97ex engine choice

[slayer11x]

hi everyone i just bought a 97 civic ex that is going to be my first project car.
right now the car is just my dd but i am fixing up the little things before i swap it.
right now im at the point where i dont know what engine to choose so heres what i was considering

d16z6
d16y8 (what i currently have)
b16
b18 (non-vtec)

what i will be doing is building this engine from ground up(with help).

im only really looking to get obo 300 hp but i am willing to make ALOT more but for now i just want 300 because i want most of my money to go into suspension work,weight,handling,and aerodynamics.

since this will be my first motor build i was really interested in starting off with a plain b18 since i wont have to worry about the vtec stuff right now,plus its dohc

i just wanna see what everyone elses opinions are since im new to this.

 

[JohnS.]

If you're going to put most of your money into suspension and handling, 300+hp will be pretty useless in corners, even with sticky tires.

Out of those 4 listed, I'd go with a B18 or B20 non-vtec with a shorter geared transmission. Should make for a peppy daily driver. From there you can build an LS or B20 VTEC. And a B16 swap would be plug and play. You already have VTEC in your current motor so you wouldn't have to do extra wiring for VTEC. It'd be all plug and play.

 

[slayer11x]

If you're going to put most of your money into suspension and handling, 300+hp will be pretty useless in corners, even with sticky tires.

I dont really understand whatcu mean by that

 

[JohnS.]

I'm saying if you want your car to perform well handling wise and have 300+hp at the same time, 300+hp will be useless when you're taking a hard turn. It's too much power.

 

[slayer11x]

oh yea i know bout that i want 300 for the straighter parts