Mini-me conversion or swap?
 

What do you think is my best route to go? I was originally thinking to do a mini-me conversion, but with the vtech would my long gears hurt on its performance at all?

As well, I heard I would get a little bit more power because of the better compression the vtech head would give me. Plus, I can do this one myself.


I have been pricing stuff out and came across a few complete engines for roughly $800-900 with everything but the tranny. Can I use my existing tranny with a complete y8 swap? Thanks.

The real question you should be thinking about is how much money you want to sink into the car. A few years afer doing the swap, you may want to buy a newer car. Your hard earned money is going to waste as modified civics sell for about the same price, in not less than a clean original model.

If you can stomach sinking the extra $$$$ into the car knowing that your not going to get a return on your investment or are planning to keep the car a long time IMO go for the swap.

Otherwise just keep up the maintenance and minimize the rust that is inherant to most civics therby ensuring decent resale value.

Re: Mini-me conversion or swap?
 

Mini Me not worth it , if your motor is in good running condition, But if your motorhas a bown headgasket, need timing belt, etc, then mini me would be worth it,

As for yor tranny, it will bolt on to a d16y8 motor.

id do the swap, and u can use your current tranny with the y8

yeah, well i need a new timing belt and water pump... its about 30,000km too late... so i figure once i am in there then i should do it anyway.

You do gain HP, but it is not a dramatic increase compare to turbo, or an engine swap.

To increase HP is to reduce the time to reach a certain speed, say, 0-100 km/h, that is all there is to it. The more money you spend, the less time it takes to reach that speed - but you will eventually reach that speed regardless given enough time. You don't need to think anything else, just ask yourself if you can live with the current factory 1/4 mile time (what is it, 16, 17 seconds?). If you can, then money saved. If you cannot, then pour in a few dollars and shorten that time.