Tuning the Honda B16

"Comprehensive guide to performance tuning the Honda B16 engine!"

Now we will detail the best approach to B16 tuning and provide tips on the greatest mods that work. Honda B16 make awesome project engines and with carefully picked tuning upgrades like remaps, turbo kits and camshafts you will greatly increase your driving enjoyment.

The ultimate B16 mods on an engine are sensibly the ones that give the biggest return for your cash.

We won't be swayed by popular B16 mods, they need to be cost effective.

Significant gains on the B16 can be made from camshaft upgrades. Altering the camshaft profile alters the intake and exhaust durations on the engine and can dramatically change the power band and power output.

NB: Fast road camshafts commonly increase the power across the rev range, you may lose a little bottom end torque but the top end will improve.

Motorsport camshafts, increase the top end band but as a result the car will not idle smoothly and low end power nearly always suffers.

In a road car must carefully try to match your engines power to your preferences.

I would be surprised if you find a B16 Motorsport and race camshaft is a pleasure to live with when on the daily commute.

Different B16 engines respond better to less aggressive cam durations so set your engine up on a rolling road.

The engine timing and fuelling also have an effect on the torque gains you'll achieve.

Extending exhaust or intake durations can alter the torque band and on most engines the exhaust and intake durations do not need to match, although most cams and tuners use matched pairs there are some advantages to extending the intake or exhaust durations.

Stage 1 modifications: Fast road camshaft, Drilled & smoothed airbox, Remaps/piggy back ECU, Sports exhaust manifold, Intake headers, Panel air filters.

Stage 2 modifications: fuel pump upgrades, Ported and polished head, induction kit, Sports catalyst & performance exhaust, high flow fuel injectors, Fast road cam.

Stage 3 modifications: Engine balancing & blueprinting, Twin charging conversions, Internal engine upgrades (head flowing porting/bigger valves), Crank and Piston upgrades to alter compression, Adding or Upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Competition cam.

Mapping will help unlock the full potential of all the tuning parts you've fitted to your B16.

It will usually give around 30% more power on turbocharged vehicles and you can expect to see around 15% on NASP engines, but the end result will differs on the tuning parts you've fitted and the condition of your engine.

Pulling more air into each cylinder is vital to any engine performance tuning task.

Air Intake manifolds flow the air from the intake filter and allow it to be pulled into the engine cylinders with fuel for the squish phase.

The bore size, shape and rate of flow of the Headers can make a substantial improvement to fuel mixing and power on the B16.

Commonly we find the intake headers are ripe for motorsport parts, although some makers provide reasonably well designed intake headers.

Fitting big valve kits, getting port work and head flowing will also increase torque, and importantly will raise potential for increasing the torque increase on other parts.

Turbo upgrades

NASP engines need quite a lot of work when you add a turbo, so we have a separate guide to help you take into account the pros and cons of going this route on your B16

The more air you can get into an engine, the more fuel it can burn and uprating the induction with a turbocharger upgrade makes impressive power gains.

When the engine has forced induction upgrades are going to make more power and turbo engines are made with many forged and stronger components.

However you will find an engines have weakspots

See where you'll find these limits and fit better pistons and crank to survive the power.

We see many guys spending a loads on turbo charger upgrades on the B16 only to suffer the humiliation of seeing the B16 catastrophically fail just after it's finished.

Big capacity turbo units commonly experience no power at low rpm, and smaller turbo units spool up more quickly but won't have the high rpm power band gains.

Thankfully the selection of turbo chargers is always developing and we commonly find variable vane turbo chargers, allowing the vane profile is altered according to speed to lower lag and increase top end torque.

Twin scroll turbo chargers divert the exhaust flow into 2 channels and feed these at differently angled vanes in the turbocharger. They also improve the scavenging effect of the engine.

It is common that there is a limit in the air flow sensor AFM/MAP on the B16 when a lot more air is being drawn into the engine.

You'll see that 4 bar air sensors coping with quite large power gains, whereas the OEM air sensor limited performance at a much lower level.

Adding a supercharger or additional turbo will make large bhp and torque gains, although more difficult to get working. We have this feature on twinchargers if you want to read more.

Fuelling upgrades and mods

When you improve the power you will need to ramp up to the fuel delivery.

More power needs more fuel. We would recommend you to over specify your injector capacity.

The accepted safe increase is to add 20% when specifying an injector, this takes into account injector deterioration and provides a bit of spare capacity should the engine require more fuel.

We think this one is common sense, but you'll need to match your fuel injector to the type of fuel your car uses as well.

Exhaust upgrades and mods

You only need to to replace your exhaust if your current exhaust is creating a restriction in flow.

On most factory exhausts you'll see the exhaust flow rate is good even on modest power gains, but when you start pushing up the power levels you will need to get a better flowing exhaust.

Don't go with the largest exhaust you can get you'll reduce the exhaust flow rate - the best exhausts for power gains are usually between 1.5 to 2.5 inches. It is the shape and material more than the bore size.

Common exhaust restrictions are in the catalyst and filters installed, so adding a better flowing race alternative will help avoid this restriction.

Weak spots, Issues & common problem areas on the B16

The B16 engines are generally extremely reliable and solid as long as they are regularly serviced and maintained. Problems and weakspots are thankfully unheard of if the car is well maintained and looked after.

Regular oil changes are vital on the B16, particularly when the engine has been modified and is putting down more power than the manufacturer intended.

Camshaft seals can leak, they have been known to burn oil, especially if not properly serviced and looked after.

Keep an eye out for idle issues, these are usually down to the TPS or IAC valves.

History of the B16 Engine

B16A (First Generation) VTEC

Power: MT: 172 PS (127 kW; 170 hp) at 7400 rpm & 157 Nm (116 lbft) at 7000

B16B (Type R) DOHC VTEC

• 1997–2001 Civic Type R

Power: 185 PS (182 bhp; 136 kW) at 8,200 rpm

B16A1 DOHC VTEC

CRX'1.6 DOHC VTEC (EE8) - European market (EDM)
Civic'1.6 DOHC VTEC(EE9) - European market (EDM)

Power: 150 hp (112 kW; 152 PS) at 7600 rpm

B16A2DOHC VTEC

1992-2000 Honda Civic EDM VTi (EG6/EG9 & EK4)
1992-1997 Honda Civic del Sol EDM VTi (EG)
1996-1997 Honda Civic del Sol VTEC USDM (EG2)
1996-1998 Honda Civic AUDM & NZDM Vti-R (EK4)
1999-2000 Honda Civic AUDM Vti-R (EM1)
1999-2000 Honda Civic USDM Si (EM1)
1999-2000 Honda Civic SiR Philippines (EK4 sedan)
1999-2000 Honda Civic CDM SiR (EM1)

Power: 160 hp (119 kW; 162 PS) at 7,600 rpm & 111 lbft (150 Nm) at 6,500 rpm

B16A3 DOHC VTEC

1994-1995 Del Sol VTEC USDM VERSION

Power: 160 hp (119 kW; 162 PS) at 7,600 rpm & 111 lbft (150 Nm) at 6700 rpm

B16A5 VTEC

1996-2000 Civic Si-RII (JDM version) (EK4)

Power: 174 hp (130 kW; 176 PS) at 7800 rpm & 150 Nm (111 lbft) at 6300 rpm

B16A6 VTEC

1996-2000 Civic Si-RII (JDM version) (EK4)

Power: 174 hp (130 kW; 176 PS) at 7800 rpm & 150 Nm (111 lbft) at 6300 rpm

For more information on Tuning your Honda engine please join us in our friendly forum where you can discuss B16 tuning options in more detail with our B16 owners. It would also be worth reading our unbiased Honda tuning articles to get a full grasp of the benefits and drawbacks of each modification.

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This article is flagged for an update, so please pass on specific tips below that I can include. All articles, and content was written by me, Waynne Smith TorqueCars founder. Some outlines are just too general so I appreciate your feedback and suggestions. This entry was filed under Acura, Honda. You can leave a response below or join our forum to discuss this article and car modification in detail with our members.

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