DelSolll

Hello car gurus. Firstly, I apologize in advance for posting another "How do I increase HP on my already shitty SOHC base model del sol engine"

I also apologzie for the length. I'm just really distraught here thinking of what to do with my car and my situation.

But heres the deal. I like my Del Sol. I really do. It's cute. It's different. I'd had it for 3 years and like the targa top.

My father made a horrific decision against my better judgement to rebuild the shitty engine rather than my idea of swapping it out with another used engine. So all in all his plan costed me $2500 in rental fees bc it took 60 days to rebuild...yeah....and $4200 just for the rebuilding......yeah....I know......he didn't do his research at all......

Also, I have $3000 in repair bills coming in from front axle boots busted, and inner tie rods...and damage to both sides of my vehicle froma hit and run and not-at-fault accident from some POS. So yeah....that would be $10k put into this car already it's sick to think about.

So as you can see a lot of money is already invested in this car....now I know as a poker player, you shouldn't put good money after bad money....or become emotionally attached to money already invested....but as you can understand it's hard not too in this situation.

With that said, I am just in a serious dilemma. I am considering upgrading to a 350z and slap on some amazing summer tires that specialize in wet weather..but if I can upgrade my del sol for fairly cheap and be happy with it, I'd consider that too...

So I'm not looking to beat people in red light racing, or be a 0 to 60 500hp powerhouse.

Modest gains equal to that of the VTEC 160hp (estimations of 140whp?)

So with my del sol being 20 years old already I'm guessing a lot of potential hp has been lost from old parts.

1.) I am right to assume the stock whp brand new is higher than my current whp? If so, what stock parts would I have to clean/replace to increase hp?

2.) I hear differeing opinions on how much cold air intake and custom exhaust and stuff does for hp gains. I'd like those knowledgeable about this stuff to give me conservative practical numbers, not what you think 'your car gained after so and so'

3.) I can lose some weight and lighten the vehicle modestly maybe 100lbs max weight loss. Should help a bit lol..2 or 3 hp perhaps?

5.) Is it possible to get this SOHC to around 140whp? 7 to 7.5 second 0 to 60 time is definitely better than the 9sec+ SOHC base hp time.

6.) I don't have a budget per say...but hoping under $1,000 will get me a nice amount of hp increase. I'd rather not have to drop $2,000+ just to drop in a VTEC B16.

7.) Is it possible to tune this engine without turbo?

8.) Could reducing friction anywhere or increasing torque help as well?

I wish to also research most of this work and do it myself...I'm actually already getting my confidence up more and more to attempt a strut/lowering spring change after watching numerous videos....

Thank you all for your answers.

White_EG1

1) Yes you are, right now this motor shouldnt be pushing anymore than 85hp/65 tq.... seriously

2)None of these will do anything for this motor. I have both, and the same motor in same chassis, I think it made it slower. Pushed powerband further out etc, which is not good on a low revving motor.

3)The biggest difference your gonna feel is riding with a passenger or no passenger.

4) You forgot number 4 lol

5)No way lol. with a moderate budget. You could have been swapped that pos out for a b16 atleast.

6)Just keep searching. b16 may be a lil more costly then say b18 or b20, but those motors have more torque, its up to you. High revving, or more power at lower revs.

7)Yeah if your looking to gain like 2hp and lose 1tq lol.

8)No man you have a ecobox

Okay bottom line. I have a S, my friend just swapped a b16 in his, and let me drive it, I didnt want to give it back lol! Dont even have dreams of building this motor anymore. Intake, header and exhaust on my motor did nothing but dent my pocket. And will do the same to you. Its not worth it. Think of HP/$. Plus the vtak y0! lol jk. But I cant force you, all I can say is B series is faster then whatever you do to your D. Unless you want to turbo... which i'm not recommending. Hope you listen, and stop get rid of that money pit of a motor.

NotARaCist

iTrader: (1)

If you actually wished to research this yourself, you would have. Drop the disingenuous platitudes - you don't want to research, you want us to hand your information to you. The FAQ sticky is there. It's easy to find. It's no secret. Literally all of your questions have been answered, hundreds of times before.

For what it's worth, a 350z is the least sporty sports car you could even remotely be looking at. They're low on power, heavy as an ox, and handle like crap comparatively. There are a LOT of better options.

DumpdEJ6

How the hell did your dad decided to spent YOUR $7700 on an engine rebuild? And $4200 to rebuild the engine?! Where the frickfrackinfudgefister did he take it to, a Ferrari dealership? Something doesn't add up.

Nave43

Im guessing your running a d15b.... and not the awesome JDM one either. With boost and swapping the head to a VTEC one (D16Z6 head might fit?) you could meet your 200hp goal and still have a stable motor. Just the head swap could net you round 20HP and only cost 100$ max.

Different motor same concepts \/
https://honda-tech.com/honda-civic-d...-i-do-3238563/

Grumble's awesome FAQ super helpful \/ (Delsol = Civic)
https://honda-tech.com/honda-civic-d...aster-2915974/

PS. Buy an Toyota MR2 then drop 7K into a K swap, it will be a monster.

DelSolll

I know it's sick right? The $2800 was my money from renting out the car. The rest of the money was my Fathers money.

Invoice:

Labor: $1095
Parts: $2,812.91

Total: $4,032.91
plus tax and sublet

Total: $4,198.69

That's not including the rental fees obviously. So $7k right there. That's a more accurate number.

I had $3,000 saved up but the mechanic I spoke too said he would do a swap and have it out in 3 days max for $3,500. My dad wouldn't give me any money towards the swap bc he wanted to do it 'his way'.

DelSolll

K.

TomCat39

Stable at 200HP.... No.

It's likely the D15B7 and the rods will nto take being pushed. You can't even safely push them to 7500 RPM with stock HP without risking putting a rod through the block.

If you swap the head out to the D16Y8, do a nice 2 layer MLS headgasket (old Y8 head gasket), do cold air intake, and upgrade to 2.5" exhaust with at least a 4-2-1 header, shot peen the rods and then chip and tune the ECU to the build you may just see 140 WHP out of that 1.5L engine.

Tune 500 bucks, AEM CIA v2 is about 200-300 bucks, a cheap 2.5 inch exhaust with header etc is about 200 bucks, and well.... shot peening the rods probably varies between machine shops but I figure is another 200 bucks.

Little over a grand to get another 40ish WHP.

Best part is, you can do everything except the tune and it changes next to nothing on the power band except where the power is on the band. All bolt on parts require a tune to get anything out of them.

I suppose you could do the Y8 head, run a stock P28 (Z6) ecu and see a bit of a gain but without taking care of the rods, you are creating an unstable motor and it's not running at peak efficiency due to the mismatched ECU and franken motor.

DelSolll

Yes I've been looking into boosting but also people are saying not to do it...so there is so much different opinions on this I don't know what to do.

I am more interested in handling and budget anyway. So my ultimate decision might be to keep the car bc it runs PERFECTLY FINE. I don't need another car. Just want to make it more fun...per $/cost per unit of fun of course.

But if what you say is true...changing out the head...I guess the heads are cheaper then? I'll look into that...

So boosting...and swapping the B16 head...I'll have to look into that cost vs the cost of putting a full B16 head in without boost.

Nave43

I think your confused.... The head is just the top part of the motor. Also d16 not b16 although that maybe possible but i doubt it.

Here this it what you would want to do \/
https://honda-tech.com/honda-civic-d...oodbye-554053/

Im sorry i was mistaken, i didn't realize the ineptness of that model of d15b.

White_EG1

Damn so I typed all of that up from the kindness of my heart. And no appreciation!? Damn, last time I'm doing that. The noob probably didn't even read my reply lol smh.

Nave43

I read it if that counts for anything :p

NotARaCist

iTrader: (1)

Holy ****, why are we spoon feeding this moron?

https://honda-tech.com/honda-civic-d...tions-1998336/

Read that. It's not optional.

TomCat39

Hey I read it... And laughed at the no number 4.

I was mainly replying to the misinformation that 200 WHP from the econo 1.5L as a stable motor. More for one of the repliers benefit over the OP. OP is getting collateral damage as it were.

It's painfully obvious that OP will need to read the faq to get an understanding as we are speaking above OP's head atm.

DelSolll

Yes I'm a nOOb :D

And thank you for your post, it made me think ...hey wait a sec....so if I put this money into the car and it doesn't gain hp....then....like....

I'VE JUST BURNED 1,000 BUCKS.

Not cool.

I'm looking into other sports cars right now....mainly my eye is feasting on the '85 to '92 corvette....under 10k....

NotARaCist

iTrader: (1)

Quite frankly, anyone too lazy to take the time to read the information neatly collected and organized for people just like him deserve whatever problems come from not reading it.

Seriously, OP, the information is all there. It's neatly collected and organized, and it was done in such a way that it almost seems like it was specifically done just for you. Guess what though...it was! You have two options, here. Either stick to your thread, where you say one thing, but your actions say exactly the opposite, or go read the FAQ sticky, which you have been pointed towards multiple times now. Should you choose to follow option 1, you'll get a few opinions from a few random people who just happened to be logged in and check your thread in the day or two that it stays on the front page. Those opinions might be right, or they might be completely wrong and stupid, but given your already shown disinterest in reading, you'll have no way of knowing. Those opinions will also be almost completely unmoderated - we aren't here to protect you from your own stupidity. For example, you'll have someone telling you that you can safely push a B7 bottom end to 200 WHP and still have a reliable car.

Or, you can take option 2, and do things the right way. You can read the FAQ sticky. Information there has been found by moderators to be worthy of keeping for future forum readers to use. It has been, in a way, peer-reviewed, and has been shown to be accurate and correct.

Nave43

Thank you for correcting me btw. Im still learning and knew that other d15's were capable of near those numbers. Closer inspection of the actual model of d15 in the car and some searching later i feel pretty stupid.

TomCat39

Don't sweat it. It doesn't help matters that there is 3 different JDM D15B models to go with the USDM D15B7/8. So it's easy to mix information as they are different.

Jimi Hondrix

You should have used that rebuild money to buy a real car: 2008 Mazdaspeed 3.

NotARaCist

iTrader: (1)

TomCat39

The next dime a dozen car to be carried on for ages by filling the salvage yards due to the high abundance of them.

NotARaCist

iTrader: (1)

Can we just lock up this **** poor excuse for a thread?

TomCat39

Was planning on it being OP said:
OP isn't going to take advantage of the wealth of information in the FAQ.

Was just letting others let the commentary wander beforehand. Sometimes it's good to let people let loose a little before returning to the rigid guidelines of the technical forum.

I agree this thread is not likely to have any productive uses and it will be locked in short order.

DelSolll

Lock it. I got useful information.

I'm leaning on keeping the del sol around for winter and torrential downpour driving and getting a nicer sportcar for dry summer days

Thanks everyone.