Editing VTEC (section)

=== SOHC VTEC valvetrain ===
{{Unreferenced section|date=July 2013}}

Honda also applied the system to [[Overhead camshaft#Single overhead camshaft|SOHC]] (single overhead camshaft) engines such as the [[Honda D engine|D-Series]] and [[Honda J engine|J-Series]] Engines, which share a common camshaft for both intake and exhaust valves. The trade-off was that Honda's SOHC engines benefited from the VTEC mechanism only on the intake valves. This is because VTEC requires a third center [[rocker arm]] and [[cam lobe]] (for each intake and exhaust side), and, in the SOHC engine, the spark plugs are situated between the two exhaust rocker arms, leaving no room for the VTEC rocker arm. Additionally, the center lobe on the camshaft cannot be utilized by both the intake and the exhaust, limiting the VTEC feature to one side.

However, beginning with the [[Honda J engine#J37|J37A2 3.7L SOHC V6]] engine introduced on all 2009-2012 Acura RL SH-AWD models, SOHC VTEC was incorporated for use with intake and exhaust valves, using a total of six cam lobes and six rocker arms per cylinder. The intake and exhaust rocker shafts contain primary and secondary intake and exhaust rocker arms, respectively. The primary rocker arm contains the VTEC switching piston, while the secondary rocker arm contains the return spring. The term "primary" does not refer to which rocker arm forces the valve down during low-RPM engine operation. Rather, it refers to the rocker arm which contains the VTEC switching piston and receives oil from the rocker shaft.

The primary exhaust rocker arm contacts a low-profile camshaft lobe during low-RPM engine operation. Once VTEC engagement occurs, the oil pressure flowing from the exhaust rocker shaft into the primary exhaust rocker arm forces the VTEC switching piston into the secondary exhaust rocker arm, thereby locking both exhaust rocker arms together. The high-profile camshaft lobe which normally contacts the secondary exhaust rocker arm alone during low-RPM engine operation is able to move both exhaust rocker arms together which are locked as a unit. The same occurs for the intake rocker shaft, except that the high-profile camshaft lobe operates the primary rocker arm.

The J37A2 is able to use both intake and exhaust VTEC by use of a novel design of the intake rocker arm. Each exhaust valve on the J37A2 corresponds to one primary and one secondary exhaust rocker arm. Therefore, there are a total of twelve primary exhaust rocker arms and twelve secondary exhaust rocker arms. However, each secondary intake rocker arm is shaped similar to a "Y" which allows it to contact two intake valves at once. One primary intake rocker arm corresponds to each secondary intake rocker arm. As a result of this design, there are only six primary intake rocker arms and six secondary intake rocker arms.