Went the low budget all motor route on my last na and i loved every minute of it. I had a stock 02 bottom end, 97 head with supertech valve springs, custom coldside intake and custom exhaust all o.n the stock ecu. I made 112 rwhp and the car ripped. I plan on doing that again with a 90-93

 

Cool. 6-7whp less than a competitive 1.6 liter Spec Miata, and proof that most people who build NA motors are morons.

 

+1.... my "stock" 1.6 makes 118rwhp.... real great power out of your build man.

 

throttle response > power

meh, I need a motot either way and I'm not dropping $4k on a turbo and $1500 on a motor.

 

The best I pulled NA w/ MS was about 35mpg avg 75mpg over 300miles. Including a food stop.

Only changes was a deep DIY air dam, COPs, 2 1/2" cat and cat back, bike mufflers, and a bit of lightness. The motor hadn't been opened.

I'd imagine adding the compression and a lean tune should get you closer to 40. Driven normally, not like gramps.
--Alex

 

Wrong car, wrong motor for high MPG.

I had a 97 Civic HX (lean burn VTEC-E motor), which got 37 mpg if I drove it gently on the freeway cruising at 75-80 mph. It never got less than 27 mpg city driving with a lead foot. With sways, springs, shocks and select poly bushings the car handled great and was fun to drive.

 

what if you welded one each of the intake/exhaust valves closed and ran oversized on the others...

 

it wasnt a "built" na motor by any means. it was cheap enough and the throttle response was awesome. I know how to build a proper na motor if i had the funds to do so . no need for the name calling.

 

 

Not gonna happen on a B6 or BP. Honda's combustion chamber and port geometry is much more conducive to burning lean (almost stratified) mixtures efficiently. Not to mention the fact that the mild lobe on their VTEC camshaft provides way higher dynamic compression, thus allowing even leaner mixtures.

If you want efficiency throw out the BP and put in a D15 or D16 Honda. It'll also get you that elusive 40/60 weight distribution the MR2 guys enjoy.

 

It's pretty sad, really. The B6 and BP engines just can't compete in n/a form. While reading this thread I kept saying to myself, "honda engine". Gary@trackdogracing is in the process of building a high comp. n/a motor. By "in the process", i mean who the hell knows when he'll finish it.

It's pretty hard to beat the budget n/a setup that emilio is running.

Some of you guys have seen my build thread. My track car is pretty fast for what it is and it allows the driver to drive at 10/10ths, like a spec miata. It's pretty rewarding to make tiny changes and see slight car improvements and large driving improvements. Driver is still everything.