Poor man's R
Poor man’s R is a customized car engine produced by the combination of two Honda engines in order to make a stronger power source. This engine can be noted as widely popular in the racing scene. The main components from the two engines are the head from the Civic Si (B16), and the bottom block of the Integra GSR(B18C1).
Components
Head
The head consists of the camshafts (actuates opening and closing of the intake and exhaust valves), valvetrain(what is opened to allow the air/fuel mixture to enter the cylinders), intake manifold(system that regulates airflow to the engine), fuel injection(system which allows the fuel to enter the engine), and distributor(distributes spark to cylinders).
The bottom block
The bottom block consists of cylinders (area in which air/fuel mixture is compressed and combusted), piston (compression source inside the cylinders), connecting rods (connect the pistons and crankshaft), and crankshaft (controls the major components of the engine).
Component purpose
The head and the bottom block
The bottom block of the GSR is used because the GSR engine provides 170 base horsepower, 10 more horsepower than the Civic Si provides. The reason for more horsepower is a bigger cylinder the GSR has since it is a 1.8 liter while the Civic Si is a 1.6 liter. The reason for the combining the two parts to complete one engine is for the compression upgrade accomplished when the Civic Si head is put on the GSR block. The combustion chamber of the Civic Si is smaller than that of the Integra GSR. This makes the compression ratio of the poor man’s R higher than what the Civic Si or the GSR have alone. The higher compression ratio results in more horsepower and torque. Also the head of the Civic Si has a better flow rate. As stated before, with a better flow rate more power could be produced.
Engine benefits
The poor man’s R has a close comparison to the Integra Type R. The Integra Type R is one of the engines Honda produces with the most horsepower in its class. Therefore the purpose of the poor man’s R is to accomplish numbers very close to that of the Integra Type R on a budget. The Integra Type R ranges with prices easily over $4000 while the poor man’s R can be put together for less than $2000. The GSR block is the only block used for this particular engine, but any B16 head maybe used since they were produced for many different cars.
References
- Donaldson, J. "1998 Acura Integra GSR," "http://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/z49/Acura-Integra-GS-R.aspx" (Electronic Source)
- Wing, K. "Road Test: 1999 Honda Civic Si" "http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests/coupes/112_9904_1999_honda_civic_si/index.html" (Electronic Source)
- Wong, K. "Temple of VTEC and Temple of VTEC ASIA," "http://asia.vtec.net/spfeature/vtecimpl/vtec1.html" (Electronic source)