Ok as you can see in my signature I have a 1994 DX hatchback.
I've dressed it up a little bit and I think it looks great.
But now the time has come for engine work. My stock engine runs just like the day it was new (128,000 miles right now). But I just need a few more ponies out of it. Now i'm not looking to break 10 seconds in the 1/4 mile and i'm not interested in a motor swap. I travel a lot and a lot of this travel is through the mountains. And everybody knows how well a stock civic enjoys mountains.
I know I want to replace the intake manifold and throttle body, install a header, KEEP the cat, replace everything else to the chrome tip and not turn it into a noise bucket (angry bee). Keeping or improving gas mileage is a must too (right now I get about 28MPG).

The question is what brands should I go with for each?

I can help anybody out with any stock honda but when it comes to bolt on parts I don't know what brands are good and what ones arent.
In advance I appreciate any good help I can get.
~Ross

 

Throttle body, get it bored by Maxbore on this site.

http://hondamarketplace.com/zerothread?id=771875

Intake Manifold: Go with a stock Y8 manifold, you can also get it port matched to your throttle body all in one shot by Maxbore. If you want aftermarket, Skunk2 is good. Edlebrock is ok if you want to do a custom intake, but Skunk2 has no issues.

Intake: Ebay with K&N filter is fine, or just go with an AEM Short Ram. It's not gonna give you anything but a louder sound and a tiny bit quicker throttle response.

Exhaust Manifold: I personally went with DCsports. Quality is great, and it's not rediculously pricey. Toda, SMSP, etc make the best headers, but if you're just looking for something to have fun in DCsports is great.

Stock cat is fine, no real need to upgrade or lose it.

Catback Exhaust: If you want quiet either go with the APEX'i World Sport II or the RS*R Ex Mag. I personally have the World Sport II and I love it, looks great and has a very nice tone.

 

i have a stupid question for you but im sure you could help me out. For a 97 civic what is the diff between the coupe dx and ex models?

 

Ex has a better engine, and better options, sunroof and other tiny things. If you want a good street car go with an EX, if you want a racer and are going to do engineswap, and want it fast and light, go with the DX.. but I would go with an EX, better stock engine and better options. You can also go to hondas website and go to the civic section and check out the differnces between EX and DX, they have ALL of them listed.

 

Biggest difference is in the engine. EX runs a 1.6L SOHC VTEC engine, whereas the DX runs a smaller 1.6L SOHC nonVTEC engine. EX has a few more interior features than the DX, I'm pretty sure a DX has a sunroof, it's the HX that doesn't. That's basically it.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SovXietday &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Biggest difference is in the engine. EX runs a 1.6L SOHC VTEC engine, whereas the DX runs a smaller 1.6L SOHC nonVTEC engine. EX has a few more interior features than the DX, I'm pretty sure a DX has a sunroof, it's the HX that doesn't. That's basically it.</TD></TR></TABLE>

so are teh engines measured in diffnerent metric volumes? like 1.6 liter is not 1.6 liter on the 2nd tuesday of each week or something?

 

go with a non vtec motor or vtec-e!

 

Sir, I think the exact same way you do, so let me give you some info.

I understand what ya mean, and how to do things well and cost effectivly.
My Civic used to do 29mpg, now I do about 34.

Intake. You can spend 400$ on a AEM V2, which will give you the most power. Or, for 30$ you can buy a tube on ebay and get maybe 2hp less, which you won't notice. For a filter, and this can make a big difference, the one that filters best and flows best of a conical one is the Apex-i filter. I personally run a foam AMSOIL filter but I gotta clean it once a year, but the foam flows very well and filters wonderfully. K&N makes damn good ones too, so another vouch for them. For your intake, you want the Intake manifold from a D16Y8 motor. Get the one from a 96-00 Civic EX M/T. The reason for getting it from a m/t car is that the IACV is on the manifold versus the TB. Then you can use B series TBs on it, and simply bore out the manifold (manifold is cast aluminum, you can do it yourself with a dremel, and since your a tech you can do this im sure.) Then you can run a B-series TB (bolt pattern is the same for D and B) and theres many sizes or u can get a bored out one. My Intake and intake manifold cost me 100$ (manifold was used obviously, intake was new. I ceramic coated my intake pipe so i can touch it when the car is running (chromed metal is hot). This keeps the air just a bit cooler, even on a SRI.

Also, NGK Iridium plugs indexed toward the intake manifold help some with combustion for a tad bit more MPG and maybe 1hp at the max, but there good for like 110k miles at least.

Exhaust, you may want like a B-series cat so its a bit bigger. But don't go gettin a 3" exhaust, they sound bad and 3" is too big for a 1.5L n/a with bolt-ons. I'd go with a megan racing header, there pretty good stuff, good quality, and not terribly expensive. Just make sure to get a good quality muffler thats not 30$ off ebay and sounds like *****. I can't reccomend any brand for a muffler rather than Spoon but you're gonna pay a lotta money for it. Worth it to me for the nice rolling sound. Also, a short ram intake doesnt use your stock resonator box, so at WOT you'll hear this deepness (kinda fun).

Hope some of this helps.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SovXietday &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Biggest difference is in the engine. EX runs a 1.6L SOHC VTEC engine, whereas the DX runs a smaller 1.6L SOHC nonVTEC engine. EX has a few more interior features than the DX, I'm pretty sure a DX has a sunroof, it's the HX that doesn't. That's basically it.</TD></TR></TABLE>


I was pretty sure only EX coupe and hatch for EG and EX/SI coupe for EK have stock sunroof


Modified by alwaysoverkill at 6:22 AM 1/8/2006

 

Thanks for the help everybody. I appreciate it.
I'll post when i'm done to tell how it works out.

 

Hey just thought I would add my opinion. I agree with the intake stuff posted so far but if you want to keep quiet I would go with the OBX twin loop from eBay(i think they are around $80 now) as your muffler they have done a review on here and it stays almost silent and is supposed to be made very well. I'm not sure how it sounds presonally but if it is anything like my friends Mugen twin loop they are amazing. The short ram intakes are fairly loud if you get to wide open throttle but I like it. Hope this helps with your decision.

 

Actually intake noise I can deal with because you only hear that at close to WOT. Loud exhaust I can't stand because around here every kid with a 4banger that burns more oil than gas per mile has a 6 inch coffe can sticking out of the rear bumper.
Plus rattling my teeth for 3.5 -7 hours in a trip gets old fast.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MooGoCow3 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Actually intake noise I can deal with because you only hear that at close to WOT. Loud exhaust I can't stand because around here every kid with a 4banger that burns more oil than gas per mile has a 6 inch coffe can sticking out of the rear bumper.
Plus rattling my teeth for 3.5 -7 hours in a trip gets old fast.
</TD></TR></TABLE>


I agree 100%, that rattling, loud obnoxious exhaust noise at 3000rpm would drive me nuts and is the sole reason i'll gladly keep my stock exhaust for the sake of 5h-7hp. Oh, and less attention from police is never a bad thing either

 

Yep.

And the throatyness from a intake is fun, and only if you ask for it. Good for the summer with the windows down.