alphaHX

-hello everyone in new to this site and new to the whole tunning car industry.....
-i have a 1996 honda civic hx with a vtech-e d16y5
- i was wondering what can i tune it soo it can be better than stock!
- and what can i do besides a swap to give it better performance?

mods in car.....
-aem cold air intake
-exaused
-tsunamy polyureathane bumper

i just started tunning it what else can i do for this civic?

thanx

Syndacate

just the bumper? Ur not going to drop it or put aftermarket headlights/tailights on it? I hear those are big, big JDM fad going on right now, so get JDM parts I guess....as for performance, turbo with light pressure :-\

alphaHX

i have aftermarket headlights with black housing side skirts and now im just looking for a spoiler and a rear bumper lip for my 2door civic.... i want to keep the front and the back bumpers with the same material polyurethane... i was thinking about getting some pulleys aem?

Targa250R

EX transmission.

Voyage34

there is virtually no aftermarket support for the d16y5, so any serious work will have to be custom.

The block and head are the same as the d16y8 out of the EX, it just has lower compression pistons, vtec-e instead of vtec, roller rockers and im sure a few other minor things as well.
what direction are you looking to go, NA or FI?
whats your budget?

for boost, build a turbo kit for around 1000 boost to 150, 160whp or so and call it a day. sure its not a 12second car, but way faster than stock.
for NA, swap in higher compression pistons either aftermarket for the y8 or stock zc pistons, a custom cam: i think crower and gude do custom grinds there may be others but off the top of my head...
if you convert to odb1 tuning is much easier, more common, effective and cheaper options are all over the place. if you stay odb2 there is aem ems and one or two others, and finding good tuners for those is harder
there is a thread over on D-Series.org that details a high comression D build off of the y8 or z6, if you emulate the y8 build with the aformentioned custom work(not cheap) you could have a rpetty decent build.
also, Bense has an in-depth HX/GX thread on here, im sure you can find some good information in there as well

and yes, the ex transmission is one of the best things you can do right off, it will help your acceleration and the feel of the car immensely

alphaHX

so if i was to put an aem pulley on my civic would it make a difference? my civic is running on a 115hp and what would be a cheap but efficient way to get a lil bit more hp... i did the intake and the exaust .... i have a HX auto transmission CVT its a bit more better than a regular automatic transmission i do the shifting on the car with just the gas peddal some people tell me the transmission is fragile and could brake some tell me its the toughtest transmission there is? ......im comfused! anyone can help and tell me some real facts?

Syndacate

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Targa250R &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
EX transmission.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

I don't recommend this with stock gears...I am extremely displeased with the stock tranny, if you shift to fast, you hear that the RPMs didn't fall enough yet and it makes that weird sound which I can't really describe, not burning it, not popping it....

Also, 5th gear is out in the middle of nowhere....that just pisses me off, it starts getting power at like 65mph (it's at like 3k or so), kinda rediculous for hwere I am where there's tons of 55 mph, keeping it in gears 1-4 just isn't economical, but it's a lot easier :-\

It's all up to you in the end, like they said, the engines are pretty similiar

EDIT:
and yea, honda auto trannys suck

camp_kill_yourself

man....really the best thing to do is to do a swap. now i know its a big leap but you have an auto transmission that right there is a big blow to your performance, believe me i know i had a d16y8 non vtec in my car and it was an automatic. by the time you buy all these parts and install them you could have had a new engine. no joke. i got a usdm b18c1 with stage1 exedy clutch kit manual conversion back disc brake kit all installed for the low price of $6900.

Bense

check the sig

HXvtec

boost that sum bitch!!! there are a lot of aftermarket products for the hx. just not any for the head. i have an hx as well (hence the name hxvtec duh) and i like it. keep the hx i say.


edit:: you have and auto damnit that sucks i would definatly swap that out. if you have the time and money


Modified by HXvtec at 7:44 PM 4/25/2006

Bense

just enjoy the good gas mileage and the cvt.

I wish i had a cvt hx.

98HX

I have a 98 hx auto but i tore up a transmission every year best thing for you to do is just do a swap cause you are going to run in problem after problem they did not make that engine for performance. trust me been down that same exact road. if it was not the transmission, vtec stop workin, piston rings fried, misfire. trust me save your money and do a swap from auto to manual B series you will be pleased

Bense

listen to me, i know more.

not trying to be cocky, i have just researched this **** like crazy.

Targa250R

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Bense &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I wish i had a cvt hx.</TD></TR></TABLE>
As far as I'm concerned, you can have them all.

Bense

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Targa250R &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">As far as I'm concerned, you can have them all. </TD></TR></TABLE>

I've got way too many transmissions as it is.


CVTs are the future of transmissions IMO

alphaHX

i was really intrested a year ago about a swap to manual transmission but now that i did research about the CVT it leaves me at a stuck phase to keep the CVT or to have a manual transmission ... ive driven a manual car before and i must say i feel sooo much better using stick..... can anyone tell me what would cost to get it swapt???

alphaHX

do u have any ideas of what i can boost my HX ?

turboDeznutz

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Syndacate &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">just the bumper? Ur not going to drop it or put aftermarket headlights/tailights on it? I hear those are big, big JDM fad going on right now, so get JDM parts I guess....as for performance, turbo with light pressure :-\</TD></TR></TABLE>

jdm=infinte horsepower

EE_Chris

I'm gonna go with the "stay stock and enjoy your gas mileage and low maintenance vehicle" option. If you swap a 5-spd tranny in, won't a code pop-up from the ECU complaining that the auto tranny isn't there now? And with the CEL on, you'll instantly fail emissions...if that's a concern for you at all.

Don't bother with pulleys, intake, header, exhaust - the only way to make it quick is to put some pressure in the intake. Then you'll quickly find out how un-stout Honda auto trannies are.

If you really want to turbo it, look into a bolt-on kit from GReddy.

Targa250R

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Bense &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">CVTs are the future of transmissions IMO</TD></TR></TABLE>
That may be, but Honda's 1st-gen CVT was a piece of ****.

HXvtec

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by EE_Chris &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I'm gonna go with the "stay stock and enjoy your gas mileage and low maintenance vehicle" option. If you swap a 5-spd tranny in, won't a code pop-up from the ECU complaining that the auto tranny isn't there now? And with the CEL on, you'll instantly fail emissions...if that's a concern for you at all.

Don't bother with pulleys, intake, header, exhaust - the only way to make it quick is to put some pressure in the intake. Then you'll quickly find out how un-stout Honda auto trannies are.

If you really want to turbo it, look into a bolt-on kit from GReddy.</TD></TR></TABLE>

thats why you have to change ecu's.

type1civic

intake, headers, exhaust and obd1 conversion. obd1 will take away most restrictions of the vtec e.

Bense

no.


to the OP. If you want to make your car fast you'll have to do a auto to manual swap. in your case CVT -&gt; manual swap. But you'd follow the steps for an auto to manual swap. Don't bother doing it unless you get a ex/si tranny. d16y8''s go for like 250 because everyone thinks that the steel shifter forks in them are somehow better, but they bend with abuse and take out other stuff when they bend. A good d16z6 transmission will make your car much faster.

After that you basically have a d16y5 with a ex tranny. A good platform in my opinion. You can look at my d16y5/d16b5 project to get a foundation of what the motor can do. But then again, the most bang for your buck is going to be boost.


If it were me in your shoes, I would either enjoy the car in stock form and just spend your money on other things that are more worthwhile. such as an ipod, beer, or gin. However, if you plan on keeping the car for a long time, the cvt will eventually fail, and they're expensive to replace. This is why i strongly advise the auto/cvt -&gt; manual conversion.

A infinitude final drive is also a good way to get faster acceleration. if you're interested I can build you a transmission with one of those final drives, etc. PM me for more info.


But after you do the transmission swap, the manual transmission can handle a lot more power than a cvt/auto so you could turbo it without worries.

You're a new guy here and there's nothing wrong with that. At this point you have two options on what you want to do with your car. Time is money, you can spend a lot of time researching and saving money, or you can pay for someone else to do it for you, it all depends on what YOU want to do.


if you want something that's fun to play around with that is enjoyable, do the auto to manual swap and turbo it and be done with it. Ask anyone else that's experienced on the board and they'll tell you the same.

auto to manual swap will run you about 600-700 dollars if you do the labor yourself. Like i said, if you have time you can do it and have good results for less than the price of a LS swap.