Eddie Abbondanzio

It’s 2026 and the Civic is midway through it’s third season of autocross.

My first XJ is no more.

At this point the B20V should be ready to drop in.

For engine accessories such as the power steering pump, alternator, or AC (I’m not using AC) you can mostly treat a B20V like a regular B20.

When you slap a VTEC head on a non-VTEC block you need to have a plan for how to allow crankcase pressure to escape while the engine is running.

Installing an intake manifold and fuel rail / injectors on a b20v is the same as any other VTEC head.

The B20V is on the homestretch at this point.

The TD-68U and TD-84U distributors found in OBD1 and OBD2 94-01 Integra GSRs are different in size than other B-Series distributors and require a special distributor cap.

The block’s finally ready for the head to be torqued down and finished up now that all the clearances (v2v, p2v) checked out.

Building a custom engine is basically 80% measuring and double checking things.

Let’s shift focus to the head now that the block’s ready to go.

I run a CoreBoxx on one of my Prusa Core Ones and overall I’ve been happy with it but for awhile I kept running into issues with the MMU3 jamming when attempting to unload the filament at the end of a print.

Having the ability to run a higher extrusion multiplier on the first layer can be handy for getting a better finish.

I primarily print single color prints but I have a MMU3 installed atop my Core One via a CoreBoxx because I like to use it as a color selector for keeping 5 of my most used filaments loaded.

I’ve come to the realization that unless a body panel is covered in epoxy primer and in good enough shape that you could start on body filler then the metalwork isn’t actually done.

With my side gig of selling 3d printed parts slowly taking off, I figured it was time to pick up a thermal printer for making shipping labels.

I’ve been having some fun dipping my toes into the realm of homelabbing and decided it was time to build a proper NAS.

It’s taken much longer than anticipated but with the outer quarter panel welded in I was finally ready to install the 2x6 rocker.

One of the last big TODOs left on the driver side was to rebuild the quarter panel.

Enough measuring for now, it’s time to do some assembly and get the crank, pistons, and rods installed.

The ultimate list of torque specs for VTEC B-series engines such as the B16, B18C1 (GSR), B18C5 (USDM Type R), B18C (JDM Type R), etc… Note: Non-VTEC engines have different torque specs available here.

With the bearing clearances dialed in, all that’s left to prep for installing the crank, pistons, and rods in the block is double checking the piston to wall clearance and setting the ring gaps.

Measuring bearing clearances isn’t what I’d call the most exciting step when it comes to building an engine but it’s an important one that can catch issues that will dramatically shorten your engine’s life.

With the passenger side just about sorted out, the last panel that needed some attention before I switch over to the driver side was the front fender.

The Prusa MK3.5S is a great printer but it’s definitely picky about it’s fans.

About a month back I was staying at an AirBnB with some buddies for an autocross event when one of them casually mentioned they had a friend with a broken down RSX type S sitting around and he was looking to sell it.

Easily convert spring rates from lb/in to kg/mm or vice versa

The Civic has completed almost two full seasons of auto cross without any major issues and has been an absolute blast to drive.

With the XJ sitting on the chassis table I felt it was time to address the windshield pillars not lining up with the front doors.

I recently built a mini bike and needed a way to haul it around with my 93 Civic hatch.

If you’re trying to install FreeCAD on Linux via an appimage and your running into a Squashfs image uses (null) compression, this version supports only xz, zlib error on startup it’s due to a bug in AppImageLauncher.

At some of the larger autocross venues I go to it can be a pain to walk around on foot because of how long it takes you to get from point A to B.

Syncthing rocks.

Helpful calculator for comparing different b-series transmissions.

I’ve made it pretty far on the metal work for my XJ without a chassis table but once I finish up the driver side I’ll need to start replacing the floor and frame rails so the rear suspension needs to come out and that means the XJ won’t have any wheels.

There’s several options for transfer cases when LS swapping an XJ.

For the past year I’ve been daydreaming about a 6.0 LQ4 + 4L60E build but after seeing the prices of LQ4s I (the 6.0 tax is real) I decided to go with it’s little brother the 5.3 LM7.

I recently built a chassis table for [the XJ I’m restoring]({{ categoryref “LS XJ Build” }}) and figured I’d do a brief writeup.

Another year has come and gone and the XJ remains in pieces.

The OEM bell housing bolts are too short for an engine stand so you’ll need to pick up some longer bolts.

Having just passed 215k miles, the XJ from Colorado has proven to be a reliable daily over the past few months.

The Integra has been a fun project but after 4 years of ownership I decided it was time to sell and as of last weekend it’s no longer mine.

There’s two different versions of the transmission mount for XJs that came with the AW4 automatic transmission and they’re commonly referred to as centered, and offset.

If you’re tired of the rear drum brakes on your XJ it’s easy to swap to rear disks using ZJ (93-98 Grand Cherokee) brakes.

Converting the interior lights of a 97-01 XJ to LEDs is easy since there’s only 12 bulbs to swap.

At this point the XJ was mechanically solid but in desperate need of some cosmetic work.

With a rough idea of what it’d take to fix up the damage I decided to switch focus and tackle all the mechanical / electrical issues before diving into the bodywork.

Back in June of 2024, the night before I was due to fly out to Colorado for a work trip I couldn’t resist sifting through the Denver Craigslist to see what I could find.

I don’t use the locks on my HF 5 drawer carts and wanted to free up some extra space so I decided to delete them.

In order to hit my power goals of 200 - 225whp, the B20V is gonna need some mods to get there.