Can I get a set of wheels and tires into an EK3 Civic, and other Honda questions

So, apparently I don't like being without a Honda. Oh well.

I've been tempted by the occasional EK Civic hatchback, and I've been wondering if I can actually get a set of wheels and tires in the back of one? I seem to regularly miss out on autumn/winter/spring track days due to the weather, and a lot of times this could be easily solved by using a car that I can carry a set of track wheels in. And the usual gear to change them obivously.

Oh, and what's the idea behind putting a B16 head on a B18C (Integra GSR) block?

I can't imagine why not. I got a full set of tires into a Prelude, and I can only imagine the Civic having a better cargo area than that.

With the rear seatbacks folded flat (when it still had the rear seats in it) I can fit a set of four tires my Escort sedan track car. You ought to be able to do the same in a Civic. BTW, if you don't have one yet, your paddock tire changing will be blessedly easier if you will get a good battery powered impact wrench, with 2 spare batteries (make sure all three a FULLY charged before you leave the house ).

Yes, easily. If you tilt the rear seats forward so the back rests are straight up and down you can usually fit 4 standing up next to each other, depending on the width.

No real reason for a b16a head on a b18c block, as both are already vtec, but lots of people put the b16 head on the non vtec b18b block.

BoxheadTim wrote: Oh, and what's the idea behind putting a B16 head on a B18C (Integra GSR) block?

They call that a "Poor Man's ITR". The Type R used the PA3 head that the B16 uses (People think it has better flow than the GSR head, flowbenches seem to say otherwise). Problem is, it also drops compression down, which isn't a problem if you are going to boost.

Couple advantages to the PR3 head -- one, and this probably isn't relevant anymore, is that there were a whole bunch of them imported from Japan that had low miles. In my case, I bought an imported B16, did some head work, and later grabbed a B18C block to put underneath it. Two, you can ditch the heavy/complicated GSR intake manifold with it's dual runners and run one of the many cheap ITR clones. Or heck, certain stock B16 manifolds are known to make good mid-range power, that's what I ran.

But if you already have a P72 head in good shape, it makes little sense to swap it to a PR3.

I've easily put a set of race tires in my CRX and EF Civic hatch, so I would think you could.

Thanks everybody for the info. I'll try to have a look at a local EK then that seems to have mostly higher quality mods other than what seems to be cheap coilovers:

https://reno.craigslist.org/cto/5349495045.html

Comments appreciated, as usual.

I don't think there's anything wrong with the car you linked. The mods are pretty minimal. I think that suspension is junk? But you can sell it to recoup the cost of a real suspension. Do you have emissions out there?

Yes you can definitely fit a set of wheels back there. And a bunch of other stuff on top of it.

In reply to moparman76_69:

Well, I do have the beard...

clutchsmoke wrote: I don't think there's anything wrong with the car you linked. The mods are pretty minimal. I think that suspension is junk? But you can sell it to recoup the cost of a real suspension. Do you have emissions out there?

No emissions in the county where the car is, none where I live. However unless the car is BARD'd, there is a pretty small market for it as you can't sell it in CA without the appropriate sticker. If I happen to like the car, that might be part of the price discussion .

From what I read the suspension is basically cheap coilovers, but if I get the car for the right price, I can afford to throw some KWs on it with some other suspension mods.

That looks like a fairly nice car from the ad. The price it not terrible either especially if it is a well dome swap. I wouldn't mind having it at all.

Looked at it today. The swap looks rather well done actually, with high quality parts. Drives fine, but I felt it was a bit lacking in power - no VTECYOKICKEDIN between idle and 7k rpm and for something that should have at least 150whp it felt a bit slow. So from that perspective it's hard to tell if the VTEC works at all.

Oddities - it has an Integra GS-R P72 ECU, but nobody knows if it's been modded or not. Apparently if you rev it to about 7500, the CEL comes on. Didn't experience it for myself as the seller asked me to keep the revs below that.

Overall I liked it, but I'm not quite ready for a "shut up and take my money" move.

It could be that they messed up the vtec head swap and didn't do the little vtec oil solenoid thingy. Not a huge deal to do, but probably the culprit. My EK civic hatch with a non vtec B18 swap felt kinda quick, but nothing magical. With vtec it would have been a hoot.

The VTEC solenoid should engage at 4400 rpms, if it's revving to 7500 and throwing a code it's most likely a VTEC solenoid or pressure sensor code. The VTEC system is pretty bulletproof, the solenoid has 1 wire going to it and as long as you have adequate oil pressure it should just work. Most likely it's a problem with the wiring/ECU, some condition not being met that will allow VTEC operation. But if not, it could be a sign of an expensive problem. Since it's a VTEC head on a VTEC block, there's really nothing they could have messed up in the swap unless they accidentally plugged the VTEC oil passages (possible if the head was previously used on an LS/VTEC setup and nobody noticed.)

moparman76_69 wrote: