IMO if you're not going to swap a vtec head on the block, it's better to just go old school, with a standard chipped ECU w/ stronger fuel maps since you have no variables (such as vtec) to worry about. You can get the L21 series from RM packaged w/ RM springs and retainers and a find a chipped ECU for just 700 on the dot i would bet.

...but that's just my opinon.