isnt the compresion ratio on first gens a little lower making it better for boost? as for the tranny u could awalys go w/ a 2ng gen teg LS tranny for the longer gearing and still keep the cable tranny, thats what i would do just because the moters cheaper and im not sure whats all involved in converting a car from cable to hydro

BTW: i also agree w/ sir_crx first gen cams are ass but im not sure about the 2nd gen cams working because of the way vtec engauges in the first gens, the single butterfly engagement (both cams at once rather than the exhaust than the intake like 200 RPM later, the only othe moters other than the b16a1 that engage at once like that is the b18c5 and the b16b) may mean u'll have to use ITR or CTR cams but im not sure