V-TEC power, what do you think??? Options

[mattillac]

anybody heard of a V-TEC conversion for the 914. KEP could probably come up with an adapter if he doesn't have one already. but, will a front drive motor work with a rear drive tranny? does the crankshaft spin in the same direction? anyone hear of any other front drive engine conversions? my 914 deserves more power than i can afford to get out of my type 4 motor. for the cost of nickies and upright cooling and head work, etc. i could have a turbo vtec setup.

fire away... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ar15.gif)

[soloracer]

Brett,

I'm hardly as "ignorant" as you suggest - just as I'm sure your ego won't lead you to believe you are the definitive source of all engine knowledge. In your original post you were throwing out some big numbers from Honda engines like they were common place. If our friend is interested in getting a reliable, under 200 hp engine and will keep it stock then by all means get the Honda. However, it sounds like a big reason for his getting the Honda is he is hooked up with an aftermarket parts supplier. This line of thinking seems to me like he is choosing the motor more for performance than for reliability. In my opinion the reason he gave (aftermarket parts supplier) is a really poor reason to go with the Honda engine because most of the aftermarket engine bolt on stuff for Honda's is geared towards the ricer and has limited power potential for what you pay. Additionally, which someone else brought up, a lot of the parts are car specific - not engine specific - and may not fit in a 914.

My suggestion was to start with something that had more potential for the same money. In response to your "HP is never cheap" comment I would like to note that HP is cheaper in some engines than others. Case in point is the Type IV engine. It costs big dollars to get more out of it. Now take a good ol' chevy 350 and drop the same amount of money in it and you'll see much larger gains.

As for my Prelude it was a 1990 SR - 140 hp stock. I went around the track here with an instructor in a Honda Civic Si and it was a blast. I then had him drive my Prelude and we were able to keep up with another instructor in an M3 through the corners which blew me away. Of course on the straights we got dusted pretty bad. The point is the Honda can be fun to drive like you say. However, most of the "ricer" guys aren't going to drive at the track like you do. Most "ricers" are poseurs - a large percentage of which are Honda guys - who bolt shit on and think they are now comparable to a corvette, viper, M3, 911, etc. They also spout of the virtues of V-TEC like it's a the end all be all. Honda has done a good job of marketing their product quoting some impressive power figures but what people don't pay attention to is that peak HP is not the answer. Having the most useable horsepower and torque through the broadest powerband is more important. Who cares if the engine spikes to 200 hp for a span of 200 rpm if the for the previous 4500 rpm it's below 130? Muellers VR6 swap make more sense to me than the Honda.