How to Add HP in 95 Civic LX, 1.5L?

Question

My buddy has a 95 civic lx, with a 1.5L SOHC engine. It's stock HP is 102HP. He wants another 15 more HP. I have put an intake and exhaust in it. Didn't make a whole lot of difference. I haven't checked it on Dyno yet. He doesn't wanna computer chip installed in there....Also, he doesn't want to spend anything more that $500....Please give me some heads up...Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Your not gonna get much out of that puny little 1.5 Sohc, especially if the budget is only $500. Anyways you say its got an intake and exhaust. Your not gonna get much for results unless its a cold air intake (short rams are a total waste of money, cause your just sucking hot air into the engine) and your exhaust system needs to be complete. (Headers, keep the stock cat, then a cat-back).

You could always get a cam for it with an adusjutable cam gear. Honda's timing from the factory is pretty conservative, so if you add a cam and adjustable cam gear then slap it back on the dyno for a little tuning session, you will see more results.

Dont forget to lose stuff like AC and power steering. They just create parasitic load on the engine.

Check out other bolt on parts too like; lighter pulleys, fuel system upgrades, and ignition system upgrades too.

The guy at the top makes a good point too. Start stripping it down. Lose the rear seats, interior panels, anything that will slim it down a few pounds.

You aren't going to see any remarkable results like a gain of 15-20 hp, thats just not gonna happen, but there should be some noticable improvement in performance.
Good Luck.

Answer 2

zex dry n02.....
for 500$ dont expect to get anythig real concrete. when a good cold air intake is about 200~250$ and header/catback exhaust is about the same(for each), your not gonna get much, working on 500$ alone.
There is no such thing as cheap horsepower.
Strip the interior, change whatever steel body panels are on the car, and use fiberglass ones. Ditching the a/c and p/s will also help, lightweight underdrive pulleys are an option too. You could even go as far as scrapping all the windows for lexan, or thinner glass(if they make it for a honda) but again, thats gonna be alot more than 500 bones. You can make some serious power in these cars, not that i know why anyone would want to, but its gonna cost alot of money. Why not chip it? You can get a programmer and do it up that way for under 500$ and if you dont like the settings, you can always change back to stock settings. well this is my .02

Answer 3

Tell your friend he is a douchebag for ruining a good economy car. When will people learn ricing out hondas is old and gayer than ever? Intake and exhaust arent going to give you ****. 2 horsepower maybe? If anything it will be slower. The engine in your friends car doesn't produce enough power to actually utilize free flowing exhaust so now it just sounds like garbage and has no back pressure. An Intake doesn't really give a noticeable gain in a 102hp car. Tell him to put it back to stock and he will actually look cooler than riding around in a car that sounds and performs like a weedeater. Why not just bite the bullet and get a real car? It could have 500 horsepower, but it's still a shitty grocery getter with thousands of dollars into it you will never get back when you go to sell it to some high school kid.

Answer 4

Tie it to the back of a Corvette! Nothing you do to this car will make all that much of a difference. Even after adding a greddy turbo (6PSI), Fart Can (Exhaust), Intake, Fuel Pressure regulators, injectors and whatever other rice burning crap you wanna throw on there you'll be running mid 14's. You Honda guys really need to realize that all you bought was a grocery getter. Go buy a fast car if you want speed.

Answer 5

bwilson got a good idea with the cams. That should get you between 15 - 20 whp but it's gonna cost you double your budget.

The other choice is to get headers. You should abe to get it new and installed for right around $500 (probably just a little more).

http://www.prostreetonline.com/buy/dc_sports_ceramic_headers/

I don't know if this is the cheapest place to get DC headers. But the headers should get you around 8 whps.

Just remember, headers or the cams (pending on which state you live in), you might not pass smog.

Answer 6

Go with a cold air intake. they add mileage and horse power.
Also put a K&N airfilter on it.
These mods should give about a 15 to 20 horse power increase

Answer 7

put a stage three camshaft in it, there really arent a whole lot of options for $500, you can get an AEM V2 for that much, and trust me, they are amazing...its like a night and day difference, and its only like 300 with installation, but theyre so easy to instal that i think AEM has a couple of 7 year old's installing them on its website.
heres a link to the V2 section on the site http://aempower.com/ViewCategory.aspx?CategoryID=30

Answer 8

Tell your bussy to buy a real car next time. What does he seriously expect from a 1.5 litre while spending less than 500 bucks.

Answer 9

ahaha civic... the bestthing you can do now is take out as much weight as possible.... and new headers might help

Answer 10

That's dum question