doesnt determine much?? It determines how much stress is gonna be put on the cylinder walls and the rod itself., i think thats kinda important, especially when youre revving the hell out of it, i.e tapping the potential of a vtec head. As a general rule, (at least in hondas, i dont know too much about other engines) the bigger the engine gets, the worse the R/S it gets. Too low of an R/S (below 1.75 : 1) means the piston will be more slanted towards the horizontal during its stroke. Its like having sex sideways, youd want it to slide in smoothly (1.75 : 1 ) not scraping against the walls ( 1.54 : 1) she isnt comfortable cause shes gettin poked in the side (cylinder walls) you arent cofortable cause your d!cks ( rods ) bendin the wrong way haha i dont know why i just thought of that, i guess im just a horny bastard. I say just save yourself the trouble and buy a car thats already got VTEC. but thats not for everyone, so do what you want, just look into all the aspects of it before jumpin in head first.