hi all, new to this site. I love to race the mountain & canyon roads around my neck of the woods (N. LA County) and at last have the chance to up the performance in my daily driver.
I finally got the mrs. her 'own' car ('05 corolla S) and this leaves the family 97 Civic EX coupe (auto trans) all to me. I've been perusing the threads here and determined I run the bone-stock D16Y8 train, and have known for years the 120-odd ponies are not sufficient to stick me back into the seat, much less chirp the tires. But this little car is tough. I run all highway miles, 50+ miles at +/- 60 mph on a mountain highway to work and sustain 80mph for 60+ miles home with a half mile change in elevation each way, without a problem EVER!
My EX has just logged 250K miles last week. I've got a factory lifetime warranty on my motor, and hope to replace it this summer, but I'll be stuck with the stock setup again. I plan to build it up with at least the typical i/h/e bolt-ons, but dream of speed.
Any suggestions?
Maybe a 5 speed coversion and boost?
I'm aware of the turbo mod, but is a supercharger available for this motor?
Can a somewhat competent backyard mechanic convert/swap the auto trans?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 97exer &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Maybe a 5 speed coversion
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That's what I would do first.

 

yup, a 5 speed conversion would be good then go with i/h/e or a swap if you can afford it