B18 bearings color & #code... vw guy..duh..

[Lael Cleland]

Hi, I am building a B18b1 acura engine for my friend, easy till the bearing selection... On a VW we run the loose side of specs, never any wear on crank, but this Honda has 4 different OD standard bearings.... plus 4 different ID std.... If we are reading it right there is 16 possibilities.... just for the rods....
This is an stu engine, eagle rods, JE pistons, ARP every thing.... Last year the oil temp started creeping up, and then so did the coolant temp.....

If anyone knows of a good machine shop in the mid west with Honda experience, let me know...I have a Corvette shop do my VW blocks & cranks, but I don't feel comfortable with a Honda, not to over see their work... This is not a VW, or a SBC...
Thanks!

[JIgou]

Lael, do you consider Wisconsin to be "in the midwest"?

Bob Roth (was partners with Volante in that white Acura we had around the last couple of years) has a guy there who knows Honda stuff. Let me know if you want me to start the ball rolling on getting y'all together.

[joeg]

Don't mess with the Honda specs for bearings.

[Chip42]

Don't mess with the Honda specs for bearings.

certainly not the traditional performance engine builder's route, but I'd agree 99% of the time for hondas that factory dims are good enough, even for an ST build.

FWIW there are resources online that list the dimensions of factory bearings by color code (rod and crank bearings might not have the same thickness dimensions for the same color). I don't think the differences are small enough to give you the clearance you want without possibly giving you too much, at least based on nominals and tolerances of the 3 coded dimensions (ID/OD/ bearing). If you wanted to buy a boatload of bearings and measure them out for yourself, then that's a different story - but at that point you might as well have the block, rods, and crank worked and install your favorite aftermarket bearings.

[mc-integra111]

If anyone knows of a good machine shop in the mid west with Honda experience, let me know...

Midwest is a big area. I use AutoMachine in Batavia, IL (Chicago burb). They are a muscle car shop mostly, but do a fair amount of Honda's and have never let me down.

King Motorsports in New Berlin, WI (Outside of Milwaukee) is the regional expert in racing Hondas.

[Lael Cleland]

Cool Thanks Guys! I am going to have the crank polished and start over, measure the rods and calculate the correct brgs... its just time I don't have right now to re-learn honda engines...