Exploring the iconic B-Series engines, Bobby and Aaron dive into the history and impact of these Honda powerplants on the automotive scene. They discuss the evolution from the B16 to the B18, highlighting their tunability, performance, and the cultural shift they inspired among enthusiasts. With personal anecdotes and technical insights, the hosts reflect on the B-Series' legacy and its continued relevance in today's tuning community, while also comparing it to the newer K-Series engines. This episode is packed with nostalgia and valuable information for Honda fans.
B Series engines started a wave of tuners and enthusiasts that changed the trajectory the culture as a whole. Listen along as we take a dive into the B series and the effect it had on the world of Japanese tuner cars. Have you had a B series? What did it rev to? Did you go NA or boosted? Let us know in the DMs!
"...ust the Honda. It's not gonna right can't touch a Mustang Probably necessarily, but no, dude, right right n..."
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Hey, and welcome back to the next episode of the right hand drive guys podcast the podcast for guys who like right hand drivesI'm Bobby. This is Aaron. Yeah, you know, and we are back again
Episode 113. Yeah, dude. That's a good number. It is a good number and
So we were talking and we're like, you know, of course, we've had a lot of guests loved itIt's been great our J last week was sweet definitely mind-blowing. Yeah
But we're like all right. Let's get back to a few knowledge episodes and you know these episodes
Don't mean we have all the knowledgeNo, it just simply means that we are putting knowledge out there which we have generally sourced from credible sources. Yeah, so
You know, what do we want to do the knowledge about like what where have we not touched on you knowIt's kind of like one of those things we we start getting a little niece on heavyAnd we're you know, obviously currently two niece on guys even though I do also I love Honda, butIt's easy to do because we can bounce off each otherSo we're like we need to get back to like a Honda episode. We did the VTech episode
Yeah, and that was cool that worked out good it got good feedbackSo we're like all rightWell, like if not VTech then what well like let's get back to where it all startedThe B series the B seriesAbsolutely and you know I guaranteePlenty of guys listening to this that were born before 1995 for sureHave had a B series their buddy had a B series. Yeah, something right?
Yeah, you know even yeah even an L as VTech anything where we are another did you you've probably been around a B series right?
And even knew it or not and soWhether you even knew it or not you knowAnd so it's kind of like one of those things like okay, you know, we recognize that this motor kind of created a wholeLike change in the way Honda was going and then of course added all the tunability and you knowAll of the aftermarket upgrades it it really startedSomething that changed the culture so to speak the B series is pretty prominent
Yeah, absolutely. I mean it was the it was the bigger of the two like popular motors back then like
Compared to the D series the D series was like Honda single cam. Yep. You know they had VTech and non obviously and the B series was like that
But with two cams dude the D O H C. Yeah, yeah, yeah the dog the dog yeah
Everybody's heard somebody say that and usually it's the DSM guys to say that for some reason when they're talking aboutThe early 4G63s they'll talk about the dog talking on yeahBut yeah right now you're right the D series was the economyYeah version right and of course they put VTech in some of it to make you feel a little sporty in those lower modelsBut the B series was for sure like the shining star. Yeah, and I think it actually
wellThe good B series all started with the accurateIntegra right like the newer the B18 that's what came in theThe DA integrusWell the B16 a right came in the DAIntegra yeah, and then the B8 well that was only on the excess eyes I believe right? Yeah
Yes, absolutely right and then so what you're saying is the B18Came in right yes in the states at least yeah the DA RS and LS right came with a B16Err sorry B18 a1 right, but that's not VTech. So that's why I wouldn't know nothing about it
You know I definitely like I've had you know B18's B16s right andEven a B20 at one point which I'll get into later, but I and and I had like aSingle overhack like a single cam slam, you know like the the turbo D series, you knowSo but the non VTech B series I never necessarilyGot into right, you know because I just wasn't that deep to where I was trying to use this block with this head and you know
Yeah, this sweet motor out of a dog, you know, so yeahBut yeah, you're right. They they did both pretty much both debut and in
Integrate right which was I mean in the states Acre was like theThe higher line I guess you could say so that would come with theThe dual cam B series whereas the Honda equivalents, you know the civics and all that would come with the D whichYeah, I meanThe the lower ends always came with that and so to that pointPretty much the first VTech engine it was the first VTech it's the first generation B16A
These these were what really set everything off right, you knowStarting to come in the E F8 and E F9s, you know the Civic and CRX. Yeah that really started to change things
You know because now we have that top end power and like you know an an actual truePower band as opposed to the non VTech in yeah, single cam and they were coming in cars that wereMore for sport not just economy driving right as well like theThe CRX like that was kind of a rip we're back in the day. Oh, it was the FS IR like yeah
Those are definitely some rippers. Yeah, and I mean to come in these
Little platforms been in all of a sudden have this VTech dual overhead cam. Yeah, no, I'm sure these guys were like oh wow
We better pick these up, but I mean at 158 horsepowerNothing crazy right especially by today's standards. That's like a
Super small car like that's likeI think he has come with more than that. Yeah, so especially with technology so the thing about this though is it had an 8200
RPM rev limiter yeah, and but VTech kicks in at 5500 niceSo, you know, you're getting close to 3000 RPM if you're tacking it all the way out ofVTech and so imagine the guy the first time he hits VTech back in 1989Starts making a bunch of noise. Yeah, he has a little faster
And of course, you know like most of the B16s they either came with an S1 J1 or YS1 which is the LSDtransmission soThey all mostly sharedshared thatAnd then of course, there's the second generation B16A which they made little improvements on but for the most partthe same you know and then of course they come out with the B16 B and
so that that was kind of like theThe next step right especially with the B series the the B16 B was like the first true performance B seriesYeah, would that come in the civic type or right starting with the UK's? Yeah, yeah, so
And and that's like the first the first B series I had was a B16 BAnd you know a little different right like kind of the same a little different, you knowThe original coming with 158 this now puts down 185. Yeah, decent. So I mean
For the same displacement they figured out how to squeeze almost 30 more of us by or out of it. I mean that's pretty decent and so
But with this car you're at a 9,000 rpmRev limiter yeah like you're starting to get into those high numbers and your VTech is engaging at 6100So like a later VTech engagement but a longer span soAnd these came with a helical LSDWhich you know a little more power a little better LSD make senseBut yeah, I mean and of course multiple variations of the B16 it's kind of crazy when you look at it
I think there's 12But then they come out, you know, but then they also come out with a B17Yeah, that was always the odd one. Yeah, for sure you hardly heard of it. Yeah, that came in the the DA
Integrity SRs in the states and yeahYeah, it was weird. It's like
I don't know. It's just like that middle child, I guess never got the attention it like
Yeah, it was kind of rare. I don't think there was that many of those
comparativelyYeah, and I because you really never saw him and they were only made for two years right like which is crazyI think that they had this engine they developed this engine they use it for two years. Yeah, and that's it and so
This thing would have the VTech engaging at 5750 only had 160 horsepower like really nothing crazyYeah, you know what I mean and and are were those specific to the US market likeRepand didn't get those today correct. Yeah, which is kind of weird to us. Well, they're like dude keep that 1.7
Later thing over there. We do even numbers over here, dude. Yeah, exactly
So like you mentioned earlier though when when coming up into the B18 the B18 a isYou know that a core or no, sorry, you didn't say this one, but the original B18 a came inD6 to 89 chords, but these had no VTech right they were super basicIt's more like it was more like a B20 right which it was the CRV motors
And people still try to do stuff with the B20's which I'll get into and like you know get the 2.0 with the and it really never popped off
They'd always just blow upSo yeah, I mean again with the B18's there'sPlenty of non VTech's right. I mean there's always that scale of
base to performance and so sorting through them all is a bit of a challenge becauseYou know for example the B18 B1 right this one was the dual overhead cam non VTechYeah, right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So those came in the 94 to 0101 in Tigras and
This is what they would do the LSV tech with yeah, they would use the bottom end of this and then what a top end of a B16Or so no, no, no, they would you they'd use the type our head for the LSV tech. Yeah, yeah, right
They would use that bottom end and they would useeither head yeahEither the GSR head or the the type R B16 just depending on how how your budget was becauseYeah, I was a little bit more fire remember back in the dayYeah, which makes sense andSo yeah people would do what they could to get VTech even on like blocks or motors thatDidn't even come with it. Yeah, and
I mean like yeah, it sounds like a cool thing because all you have to do is swap the head and then you got to get an ECU andChange a little bit of the wiring and you got to run an oil line for the VTech so annoyed and it was just kind of aYeah, like a jenky kind of right. It was always a backyard type thing
So I feel like that's why they kind of got a bad rap and they were always blowing up becauseIt was kind of the getaway to go about things and people weren't building nice LS V techsI feel I mean there was obviously a few yeah, I'm sure they're out there, you knowBut for the most part it was people Frankenstein and throwing stuff together and kind of half-ass in it and thenWonder why didn't last or yeah for sure back in the day that was a big thing and I'm sure people still do some little things like this but
You know amount of motors out there is diminished. Yeah, absolutely. It's just not quite as easy to be you know messing around with these type of things
Yeah, I mean I remember going to the junkyards and just seeing B series everywhereJust regular LSDude even a few GSRs in back in the day come across one of those at a pull apartYeah, it's not gonna last long do they have the homies over thereYanking it outPut it in a wheelbarrow and it's goneSo when we're talking about B18 of course the infamous B18 C theIntegritype arm motor isLike you know that pinnacle right that's the one you really wanted and that's what you were trying to replicate with an LSV tech or anything else right right so
these thingswere in95 to 2000DC 2 and DBA and take your types are in Japan and take your type ours in Japanwith a200 horsepower197 whateverRating they really bumped it up especially over that B16andsoThis thing will red line out at 8900 which a little less than the B16 but definitely with a bigger stroke
Yeah, but still like that's plenty high yeahandIt doesn't tell me I'm not sure when that be taking gauges, but I'd assume around2000 like the other you know something like thatYeah, I mean and then of course there was the straight-up JDM B18 C which that's what a lot of guys could get yeah, right it waslike the you know type ours little brother so to speakIn you know a little less of a red line a little a little different V-tech engagement
4400 RPM on that one yeah, soYou know it's probably still fun and definitely worth grabbing right yeah, but not quite the level of the B18 CIn the type R right right so yeah, I mean those are like the of course there'sThere's a bunch more B18. Yeah, yeah, usually the USDM ones we got a few different versions of but
The JDM is pretty much just the B18 C in the USDM's we had B18 C1 2 35 was the USDM type R. Yeah, UK DM was C6. Yeah, I mean and
pretty similar right, you knowThese B18s just little small variances whether it was due to emissions or whatever the country ofImport you know requiredYou know the C7 was the New Zealand type RI've heard that one. I know it's just interesting and and then you know to round out the B series. There's the B20 B
and B20 B4 and so these are the CRVOrthea step wagons. Yeah, you know all that type of thing. It's a non V-tech 2.0 liter
You know coming with 140 horsepower like nothing major, you knowRed lining out at 6500 so yeah, it's it's a low compression engine right it doesn't even have a nox sensorIt's just it's that base right right but guys would still try to take those blocks and do because it was a 2 literTechnically it has more boring stroke, so right yeah, I do the same thing with the LSV text dudeThey would take the B20 bottom ends out of the CRVs or you know whatever they could find in the junkyard
throw a V-tech head on it gets the same thing same processes the LS V-tech pretty much andYeah, a lot of them would blow upYeah, of course because you know whether they didn't have the compression or whatever it may beThey were just doing the basic most guys right right there were some guys that were like a next level that were actuallyYeah, absolutely but those were the guysConvincing these other dudes it could be done. Yeah, you know what I mean, but then they don't understand the price
I mean, I even remember back in the day the B20 swap was just kind of like that budgetNot necessarily downgrade not necessarily an upgrade, but likeIf you're in Tagore blue its engine couldn't find a B18 you just throw a B20 in it everything else would bolt up everything would be goodYou'd run it. Yeah, I mean but whenever you start trying to swap heads and do that kind of thing
That's when they got a little weird. Yeah, I mean I
Get it though. You're trying to make do with what you have yeah
You know and so the thing about the B series is that it'sIt's legendary because they consider it for what it is bulletproof. Yeah, you know
And I don't know if anybody's ever seen the video. I hope you have of the D series running on water
And then nothing, you know, they tried to kill this D series for a solid hour and just could not I remember one pointThey had the garden hose and the valve cover dude just feeling the thing and it's still just running running so you knowHonda's are definitelyWell 90s early 2000s Honda's are known for that right they'll they'll run and run and run and these are no differentYou know it they come of course with thealuminum block and and guys are putting six seven horsepower in these aluminum blocks and just
Just moving yeah with it, you know, of course built, but like right right there. They're doing it, you know
I had a92 I think maybe I had itWhen I knew you a 92 the turbo one. Yeah the SIR yeah to the eG hatch from Japan
And this was back in like 2008 or nine andMan is crazy dude like we got 480 horsepower out of that thingon on a stock blog on a16 yeah andLike the stock B 16 that came in it, you know strapped a turbo on it put injectors. Yeah, you know did some little things like that
Basically bolt on stuff right for a dudeDude, yeah, this thing would dash hop from light to light dude like I had toWorked everything down. Oh, yeah man like I couldn't keep tires on that thing. It was it was a wild car and and it loved it
Yeah, no turbo as well on E85 just rip and do yeah, soThat's one of the things, you know beyond the fact that like you know and this doesn't just go for B series, but Honda's period theThat movement back then with the tucking the baseThe square profile of the B series just looks so good in those bays, right?
Like that was like attracted to me. I was like wow like this looks take the timing cover off so you can see the timing
Well, yeah, geezAll right relaxBut yeah, and then of course right the power that you could get out of themI never loved the front-wheel drive thing. Yeah, that was the what I felt like was the limiting factor
But I guess they just weren't built for what I was thinking I wanted you know like I'm trying to go in a straight lineAs fast as I can at that point in front-wheel driveI needed some fatties some big old fatties, but then I would have been snapping axlesSo like you know it it is it is a crazy thing, but I have for sure always love the B seriesAnother quick storyThe thing that got me into Honda's period was we've talked about it before on the podcast his name is Dave Perry
I hope at some point he'll come on to the podcast, butHis story is very emotional and I don't think he's ready to you know do that, butLong story short in the middle of his story he ends up getting thisJDM and Tiger type RThe thing is sick. It's completely mugand out the motors built by mugand
The it can't like they had the mugand stripes on it like every part on this car was mugand and this is in2005Yeah, like this is right after they stopped making himYou know like still a new car still a new car and and this I don't know if it was a mugand demo carI have no clue, but this guy this is my first ride in the right hand drive carI had just graduated high school. It was a summer afterwards. Whatever. Yeah
He brings meThis thing rips 10,000 rpms and just like is singingYeah, and like that had that's when I was like dude Honda's are amazing this thing doesn't even have a turboBut in a car like that VTEC feels like that style power bandSo that really you know that B18 that he had in that car reallyChange the course of like the type of car. Yeah, that I liked at that point because that NA just raw power the NA B series
There's nothing like that soundand yeah, IIn my experience, I've never owned one, but I've driven a few friends anddudeWhenever they're built and they're revving to 10k and you know, you can see thatSee the tack wrap all the way aroundDude, it's just like and it just makes the craziest roll like intake noise dude and just it pulls yeah, and they they pull andThey'd beat a lot of cars in a straight line that you wouldn't really necessarily expect. Yeah, especially back then
You know when you're just getting into it. You're like, oh, it's just the Honda. It's not gonna right can't touch a Mustang
Probably necessarily, but no, dude, right right no dude. It's actually probably can pull a Mustang pretty hard
Yeah, oh, yeah, yeah, you would see that too a lot especially in like the hatchbacks the light hatchbacksYeah, yeah, oh for sureSo it's like you know, and I'm sure you guys even have like a million stories about these type of things right the first time you rode in a built B series andso it's it's pretty crazy becauseLet's just fast forward right 2024 you still haveYou still have guys that are B series only yeah, you still have die hard B series fans
30 plus years after the motor debuted, you know, that's likeyou don't haveWhatever came in my 97 Cavalier you probably don't have that many die hard that motor guyYou know what I'm saying like that 2.0 Chevy John it's kind of like I mean kind of like the old 350 Chevy
That everyone had back in the day. Yeah, you know what I mean? It's kind of like that thing. It's tried and true
Yeah, people love it a lot of people have moved on to the next thingYou know which in that case it'd be L.S. is in this case it'd probably be K series yeah
But that tried and true to still there right you're still making parts. Oh, yeah, yeah, they're still selling parts
Yeah, right. No, you're right. There are guys that still want the 350 even today
Yeah, you know and there are guys that want the B series andI'm one of the guys I would want to be serious to be honest like I've seen I've seen all of theseK series swaps I remember like way back back in 2009 whenBond was swapping a K series into that green eG hatchYeah, and it was just like it's cool, right? It's like orientated the opposite way. It's like this bigger
Different profile motor like yeah, I mean it's sweet, but for me like B series isYeah, I'm the 350 guy. All right. I'm the guy
You know, I'm still running the 350 while you're whipping pass me with a LS right it's understandable, you know, soI figure let's let's talk about you're gonna have to you knowYou're gonna have to take the the K series yeah, I'll take the K and I'm gonna take the B series and we're just going to spit real quickWhat our setup would be lightly what our setup would be and why our setup is betterOkay, like what not necessarily better than each other's but better than a K series or better than a B
Right, so I'm gonna let you go first. Okay, and what would this be going in just like an eK 9 or something like
That yeah, okay the car yeah, let's say eK 9 yeah hatch that would be goodYeah, so K series no, it's not going in a Ford or Skyline to chillWell, that's a whole other thing dude. They make real drive swap kits for K 20s or you know K 20 K 24s and I'd never saw that with B series
Which yeah, that's just the whole different a whole different thing right?
But K 24s. I mean they've been making him since probably O3 I think was the first year O2 or O3 when they started coming in the Accords and
There's just so many of them out there and on top of that they can make very very good power without even you know cracking into the bottom endYeah, like stock bottom end they can for sure they can hold plenty you can slap a turbo kit on that thingAs long as you have enough fuel and you're not getting crazy with the tuning dude you can run four or five hundred horsepower all day depending on the fuelSo so what would you do on your K series? What's your setup that's going to be the beat?
Well, I was also gonna say you could do crazy in a builds as well like they got some crazy head packages. I've seen out there that
You know they makeOver 300 I believe in a which is kind of insaneBut I would probably want to do one of those do some crazy high compression in a build with some ITBsandDude let it rip. I mean, I'm sure of it sound
Absolutely insane. Yeah, I bet it would
It's cool. So we're both going the same way with this got it
Got it. This is not this is not rehearsed
Yes, I guess I'm putting toda ITBsYeah, I'm putting yeah high compression. Yes pistons
Crank you name it. We're getting down to the nitty gritty. I'm basically rebuilding this dude's mucin fucking B series because that thing like
I never felt NA car like that before and granted. I'm like 18 like all horned up like
You know, but and maybe it a lot of it was just the situation, but right. I've always loved
The sound of an NA B series just like dude. Oh my gosh. It's like it literally is like music
Like you hear that thing ripping around the track and it's just this raw sound that is not like a turbo car at allRight, you know, definitely not like a turbo car, right? Which yeah turbo cars are sweet, but like
Yeah, when you can turn 10,000 RPM on a 1.8 or whatever leader motor
Yeah, like yeah, you're you're getting close to motorcycle level. Yeah, right realistically, you know, so
Yeah, I mean, I don't think there's a better one. I think there's it depends on the application, right? Yeah, how much money you want to spend?
I mean, I think at this day and age like dollar for dollar you could make more powerreliablyjust becauseJust to buy the engine itself. You're spending way less whereas
B16 swap nowadays like tonsLike a RB 26 prices. Yeah, they're getting close. Yeah, it's freaking crazy. Yeah, it's crazy
The man it is wild just how much they disappeared and we didn't even realize it was happening while it's happeningYeah, I mean, I think I'm probably guilty for one of them get scrapped, you know, so yeah, I mean that is toughBut I agree 100% today 2024 if you don't got the money and you're not trying to be nostalgic. Yeah, of course like I mean
Yeah, even if you splurge for a K20Like I mean a 2.0 NA is going to stop at 1.8 unless you got some magic tricks
Yeah, like there's like you're gonna have to be friggin throwing oil out the backWhat it should probably would be anyways is a B series, but you know like it did I it's the case series is aPure motor overall and in that makes sense, you know with timeHonda's engineers had to get better, right, you know, not just regulatory wise, but justTo kind of step up what they were doing. Right. Stay challenged. Exactly, but still at the end of the day
Nothing beats that B series and like an EK engine bayIt's nice and clean get the red wrinkle valve coverVery awesome. Yeah, even factory. They look great. You did that's just very hard to beat
So I can see both sides of it too. Mm-hmm 100% so we're all for it. We're loving it
You know it might shit case series might start coming in Nissan's pretty quick hereWe might be loving them a little moreBut yeah, man if you guys have anything like hit us up in the DMsLet us know what you're thinking give us some feedback suggestionsAnything just say what's up. We're down to do it
Of course you can find us on the socials at our HD to UISBut man, we're loving the B series like K series is the new rage, but B series is a classic and sometimes you just got to be that guyCan't beat it absolutely for episode 113I'm Bobby. This is Aaron. See ya peace
Peace.
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