Recently purchased a 97 civic dx coupe from my coworker at a very good price I couldn’t pass up. The car is bone stock and also an automatic. I love the car and always had an admiration towards Hondas. But geez is this thing boring to drive. Been scrolling the forum to see how I can make any power out of it and honestly it just confused me more than anything.
Before I begin i would like to say that aside from the basic maintenance to a car (oil change, fluid checks, brake changes) my knowledge on swaps or engine rebuilds is very minimal. While Im more than eager to learn, I’m curious on how beginner friendly this could be. They say Hondas are great car to begin with so I took my chance.
One of the first things I would like to do is a manual conversion. He did throw in a manual transmission that pairs up with the engine so there’s that. But before I begin tearing up this car I was curious to know what would be the better route.
I know there’s a lot of debate between doing an engine swap to b or just building up the d engine it has. The engine my car has is the D16A. Could I achieve decent power with just a manual swap? I’m not looking to do low numbers on the track as this car is my daily. But it would be nice to not be so slow.
While I don’t mind spending a bit of money to achieve this I also don’t want to break the bank.
I have a family to look after so this is more of a fun project I want to take on.
Any advice is greatly appreciated!!

 

Not really much power difference from auto to manual. I have a 97 lx an its a 5pd an it feels really slow. You have to take into consideration that these cars are meant to be economical. There's a couple ways you can gain some enjoyment of driving it but power not so much unless you want to blow the bank rebuilding that d series motor lol or buying a b series motor swap. What you can look into though is doing a d16y8(vtec) head swap. It won't gain to much power but it will help with the manual transmission . Another fun little thing to do on these cars are get some coilovers . They handle so much better with coilovers. Or a good exhaust will make it more enjoyable. Like yonaka exhaust system . It all depends on you though. Sometimes having a manual sucks in instances big cities with stop an go traffic but manuals do get a little better gas mileage .

 

I agree on the coilovers. It currently has a cheap set but I plan to upgrade eventually. Yeah not really try blow the bank on this little car. I’m working on the body right now and plan to do a paint restore to have it looking nice again.
I will definitely look into the Y8 head. I agree with the manual sucking in big cities, currently this car helps me commute to work and most of it is highway which is why I wanted the swap. Just to be able to push a little more. I love my grocery getter but damn does it take a bit to get there. Lol

 

Im going to be the bad guy here, Drive the car, check/change the oil, LEAVE IT ALONE.. If you want to go fast, buy a fast car to begin with, then make it faster. Much easier and cheaper that way, less headaches also... my bone stock 95lx civic has 435k MILES on it and still gets 51 mpg on the highway. But my 2010 mustang gt gets maybe 25mpg on the highway but it gets to highway speeds a hell of a lot faster than the Honda.
Ok im off my soap box

 

Haha I can agree with your statement. I have a 2010 Camaro SS. That’s my big baby but holy does it just consume fuel. No way I could daily it nor would I. Just wanted some opinions on how to make my daily a little more enjoyable 😂

 

good coilovers, seats(i have prelude ones in mine),exhaust, cool air intake(I don't recommend it to much tbh don't help to much), but for the manual swap, try to find a junkyard nearby an grab up the clutch resovoir an the pedal assembly . I belive you'll also need shift linkage. Also a new flywheel for manual transmissions( the bolts are a little bit different from automatic flywheel compared to manual). I'd do a throw out bearing while you're able to access the transmission before you do put it in. Just to insure future repairs. It does cost a pretty penny tbh with you. That's why most honda guys when they get an automatic honda they'll just clean it up an make it nice than sell it for a chassis that is manual.

 

I looked at a 10 camaro, awsome beast of an automobile, but it was an automatic. Found the mustang with the 5 speed, yep it came home with me.
Without making your life more complicated, there is not much you can do to the Honda, with it being an automatic, there really is much less. Yes, complicated is subjective, but where do you want to spend the time and money. In my situation, I bought the honda for $50, put a head/timing set,, then spent about $200 for Amazon's finest struts (front and rear) put cheap 70k mile tires on it and brakes, Ive been driving it like I stole it for 3 years with just basic maintenance.
Coil overs, if you dont have to mess with the alignment, sure why not. Sway bar bushings? Stock is fine for a street car that will never see an autocross, but if you like the pretty red or yellow bushings, go for it.
Exhaust, a larger pipe with a turbo muffler will sound a heck of a lot better than the coffee.can muffler and your neighbors wont shoot at you when you start it up at 6am to go to work. Without changing the intake system though, you won't see any improvement, but it will be something you never have to mess with again.. Personally all automatics that I have owned, I go to a junkyard and find the biggest transmission cooler I can find and plumb that in the transmission lines (automatic trans HATE heat, so keep them cool, they are just big hydraulic pumps )
Again, this is just my take on things,

 

Before I manual swapped my 00 Civic EX coupe, I threw my spare ITR sway bar from my Integra with ebay subframe brace and got a deal on Koni yellows with ground controls, for daily driving it was fine if a bit slow. Only because the automatic transmission took a dump did I do the manual swap on it. I don't plan on making more power with it, unless I can find a complete JRSC for a Y8, but it is a fun daily driver to have that is decent on gas.