valve and piston advice, plz

[Sir Kyle]

I’m about to be Installing cams with springs and retainers. Before I do I wanted to find out if spending money on aftermarket valves is worth the money. I’m not going hardcore on the motor but I am building the valve train just to raise the redline. So is aftermarket actually better than Hondas? There is only 30,000 miles on the car now.
Also I’m keeping it all-motor and I want to keep it OEM and use the Type S pistons. How mush power can I actually get out of those.

[spiffyguido]

All of your questions really depend on application.

The cam that you choose will have a big impact on which valves are appropriate. Honda valves are exceptionally high quality (like all things Honda), but it is possible to get lighter/stronger ones made out of more expensive alloys (Titanium).

If you cam is going to have a very agressive profile you may need to upgrade the valves and especially the springs to combat "valve dwell" at high RPM. Steep cam angles with high rpm are what lead to broken valves. If you think that your cam is going to be pushing the valves/springs hard, you'd be wise to upgrade. There are formulas for calculating this I believe. I could provide more info from a book I have at home if you would like.

All motor is a sweet way to go, and I like that you're going OEM as well. I won't comment on the potential power gains as this is next to impossible to do. You know the bottom line though: anything you can do to get the fuel/air mixture into the engine more efficiently will almost always help.

If you're going to be building an engine for really high RPM, don't neglect the need for other changes. Rods/pins/pistons undergo huge tensile loads in high rpm running. Be sure that you're not pushing them too hard. Also, bearings and the overall balance of your engine become increasingly important as engine speed ramps up. The last thing you want is a spun bearing at high rpm. Make sure your bottom end is healthy too.

Also, make sure that your oil pump is up to the challenge of feeding the engine at high rpm. Some pumps cavitate when they move too fast, and you don't want one of the pistons to be starving for lubrication.

[Sir Kyle]

Thanks, ya thats pretty much what I was thinking too I just wanted someone else to say it. Haha. I dont want to be turning RPMs like a B series, I just want to be able to hit 8 grand safely. Do you think I could do that with out building the bottom end? I want to say yes but thats pushin it. I think I'll do all the head work and just put in some bigger fuel injectors and tune with a AFC. The closest dyno is more than 100 miles from me thanks for your help.

[spiffyguido]

It will really depend on the health of your engine. 8 grand should be achievable if all is in good order, but be careful.

If you're looking for all-motor power, there are lots of other things you can do. If you're going to have the head off the car, take the time to do some port-matching, cylinder roof polishing, exhaust port polishing, etc. Every bit helps. I'm in the process right now of port-matching a B20A5 engine.

[CADster]

It will really depend on the health of your engine. 8 grand should be achievable if all is in good order, but be careful.

i doubt it.....honda put a 7200 hard rpm limit on the engine for a reason.

to be honest, the motor will grenade at 8k.
but, if you spend a boatload of money on super heavy duty parts and lots of machine shop work it may stay together for a little while.
the b20a is a torque block, not a high strung torque-less b16 that will rev to the sky. build the engine to take advantage of its torque band and you will be very pleased.

[Sir Kyle]

Thanks for the input man. Thing is Im talking about an H22. I have a 5th gen not a 3rd. I recently met a guy on another forum that built a 300+ whp H22 that peaked at about 9 grand.

[spiffyguido]

As said before, 8 grand is attainable. I've seen this done too, and with a quality bottom end, you'll have no trouble in an H22 spinning at that speed.

[CADster]

agreed.

i must of crossed threads or something, i thought the talk was about the b20a