p75 vs p8r cylinder heads

Afternoon folks,
I am curious as to what to use for a cylinder head for a motor that I picked up to use as builder replacement for the one in my car. Its another b18b1, but for heads, I have seen factory p75's ported/polished out made to flow ok, theres always the lsvtec build, but this weekend I ran across a number of p8r b20 heads. I know there 84mm for the b20,and the b18 is 81mm. Physically I know that they can be mated but is this something worth pursuing or is an lsvtec the better way to go? I know that I have read other threads but the info was all over the place, some say yes its a good combo, some say no its a horrid build. Im looking to see if anyone here has done this and ran it as a daily.Im not looking for crazy numbers but want to stay na for now until I move out of rural Alaska and back to the rest of the world.

I would go VTEC. P8r heads are rare but they don't flow better than VTEC heads. A p8r head on a stock b1 bottom end will lower your compression anyways. If your set on the p8r head, upgrade the piston to higher compression. Imo, going vtec is the better route if you're looking for power gains.

Edit: I just reread it. Forgot that youre using a b1 bottom end. I heard stories that having a bigger cc (84mm )on a smaller bored block (81mm) could cause problems. I can't remember exactly but I was also trying to do this as well.

Thats fine, I knew it would lower the compression. I used to run 2.5 heads on my 2.2 impreza with high comp slugs in it. I have some time but the p8r head I can get for a steal from a friend who decided not to build it and is cutting his losses.

If I was you, I'd get a b20 block to mate the p8r head to. Then up the compression. That was going to be my original build plan for my car.

Here's some info on the P75 vs P8R heads
http://honda-tech.com/all-motor-naturally-aspirated-44/b20-non-vtec-faq-guide-including-p8r-head-information-1467903/

There is nothing physically wrong with using the P8R head. It flows better but it will lower the compression, however you can make up for this with bigger domed pistons. The 84mm combustion chamber means that you will lose head gasket sealing surface area but this is only an issue if you are going forced induction. Even still any VTEC head will outperform it.

Thanks for the link muckman, that about sums up what I wanted/needed to know. Ill be looking for a b16 head to use as those are abundant in the bone yards around where my dads at in Washington. Thanks.

B16s abundant in a junk yard?

Yeah theres a couple places I know of that are off the beaten path and hard to get to that I used get hard to find 425 nail head parts at, as well as bone yards with predominantly 1980 and under with a back area of newer stuff. I know of at least 10-12 cars I can pick a head off of when I go down next summer.

I just thought of this, am I going to need a new intake manifold/header when I do this swap, or can I use the ones on my car? I dont know if they are dimensionally the same in terms of bolt hole alignment.

You need the B16 intake or a type R. Or an aftermarket for either a B16 or ITR

Thats what I figured, so Ill have to plan on pickup stuff for it. Thanks