SOHC_civic_si

Alright, lets get down to it. I am NOT turbo/supercharging or engine swapping my car. I do not have that kind of money. I want to LIGHTLY build my D16Y7. Now before you get your panties in a bunch screaming "thats a waste of money" and the infamous "turbo or swap my friend" because frankly everyone knows that these motors can't make a lot of power, and it would cost ALOT to build that motor and the power really wouldn't be worth it never mind it be drive able, but hear me out. My car already has i/h/e and ignition when I bought it, and my question is how much more power would I get out of some high compression pistons, a good cam and a tune? Considering you can get used pistons with good compression for cheap and a cam wouldn't be too expensive for a SOHC, I am thinking probably around 500 for everything? All I really want to hit is in the 130-140 whp range, so my car is just a little more fun to drive, nothing huge. I have considered the VTEC head swap, but ruled it out since its 500+ for everything (I did ALOT of research about it), to do that swap alone. So what do you guys think?

themorphious

if you are running a nonvtec head......then you arent going to see 140 hp with pistons and a cam...the vtec head will get you much better results than pistons and a cam. Someone back me up on this if i am correct....unless m wrong that is...

socallmechris

me and a buddy of mine bought a 95 civic ex for 250 bucks a while back for his gf. de did the body work to make it look nice, but the car had a blown head gasket on a d16z6(i think, i dont really remember). we did a basic rebuild on the motor and thew in 11.5:1 pistons in while we were at it. we had some other parts laying around like i/h/e and i think a obx manifold. he had a chiped ecu sitting in his basement so we ran it off that.

its completely untuned, but pulls nice had hard. i would love to throw a cam in and tune it, but its his girlfriends car. its still a fun little single cam

socallmechris

also i think we finished the whole car for under a grand minus the paint

SOHC_civic_si

I kinda thought that as well. I am only looking to hit 130 whp minimum. If i hit any above that it would be sweet

Stealthmode Performance

If your time and money means anything to you, you'll build your own junkyard turbo kit.

wrEcKed_LX

iTrader: (1)

Stealthmode if you are one and the same with the store, I bought some of your oil lines and they rock.

Original poster: I'm actually in the process of rebuilding my Y7 right now.. luckily one of my buddies has a d16 vtec lying around (not sure what year it is) and we're going to swap the head, manifold, crank, etc. I know that an aftermarket non-vtec cam for the D-series is pretty rare. If you want to get to 130whp on a single cam the best way is to build a turbo kit. It takes some work and research but you will learn so much and have a blast working on everything. Just do it right the first time so you don't have to re-do things.

Edit: forgot you originally said you didnt want to boost it. Were you planning on doing the motor work yourself of getting a shop to do it? (I.e. putting in pistons, gapping the rings, installing the cam, etc.)


Modified by wrEcKed_LX at 4:12 AM 6/3/2008

jimmy o.

VTEC swap!
Ill sell you the top end off my EX if you want it lol

The Lobster

ok for cheap on a y7

i would go with zc pistons that will bump your compression up to 12s. dirt cheap upgrade.

there are people over at D-series.org who are pulling over 140 hp in their sohc and couple guys over 150 and some in the 160 daily driven SOHC.

since doing a mini me the RIGHT way will put you over 500 bucks. i would go for the ZC piston you can pick those up cheap, and then a good cam. the bump in compression plus the cam, and upgrade the intake manifold with a y8 or even a z6 you wil get close to 130 hp. for under 500

Ukrainamese

Yeah, P29's or PM7's are a great upgrade for high compression. If you're worried about too high of compression, go with PM6's with a little head shaving, maybe around 0.020", should put you around 10.1, maybe a little higher.

For cams, Bisi Level 2 or Delta 272 are great for it.


I'm currently building my Y7, just waiting for my regrind to get to me then time to bring it all together, here's what I'm doing:

Head:
Mild head work (3-angle grind, p&p, cleanup)
Delta 272 Cam
Stock Valvetrain
ARP Headstuds

Block:
Hot-tanked, cleaned up... whatever...
PM6 Pistons 0.5mm overbore with Hasting rings
Stock rods, shot peened with ARP rod bolts

Y8 Manifold
Y8 240cc Injectors
Ebay 4-1 header
2.25" Exhaust
Boomslang OBD2B to OBD1 Harness

SOHC_civic_si

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jimmy o. &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">VTEC swap!
Ill sell you the top end off my EX if you want it lol </TD></TR></TABLE>

How much would you see your top end for considering I am on a budget and do not want to spend a whole lot?

SOHC_civic_si

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Ukrainamese &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Yeah, P29's or PM7's are a great upgrade for high compression. If you're worried about too high of compression, go with PM6's with a little head shaving, maybe around 0.020", should put you around 10.1, maybe a little higher.

For cams, Bisi Level 2 or Delta 272 are great for it.


I'm currently building my Y7, just waiting for my regrind to get to me then time to bring it all together, here's what I'm doing:

Head:
Mild head work (3-angle grind, p&p, cleanup)
Delta 272 Cam
Stock Valvetrain
ARP Headstuds

Block:
Hot-tanked, cleaned up... whatever...
PM6 Pistons 0.5mm overbore with Hasting rings
Stock rods, shot peened with ARP rod bolts

Y8 Manifold
Y8 240cc Injectors
Ebay 4-1 header
2.25" Exhaust
Boomslang OBD2B to OBD1 Harness</TD></TR></TABLE>

LOL I'm sorry I do not know all the piston codes so I do not know which engines the P29's, PM7's, and PM6's pistons come out of. I heard somewhere that the Bisimoto stage 2 cam isn't that great for daily driving? My car still has to remain 100% street driven. I'm also thinking maybe to swap out my Y7 intake manifold for a Y8 because i've read that the Y8 manifold has the best flow for all the d series manifolds and that could boost me a few ponies plus the Y7's just sucks *****. I am confused when doing this however. Can I re-use my throttle body and injectors, and fuel rail and all the sensors, etc. from my Y7 and just use the actual Y8 manifold? I've read that the IAC gives you trouble and all this other stuff. You just seem like a knowledgeable guy to ask all this stuff to!

SOHC_civic_si

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by The Lobster &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">ok for cheap on a y7

i would go with zc pistons that will bump your compression up to 12s. dirt cheap upgrade.

there are people over at D-series.org who are pulling over 140 hp in their sohc and couple guys over 150 and some in the 160 daily driven SOHC.

since doing a mini me the RIGHT way will put you over 500 bucks. i would go for the ZC piston you can pick those up cheap, and then a good cam. the bump in compression plus the cam, and upgrade the intake manifold with a y8 or even a z6 you wil get close to 130 hp. for under 500</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah thats exactly what I'm thinking of doing. The flow of the Y7 intake manifold is so poor that anything is any improvement over it. Plus i've read that Y8 manifolds can actually boost your power up a couple ponies over the Y7 and frankly I'm just sick of having my intake look like a big vertical upside down check mark because of the throttle body location LOL

meandino

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by themorphious &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">if you are running a nonvtec head......then you arent going to see 140 hp with pistons and a cam...the vtec head will get you much better results than pistons and a cam. Someone back me up on this if i am correct....unless m wrong that is...</TD></TR></TABLE>

I would say to do the MiniMe swap. Try to find one for cheap there not to much. Probably keep it under the $500 mark if you really wanted to.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by jimmy o. &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">VTEC swap!
Ill sell you the top end off my EX if you want it lol </TD></TR></TABLE>

See he is already offering. Maybe even sell it to you for cheap.

SOHC_civic_si

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by wrEcKed_LX &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Stealthmode if you are one and the same with the store, I bought some of your oil lines and they rock.

Original poster: I'm actually in the process of rebuilding my Y7 right now.. luckily one of my buddies has a d16 vtec lying around (not sure what year it is) and we're going to swap the head, manifold, crank, etc. I know that an aftermarket non-vtec cam for the D-series is pretty rare. If you want to get to 130whp on a single cam the best way is to build a turbo kit. It takes some work and research but you will learn so much and have a blast working on everything. Just do it right the first time so you don't have to re-do things.

Edit: forgot you originally said you didnt want to boost it. Were you planning on doing the motor work yourself of getting a shop to do it? (I.e. putting in pistons, gapping the rings, installing the cam, etc.)


Modified by wrEcKed_LX at 4:12 AM 6/3/2008</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yeah as I said earlier I am not boosting my engine. I plan on doing most of the motor work myself (with a good friend of course). I can install a cam, and put in the pistons (I did it before with my friend on his car although I kinda stood and watched and all we did was drop the oil pan and drop the pistons out of the block from the pan. I don't know how to gap rings and thats where I think I am screwed. I read somewhere as well that when you put in new pistons and rings you have to cross-hatch or re-thread the cylinder walls or something or else your rings won't gap right or something, and you will leak a lot of oil or have a lot of blow by or something. I have no idea. Care to enlighten me?

blk92_d16

All I can say is good luck! SOHC power!

sparknutracer

good luck go for the build! the sohc could be a great motor if done rite!

Dasfinc

of course you aren't gonna like my response either:

Swap it.

You are looking to spend $500 right? i did my full B18B1 LS swap for $750 bux, I'm selling a nearly full swap for $600 right now. I now have a bone stock, dead reliable, 142hp, 127tq, and it pulls like a raped ape compared to my D16Y8 headed mini-me *11.1:1 CR, Adj cam gear, intake, worked over head, etc* which blew headgaskets all the time and wasn't reliable worth a damn.

the torque in a civic is amazing, and is something you will not achieve with a NA D16 motor.

97Ej6mike

That headgasket trick ( removing a layer) gives the bottom end a slightly beefier feel ( friends car this was).

CivicPride97

I say get a y8 head ( i can get one for $160) and do the work your self. I have a y8 manifold with a y7 head and block considering the fact i have a 97 ex ( dont ask) and run it off a y8 ecu. I can tell you for a fact that changing out the ecu makes a big difference. i put my friends y7 ecu on my civic and it felt slow but when i put my ecu back in it felt as if my car was relieved of being back to normal.......only downside is i cant go past 5500 because I have no v-tec and im getting a check engine code for vtec system malfunction. Hopefullly my friend will sell me his y8 head and ill be back in business.........


Never mind i also have and ej8 tranny


Modified by CivicPride97 at 4:56 PM 6/3/2008

SOHC_civic_si

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Dasfinc &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">of course you aren't gonna like my response either:

Swap it.

You are looking to spend $500 right? i did my full B18B1 LS swap for $750 bux, I'm selling a nearly full swap for $600 right now. I now have a bone stock, dead reliable, 142hp, 127tq, and it pulls like a raped ape compared to my D16Y8 headed mini-me *11.1:1 CR, Adj cam gear, intake, worked over head, etc* which blew headgaskets all the time and wasn't reliable worth a damn.

the torque in a civic is amazing, and is something you will not achieve with a NA D16 motor.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Thats my biggest beef right now is to make it reliable. I actually thought about swapping to a B18B but the swap is too expensive as well. Looking online at various sites such as hmotorsonline charges 2200 bucks for the complete changeover swap which is way to much. You have a B18B swap for sale?

racerxh00

im also in your train of thought. i just did the whole mini me swap for about 300 bucks. i got the whole y8 top end for 100 bucks. craigslist is awesome. but remember in order to really do anything you need a vtec computer. i scored a p2p for 60 bucks. and there is a thread on here on how to fake a knock sensor for 2 bucks. im makin somewhere near 130 right now, but i am messin with the apexi neo which is a good investment for around 250. next is individual throttle bodies.

SOHC_civic_si

You think your making 130 to the wheels? When did you see this thread on how to fake a knock sensor?

Dasfinc

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SOHC_civic_si &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Thats my biggest beef right now is to make it reliable. I actually thought about swapping to a B18B but the swap is too expensive as well. Looking online at various sites such as hmotorsonline charges 2200 bucks for the complete changeover swap which is way to much. You have a B18B swap for sale?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Reliability, thats exactly why I stopped screwing with a NA D-series, and didn't want to boost it and went for a 'cheap' b-series swap. My B18B1 has been rock-solid reliable, great power, and still gets 30mpg being whomped on.

I'm selling EVERYTHING you'd need for a swap right now EXCEPT for a transmission and shift linkage for $700 picked up

*This includes, a OBD1 B18A1 motor (140hp/127tq factory stock) which still has the flywheel, 6 puck clutch, and pressure plate on it*, OBD1 P75 Manual ECU, Half shaft and axles. I have mounts for it to go into an 92-95 chassis that would go with it *albeit I am not sure what mounts you would need since you have an 96-00 if I read correctly.

Honestly, a cam and high comp pistons will set you back $600-700 right there for your D-series, and you'd be lucky to get 115hp total out of that without a tune *which will cost another $100 or so*

Dasfinc

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by racerxh00 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">im also in your train of thought. i just did the whole mini me swap for about 300 bucks. i got the whole y8 top end for 100 bucks. craigslist is awesome. but remember in order to really do anything you need a vtec computer. i scored a p2p for 60 bucks. and there is a thread on here on how to fake a knock sensor for 2 bucks. im makin somewhere near 130 right now, but i am messin with the apexi neo which is a good investment for around 250. next is individual throttle bodies.</TD></TR></TABLE>

on the 'makin somewhere near 130 right now', if you just slapped on a Vtec head and a P2P ECU, all you have is a D16Y8 which makes 127hp stock at the crank from the factory with .2:1 higher compression.

You are probably making 110-115 at the most at the wheels...