Tuesday 28 July 2009

To be truly great, the EK9 needs a B18C

So, the B18C is now in.Here are some pictures and comments.

Firstly, time to get everything ready in order to drop the engine out. Never used a hoist in the end. For anyone who thinks dropping the engine out is easier that lifting it out...I think you're crazy!

We used the following to remove the engine:

2 axle stands
3 jacks
Breeze blocks
Cups of tea and coffee
1x pink belt from a dressing gown.

Yes you read that right. Make shift hoist baby!

Bonnet off, wheels off.


Then came the easiest part. Disconnecting everything and dropping the engine out. The air con got in the way I bit but we managed it.
We couldn't get the car up too high as the higher we got, the more unstable it went. So unstable that on once side the jack actually partially collapsed! Eventually we cleared everything and managed to get it on a crate and shimmy it along underneath the car.

Here is the B16B on the way out.




And here it is saying good buy to its mother and leaving home.


Now time to get the B18C in. The B16B was a bit jealous of the B18C. Here you can see them weighing each other up.




Anyway, I had to prep the B18C for going in so I split them a part before a fight broke down and got on with the following:

Swapped over my existing rocker cover from the B16B as the one on the B18C had been resprayed but I was not too keen on the shade of red.

Removed my B16B engine harness and installed it on to the B18C. The B18C harness would of been fine but my B16B harness looked in better condition.

Used the B16B oil pressure sensor. The B18C same with some sort of Defi gauge sensor.

Also, there is some sort of mount on the right side of the engine when facing it directly. I think it lines up to the passenger side engine mount? Anyway I changed it over for the B16B mount as the angle of it was a little different. This is the only mount that I can think of that people may of mentioned when doing the conversion.

Next we installed the ACT Street Lite flywheel.




And then a OEM clutch.




Here is the engine bay waiting for the B18C. At this point it would of been a really good idea to give it a good clean down, but we never had time.





So here is the B18C on the way up in to the engine bay. Nearly there now!




Then what seemed like hours later, we finally managed to align up the mounts to holes and get the bolts in! What a nightmare.She's in!A picture before everything got hooked up.



I will get some better pictures of the finished article and update at a later day. I am still aching after the conversion.We started the conversion at 12:00pm Wednesday and finished...wait for it...5:30am the next morning! WTF These things are never as simple as they sound.

So anyway, driven the car for about 2 days now and here are my first impressions. Feel free to ask me questions though, will help me think too.

It sounds very stupid, but the car feels like how it should...like it has a bigger engine in it!
It sounds more powerful and just feels more powerful even when cruising and driving below VTEC.

The car is now more eager to go. Just blipping the throttle now just feels like the car is ready to jet off. It rev's up a bit easier and faster now too due to the ACT lightened flywheel.More torque all through the rev range. Not only does this make the car a faster car, it also makes the car far easier to drive.In scenarios where I may of geared down or the car may of bogged there is no problem now. I can use 5th where I used to use 4th etc.

The VTEC change over is not as aggressive but it does not bother me in the slightest. With the B16B the change over to VTEC felt a lot more aggressive because it is pretty flat below VTEC, where as the B18C has more torque by the time it reaches VTEC it does not feel as aggressive.It might not feel as thrilling, but you definitely know you are going faster before VTEC than the B16B ever did.

I thought I might miss the aggressive VTEC cross over point, but after two days I can tell you I don't.I am sure there is more, but that will do for now. Again, feel free to ask any questions!

So, just a few things that I need to do:

Fit the DC2 air box.

I am using the EK9 air box at the moment as I need to make some brackets up in order to fit the DC2 air box. As the throttle body is larger on the B18C the trunking from the EK9 air box is actually smaller in diameter so this probably is causing a restriction? There might be more to come from the engine yet!

Also, I still have not fitted my Mugen Twin Loop so I wonder how the car is going to feel with the new air box and twin loop fitted?

So overall the B18C is a better engine in every scenario IMO and I would never go back.Still, coming from a 275hp 8**KG tin can I can tell you its still not enough for me.

Next is a Hondata S300 + tune.

The story continues.....









No comments:

Post a Comment