Greetings everyone! I've finally paid off my 2001 Honda Civic EX Coupe (Automatic Tranny) and 140k miles. I originally intended on selling it or using it as a trade-in, but I've decided on exploring some tuning/modding avenues. I would like to accomplish about 200-220whp without the sacrifice of reliability, that car's overall handling and tons of money for the upkeep of the mods.

So far (and I'm sure this is nothing new) I've looked into the K-swap that everyone's getting into, but the cost of labor and parts combined, add up to almost $10k. With $3k more I could find an early model RSX Type S with a considerable amount of mileage.

I also considered a turbo, but with 140k on the mileage, I think that would screw up the whole reliability factor.

So yeah, please let me know what you guys think. I'm sure you guys are gonna come up with some really creative ideas and good suggestions. So shoot me some thoughts, cause I'm open to anything at this point.

(side note: I've got a g*dd*mn automatic. how much is an auto-to-manual conversion? and approximately how much would parts + labor run for that?)

 

the pros/cons of going turbo/kswap have been covered many times so do some searching.

i am going with a turbo and shooting for the 200whp mark to begin with. in the long run the kswap will probably lead to better power but for me a turbo is great. its really a matter of opinion and what you want to use the car for.

 

i recommend you sell your car for an rsx, from what you wrote, it doesn't sound like you know much of what you'd be doing. with that said, turbo is not for you, and swapping probably isn't too since labor would be really expensive to swap and convert to manual. it's not for everyone. i'm sure you can find an rsx-s for 13k with under 100k still.

good luck.

 

1. If you want low maintenance reliability, go with a K-Swap. A K20A2 swap can be done for about $6500, and will get you close to your 200whp goal in stock trim.

2. Turbo setups will require more custom work, considering there's no company out there providing a replacement intake manifold for the plastic stock unit.

3. An automatic -> manual transmission change on a D17 will run you about $1,000. If you're changing engines, though, it'd become almost irrelevant. All you would need is the clutch and brake pedal assemblies from a manual transmission Civic. You could even use the RSX assemblies, as their mounting points are the same.

4. All of this could be found through searching. Check here for a how-to: https://honda-tech.com/zerothread/2101211