Swap vs. Turbo
 

hey everyone i got a 97 civic , i'm debating on what to do to my car , basically i was thinking either turbo the stock engine or put a b16a2 in it, i just think it will be a waste to toss out the stock engine that in there that only has 110,000 km i want to be pushing in and around 200hp please let me know what kind of times and power you can get out of a turboed d series and what kind of times you can get out of a b16 with just a couple of bolt ons

Thankz

Lets say you swap in a b16, what will you have achieved? Well, you will gain about 30hp and 5tq. Sweet deal, you just blew 2.5-3k on that small power gain. Sure you will have more potential with a b16 then with a d16, but it sounds like your budget is limited, and with your horsepower limit, the need for the b16's potential is not there.
On the other hand you could turbo the d16. You can buy a kit for about 3k, or piece one yourself for anywhere from 1.5k-3k. So the pricing is good, but what about the power? Well, the stock d16 can hold about 220hp. That means you can boost your d16 to 200hp and you dont even have to build it up.
So with the turbo you should easily see gains of around 70hp, but whats more important is that you will see significant torque increases, in the are of 50-70tq. All this for the same price or less then a b16 swap.

I was asking myself the same question all summer , I have a 2000 si, I decided to turbo what i have.

A b16 swap will prob run u about 3300 u get about 137whp

If u want about 200 whp, just get a greddy kit(2500), or put togerher your own, youll save money and your car will be faster in the end.

As far as reliablity goes its all about tunning.

Lol Dude Just a bit ahead of me.

As far as potential, of the dseries, just trhow in some vitara pistons eagle rods and your good for about 270 whp, Now seriously do u really need more then that?

The most Turbo D made is 600whp. Anything is possible.

But for you, save up, and buy a full kit. Edlebrock has a complete bolt on kit.

For either of these, factor in labour as well. To play safe, have 4500 dollar ready in hand, and you can go either way as you please. Internet Pricing is only for references most of the time. Until you actually go through with it, you will realize there are more things to buy and fix than you expected.

But often, it is upgarde rather than just to satisfy.

Thats what i mean everyone is so quick to bash the single cam.

This has been covered quite extensively in this forum. If you do a search you can find more than enough info for your questions.