Hi all, new to the forums, new to hondas, not new to making performance modifications to vehicles. I have a sister who just turned 16 and I just bought her a car, a 1988 civic sedan automatic. It was in really good shape, 115k miles, no rust what so ever. Coming from a gear-head family, she wants to go fast too. Unfortunately due to an accident when she was younger she literally doesn't have a left foot. She has a prosthetic one that she can walk on fine, but it would be difficult for her to move a clutch. So the car must stay automatic. Now I know it's tragic when you want to go fast in a honda and have an automatic transmission. I looked into getting her a prelude automatic because of the sport shift paddles but with some research found out quickly they're POS. I found a place called level 10 transmissions that builds honda auto trannys so it holding up to power is a big deal (but they are pricey!)

Anyway my question is what engine to go with? I want something to drop right in, no cutting or welding. Also it would be nice to keep the transmission that's already in it and find an engine that bolts to that to keep costs down. I eventually want to go turbo so good aftermarket is a must. A b16 is out, I hear you have to cut the frame and such and I don't want to do that. Pretty much going to have to stick with D series. I was looking at a ZC DOHC but I see aftermarket is hard to find for them.
Other than that I don't know what to swap in as I don't know honda engines very well.

Pretty much I need
1. Good aftermarket
2. Bolts to the transmission in the car or comes with auto trans that bolts in the car
3. More power and potential than the stock engine.
4. Don't care if it's Vtec or not.

I'm going to do some research on my own but it's tough to find info on automatic hondas. Thanks for reading

*EDIT*
What about a b18a or b18b automatic? How about a b20? I could find plenty in junkyards from integras and they seem to have pretty good aftermarket and have the potential to go LS/VTEC. Would the automatic integra tranny bolt up?

 

With your requirements you are left with the stock D16a6 from a civic ex/si
mediocre aftermarket
direct bolt in
the same potential as any other stock D series. with a full rebuild using performance parts it can hold more power though

the transmission will not hold much power. I would either look for a better car to start with, rear wheel drive v8 automatic comes to mind, or just do a very basic stock bottom end rebuild and run a very low boost turbo set up. Even then I would say dump the civic and get a rear wheel drive v8 and never look back.

 

Nobody messes with an automatic.
This is why you will not find anything for what you are trying to do..

 

Put an ls integrated non vtec with 5 speed
Add clutch pedal and shift linkage
BBasically ggrab sshell that has 5 speed and make swap possible

 

If the driver has no left foot what does the driver use to press the clutch pedal?

 

Then let's use an auto
WWats our budget?

 

Auto B18 would be pretty powerful. Nothing is plug and play though, and you might find some difficulty finding information about things that are specific to the Automatic part of the swap. But it'd be so much more rewarding that sticking with a D series engine.

 

Come to think of it, I believe there was a guy on here that attempted a B auto swap. Not sure if he ever finished it.
As I recall, he had to significantly cut and rework the passenger frame rail to fit the longer auto tranny because, unlike the D-series, the auto B case is dimensionally different than the manual B case.

 

Ive seen an auto H22 in a crx as well.
My automatic integra jdm b20 with a JDM GSR automatic with intake/header/exhaust/crank pulley beat up on a 5spd gsr with I/H/E and B16 swapped civics..... Thats gonna be my next project (B20 CRX/JDM GSR Auto) Theres also B16a civic automatics ive seen. Almost bought one but it got sold right begore i got there.