So I was considering building a new head for my civic, using a valve train kit and stage 2 cam from crower cams. I was hoping to find out from people who have installed this cam on how good it is and if its worth it. I was also wondering if anyone's cammed out their civic without building their bottom end and if so have they run into any major issues?

 

i run a stage 2 turbo cam from crower its sick and was well worth it i got 208hp at the wheels and my bottom end is stock

 

Thanks man, that's what I was hoping to here

 

if you're not gonna run boost then i feel like it would be pointless to get the camshaft.

 

There are 2 versions of the Stage 2 cam, turbo and NA. The NA can you get you more power, but is rough to run without proper tuning which means you will need K-pro. I have Stage 1 cam which works perfectly fine with stock ECU.

 

this is true crower does have the n/a version the stage 2 works out side of the stock ecu can handle where as the stage one is ok and will run fine

if i was going to do mine all over again i would run n/a
stage 1 cam , intake ,2.675 exhaust, run the stock ecu and call it quits
all in all i spent way to much money on a d17a2 when i could of just spent it on a k20 swap

 

I know it will take tuning and all to make it run properly, if I did it. But I also work with someone at my shop who has a lot of honda parts laying around and will hook me up with the parts pretty cheap for what they are so figured if I can do it cheap why not go for it. Thought it would be nice to here how this part performed for other people before I putting in the time for the install.

 

i just dont think its worth it. do you know what your current gain is from stage one?

 

From stage 1 with I/H/E only like 30 hp

 

is that just off the top of your head guessing or do you have numbers to show? im curious because i've been wondering if i should do stage one myself, but never actually knew if it was well worth it. additionally i am a bit skeptical on how well the motor would take to bigger lobes as far as reliability goes. it'd be nice to see actual numbers.

 

As far as I've seen, lame05 is accurate. But, you'll also need to do something about tuning it... which (at best) requires K-Pro. You're looking at a few thousand dollars, for a measly 30whp (at best). And, you're still plagued with potential coolant and transmission issues. For about $5000 you could piece together a reliable K-swap.

 

i didnt even read the rest of what you said, and i thought to myself...
K. haha

 

Yeah, for the money... you're really not getting good value. You'd be far better off spending a fraction more on a K-swap, and having a FAR superior platform.

If you're really savvy with a wrench, you could even save more money (in the long run) by purchasing a salvage/damaged EP3 or RSX and swapping the parts you want off of it in to your chassis, then selling off what you don't want.

 

might end up breaking close to even. ive not thought about that one... thats actually pretty good idea.

 

Just my opinion:

But how could 30 HP not be worth it for $500.00?

Assuming that no matter what is done to the intake and the exhaust needs to be changed. That is not a bad price for bolt-on performance.

I wish I could spend $500 on my 914 and get 30 HP, but it won't happen for under 4K.

Dan

 

I don't know where you pulled $500 from, but that won't cover everything necessary to gain 30whp. $1,000 (give or take) will be required for K-Pro, then you'll need someone to tune it ($200 - $500). At BEST, you're looking at close to $2,000 for 30whp. And realistically... that's pathetic, given a K-series alternative at worst will give you 60whp for $5,000 and endless tuning potential.

 

Roger that, I was under the impression no kpro was required

 

That's only for the Stage 1 cam.

 

i'll admit. crower does some good stuff with the cams. originally i wanted to get the stage 1 just to add a little spunk to my motor. but the stage 1 cam is $300. plus an exhaust, which if it was a full exhaust, i would say that it'd be another $300. plus a decent header would be about $200, i assume. and a decent intake. another $200. so thats 1k... then another $1k for kro. 30hp is good gain, if you DO want more though... then personally i think a k series motor swap is in line.
what all did you do to the motor to get 30 more hp though? im curious. did you get a tune or just slap on the cam shaft and intake-exhaust?

 

stage one wont need tuning many people with d17a2 run I/H/E with stage 1 crower on the factory ecu no tune just fine. in fact ive been thinking about doing myself but $$$$$$$ is my problem.

 

Where can you buy this Stage 1 Cam from I cant seem to find them online? and I already have an intake on my 1.slow so if I add a Cam and a better exhaust I would be looking at 30whp? that doesn't seem to be a realistic gain.

 

Dezod has it. I'm pretty sure if you google you can find it on other websites.
http://www.dezod.com/mobile/cat-camshafts4.cfm

I'm pretty sure it's been dyno proven. I've seen it and also from personal experience.

And a quick question, is Supertech Valvetrain upgrade kit will work fine with Crower Stage 2 Turbo Cam?

 

30 may be a bit of a stretch. It's more like 20-ish.

From the FAQ's Q&A:

 

Be aware that the Crower cams discussed only work on D17A2 engines, if you have D17A1 you have to swap an A2 head.

 

What about JDM D17A? also I'm currently running the engine on a Non-Vtec ECU and Apex'i Neo, would that still be ok?