By now most of you know that if you own a 99/00 Civic Si you can easily swap a B18C5 short block into your car. What some of you might not know is what is all need to complete this swap. What I’m going to try and do is give everyone a guide on what parts you need, with part numbers for what should be replace and what you might want to consider replacing or upgrading along the way.

First things first, you need a new B18C5 short block. How can you get one and what the hell is a short block???? A short block is a complete lower assembly, more to come on that. Were do I get one……..start calling your local Acura dealers. Call around, call dealers in different states, you need to shop around because some dealers make them up and some don’t.

What all comes with a B18C5 short block. You get the block with crank, rods, pistons, oil pump, oil pan, oil cooler, water pump and driver side engine mount (one that is attached to the block and not the sub frame). Everything comes assembled.

There are a few items that you need to finish the block.

First thing you will need is the water pipe that is on the backside of the motor, just above the oil filter. This water pipe is needed to work with the OEM oil cooler that comes with the ITR block. This oil cooler is not found on the USDM B16 found in the 99/00 Sis and this is why your water pipe off the B16 block will not work. Remember to order the O-Rings found on the ends of the water pipe.

You also need the hoses going to and from the oil cooler. One hose goes from the block to the oil cooler and then one from the oil cooler to the water pipe. Don’t for get to order hose clamps too.

This is what you need;

Name____Part #______quantity
Note: part numbers are for a 2000 ITR

Connecting pipe #19505-PR3-000 qt.1
O-Ring (31.2x4.1) # 91314-PH7-003 qt.2
Oil Cooler Hose, IN #19422-PR3-000 qt.1
Oil Cooler Hose, OUT #19423-PR3-000 qt.1
Hose clamp (18.7mm) #19512-PC6-003 qt.4

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What’s next?????? Lets talk timing belt and covers.

Because the B18C5 block is taller then the B16A2 block you will need different timing belt and timing belt covers for a perfect and clean fit.

Ok, I know I can’t use my B16 timing belt because it’s to short but what about the timing belt covers??? If you use them will have a gap between the upper cover and lower cover, and some small gaps on the backside of the inner cover. You want to keep dirt and other crap out from the timing belt area so do the proper thing and order new covers.

There is one thing I noticed about the stock Si crank pulley. In the Si Helms manual it shows two washers on each side of the crank pulley gear. Now if you go look at a 98 Helms manual for an ITR you will notice they only show one washer on the front side of the crank pulley gear and not one on the backside. I noticed if you put both washers on like the Si setup, it looks like you don’t have much of the crank sticking out to put the pulley on. So I did it like the 98 Acura Helms manual shows and everything seems to be fine.

This is what you need;

Note: 2000 ITR part numbers listed:

Timing belt (126RU26) # 14400-P72-014 qt.1 Note: This would be a good time to upgrade to a stronger timing belt if you are running bigger cams or have plans too.

Timing belt cover, Back # 11840-P72-010 qt.1
Back timing belt cover gasket # 11832-P72-000 qt.1 Note: B16A gasket will not work!!!!!! Looks similar but it’s different.

Timing belt cover, Upper # 11820-P72-000 qt.1
Lower Timing belt cover # 11810-P72-A00 qt.1 Note: B16A should work but if you replacing all the others why not get a new lower one to match

Detail is everything

Engine mounting bracket seal A #11925-P30-000 Note: B16A gasket should work.
Engine mounting bracket seal B #11926-P30-000 Note: B16A gasket should work.

Things to consider replacing:

New timing belt adjuster: 14510-P30-003 qt.1
New timing belt adjuster spring: 14516-PR4-A00 qt.1
New crank pulley bolt: 90017-PR3-003 qt.1
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Now lets talk about the head.

If you are doing this swap your self you need to keep your parts in order, especially when pulling the head. You end up replace some parts along the way but keep all the old parts. You can never have enough extra parts lying around.

Head bolts…….do I need new ones or can I use my B16A ones????????

YOU CAN’T USE YOUR B16A HEAD BOLTS!!!!! At least that is what I’m going to tell you. You will never see me reuse OEM head bolts if I pulled the head. Another thing, the B16A head bolts are shorter then B18C head bolts. The last thing you want is to have a head bolt not torque down properly and then you have a leaky head gasket. It might never happen but why risk it.

Head gasket…….can I reuse my B16A one???? It would fit but NO you can’t reuse it. Get your self a new OEM one or consider going with a thinner one for a small bump in compression. You can even purchase a new OEM head gasket, remove the middle layer, put everything back together and have a cheep thin head gasket. Search this forum for more info on how you can do that

What else should I consider replacing in the head????

There are a few small O-rings that need to be replaced, cam seals, cam cap, etc.

One of the O-rings that you should replace is found under the center cam holder. This O-ring sits around a dowel pin. DON’T LOSE THIS DOWL PIN!!!! Trust me, if you are ordering parts order your self an extra one of these dowel pins. Nothing is worse then going to put everything back together and you misplace that dowel pin. Order an extra one its cheep.

There are two other O-rings on the upper part of the head. They are located on the cam gear side of the head, under the two end cam gear holders, around the intake and exhaust VTEC oil orifices. Now these O-rings are actually recessed a bit. So if you don’t disturb them you should not have to worry about replacing them. But if you want to be anal about things, then go for it.

There is one other O-ring that is found under the head in the block. It is around the oil control orifice for the head. This one you do not need to replace because your new ITR short block comes with one installed for you. But I will still list the part # for you guys.

Hmmm……what else…….cam seals. Now some people might not agree with me on this but I will tell you what I did. If you are pulling off your cam gears, now is a perfect time to replace your cam seals. In my case, I did not pull my cam gears off when doing the swap and my cam seals were in great condition, so I reused my cam seals. I have never had a problem when doing this, as long as you keep a close eye on things, i.e. looking for oil leaks, then you should be fine.

The seal/cap that is found on the disibutor end of the exhaust cam should be replace. When installing the new cap, put Honda-bond around the O-ring found on the cap. This will give you a nice seal.
There is an O-Ring located on the distributor that might need replacing. You should also replace the old filter screen found in your VTEC solenoid.

Replace your intake manifold gasket if you pulled your intake manifold off. You don’t need to pull the IM off when doing this swap. You only need to if you are switching to the ITR IM.

Head parts and part numbers:

Note: all part numbers are Honda Si part numbers unless specified other wise.

Head bolts (2000 ITR part number): 90006-P72-003 qt: 10

Head gasket : 12251-P30-014 qt: 1 (save old head gasket. Good to have around if you plan to clay the head)
Dowel pin (under center cam holder): 90701-679-000 qt: 1 (only need one but good to have an extra one. Small parts are easily lost

O-Ring (under center cam holder): 91302-GE0-000 qt. 1
O-Ring for intake and exhaust rocker orifice: 91306-PJ4-000 qt.2
O-Ring found under the head, around the oil control orifice: 15142-PH3-003 qt 1 (ITR short block comes with this O-Ring installed)
O-Ring (located on distributor): 30110-PA1-732
Cam seals: 91213-PR3-004 qt.2
Seal (distributor side of exhaust cam): 12513-P72-003 qt.1
VTEC solenoid filter: 15825-P08-005
Intake manifold gasket: 17105-P30-004
Throttle body gasket (2000 ITR part number): 16176-P73-004

Ok that should do it for head and timing belt area. Now I will go over the rest of the change over.

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I will start with the transmission. Everything fits and bolts up, transmission, clutch, flywheel, axles and half shaft. One tip, use blue Loctite on the flywheel bolts and pressure plate bolts.

All engine mounts will work but if yours have some miles on them now would be the perfect time to change to some new ones. Mugen and Spoon mount kits are great kits to consider.

I did notice one thing about the stock Si breather tank located on the back of the block. The Si breather tank fits just fine but the bolthole lines up with a different hole, a bigger hole. The proper hole looks like it’s located up and to the left of the stock Si hole location. Now the hole that the stock Si breather tank lines up with a hole the ITR block, but it looks like this location is used for the intake manifold bracket. I’m not using my bracket so this hole was not being used. All I did was drill the hole out bigger on the stock Si breather tank and found the proper size bolt and bolted it up.

Stock radiator works and stock radiator hoses work. Now we all know that the ITR comes with a bigger radiator so you might be wondering if the Si one is going to keep things cool enough. With a Spoon thermostat, fan switch and rad cap my temps are no different then before. So you make the call.

Stock Si fuel line, fuel rail and injectors all work.

Stock Si distributor works.

If you want to keep your power steering you can, it bolts up.

AC should work but I ripped my out a long time ago so I’m not positive on that.

Will my header and intake fit??? Well the block is taller so if you have a header made for the B16 it most likely will not fit and if it does it’s going to be a very tight fit. Same goes for a CAI. Because your block is taller it is going to make your CAI sit up higher. It might not sit perfect. If you are running a short ram you should be good. Even my ARC fit perfect.

Ok now that you have everything what is the best way to brake in this setup.

Lest talk assembly and brake in tips.

First tip comes with assembling the head. Once you have the head bolted onto the new block, now is a perfect time to fill hear up with oil. Why now you may ask. With the head disassembled (no cams installed) you have the perfect opportunity to properly lubricate the valve train. Flip all the rocker arms up in the upward positions, exposing the valve springs and retainers. Take some non-detergent 30w oil and poor each quart over every valve spring, retainer and valve guide. Do this with every quart of oil you put into the motor, until you get your desired quart capacity in the oil pan. This coats the upper valve stems liberally with oil, which you don’t get when just filling the engine from the valve cover. Flip the rockers down in the sitting position, sometimes you have to push the VTEC pins back in as they tend to push out, no biggie. Then install the cams and coat the cams good with break in lube.

BTW, a tip on the oil filter. Fill it once, spin it around a few times so the oil soaks into the media. Fill it a second time and let is sit so the oil soaks into the media. Then install the filter.

When it comes time to start the new motor leave the spark plug wires off and turn the engine over a couple of revolutions to prime the oil system. Doing this ensures all the oil system is primed before the engine is under load. This also brings oil up into the head. Then let it rip after that.

Thanks Joey for all tips!!!

This is how I broke my motor in;

Drive it easy for the first 500 miles. Stay under 5500rpms or so and try not to go over 50% throttle. Change the oil out after 500 miles and then move on to some Gastrol GTX 5w-30 oil. Start to drive it a bit harder. I took it up to VTEC once at this point just to make sure it was working properly. Once I hit it I let off. I changed the oil again after 500 more miles. At this point I started to get on it, short full throttle runs, taking it a bit higher in the R’s and going into VTEC more often. I’m going to change the oil again after 500 more miles and at this point I’m going to consider running synthetic. It might be a bit soon to run synthetic but my vale train is way loud when I’m not using synthetic and it’s driving me crazy.

Some of you might have been told take it a bit easer on a new motor or to brake it in a bit different. But I can tell you this, I was not this nice to my stock B16 when I first got my Si and that motor ran STRONG every day. No problems.

Well that is about all I can think of at this time. I might have missed a few small things so post up some questions and I will try and answer them. Good luck on your swap and I hope this guide helped you along the way.

WoW that was a lot of typing.