, I doubt if you’ll be able to achieve that on a Poor Man’s Type-R swap. And as Ian King mentioned, it’s going to be real tricky and will cost a lot of money. It will no longer a Poor Man’s swap so to speak.
If you’d want to hit 200-plus horsepower on a naturally-aspirated Honda engine, there are two better alternatives than the Poor Man’s Type-R swap:
The LS/VTEC swap: This is the swap that replaced the Poor-Man’s Type-R, simply because it’s waaay better. If you’d want to try this out, follow this detailed article on Honda Tuning Magazine.
The B20 Frankenstein swap: This involves taking a non-VTEC B20B bottom from the Honda CRV, and mating it with a B16 or B18 VTEC top. The bigger 2.0-liter displacement means you’ll get way more torque than the 1.8-liter B18C5 Type-R engine. Anthony Go was able to achieve 246hp on his Honda Civic Dragster with this setup, plus running it on methanol fuel.
Hope this helps. And good luck on your project! Let us know if you’re successful with any of these.
If any of you would like to ask any questions for the pros and experts about anything and everything to do with customizing, restoring, maintaining, and repairing your ride, you can always Ask The AUTO GUROs here at CustomPinoyRides.com.
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Hey aSTIG and all you Auto Experts of Custom Pinoy Rides.com!
This may not be related to the above article but this is the fastest way I could write up to you guys coz I’m a little bit in a hurry so here goes…
I have a friend that owns a classic Levin. An even older model than the Levin featured in Initial D. It used to be a Head turner in SLEX. There was even a time in SLEX that a tuned up civic esi chased it, drove beside it, and rolled down its window just to flip out a sign showing the question “Are you selling your car?” Of course my flattered friend just waved his hand to reject the offer. Unfortunately it was left parked at his house in Marikina when Ondoy struck our country. I’m sure you already know what happened to it.
F**kin S**t! right? Anyway, I guess I could relate this comment to your article above by asking Whats the “Poor Man’s” way of restoring a Levin drowned up by Ondoy? The owner ain’t that poor. He just wants to bring his Precious Levin back to life without having to wait for a dozen or more monthly 15s and 30s just to come up with the cash to fix up his drowned up Levin. It doesn’t need to be tuned up to be a monster Drift car to unleash its inborn talent. He just wants it to be good enough for an everyday car. Me and my friend would appreciate your advice. Thanks guys! More Power to CustomPinoyRides.com! Ow! and by the way, Good luck with your upcoming car show. Looking forward to it. Keep Reving you guyz! Vroom Vroooooom! Tsssss! (Blow off valve!!!)
Thank you for a very clear and helpful post. I am definitely a violator of many of these rules. I often find myself conflicted when writing a blog post because I see myself writing more than people want to read, but I feel that I have to do the subject matter justice by thoroughly covering it. I feel that by following some of these rules I end up cutting out important aspects to the discussion. I guess you have to find a balance.
My cousin recommended this blog and she was totally right keep up the fantastic work!
Wonderful post! I’ll subscribe at the moment wth my feedreader software!
I like this site and saw it on Google search. I guess your thoughts on Ask The AUTO GUROs: Honda Poor Man’s Type-R Swap? | CustomPinoyRides.com are right on. Thanks for blogging about this and looking forward to reading more on your site.