Hey guys, my girlfriend got this civic Del Sol S with a swapped in JDM D15B VTEC running ODB1. Its got a couple "mods" in it already:

-AEM Cold Air Intake w/ water valve (thank god)
-G Reddy Exhaust
-A/C Delete

It runs like a honda (heh) but i was wondering how to pull some more ponies out of it. I drive and tune older volkswagens so im not used to honda's and they're "computer controlled" stuff haha. my VW doesnt even have standard fuel injection lol. was wondering what a good upgrade path would be?

Chip? Seems that it would lean the engine even more, which = teh detonation. plan on adding a turbo later on so perhaps one of the others is a better upgrade.

Cams? Ive never seen a VTEC with its valve cover removed, is it a nasty process in changing the cam?

Wont do headers, ill be buying a turbo header later on so whats the point?

Bigger fuel pump/injectors? seems like a good bet to me maybe this and some chip for the good combustion?

Bonus question: whats the resale value of these fiberglass body kits? front bumper is damaged (im gonna fix it) and shes hell bent on keeping the rear bumper of the kit (it does look nice) but the side skirts have got to go... just gotta convince her first. 3/4 of a body kit fetch any kind of price? how about a stock rear bumper? probably keeping the stock rear for when she backs into a pole or something.

Sincerely: MK2 Jetta Owner

 

Chip? You would be better off planning everything towards turbocharging the vehicle with a quality turbo kit. Chipping the ecu for the naturally aspirated d15 would not yield a huge amount of power.

Cams? Don't even bother changing the cam, the stock cam will function fine unless you decide to build the complete motor, at that point you might as well change over to a dohc vtec platform such as a gsr motor.


Bigger fuel pump/injectors? Stock injectors/fuel pump are fine until you turbo charge.
Once you go turbo, look into 440cc injectors for anything under 320 whp along with a walbro 255 fuel pump kit.

 

cool. so the stock ECU is good for turbo, it wont tend to lean out? i dont plan on running too much boost. 8 or 9 psi. bigger pump and injectors + turbo = awesome i take it? pretty simple. if only my vdub was that simple lol.

also, ive been reading that people are changing the time with the variable timing camshaft changes. is it a good idea to advance it to a lower RPM set without chaning the timing or the fuel map? what about after the turbo is on the car?

 

oh, it also has a fluodyne radiator in it. nice stuff, but... the heater is EFFIN FREEZING, i mean, if im not stop and go driving, the heater barley gets warm. its only when i come to a light does it get warm. i mean, its nice, for the engine, but im not an engine... lol.

anyonw know of a fix for this? i wouldnt figure a different T-Stat would help, the heater core gets circulation, its just the coolant is getting too ... cooled lol.

please offer your suggestion, even if it is "swap a stock radi" cause im close to doing that... she keeps wanting to drive my car cause its so cold

 

The stock ecu is not fine for boost, it must be chipped with an engine management system. Read http://www.phearable.net/tech/efibeginnerguide.html

Concerning variable cam timing... there is no such thing on your motor.

 

my d15b has honda's vtec. around 5k rpm you can hear it change, unless the engine is cold. also, the engine came from japan. the d15b with odb1 came from the civic vxi (or something like that) its got variable cam duration.

i shouldnt have said timing i guess. i ment the vtec cam duration thing. or like some honda guys would say "VTEKSZZ" or something.

 

thanks for all the help. ive been able to fill all of my answers.

seems ill go ahead and get some bigger injectors and fuel pump. work on chipping my ecu (im pretty damn good with a soldering iron) and get one of the opensource softwares. then it'll be junkyard diving for an old turbo wish CIS-E was as easy to turbo, but it just cant be done.

 

I think he's confused because there are many US variants of the D15B that are non-VTEC engines. But there is the D15B JDM engine with the SOHC VTEC setup around 130hp if I'm not mistaken. I've always been curious about that engine but went DOHC non-VTEC in one car and recently bought my first B-series.

 

man dude u shouldve have try out the jdm d15b.. u wouldve like it.. when i beat b-series n they find out im only running single cam, they never believe it.. here is my stock single cam vtec against my cousin built gsr..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6rQGwqxh1c