Thread: MY VE Head Swap How to: Lots of Pictures

I decided to port this over from the old forum. I don't know how long the image hosting will last (at the old place). I can't edit or change my original post there


Well it's simple enough and I've seen a couple of pictures here on what it's supposed to look like. So I went off that and here is how I did it. I was going to use this stuff for my P11, but my buddy got rod knock in his P10 so it went for the greater good.

What you need..

You need a VE head. I bought this one for $400 from a forum member.


And a block, in my case we found a perfectly good JDM roller rocker at my engine place.


I recommend new head bolts.


And you need some oil line fittings. Specifically 1/8NPT to -6AN (x2) and a 1-2ft length of -6 braided line. Gofastdepot.com sells this "kit" and that is what I used.



Block Prep:

Step 1.

Remove old engine with rod-knock


Step 2.

Remove head off of the roller rocker engine. Now it is no longer a roller rocker engine
This engine has a 4 counterweight crank and the oil pump looks just like the VVL one. I also noticed that the pistons seem to be the same as the regular 9.5:1 DE ones. I haven't checked to see if they are taller or not. They have a slight dish and do not have valve reliefs.




I used a razor blade to remove the old lead headgasket. It felt perfectly smooth afterwards.


My buddy had fun with the spraypaint.


I layed the VE/Metal Headgasket on, I made sure the engine was at TDC and put white out on the corresponding line on the crank pulley for future timing fun.

Block is ready. Now for the head.

The VE head has a threaded hole right in front of the oil passage. I think a bolt for the water pipe bracket goes there. It won't be used for that after this


Here you can see the stock passage that gets the oil for the soleniods via the block. It's oozing it's last bit of oil.


You need a 11/32 drill bit for the 1/8 NPT tap. I would recommend a drill press, we didn't have one handy.. so we used the eyeball/hand method I blew air through the hole to get any loose shavings out.


This is kind of a crappy picture, but you can seee the stock oil passage now that we've cut through. I stuck a pick in there to get any extra metal out.


Now it's time to tap. I used a 1/8 NPT tap with some synthetic grease on it. The metal shavings get stuck to the grease leaving us with a clean "hole".


The 1/8NPT to -6AN fitting goes in nicely. I put some teflon tape on the threads when I did the final tightenning for extra insurance.


It's the same process for the oil hole on the bottom of the head. Except you need to plug this hole. I used the 11/32 drill bit to make the hole bigger. Then I used the 1/8NPT tap to thread it. I bought a 1/8NPT plug to uh.. plug the hole. I needed to make sure it was flush at the very least since it wouldn't have sealed right against the headgasket I used. I also used a bit of teflon tape when I did the final assembly.


The head is ready!

We followed the FSM instructions for installing the head/bolts. Everything went without a hitch.

Here are the VE cams waiting to be installed.


VE cams installed. It's the same procedure as the DE. We had a mishap with a bolt on the far left of the exhaust cam. Luckily the roller rocker head provided us with a spare cam bearing bolt


The cams were both advanced one link in this picture, but you get the idea.


Now that the head is buttoned down, I went ahead and got to installing the oil line. Instead of going with a 1.8BSP to 1/8NPT adapter for the oil feed on the block.. I greased up the o'l 1/8NPT tap and threaded it through the hole for the stock oil pressure sender. It just took a couple of turns and it was "converted" to 1/8NPT. No more broken thread converters I then screwed in a 1/8NPT "T". I screwed in the last 1/8NPT to -6AN fitting. The second 1/8NPT hole will be used for an aftermarket oil pressure gauge.


Here the SS line is installed. It looks like 2feet is a bit too long. I routed it around the oil filter adapter. I might switch to a 1ft hose if it interferes with anything (shouldn't).


From the back again.



All done..




We're just waiting on an intake manifold and water pump before it goes in. I'll keep everyone updated on our progress.

This will work on any DE/DET bottom end. Final CR for this one was around 10.5:1

What about the other stuff???
What else would you need for the SWAP to properly work??
MSD pills for the VVL solenoids??
Ecu (can you use the DE Ecu)???
what about the harness is the same???

This is a head swap how to, as far as install it's just like installing a DE/DET.

im just asking cause im planing to do the same on my JDM 10:1 SR20DE. After been the first one in my country(Nicaragua)that have done a 1.6 to SR20 SWAP(Thanks to Andreas Miko!! ). Now its time to get this kind of Upgrade, So i Wanted to know all the Details for the Head SWAP and everything else to Have it all Set to go VVL Frankie and keep kicking some HONDUS asses.

how much horsepower did you get out of this? would this net more horsepower then a stock sr20ve? thanks

Never dyno'd the car. I expect it to make a little bit more than a standard VE from the slightly higher compression.

Well, I wouldn't bet my chips on all that.

Remember, the VVL runs a 4 CW and the rods have less mass than the DEs. The rotating assembly in the VE will negate the .2 difference in compression.