i am going the ls/vtec route and ive been reading more and more about crankgirdles. My block is sleeved and has forged rods and pistons. Do i still need the crankgirdle? I am willing to spend the money if someone tells me it can save my engines life. Since my block is sleeved and i have decided to raise the compression even further than the 10.5 that it is now, would i be able to bore it out to 84.5 safely? With the larger bore what else would i have to change besides the pistons? Also does port matching make that big of a difference? thanks

 

balance yor rods and fix the cranks for reliablity i too am now going to be a 2.0 ls/vtec so watch out crVtecs

 

You can safely go to 84.5 mm since your block is sleeved. The crank girdle is a good idea if you want to rev that motor past 8500 or so, and will all around make the crank more stable. With the larger bore all you need are pistons and headgasket to match. As for port matching, there's really no use unless the entire head is ported, you won't see much results.