RACER

S2Fire

Why compare the Spoon against J's ? Spoon "Crate motor" is just a stock balanced motor with stock internals. What make this motor so special ? I am not a great fan of Spoon or J's but if the price is about the same, I will go for J's for sure. At least they have upgrade some of the internals beside balancing it.

Btw, J's also have a 2.0L engine which they claim is making 280hp, did anyone notice this ?

AusS2000

I didn't. I lumped Spoon with J's as I am comparing JDM to USDM. I was looking around the Alaniz site yesterday and was amazed at what they can do for you. But I'm sure many people will ignore them and buy a J's or Spoon or other engine just because it is 'JDM'.

Keep in mind the Japanese use higher quality pump gas, a hp unit (ps) that is smaller than the US (resultingin higher numbers) and are not afraid to exaggerate numbers if it means a sale.

Fact is, when I rebuild an F20C (and it's one of those projects that will happen sooner rather than later) I will use local know how (AUS) and probably import parts (pistons, sleezes, rings, rods, crank, valves, springs, retainers etc) primarily from the US.

AJ PwR

I think the reason that JDM brand engine cost so much more is related to their living standards. Japanese shop rates are like $100-$150 per hour so for example, doing a port & polish job for the cylinder head may take 40hr for them to do it This doesnt mean they don't know to use a faster way but they prefer the slower way instead. Also, because the Japanese cares about precision which means "TIME" which will take them forever to do something so everything ended up costing so much.

kane.s2k

mount no-rice

classic

kane.s2k

That's coming from a vendor. Plus there's a difference between time and time well spent. Precision doesn't come from time- it's from skill and experience, senses, tools. Taking 80 grit sand paper and sanding out the intake ports while using something fine on the exhaust doesn't count as a port and polish. However, that's exactly what some of the JDM companies do. I don't know about J's but i've seen other companies do it.

I completely agree with Aus, I've seen Joe Alaniz's work and his precision. No doubt he can get more than 300hp with supporting mods at a much lower price range. As well as plenty of others without bumping up compression or maybe even possibly relying on 100+ octane.

1AP12NV

Just for clarification, I wasn't comparing the J's Crates to the Spoon Crate either I was lumping them together because they were both JDM companies offering crate engines for racing purposes (albeit different racing purposes). The Spoon engines aren't built for max HP but instead are built to withstand the challenges of endurance racing I believe.

VeilsideAP1

what japanese companies have you personally "see" do this?

ultimate lurker

Look folks, when it comes to extracting aftermarket hp from Honda engines, no one does it better than the aftermarket guys in the US of A. The JDM guys are cool, and they usually do something first thanks to their close proximity to the manufacturers (and often close relationships as well), but when it comes to making power, I'll go with the boys in the US any day.

The guys we talk about when it comes to S2000s are just the tip of the iceberg, there 100 times as many guys doing parts for Hondas in general, and a fair number of them are really, really good at what they do.

All you have to do is look at some of the drag racing stuff going on (9 seconds all motor on B, H, F and K-series engines, the latter with relatively few mods). Or just look at the number of Hondas being roadraced in a dozen different series and the amount of power being extracted reliably by these guys. I'd wager there are a helluva lot more Hondas being raced in the US than in Japan, and short of the megabucks engines in the JGTC cars, the US guys are likely extracting as much or more power within the same rules structure.

UL

kane.s2k

I've seen two japanese companies and their crate motors; total of 3 crate engines. I wont start naming them because people who worship anything JDM are gonna start going off. I have seen them and I can actually tell the difference between them (which is pretty much nothing). I know you're probably still thinking i'm BSing so have fun I wouldn't buy a stock motor with a different valve cover and think it's gonna give me 50hp cause it's a different valve cover