Elliott's B20 Vtec EK build

[ellb123]

Hi all, first post on here, i used to use civic life quite abit and I'm abit wounded i lost all my old build thread on there, i use this site quite a lot and see its still very active, so i thought its about time i actually posted and started a new build thread.

So the story so far...

Ive always liked EK's and I've always wanted to get into learning more about working on cars and actually building something, so I dived in at the deep end, i bought a full B16a2 swap, and then found a car for it to go in...

A 300 mile round trip and i had bought myself a burning red pearl EK3, 94k and barely any rust in sight, the lad i got it off had bought it to banger race but realised it was too clean

So with the help of a few friends we set about pulling the engine out the weekend after i bought it... please don't judge me too much for the sketchy engine removal!

Took us about a day to remove the D series and strip the car out, i wanted to build something that i could use on track but i was still going to daily drive the car.

Engine out:

And the weekend later , B16 in:

Basically to cut a long story short, the 6months i built it over that winter the spec ended up:

B16a2
PS looped
ATR recaros
Skunk2 megapower exhaust
EK9'ed lights with usdm kit
VTI fan blades with 282mm brake upgrade
Tidied up the bay abit
Facelift rear bumper and lights
Smoothed ek9 front bumper with lip
VTIS rear lip
I had the full front end painted along with all bump strips, door handles and skirts...

This is how it turned out when i insured it:

I loved the car, did my first show that wasn't local; Mimms 2016 and my first track session;

From there it started going downhill a little bit, with me dailying the car i was finding it hard to have the time/space to work on it if problems started, the B16 was also drinking a lot of oil and i started a new job which meant a lot further to commute which i couldn't really afford, i used the car from March until September, i booked a track session at Croft at the petrol and pistons time attack show and after a few laps i was black flagged due to how smokey the car was getting.

At this point i had to either think about selling it, or rebuild it over the winter... ill leave it there for now but if you look at the title, you'll get a good hint where this goes!

 

[ALEX-CY]

very nice

 

[that_civic]

For your civic life build it should still be on honda karma somewhere.

 

[Deleted member 27622]

Cracking job with the swap mate, love the jack sat on a pair of wheels! Not everyone has access to professional gear but at the end of the day sometimes you've just gotta get **** done!

What you got lined up next for it? (edit - just read the last line about the title!!)

 

[ellb123]

So the next big stage...

This is a photo of the few laps i got in at croft...

It was drinking oil at this point and in preparation a B20vtec engine had came up local... so the day before Croft i went and picked it up;

It was supercharged and came out of an EF that had been crashed, unfortunately at the time i couldn't afford the charger to go with it, but got a good deal on the block and knew everything from my b16 would swap over...

B20b with b16a head Gsr cams Arp head and rod bolts, vtec oil and water pump, golden eagle vtec conversion kit, baffled sump Pistons and rods balanced to 0.1g. Head is ported and polished - Ive always liked the idea of a B20 vtec, that it can't just be bought (even though i just bought one but you know what i mean!) and id of liked to have had a go building one myself but this was just the right deal and the right time, few photos of the previous owner when it was being built

So on the way home from Croft, it went to its new home, this time into a proper unit, i bought myself some decent tools and the lads i shared the unit with had some stuff i can use (no more sketchy jacks and wheels!).

Weekend after that i pulled the B16 out

and began stripping everything out the engine bay for paint... this was meant to be just a quick swap of the engine, but since it was going to be off the road all winter, i thought id take it a step further (maybe a little too far thinking back on it)

B20 vs B16

All wiring was pulled out the bay, all brakes were taken out and i started to prep for paint, luckily in the new unit my friend has a paint booth and offered to paint it for me... i went for Audi Nardo Gary

I also decided to take ABS out, i was always having issues with it not working anyway and constantly having the ABS light on, so i purchased a 40/40 prop valve, a rear disc swap, and a 1" DC2 booster and mc, mounted the prop valve on the sub frame to tuck the lines and started to make my own brake lines tucked away nice and neatly, this took quite awhile to get the hang of, but in the end;

I also purchased an edelbrock performer x intake mani, so started building up the B20, adding my old gearbox on and painting it, i was hoping for more of a silver look, but i bought the wrong paint! It looks like primer but this is the finished colour, i wasn't sure at first but now the engines in i like it.

So after getting everything ready, i bought some used innovative 75a mounts and got the B20 in

 

[ellb123]

It wouldn't let me add all the photos i wanted into one post, so continued....

That was the B20 in, put a few panels over just to see what it looked like and i loved it!

Also bought a hondata s300 v2 ecu from the previous owner of the engine.

Had a few problems with the B20 and that inlet mani, not sure if that inlets been used on a b20 build before, but the throttle was rubbing against the oil feed to the head, the oem banjo for the fuel rail was also in the way of the oil feed, so i purchased an AEM fuel rail and braided lines, and had to settle for cable tying the oil feed against the inlet so it was out the way.

Then i had wiring problems, using my old loom (i wish i did this before i put the engine in) i added my loom to the car, everything seemed to connect up fine or so i thought, first time i turned ignition on i had no lights at all, realised i missed a plug on the ECU end of the loom, sorted that, turned ignition on... massive fuel leak, so then sorted that out with some nylon tape and re connecting all my fuel fittings.

Then I eventually tried to start the car, and nothing. Nothing at all, this had me puzzled for about 2 weeks, then i noticed a small box on the back of my trim underneath the steering wheel... i missed the immobiliser! plugged that in and it turned over straight away, but still no start so went back to basics and began to check timing, compression, fuel and spark.

Fuel seemed alright and i had fuel pressure, but then i realised after undoing the tape on my injector loom, the previous owner of the loom had made a right mess!

So managed to cut the injector plugs off a local lads old d series loom, i bought a soldering iron and some heat shrink and sorted that mess out, but still no start.

When i first checked for it not starting i had spark, so presumed the injector wiring was my issue, but after still having no start i checked everything again, now i noticed i had no spark at all, so i think i must of killed my dizzy from trying to turn it over to many times or something like that? Lent a spare dizzy from a friend and it fried up first turn of the key.

Not even 10 seconds into the first start and i heard a rubbing noise from the cam end of the engine, the timing belt had pulled itself towards the rocker cover and started rubbing on the lower covers, i loosened the tension, pulled the belt back to where it should be, tried again and it was fine for about 5 minutes then the same noise again. After doing some searching i released i missed the washer that should go before the pulley when swapping the stuff over from my b16! So pulled my pulley off and realised my problem,

Washer fitted and now it ran without any worrying noise.

So i uploaded a b20vtec base map on hondata, and took it outside for the first time in 6 months;

Test drive didn't go so well... the car was cutting out after 3k revs when driving, but would rev fine in neutral, i checked through the sensors on hondata and noticed i didn't have a TPS signal, at first thought i thought it was my wiring loom, since it looked abit hacked at in places i thought id lend a friends loom and tried that... exactly the same

So went to take the tb off to get at the sensor and noticed this;

Bent that pin back into place, refitted my loom and i have TPS signal.

and thats pretty much where I'm at now, you might notice a few changes on the car throughout the photos, ill explain whats changed other than engine stuff in my next post.

I didn't get a chance to test drive the car since i sorted my TPS issue, but i tried the car on axle stands and it seemed to be alright, so I'm test driving it again tomorrow and will let you know how i get on.

 

[ellb123]

So i didn't get a chance to get over to the car tonight, won't be until sunday now, so the other little upgrades the cars had over winter and some parts i hadn't spoke about previously...

The car is on 6two1 coilovers with genuine skunk2 LCA's

Brakes also needed attention, my discs and pads were done and the callipers needed a refresh... while draining the system i pressed the brake without any discs and pads in and popped the piston out (idiot mistake) but a good excuse to rebuild the callipers

Rebuilt with a new seal kit and new pistons - not as hard as i thought it was going to be, really straight forward

So rebuilt and repainted mg 600 turbo callipers, new mintex discs and just some cheap EBC pads for now, also bought hel braided lines for all round.

My ATR recaros were comfy but i didn't find them very supportive and i think having a harnesses and a seat that can recline is a little sketchy, so i picked up some corbeau forza sport seats that had been dry stored from new! These came on Corsa C subframes so i need to find someone to weld some extra metal to the rails to get these to fit

Also fancied some new wheels, i wanted to move away from the EK4 kinda look, picked up a set of 15x7 slips from eBay and some 6two1 lug nuts to go with them

Unfortunately these don't clear my brakes and need a 5mm spacer (not sure about running spacers on track, may just keep the fan blades for track wheels, any thoughts?)

I also picked up a tegiwa harness bar but havnt got any photos of that (ill take some at the weekend), and i got the deal of century on these 2 spoon braces... i won these for £10 on a bonus ball!

Swapped the rear brace for an x brace, and going to run the front one

And finally, my bonnet release cable was frayed really badly, so i ended up just taking it out while i had the bay painted and the latch itself had seen better days, decided to go with aero catches rather than replacing it all.

So thats another job for the weekend!

And finally, a photo of the daily;

 

[ek4 hatchback]

Alot of hard work! I am interested about the B20V as i might do it. How about the tuning of B20V? Thanks!

 

[ellb123]

Alot of hard work! I am interested about the B20V as i might do it. How about the tuning of B20V? Thanks!

Thanks mate! Its probably going to go to Evil Tuning in Middlesbrough as its closest to me and they've done a lot of Honda's, I have a hondata s300 v2 ecu for it.

For your civic life build it should still be on honda karma somewhere.

Yeah I can see it on there, but without all the photos, id rather start again here, at least this forum is active!

Cracking job with the swap mate, love the jack sat on a pair of wheels! Not everyone has access to professional gear but at the end of the day sometimes you've just gotta get **** done!

What you got lined up next for it? (edit - just read the last line about the title!!)

Cheers mate! Makes life easier having the proper gear now but everyone starts somewhere.

 

[Leej8]

Smashing build mate , looking forward to next update.

 

[ellb123]

Well not the update i was hoping but still a lot of progress...

Started tidying up the engine bay, tucking away some wiring and mounting all my inline fuel filter properly, jacked the car up and bled the brakes and clutch again, feels much better now

While the car was up on axle stands i fitted my new k tuned shifter... so much better than the cheap eBay job i had before that came with the engine swap, don't think ill be struggling to find gears now and its nice to have it closer to the steering wheel too, even though its quite high up (might adjust it abit after my seats are in) its still gives a nice short throw.

Also got my x brace fitted

Interior needs a big sort out, basically everything that came off the car got thrown into the back whilst i did the engine swap, still quite abit to go back on and put back together inside

Then made a start on fitting my aero catches

Didn't get a chance to get this finished but made a good start on one side!

Im after some advice too...
Basically I'm an idiot, when painting my gearbox i had put kitchen roll into all the holes so i didn't get any paint on the inside, when i went to check my VSS today, i realised that i hadn't taken the kitchen roll out of that side (I've driven the car like this too ) i pulled it out and it all came out in one go basically, checked what i could for any left and i think i got it all, plugged everything back in but still no speedo, I'm hoping i havnt broke anything by driving it whilst its had that kitchen roll in... any ideas anyone?

 

[ellb123]

So speedo is sorted! What a relief, checked the gear in the box and that seemed fine, was spinning when the wheels turned, tried hooking a drill up to the vss and seeing if it gave a signal and it didn't, checked power to the plug and nothing! So after abit head scratching checked the fuse and it was blown! didn't know the alternator and vss used the same fuse so now this has solved my 2 final problems, over the moon!

So with that replaced speedo now works fine, got my x brace fitted up properly, harness bar in now too, still needs tightened down but ill leave that till my seats are sorted, interior is still a complete mess though.

Got my spoon strut brace fitted and tidying some wiring up..

And I'm one areocatch in! Too scared to cut this second one, I've made about 10 templates and I'm still not happy ahaha!

Hopefully get my seats done this week and then have it on the road for the weekend!

 

[Buckyy]

Very aggressive looking, love the focuses on power, suspension and brakes

 

[ellb123]

Well its out!

Drove it home from the unit, 15miles ish and had no major issues, I have a slight coolant leak and for the first mile or two the car felt a little bit hesitant on partial throttle, im putting this down to only having a tiny bit of fuel that had sat in the tank for 8 month , hopefully a tank of vpower sorts it out!

Going to get it booked in with Will @ RDT for mapping hopefully at the end of the month.

I forgot what its like driving a low loud car, with no power steering and now with the addition of the engine mounts and abs removal, im glad im not dailying it!

With it just being on a basemap I havnt really booted it much and ive kept it out of vtec until its mapped, but I can definitely feel a difference with the b20 already

 

[Sparrowhawk]

Lovely car, loads of work gone into it. Really like the grey engine bay.

Good luck with the mapping

 

[Kipper]

Good to see another fresh build thread, Car looks like it's certainly coming together from the meet last night. Interested to see graph after mapping.

It's Kris by the way, Been on here for a few years now, more so when I had Honda's with a proper chassis...

 

[ellb123]

Lovely car, loads of work gone into it. Really like the grey engine bay.

Good luck with the mapping

Cheers mate, good luck for this weekend!

Good to see another fresh build thread, Car looks like it's certainly coming together from the meet last night. Interested to see graph after mapping.

It's Kris by the way, Been on here for a few years now, more so when I had Honda's with a proper chassis...

Cheers Kris, it needs a good tidy up but that's about it now!

Little update...

Tried the slips on after getting some spacers (didn't clear my callipers), I wanted to get them painted but was thinking of leaving them black for now just to save some money, undecided if I like them on not....

Im also picking up a new passenger side wing and a pair of doors from a local lad breaking the same colour EK3, my doors are battered so should tidy the car up loads!

and most importantly... Im booked in for mapping with Will @ RDT next Friday, cant wait!

 

[si8pny]

Great read! Nice to see a B20 swap. Look forward to seeing what power it makes after mapping

 

[ellb123]

Took the Friday off work and made the 2 hour journey down to Will at RDT.
After the inspection and fixing a few little bits (fan wiring, couple of coolant leaks), it made good compression and went on the dyno.

I sat back and let Will crack on with it, 5 hours later and heres my graph...

At first I was a little disappointed with the numbers, 160whp and 130ft/lb , Will mentioned the injectors were at 93% and remembering this is stock compression and only using GSR Cams, that is was a very good figure. I drove it home and realised I shouldn't be disappointed at all, it pulls so well in every gear even out of tec, it drives so smoothly. Will had also programmed in launch control and the shift light using Hondata, tried that out on the way home and it pulls so well from a complete stop. My mate sent me his graph when he had his B18C EG dyno'ed at RDT, it made 164whp / 120ftlb so that made me feel better about mine

I couldn't recommend RDT anymore, I wouldn't take my car anywhere else now, Will definitely knows his stuff and couldn't of been more helpful, and the other lad that works with Will (I'm terrible at remembering names) was spot on as well, he had my coolant issues sorted a lot quicker than I would ever had!

Didn't get a chance to drive the car hard on the way home, mostly stuck in motorway traffic, then I had a nightmare... coming off the motorway about 5 miles from my house, my brakes started feeling soft, getting progressively worse to the point the pedal would hit the floor and I had no brakes at all, coasted it home using just the handbrake and left it until the day after. I tightened every brake line and looked for any leaks as the fluid was low now, couldn't find anything. Rebled the brakes, took it out and all seemed fine, so im still abit confused about that one!

Since all went well, took the car up hartside pass with my friends cupra on Sunday, first time ive actually driven it even with it being so local. The car felt amazing, all the mods done over the winter have definitely improved the car and the b20 just kept pulling. Checked the oil when I got home (expecting it to have dropped like my old b16 did!) and it hadn't used a drop even after all of the abuse it got and a few launches.

As for now, I want to get my slipstreams on and get the rear disc conversion sorted. Ive been accepted into show and shine at Mimms so ive bought my ticket for that too! I just want to drive it more now

 

[ellb123]

So eventually gave it a good wash and polish this weekend, love the way the colour comes out when its freshly polished in the sun… I gave my engine bay a quick wipe down too, I promise its not a show car