Adventure CRV ongoing build

hondadude

Instagram profile @dahlenadventures
What VTEC head? Would you have a way to tune it? Keep in mind the b20's don't like rpms and that's what makes VTEC fun. With the stock head you have low end torque (if you consider Honda's torquey, lol), with the VTEC head your power is going to be at the top end. Not really the best place for your power off-road. No personal experience with b20's just points I've seen people touch on when researching for a build when I was considering a crv. Either way look forward to your updates. I'm a long time honda fan and love seeing what people do with them, especially here where people actually take them off pavement.

It is true that vtec is better at high end power but the vtec head would have better flow overall as well. Again im still not sure if i will do the head swap but its a possibility. Wouldnt have to tune much but would be best to tune just to get the best performance as i could. I'm a big fan of Honda too! Doesnt help that I'm a tech at honda as well haha! They sure arent leaders on this kind of stuff but its fun to seenwhat they can do.
 

shenrie

^^^ hates cars
The long runners from the crazy looking intake is supposedly where the b20 gets enough air to utilize the bigger displacement and produce the low end grunt. Personally I'd put the head on if I had it sitting around cause it would make the pavement time that much more fun and you're really not gonna rock crawl a crv.

I wouldn't do it without at least a afc tune or maybe a crome tune though if you have the resources. Easy to gain a bit more hp and mpg's and make sure afr's are exactly where they need to be for max engine life. You can dl a basic crvtec tune for crome and get it damn close to where it needs to be. I just had a friend do our car and it made a pretty noticeable difference over a stock ecu. Next time I'm in the same town as him we're gonna put a wideband on it as dial it the rest of the way in. Plus he added a cel shift light and launch control. Not really needed for the car but it's fun little crap to play with.
 

hondadude

Instagram profile @dahlenadventures
The long runners from the crazy looking intake is supposedly where the b20 gets enough air to utilize the bigger displacement and produce the low end grunt. Personally I'd put the head on if I had it sitting around cause it would make the pavement time that much more fun and you're really not gonna rock crawl a crv.

I wouldn't do it without at least a afc tune or maybe a crome tune though if you have the resources. Easy to gain a bit more hp and mpg's and make sure afr's are exactly where they need to be for max engine life. You can dl a basic crvtec tune for crome and get it damn close to where it needs to be. I just had a friend do our car and it made a pretty noticeable difference over a stock ecu. Next time I'm in the same town as him we're gonna put a wideband on it as dial it the rest of the way in. Plus he added a cel shift light and launch control. Not really needed for the car but it's fun little crap to play with.

Haha! Definitely not a rock crawler though that would never be my plan. Even thought its a bit more I'm thinking i might do a hondata system for tuning. Love their datalogging system and bluetooth on the newer one which allows for live data and such. Yeah the intake with the chamber does make for better torque. I'd probably do a type R intake or similar to keep for better flow and bit longer runners. Lots of ideas but will see what happens. Want to make a sleeping platform as well as other adventure rig goodies too. Will be updating this as often as i can.
 

shenrie

^^^ hates cars
Ya hard to beat hondata, but you pay the premium. Imma cheapskate so hondata isn't really an option for me, but a crv that had the high rpm wail of a gsr would be pretty damn cool. Wife and I built an awd gsr wagon back in 02. It wasn't the fastest car I've built, but definitely one of the funnest. I'll stay tuned for updates.
 

jeep-N-montero

Expedition Leader
There is a CRV I see at work that has the OME springs/shocks and looks like it should have been made that way from the factory.
 

h4rdflip

Observer
You could always get a B20 vtec balance to handle the high rpm, Ive seen b20 bottom end spin pas 10 K but if you wanna really take advantage of high rpm with a lil extra torque, I find using a stock b18a and b18b crank and rods in a B18C block way better, you can also find b18c short block already sleeved for decent price . B18C 86mm sleeve, b18a/b crank/rod, high comp pistons with like skunk 2 level 2 head and you got yourself a lil NA beast or there's always H2B options. Im currently rebuilding a few b series myself since they are so cheap to play with and Id sure like to get a turbo setup going but will see what the budget allows.
 

hondadude

Instagram profile @dahlenadventures
You could always get a B20 vtec balance to handle the high rpm, Ive seen b20 bottom end spin pas 10 K but if you wanna really take advantage of high rpm with a lil extra torque, I find using a stock b18a and b18b crank and rods in a B18C block way better, you can also find b18c short block already sleeved for decent price . B18C 86mm sleeve, b18a/b crank/rod, high comp pistons with like skunk 2 level 2 head and you got yourself a lil NA beast or there's always H2B options. Im currently rebuilding a few b series myself since they are so cheap to play with and Id sure like to get a turbo setup going but will see what the budget allows.

It would be great to do that stuff but i dont have lots of money to buy all kind of engine stuff. Thats why id probably do a vtec head swap on the engine i have. From what ive researched on the H swaps is i would lose power steering and possibly a/c which would suck. Still want it to be reliable but more power would be great. We’ll see what i end up doing.
 

hondadude

Instagram profile @dahlenadventures
Cool front bumper! Is that a JDM piece?

Thanks

Thanks! Yeah its a jdm option. Didnt have the brackets which i had to fab up but that wasnt too bad. And wired up the fogs as they would be factory. Its nice to have something a little different from all the other CRVs that are out there.
 

h4rdflip

Observer
I hear you there, perhaps selling your vtec head to get a complete b18c with the matching ECU would be the best bet I think then, I need to sell my G35 to finance the rally CRV project... booourn.
 

3-dogs

New member
So maybe I missed it, but is yours auto or 5speed? I have an auto that I'm planning on doing some stuff to make it a weekend warrior car as it is also my daily driver and I like the extra gas mileage. It seems that just about everybody hates the autos from what I can find on the internet, but I haven't had too many troubles with it.
 

Martinjmpr

Wiffleball Batter
It would be fun to see what kind of little buggy could be built with a used little crossover like this. Put a max budget of maybe $3000 and see what you could come up with. CR-V, RAV-4, Escape, etc. Lots of them around and most are dirt cheap.
 

hondadude

Instagram profile @dahlenadventures
So maybe I missed it, but is yours auto or 5speed? I have an auto that I'm planning on doing some stuff to make it a weekend warrior car as it is also my daily driver and I like the extra gas mileage. It seems that just about everybody hates the autos from what I can find on the internet, but I haven't had too many troubles with it.

Mine is a manual. It's one of the reasons I jumped on it. I'm just a big manual guy but I do know quite a few people with autos and still love them. The down side to manual is if you try to do much actual off roading is you could burn up your clutch if you're not careful. On the other hand pushing your auto can also be bad.
 

shenrie

^^^ hates cars
^^^ if youre ever in eastern Oregon i would love to meet up and see what that thing can do offroad. I'm on the fence about building a crv or just finishing my wagon. the true viscous coupler and sl gear along with much beefier rear axles keeps me from getting to motivated about building a crv. then i get in one and absolutely love all the room and (more) modern amenities (cc, pwr locks/windows, etc) compared to my itty bitty pos 89 wagon.
 

h4rdflip

Observer
If you have civic wagon awd you might be sitting on a lil gold nugget, these are really hard to find now so perhaps you could make some extra money selling if you wish to for a CRV.
 

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