hello everyone, my roommates have talked me into doing something with my 96 civic ex. Right now its just stock, nothing at all done on it. Im looking for some advice as to what i should do first and what company you all suggest for parts. Any help would be appreciated.

 

How much are you willing to spend? What do you want to accomplish? Power, suspension, looks? More info would be appreciated.

 

Just like Maxim said, we'll be glad to help, but we need more info...

Probably the very first thing you should decide is this: just how far do you want to go with the mods? Decide that, and then work toward that goal. Do you want an engine swap or not? Turbo or not? Nitrous oxide or not? Not all paths are compatible and not all parts work with all engines, so you need to make this decision ahead of time to keep you from wasting money and time.

We'll be happy to help in any way we can! (and welcome to the board!)

 

sorry...willing to spend about 5,000 (or whatever it takes), want it to go reasonably fast so i wont get blown of the road (hoping to end up with a 11-12 second car). i asked about a v-tec, but my r-mates said it would probably be better (and cheeper) to avoid an engine swap and to just put a turbo on it or supercharger. also, it wouldnt hurt for it to look nice, im looking at a couple kits from wings west.


[Modified by tazdevil, 5:32 AM 12/31/2001]

 

okay, if you're looking for 11-12 seconds, your current engine HAS to go. You can get that kind of power out of the SOHC engine in the EX, but it will cost a small fortune.

So basically, you need a swap. Here's another decision: Turbo or not?

If you want to make a street/drag strip car where you won't be going at high speeds for extended periods of time, it will be much cheaper to get a turbo. I would recommend a B18B1 engine from an Integra LS or possibly the B20B out of a Honda CRV. Of course it will need to be built up.

If you want a car for roadracing courses, the turbo is out of the question (unless you spend tons of money). In this case I would go for a B18C1 engine from an Integra GS-R. You may or may not want to bore it out a little. You will need custom pistons and other things to raise the compression.

 

Hold it!! If you want an 11-12 second civic forget about the body kits and the wings. The very first thing you should get is an engine swap, the B18C1(GSR engine) would be on the top of my list with the amount you are willing to spend. You could getthis engine for 3000-4000 plus maybe 500-700 if you hired a shop to do it. I would then think about putting a turbo in there, which would then put you in the high12-13 second range. The turbo will more than likely cost you around 4000. But, while you are waiting for the funds to be available, start working on your suspension and possibly getting a lighter flywheel and a lot stronger clutch.

 

See, I was typing during Spyders most recent post and we came up with almost the exact same solution. I don't know what could be more obvious or accurate than that.

 

okay, maybe i was a little naive about my earlier statement, i didnt know what i was getting into. What i want to do is take what i have now, add some stuff (simple stuff i.e. intake, exhaust and whatever else you can suggest) to make it go faster. my friends were making this out to be easy, but already, im discovering otherwise.

 

Adding simple stuff IS easy, but building an 11-12 second car most definately ISN'T. If you just want some decent go-fast for not that much (and you want to keep the current engine), then I would recommend the Greddy turbo kit. It won't be a blazing fast car by any means, but IF PROPERLY TUNED it will bring up up into the realm of GS-R's and Integra Type-R's.

http://www.importparts.com has the Greddy turbo kit for a 92-95 Civic EX for $1599.95. With slight modification (or maybe none, have heard different reports), you can make it fit your '96 EX. If you want to improve a little on the Greddy, you can get an intercooler for the turbo. To be honest, I have no clue how much an intercooler costs, but it's not THAT bad. After you get it installed, have someone who reallys knows what they're doing tune it, tuning is almost EVERYTHING with a turbo.

(btw, importparts.com can be trusted completely for quality parts and good customer service, the owner is on this board)




[Modified by spyder, 11:56 PM 12/30/2001]

 

To tell you the truth I/H/E is not going to make a noticeable difference in the performance of your car. Keep this in mind, those three things COMBINED will barely give you 10 extra hp on your engine. I was in your exact same position 1 year ago and have decided to get rid of all of it except for the exhaust so i could put a turbo on my car. In total I have wasted $600 on stuff that has done very little to help me go faster.

Ok, if you feel that you went a little overboard with those times, you should look into getting 1 of two things: a B18c1 swap or going turbo. The turbo route will give you slightly more hp up front, but you will regret not having the extra hp of a GSR tubo if you decide to go faster with the swap. I will give you some brands to look at for performance even though I think I/H or a waste of $$$ on your engine.

Headers: Greddy, Mugen, Spoon, Apexi
Intake: AEM
Exhaust: Thermal Research and Development or Apexi
Turbo kits: Drag, Max Rev, Rev hard, or FMAX
Engines(for swap): B18C1, B18C5(expensive), B18B...notice I have only listed the 1.8liter engines here.

[EDIT] I second spyders suggestion on going to importparts.com for help. You should also try http://www.optauto.com for other parts or http://www.jdmclub.com for complete engine swaps.


[Modified by maxim, 12:04 AM 12/31/2001]

 

hey, if you really do want to do 11s-12s with the money you got, take the $5k, sell the EX, find a cheap 92 hatch, drop in an h22 and a turbo.

Spend the leftover money on a good suspension/wheel setup and you're good to go.

Just food for thought.

 

u cant leave out a set of good tires also ..

power is nothing without control

 

What he said.
You would be better off just selling the car to start off with a better platform. A hatch or used Si would be a better way to go.

 

Prelude engines don't always respond well to turbo. If you want to turbo a bigger engine go with a B20. Though, don't plan on autoxing with either one of these engines just use it for the street or strip.

 

the closest you are gonna come is if you strip the hell out of your car and do a h22a swap.. lookin at like hight 13's..
if you dont know what you are doing then stay away from turbo ...
my 2 cents..

 

IMO i/h/e is not worth it!!! Id go with the turbo kit from greddy if your looking to get a turbo...but be careful , you do need turbo management or they do become unreliable...but if you get that turbo, it comes (most do, not sure about greddy) with the i/h/e! Just think about bang for the buck, that 1500 looks like a lot, but if you figure up you spend 1100 or so for i/h/e and you only get maybe 10-15 hp and with a turbo your looking at maybe 40+.....you do the math