OK, I'm new to this board and to Hondas, so bear with me here if I'm asking n00b questions. Up until now all of my performance experience lies with domestic cars and trucks, and a few turbo DSMs......

I recently acquired a '95 Civic EX 4-door sedan, for a very reasonable price to use as a daily driver. It's got the 1.6-liter SOHC engine and an automatic trans. Decent car, but it's definitely lacking in the power department.

Now, here's the issue. I'd like to give this thing some more ***** if I can do it reasonably cheap. This is still going to be a daily driver...I'm not looking to build a race car, I don't want to lower it, put a loud exhaust on it, and I'd like to keep it automatic. I have the Mustang to play with and race, I just want some more power...low-end grunt would be preferable as this thing has to see 4000 RPM before it starts to move at all. While it's really the low-end power that I'm looking for, any and all power gains are a good thing


That being said, someone told me that a 2.2-liter Prelude engine would bolt right in. I haven't looked around at junkyards yet, but is this possible? And if so, what would it take besides the engine to make it work? Also, I've heard that a 1.8-liter Acura Integra engine would work as well. Any recommendations either way?

Besides changing the whole engine to one of more displacement, are there any other options for extra power at low revs with the 1.6-liter engine short of forced induction? I understand that the VTEC concept is to get power at high revs, and that's great when I'm flooring it, but this is the first car I've ever owned that MUST to see the high side of 3000 rpm to keep pace with traffic on my short drive to and from work.

Apparently I'm only going to be allowed to make 5 posts per day for two weeks after registering, so if anyone's bored and has advice, feel free to hit me up on AIM, the name is Anony77882.

Any and all help is appreciated. Thanks in advance

 

There really is no point for you to do a motor swap, unless you have a few grand lying around. It's a 4 cyl you're not going to have much low-end, regardless of motor. If this car is your daily driver, then keep it that, don't do anything to the motor, especially if you are going to keep it auto. If you have some pot of gold and do have a few grand to waste, put a lil turbo on it.

 

I figured that was gonna be the answer. It does have to remain a reliable daily driver first and foremost. I wish I had a pot of gold laying around, but I don't...some people led me to believe that a cheap junkyard motor would just bolt right in for more power, I guess when it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

I guess it's just a Honda thing...in recent memory I've had a Saturn with a 1.9-liter and a Dodge Shadow with a 2.5-liter, both had pretty good low-end torque stock. Then again, neither one of them went as hard above 5000 as the Honda does...