matt491

You've got a stock civic. Doesn't matter what year, eg, ek, your choice.
You're goin' at the engine with 6 grand, give or take a thousand.

My question is what would you do? What set up would you run and why?
(and lets keep it clean, this isn't meant to be a you're right, you're wrong type thread. I was just curious what peoples thoughts on engines and set ups were).

And the tables open too, n/a to turbo, h22 to k-swap (which isn't really possible for 6k...

WHAT WOULD YOU DO!?

D.T.P

Ls swap with turbo. Should fit in $6000. That's if you do not do any work yourself. I guess you should have mentioned that, whether you get a shop to do it or diy. But either way, for 6k ls-boost would be awesome. Best bang for the buck, simply. Look at it this way, b16/gsr/itr will shrink your budget by half if not more depending on which motor, and in the end it will still be slow. Hell last I checked itr full swaps were about $4500-5000 that's most of your budget gone. Then full exhaust and you are almost broke. Now if you swap an ls whic would run you about $1000-1500 and find a used, good quality kit, get a shop to install you would be at around $5000-5500, plus tuning and you hit your $6000 budget. Year only difference is tat you'd have just under 300whp. Good luck reaching such numbers with any other swap/build.
Now if you are able to do most/all of the work everything changes. Buy an ls or even a b16 with spun bearing, get some forged rods/low compression pistons rebuild the block, bigger turbo=more boost and go for mid 400whp.
Well but that's just my opinion.

rick10

I seen quite a few turbo kits going for 1000-1500 . A shop will probably charge you around 500 to install a kit ( thats the quote i was given) . So for 2 gs you can have a decent turbo ( no the best turbo), plus the tunin ( around 500 ). LS tranny last time i ask was around 700. I think you can get it all done for 4000 but i dont think you ll hit 300 hp . I m guessing you are going to have a d series engine .

For what i been reading most people get around the 200 whp mark.

Now you can built your motor to run more boost but that will cost you a lot more money.

I m in the same situation as you. Still debating what i should do with my civic. I only plan to keep it for two years so i may just put a used turbo kit and run it at 6 psi ( safest i can go). I can get a kit install for 2 gs. I spoke to 2 guys running the same kit for 2 years and is still going strong . But i ll certainly get the tunin done by zeeman

matt491

Now, scrider, when you say ls turbo, you mean ls-vtech turbo? Or just turbo a tegra ls motor straight up?
I've heard so many people talk about ls-vtech motors. I found some good reading material on them, just gotta find some time to read..

Interesting you talk about getting low compression rods and such, there was a thread a while back I read that talked about why HIGH compression is better for boost. It was an interesting read, but ended more in a pissing match than an interesting conversation. =P

I do indeed love my type r, I'm just always researching and looking for good options for more power.

D.T.P

Just turbo the R. I've seen chart people hitting 310-320whp.

By ls-turbo I ment a b18b1 non vtec. They take power well and in the end its not the vtec/non vtec part that draws the line for Max power output, its what rods will hold. Now for compression, you want lower not higher, with high compression you are risking premature detonation, but I mean HIGH compression, like 13:1 etc. You could turbo a high compression engine but would not be able to run high psi and your limit would be drawn there. If you look at diesel motors, they run 16+:1 compression ratio and the way they are built, they rely on detonation but that's besides the fact. If you want to get Max power you will need to lower compression.
Back to ls, they can take 280ish whp with the rods, and that's about the same as b16s. Now you slap a vtec head on the ls block, you will have to be very careful with oil, since the head and the turbo will require a constant and good flow of it. The gains from ls-vtec turbo may be slightly higher but the cost just does not make sense. And in the end you still got stock block with stock internals.

Rick, only advice I could give you is don't go to cheap shops to get it installed. 500$ seems dirt cheap and unless its 100% bolt on, the shop will most likely "make it work" and unless you know what you are doing you may just get stuck with a little headache. But if you know what you are doing, might aswell install it yourself. And also running 6psi just to be safe...doesn't say anything. 6psi with t25 will not do much compared to t66 @ 6psi. Size the turbo and keep it around 200-220whp. The psi levels will vary depending on turbo/parts. Also before you go ahead with this project, may sure your motor is still healthy. Leakdown/compression tests will show you results.

MPR

B20 Vtec turbo. Done.

MyVtecGoesBWAH

b20 v-tec boosted. or a ZC turbo setup always wanted to build that engine and they are cheap.you can get some good power gains out of it.

purposebuilt

No Love for the D-series boys???.... Just my point of view..but a D series can be had for about $300 full bottom end build is about $1200 and a turbo added to the equation is lets say another $1500 and you'll make decent power with good fuel mileage and parts are plentiful.. and you have another $3gs to fix rust, paint, rims etc...

second choice would be a B18b or b20 vtec...

1999blksi

how much power gain would you really see from that turbo on a SOHC engine?

purposebuilt

depends...I think Frozen is pushing 400hp...I just started my build and i'm not looking for more than 300hp just to be on the safe side...but the D-series can make some serious power man...

1999blksi

interesting...didn't think it was capable of pushing 400hp...
let me know how it turns out and what ur total cost was.

rick10

my mechanic is done a few turbos. He has a gsr turbo pushing 350 whp. I spoke to 2 guys who did their turbos there and they are still running strong. To be honest he didnt exactly gave me a quote on paper , it was more like around 500 to getit install. I dont want to run more than 220 whp in my civic , the engine is still going strong but i will have to do a leak and compression test for sure.
I actually want to get a d16y8 engine instead of my d16y7. My biudget will be around 2-3 k tops so i can not really go for an expensive turbo . Also keep in mind that i only plan on keeping my car for another 2 years and i have a second car already.

MyVtecGoesBWAH

i'd also like to do a N/A H22 project,thats most likely the setup i would do next if i build another honda. after this civic it might be time to move onto another car.

matt491

Man, when I did my first swap I so seriously considered an H22 swap instead of my type R. They're cheaper and have some serious torque but their tranny's aren't as good as the b series..
Or so I've been told. But I suppose one could always do an H2B set up.

JDMej1

exactly. the b20 vtec are pretty cheap too, if you look around you can get one with everything but tranny for about 400, so that leaves you 5400 for tranny, internals, and boost easily.

DumbasSi

I would not dump $6K into a 10 year old Civic. I would sell the Civic and add that cash to the $6K and buy something newer. 02ish WRX, RSX Type-S, or even put that cash down on a brand new car.

JDMej1

well considering the best civics came between '88 and '00, and if you had one with body work already done, its not much different than a newer car besides the fact that it actually looks good compared to the post 2000 civics..

l.d.forget

Well, i would have to say H22 Turbo, as thats the engine ive always wanted and i just now got. Although i dont have an outrageous budget of 6 grand, im doing what i can to rebuild the motor since its all apart and will boost it.

MyVtecGoesBWAH

Everytime i see one fully built N/A or turbo they amaze me.id just change the tranny eventully anyway.if i do it i just want it mildly modified with a 2 step tranny. Since my b16 is still a baby and already has some interrnal mods done im just going put in a HKS or JRSC.

miss_jess

iTrader: (2)

Sell it and buy an rsx