Personally, I wouldn't pull an OEM nonvtec bottom end past ~8K RPMs. You'll hear various grumblings about its rod to stroke ratio in comparison to the VTEC engines, but that is far less of an issue than all the little extra bits the VTEC engines get.

Bottom end wise your primary concern will be the rod bolts. If you are going for minimum budget build I'd slap in a set of ARPs, close her back up, and call it a day.

Beyond that, obviously pistons would be #2, and rods & girdle would tie for #3 in my book. You won't have any strength issues with the stock rods on any but the most extreme NA buildups, but you can shed about 100 grams (out of ~580) per rod with a set of H-beam Eagles or Crower Econobillets (Eagles are cheaper, Crowers are lighter).

Another thing you should consider for the well-being of the entire engine is that VTEC oil pumps flow a good deal more oil at high RPMs.

I'm not going to touch the VTEC issue in relation to strip/track only vehicles in here, if you want to discuss that go ahead and make another thread. I will say, though, that Prototype roller rocker arms are 240 grams lighter than their OEM equivalents (2.1 pounds for the whole engine, for the lazy people in the audience. ). I imagine Ferrea weights are similar. That's a lot of reciprocating mass, and when you eliminate the VTEC lobes you can shave some rotational mass off of the cams as well. For a high-strung vehicle, that may be a huge issue.