Whats up everyone... Im new here ... I have a couple questions. I have some type of knowledge with cars ( dsm's , wrx's and srt4s). I own a srt-4 now ... but I am getting a 1997 honda civic ex from my sister she had it for 10 years .. and now its fallen apart on her, ( well not that bad but its stupid stuff like window regulator not working and dumb stuff that can fix easily ....) but anyways whats the best way to get this car very quick. It has a Sohc Vtec engine and the motor has about 130k and has never been abused. Im starting to do a 99si conversion to the front. Anyways Is there any good turbo kits out there?? There are so many options on these cars. Im not thinking of doing any engine swaps im thinking of keeping the sohc vtec and making it a beast. Are these motors any good to work with?? Im thinking of doing a rev hard turbo kit ... and buidling the motor to be a beast. Am i wasting my time or not? Maybe ill also throw in a aem stand alone and Lsd ? I know ill need a clutch and motor mounts and a whole bunch of other stuff .. But i do have the money to put down... Any opinions?? Please help me out here guys ... Ill take pics of the car and show you how it looks now and then after ... So any advice would be helpful.

Thanks

 

This is a very broad question... We need to know more like if you have hp goals and what they are, what you budget is (or if you have one) stuff like that.

Basically you can just do what you were talking about, throwing a turbo kit on it and calling it a day or you could rebuild the thing from top to bottom. It sounds like me you want to do the second one.

Now with the SOHC/DOHC argument you are going to get some mixed respsonses. Some people love the SOHC turbos, others are B series or die. I say stick with the single cam, you wont spend as much money and you could make quite a bit of power. I mean you already have the engine...

My suggestions (though I might be living my dream vicariously through you) rebuild the enigne with some kick *** parts, CP pistons, Peuter rods, Super tech vavletrain, sleeved block, and a good sized turbo (again this veries depending on your goals) and boost the **** outta the car.

 

its all about $$ and hp goals

 

thanks for the awesome replys ... yeah man im so used to my srt4 but im thinkin of selling it and getting a bmw ... and since i might get this civic for free maybe to just do that all up .... my goal is to make it run 11s ... im goin all out on this project ... from what i heard sleeving the block is expensive and thats what i had a argument with my friends ... they said dont waste ur time ... its too too expensive ... they told me it ranges like about $2500 just to sleeve the block ... is this true?

 

well i got a friend that has a boosted non vtec sohc on stock internals... tuned by the best tuner around here cost him about a grand and he's got 286 hp at the wheels... i've never heard of that but i saw the dyno sheet... he's been boosted on a greddy kit for 2 years runnin about 12 psi it's crazy

 

You can run 11's on the sohc if track performance is your true goal. There's examples of sohc running 11's on stock blocks in fact.

It truly comes down to what your level of ability is, how much you REALISTICALLY want to spend, and how streetable you want the car to be, and do you have emmissions to conform to that requires you to stay OBD2.

OBD2 Bseries swaps aren't cheap, and once the things in and running your still pretty much at square one, just with a little more capable of a platform. By this point you could have the sohc sleeved and built internally....and then some.

A Bseries though will ultimately, for all intensive purposes, outperform the D in the end. The heads flow better, they have vtec on both cams, versus just vtec function on the intake side like the sohc motors, and B's are very aftermarket supported and plentiful.

Basically, 320-350whp is enough to propel a typical Honda into the high 11's on the right slicks, with a descent driver, and LSD. You could do it with less, but we'll just use that number to be safe. A sohc or dohc both can produce that kind of number easily...the sohc will pretty much do it cheaper as well. It's when you want to climb into high 400's and 500's that the B's will really work well for you.

You really just need to do some reading, some searching, and some more reading. You will start to see a pattern of what it takes to make each motor work and produce the track times your after. If you have a little cash and know how though, 11's are very easily attainable in a street driven Civic.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Strictly4Boosting &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">thanks for the awesome replys ... yeah man im so used to my srt4 but im thinkin of selling it and getting a bmw ... and since i might get this civic for free maybe to just do that all up .... my goal is to make it run 11s ... im goin all out on this project ... from what i heard sleeving the block is expensive and thats what i had a argument with my friends ... they said dont waste ur time ... its too too expensive ... they told me it ranges like about $2500 just to sleeve the block ... is this true?</TD></TR></TABLE>

I got mine sleeved for $1100 about a year ago... I did it through Laskey Racing, they use Benson for their sleeving. Benson sleeves IMO are the best. I've seen other blocks sleeved by other companies (won't name any names) and they were all ****. Didn't sit right, weren't flush on the top, had huge gaps in the wrong places. The benson sleeves are pretty much bullet proof. I don't think he has raised his prices much but it sure *** hell won't cost you $2500 to sleeve a D series.

 

honestly coming from a non biased person (used to be SOHC or DIE, now i could care less) i say ATLEAST swap in atleast a B16a. if you EVER EVER EVER plan to sell the car as a running complete car and not a shell do the swap to the B series (dohc) its the only way to get ANY of your money back. you could spend $5000 on a built sohc and when you sell it, boosted or not, you wont see much more than any other sohc EK mint condition maybe a few grand. swap any B series in the same car with boost and in descent shape its $5000 or more.

its very expensive to hit 11s in ANY honda, but if that is your goal, why cripple yourself with being limited to one camshaft???

swap in a B series, boost, clean the car up, and enjoy.

as for the person saying a SOHC greddy kit at 12psi making 286whp, i call your bluff... that kit at 6psi barely cracks 170whp, dont waste your time on a bolt on kit unless its full-race or drag. and if you go with a drag kit, get the tubular manifold. other than those i say built your own kit. and check into hondata or crome for tuning, you will most likely be converting to OBD1 to run boost and have it tuned well to stay together while making good power. crome is free and works semi-well, has its glitches and is pretty user friendly (if you know didly about internal combustion engines and modern day EFI systems) hondata must be tuned by a hondata tuner and it cost but has benefits crome doesnt.

get started already.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by schardbody &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">as for the person saying a SOHC greddy kit at 12psi making 286whp, i call your bluff... that kit at 6psi barely cracks 170whp, dont waste your time on a bolt on kit unless its full-race or drag. and if you go with a drag kit, get the tubular manifold.</TD></TR></TABLE>

it is a drag kit he paid out the *** for it i dont know why he could've just made one

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 94c1v1cex &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">well i got a friend that has a boosted non vtec sohc on stock internals... tuned by the best tuner around here cost him about a grand and he's got 286 hp at the wheels... i've never heard of that but i saw the dyno sheet... he's been boosted on a greddy kit for 2 years runnin about 12 psi it's crazy</TD></TR></TABLE>

so that was a mistake and you meant a DRAG turbo kit instead of greddy???

i made a mistake too, when i said 170whp, sohc non vtec on a greddy kit might make 150-160whp at 6psi.

 

There is no way in hell you are going to get $5000 more out of a car by just swapping in a b series. No way at all. Maybe a #$3000 more if you are lucky enough to sell the car to another honda enthusiast... Go try and sell it private party and tell the person you have a b swap in the car, they won't give two *****. It could possibly depreciate the car more because people will know it has been beaten on.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by SOHC4life 96 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">There is no way in hell you are going to get $5000 more out of a car by just swapping in a b series. No way at all. Maybe a #$3000 more if you are lucky enough to sell the car to another honda enthusiast... Go try and sell it private party and tell the person you have a b swap in the car, they won't give two *****. It could possibly depreciate the car more because people will know it has been beaten on.</TD></TR></TABLE>

no no no, i said built sohc turbo might bring $3000, even after putting $5000 in the motor, people still know its SOHC, but if you swap in a B series to begin with you are looking at about a $5000 or MORE depending on how clean it is. and anybody buying a boosted honda knows the differance between a sohc and dohc (b series vs D series).

im just saying spending money building a D series is pointless when you could swap in a B and spend nothing on internals and have similar power but more value.