Upgrades for a Civic?

Question

1998 Honda Civix DX , 2 Door, what legal engine upgrades can be done,(residing in california) exhaust, ecu, turbo etc?

Answer 1

Performance isn't a bolt on affair. There are too many people who slap a cold air intake and a cat back exhaust system on their stock 240SX's and expect power.

There are two ways to go. N/A and Turbo, turbo being cheaper but having power only usable in a certain RPM range, and N/A having the wider more usable powerband but being muchb more expensive.

To get real power you have to not only get the essential intake and exhaust, but do all of the associated mods. The stock intake manifold was designed to flow as much air/fuel as the stock intake would allow. You have to have it ported and polished to match the extra air. You'll also need a cam to change the duration of the cam and allow that extra air/fuel enough time to get past the valves. When considering an exhaust you need the full system - from the headers all the way back. More air in is no good unless you can get all of it back out easily.

Here's where you choose Turbo or N/A. A Turbo engine uses a turbine which is powered by the exhaust to force air into the engine. If you buy a Turbo kit, then you won't need the exhaust system I mentioned earlier. The kit should come with a specialized exhaust manifold for the turbo.

Now, a N/A engine uses brute force... High compression pistons, a decked block (shaving material off the top of the block to make the distance from the pistons to the combustion chamber shorter, thus increasing compression). Keep in mind that you can't have both high compression and a turbo. With a turbo engine you sometimes have to actually lower compression ratios so that you can have more boost pressure.

Now that you've created more air you'll need more fuel. A high volume fuel pump and aftermarket rails/injectors are good. The final thing is to have your computer tuned. Your car was designed to run on a whole lot less than what it would be getting by now, so you have to tell it what it has to work with so that it can use it efficiently.

If I were you I'd go turbo. As long as you know how to drive, lag won't be an issue. I'm sure you aren't looking for drag racer performance, so opening the engine won't even be necessary. You can easily gain 120whp or so with just 6 or 7 pounds of boost. I wouldn't advise over that much however, as the stock internals aren't designed for that kind of abuse.