Sprslow

Alright so ive had this car for about a year and its been extremely reliable and efficient, but I'll be buying a truck to get me around town soon and I'd like to make my civic a little toy to drive around in the mountains.

This is my 4th honda civic that I've owned and they've all been good to me, except the SI that was stolen from me a couple years back..

Anyhow I want something reliable that I can just have a lot of fun with, I'm not a full blown car enthusiast looking for a 2 to 1 power to weight ratio okay?

So because I want reliability I refuse to boost the single cam, say what you say I've owned a DSM before and I know what turbos are all about and I'm not looking to get in that deep.

I had an e39 m5 at one point that was NA with a 10 to 1 power to weight ratio and there is no other car I've enjoyed driving more than that one so I'm 100% sure I'd like to stay NA.

I'm looking to make a quick fun car for the turns not a fast one. Something with a 15 to 1 power to weight ratio or less with a budget of 2k....

From my understanding my car weighs about 2400 pounds, is there any hacks and cheap way to reduce this to about 2100 without breaking the bank?

2nd of all I know my HX comes with about 115hp.. and from what I understand these cars don't respond very well to boltons or cams. Is there anyway for me to get it up to 140 while staying under my budget? If not I hear people doing B18 swaps for extremely cheap, is cheap under 2k? And I have already considered just selling my car and buying an integra or si, but from what Ive read they weigh a couple hundred pounds more putting me back at square one.

Any tips or hacks would be greatly appreciated.

eghatch9295

iTrader: (1)

b20 from tigerjapanese= 395 plus shipping. find yourself a b16/gsr/itr trans (short gearing), and off you go. the hx is pretty stripped down to begin with, but you can always lose power steering, complete ac, sound deadening materials, crash bars, ...

Sprslow

Also I don't want to hear the regular don't do that to your car blah blah blah it won't be my daily, can you really feel anything by taking the AC and PS out or no?

tony_2018

What are you expecting to feel when losing comfortable day to day components?

Sprslow

Irrelevant on a car that won't be driven on a day to day basis.

t3h jam

I daily drive an em1 in the summer. no ac or power steering. I live in buffalo though- the hottest we see here is low 90's right around late july / early august.

it has a mildly build b18c (pistons and rods) stock crank, stock head, stock ignition, gsr trans (should have gotten an lsd) ebay tdo4, tial bov and wg, cheap intercooler... it makes 350 hp /220 tq at 17 psi and is rather reliable. by rather I mean very haha. I drive it to work every day. it was put together for maybe $5k? maybe a bit more.. probably not less though.

I also swapped an eg with an ls a few years ago for around $2k. that was a really fun car for what it was. 140 hp-ish with bolt ons.

just because you owned an unreliable dsm doesn't mean that all turbo cars are unreliable. it was a dsm.... theyre notoriously unreliable cars.

for NA 300 hp youre looking at a built k series and that is a bunch of cash.

NotARaCist

iTrader: (1)

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

The FAQ sticky is made just for someone like you. Please read it. Your questions are directly answered there. With smart shopping, you can have a B series swap ready to go for ~$1k. With $2k to spend, I'd spend that extra thousand hunting down a CTR/ITR transmission. The LSD makes a HUGE difference in a FWD car. It's the difference between understeering off the road, or your car pulling itself into the apex.

t3h jam

you can easily get it down to around 2200. just remove everything.

mine weighs 2240 with me in it and I weigh 280 lol. its gutted.

NotARaCist

iTrader: (1)

Also worth mentioning, you aren't going to get the same feel from any Honda that you had from your E39. You're trying to compare a car that weighs only barely over a ton, with a 1.6 (or 1.8, if you B swap) liter engine, to a two ton car with a V8. That's like trying to compare a professional soccer striker to a professional rugby Number 8. It just doesn't work that way.

Sprslow

I wouldn't want a turbo especially not an ebay turbo because a majority of them have imperfections, you went the right route by getting aftermarket wg and bov and I assume its because you knew the ebay stuff would blow your motor within a few months. Thats great and all for you but I'm not looking for a bunch of turbo lag or torque steer, like I said before I want quick not fast, there is a difference. DSM's are notoriously unreliable, but those are proper FAST cars and if I was looking for a proper fast car I wouldn't start with a civic.

Sprslow

Obviously I'm not trying to portray an m5 with a civic, just mentioning that I want NA before I get bombarded by all the turbo fanboys. SO i read the sticky and there is no way to ad hp with boltons, it only shifts the power band, which is funny because I can definitely feel it in my all stock car. I can really get a b18 swap for 1k?

Sprslow

Thats good to hear! What do you mean by completely gutted? No dash or anything left?

eghatch9295

iTrader: (1)

b20 engine, 400. itr trans- 1k+. misc parts, timing belt, water pump, clutch, gaskets- 3-500(depending on what you buy). if you go b16 or gsr on transmission, save your change for an aftermarket lsd. for a car you plan to drive on the freeway, b16 with an ls 5th is the way to go.

NotARaCist

iTrader: (1)

If you shop smart, yes. I've already laid it all out recently for someone else, so here ya go. I'll snip my quote down to the information relevant to you.

Given your $2000 budget, drop the $100 transmission, and source a healthy CTR or ITR transmission, which can be found for $800-$1000. The LSD makes a MASSIVE difference, like I said, even in a stock rebuild with all of 140 BHP.