NameWasTaken

Hi, I had a friend sell me his 1995 civic ex about a month ago and since then I've grown a bit attached to it lol. It's all stock except I added an AEM sri about a week ago. I did feel a little power gain and now I'm kind of craving more.

So I was wondering if I can get some suggestions on what to do next, and my options at the moment are a little limited. I was thinking about new spark plug wires & spark plugs or a header. Only thing is I don't know if the spark plugs/wires will make a difference, and I was gonna buy some Hedman headers but read that the stock ex header is just as good-unless I go DC but I think those are overpriced imo. Almost just bought a clutch kit and instead found this site while searching and ending up posting here.

Any suggestions are welcomed (except Turbo or Swap, ha, don't have the money for that yet )

-Thanks.

everythingwentblack

Im not trying to be a dick, but the only way to feel a noticeable power difference in your car is by turboing it or doing a swap, if you dont have the money then save. spending $money$bling$ on a new clutch is *in my opinion* a waste of time if you do not plan on doing a massive engine upgrage. headers arent going to do much, but Im just letting you know people are going to say when you roll up on honda dudes with built ls/v's and boosted gsrs and start talking about your stock d16 with headers and a crazily upgraded clutch and how you feel the power behind them. Like you might as well have a body kit and wing.


Search search search, then ask questions after you search some more. Thats your best bet dude, and remember Im not trying to be a dick since i made the same mistake when I first joined H-T

NameWasTaken

Yea, thats why I pointed out I'm not doing the swap yet. Plus I don't plan on racing it until that does happen, I'm just looking for some "upgrades" to do in the meantime, even if it is just a little more power-its still more power than it was before.

Thanks for the reply though , I understand what you mean by the whole minor upgrades then trying to beat guys who put thousands of $ into their cars-just doesn't happen, ha.

sp00ledbseries

Swap or head work

nbcivic

the tune up should give it a little more pep....pep isn't speed though lol.

Vindicator9000

I'm not trying to be a hater, but just to tell you like it is. If you've got an EX, you've already got the best single cam engine and transmission. And single cam z6/y8 engines don't really respond to easy boltons. In a way, this is good... it means the engine was so well engineered from the factory that it's difficult for aftermarket to do any better.

That said, plugs and wires are always a good idea, especially if you don't know when they've been changed. They're not going to give you *more* power, but they may recover power that you've lost.

At this point, your best bang for the buck is going to be suspension upgrades. Throwing anything at that engine other than a turbo is a waste of money (I know, some of you hardcore NA-d guys would disagree, and I partially agree with you, but for the sake of the argument...). I would suggest shocks/springs (Koni/Ground Control is very good) and the ASR brace/swaybar combo. I can almost guarantee you won't be disappointed.

If you really wanted to go nonturbo and get noticeable power on that engine, you'll need a cam, valvesprings, retainers, possibly a bigger manifold and throttle body, THEN header and exhaust, and then a chip and a tune. All that might get you 20WHP if you didn't go too crazy on the cam, which will put you at roughly.... 120WHP. And it might cost you $1500. At which point, you could have bought a turbo and gotten 170WHP instead of 120. Or a B20 swap, which might have put you at 130, but had a lot more potential than the singlecam.

So, the point is - spend money on suspension and brakes. Then add power the right way - by buying things that work, rather than things that are cheap and shiny.

Buying go-fast parts for Hondas $100 at a time just DOES NOT WORK (unless you're starting with a basemodel car, but then you're buying all EX and Si OEM parts used). Save for a swap or a turbo, and spend your time researching in the meantime.

NameWasTaken

Yea, nonturbo ain't gonna happen lol

Knew a swap or turbo was gonna be recommended and I will do it further in the year-the turbo anyways. When/if the D blows I might look into a swap.
As for the suspension thing, I actually know someone who's gonna hook me up with the aftermarket suspension he had on his Civic, some Coilovers still in "like new" condition. As for Sway bars I'm gonna have to do some searching and buy them. Most of the brake system has already been replaced so that'll go untouched for awhile.

I think for the moment I'm gonna stick with the simple Intake/headers/exhaust system and start replacing wires, spark plugs, engine internals, etc. The motor was rebuilt 45k ago so I'll end up rebuilding again before a turbo. Also read a bit about Hondata on here so I'll end up taking a look into that too sometime.

Thanks for the replies, anymore are welcome, it's nice doing some research and looking forward to reading some opinions on here lol .

everythingwentblack

yeah a good slam is always a good option. If the motor has been rebuilt, you can get away with like 5-7 lbs of boost on stock internals with a dsm turbo (turbos from eclipses). one thing i believe and i know it will come under MAJOR FIRE on honda tech.. is that if your boosting on stock internals under 8lbs then you dont really need a dyno tune... settle with a street tune and vafc. save hondata for later when you rebuilt it to be nasty as hell.

Just my 2 cents... one that will get slammed im certain now that its out inthe open

mechanix619

Like people are saying, don't waste your money on "upgrades." I know its tempting, you want to make the car perform better and air intakes, headers, ect are relatively cheap compared to a swap or turbo. Do yourself a huge favor and save your money. By suspension and brake upgrades first; lowering springs, rear disc brake swap, upgrade the front brakes, rear sway bar. Get your car ready for a motor swap. You will need/want most of the aforementioned stuff if and when you swap.

NameWasTaken

Aight, so I don't think I'm gonna start with I/H/E, I think...but this weekend I'm gonna put in new spark plugs/wires, and check out my buddies Coilovers.

Also, I was looking at lighter Flywheels over the current heavy one. I can drop in a new Flywheel with the current clutch right? The clutch is pretty new so...

trustdestruction

By reading what you said, I think you are asking if "better plugs" so to speak will give you more power. The answer is no. Stick with OEM NGK V-powers at $8 a set. However, replacing them if you don't know how old they are is always a good idea as you will recover some power if the old ones are worn.

Spark plug wires usually don't really give you any gains, but if you need new ones, then you might as well get NGK. If your current wires are in good condition, forget about it.

NameWasTaken

Yea, I know they won't add any power, what I meant was I don't know if I should replace them or not cause I have no clue when the current spark plugs/wires were replaced, so I decided to inspect/replace them this weekend. Better to have ones I know some background about than the current ones I have no clue about.
I'll be sure to look for the NGK's

NOFX

My only suggestion to you is to read as much as you possibly can.

Find things you like and then read about them. Find out how they might work for your situation.

Is it a daily driver? Does it have to be reliable? What kind of power are you looking for? Do you want to keep power options? Are you willing to do this and that? And so on and so forth.