Case in point i had a long talk with John at Hytech years ago over an IPS built 2.6L stroker motor (or maybe it was 2.7) and basically it was this $20,000-30,000 motor (if someone wanted to reproduce it at the time). It had custom crank , cams, header, pistons, rods, etc there was NOTHING off the shelf in the motor. IPS liked to use big fancy words and high definition pics.

well when it was done it made something like 300whp/250TQ . All the IPS people and customers were so impressed, but i was not. So like i normally do i asked questions and Ron got pissed off because i didnt agree with him.

My post simply said "so you have a $20,000+ motor that makes less power than Skunk2s OLD race car motor you can buy fully assembled off their website for $9500. What is the point?"

If someone wanted a 250TQ engine there is far easier ways to do it, Supercharge, buy a v8, etc. I just didnt see the point and i didnt understand why people were congratulating him on building a motor that for all intensive purposes because of money and output, was simple, unimppresive. That motor served ZERO purpose. But he acted like it was some great feat that deserved praise.

Well anyway i was doing some header testing back then and i was on the phone with John and since i knew he was doing K20 stuff, and i know he did alot of Grand Am stuff i asked him about it. And it made sense:

He said in his opinion (now remember this was YEARS ago before there was anything for the K24s) that the best engine size is 2.0l. It was the most efficient. The cams, valve sizes, head porting, etc all was geared toward that engine size and it was very easy to make that motor reach maximum VE. The problem with IPS 2.6 or 2.7L motor was as he put it "there isnt a valve big enough you could put in that head that would maximize the cam needed to match the intake plenum and fill the cylinder in time." Turns out as time when on he was right. You are so limited as you go up in engine size. Cam size means nothing without the right valve size which means nothing without the right porting, and so forth.

You WILL reach a limit at some point. That limit you WANT to be 100% or greater volumetric efficiency. But that is not always the case. I mean you cant port a B honda head big enough to flow 400CFM, its just NOT POSSIBLE because there isnt enough material. Period. You can only run so big a cam, etc.

Which leads me back to the point that the hp/liter argument is very easy to win with a honda, because they have proven over time their 2.0l are just so efficient and well built. its a smaller motor which is easier usually to work with. 2.0l 4 cylinder is prob one of the most efficient motors ever created, on any platform, from the Sr20DET to the K20, to the 2.0l Cobalt motor, etc.

Now as time has gone on, it seems the K24s are being developed and there IS stuff on the market now that can produce awesome results. There are cars making 120-140hp/liter out of the K24 motors, and thats really impressive. But the 2.0l B Series did that years ago. Erik Aguilar made 150 in 2002.

Again , bigger the motor, the harder to produce hp.liter