Yes, it is illegal to use that head on a ITC motor since it is used in the soon-to-be-reclassed ITB cars (classed in ITA till the end of the year).

And yes it does make alot more power than the CVCC head.

Also very easy to catch cheaters without pulling the head since the p/n is cast on a visible surface (same is true for illegal Canadian heads).

Both OPM and King Motorsports offer 'IT' cylinder head prep services for these older Honda heads. There are probably others. Any decent, reputable foreign car shop with machining services should be able to go thru your head and skim it, replace the guides, recut the seats to factory specs, and replace the valves/seals. Additionally, what the good prep shops (like the two I listed) will do is port matching, and also legally optimize the valve grind angles in order to make the most power. This is where experience and attention to detail provided by thoses shops payoff. A good, legal valve grind is the biggest key to making good power with those heads.

Boneyards are still the best bet for used heads, but most 'good' heads are snapped up since the motors are 'interference' type and you bend the valves if the timing belt breaks, which usually happens because the car owners don't feel like following the scheduled maintenance, so when they bend the valves, it is usually cheaper to throw a junkyard head on the motor with zero prep vs tearing down a head to replace the damaged valves. If you get lucky, you might find a head with bent valves to be used as a decent core.

Also....DO NOT advance the ignition timing too much!!! You will either get lucky and only melt the spark plugs, or else you'll get screwed and melt the prechamber turning the head into a door stop.

BTW - A tip I learned from the Rivergate guys was to use Champion N2C's (designed for small scooter engines). These have a much, much cooler heat range than the stock NGK plug and they work very well in the CVCC engine and best of all, they are about $0.99 a piece at Wally World The only precaution is that because they are a very cold plug, it's easy to foul the plugs on a very cold, damp morning but they generally clear up once the car has warmed up.

[This message has been edited by Greg Gauper (edited December 06, 2004).]