Hi,

I'm asking as a complete novice to engine tuning. I'm aware of head swaps between the old H series hondas, and I'm wondering if this is possible for a L13 and L15 (both i-vtec), as over here in the UK we never got the 1.5 and I have found a sport cam (catcams) for the L15A7. I basically wanted to know if the heads are transferrable, both share the same if not similar valvetrain (16v), and both are SOHC, so is the difference just in the bore and stroke? Any help would be really appreciated cheers.

My plans in short, were if this is possible to find a L15A7 head, install the sport cam on and tune it (with a piggyback or standalone) to hopefully gain a little more power, with some small additional bolt ons such as intake, exhaust and larger throttle body.

I'm aware its possible to bolt the L15 intake chamber, just unsure about the more complex stuff, at the risk of sounding like an idiot haha

 

Upon comparing the two camshafts the difference appears to be in the timing kit https://www.parts-honda.uk/honda-car...__1100/1/22538

https://www.parts-honda.uk/honda-car...__1100/1/22414

 

Let me start off by saying I know NOTHING about head-swapping like you can on a b-series

I'm probably going to say no. I'd imagine the bore is in fact different. I can't imagine the 1.3 would be de-stroked to make for the lesser displacement

EDIT: JK it is actually de-stroked both have a bore of 73mm........ interesting

 

I know of only 1 person on this forum that tried catcams sport cams. If I remember correctly, he couldn't get the motor to idle properly.
Also, as mentioned above, bore is the same, stroke is different. So, if you could, and did, swap heads, you'd still have a 1.3 motor. And if you add the sport cams....

 

AND trying to run a car with a computer designed for 8 spark plugs and only use four of them. Sounds futile to me....

 

Just to clarify, this is the I-VTEC L13 so doesnt run on 8 spark plugs

 

@hotkey I was only after being able to run the cams, I'll keep these in mind however. Yes he will get a choppy idle as the powerband has been shifted. Did he have a standalone ecu? as this is required to be able to raise the idle (from memory)

 

Piggyback. Dastek, if memory serves me.

 

Very interesting then. I'm aware of the Unichip, although not of its capabilities. Might end up being one of those things that you just have to take the plunge with. Would be a while however. I still wish to fit the RB1 Intake or a modified version from RZcrew first, along with a larger throttle body to suit.

 

AFAIK, the most basic unit can +/- fueling and timing, but not by much. The UnichipQ is said to be more capable. As I'm sure you already know, reflash would be best. Hope it works out for you. And do let us know how it goes, for informational purposes.