97 civic si

[Patt08]

just bought a new car, completely bone stock. wondering where a good place to start is for performance improvements....

[aznlee]

hatch or coupe?

[Patt08]

coupe, sorry.

[LilDrunkenSmurf]

si? Well the sohc won't respond well to bolt ons, you could swap a b16 in, or just start with minors (keeping the d)

intake/headers/exhaust will get the most gains, but it wont be too noticable... turbo or any forced induction is another option. You could try lightening the load, with insane weight reduction, but not worth it IMO.

Other performance options is getting the ECU chipped... adjustable cam gears, lightweight cam pulley (not reccomended w/o harmonic dampener), upgraded cams. stuff like that.

Depends on your budget, how far you want to go, etc.

[Patt08]

hey thx man, good suggestions :)

[Vietsta]

if you do intake, make sure you go cold air because running short ram is just like running stock

[LilDrunkenSmurf]

Not quite. I run short ram, it's not like running stock. The air isn't any cooler, but it has less... "interruptions", and it's a bigger inlet. It doesn't help much, but it's like 1/3 of the price, plus if you custom fab a plastic air duct around the rad, it give it the cold air, without the moisture, and it's just damn cooler (and uncommon). Plus SRI is *supposed* to give more mid-range power... If it's a daily driver, that's where you want it anyways. But if your throwing on a turbo, it's not worth it anyways.

[EK 2.0]

Originally posted by aznlee
hatch or coupe?



Originally posted by Patt08
coupe, sorry.



uhmmmm does it matter?? I didn't know performance was based on having a trunk...

[Slashin_]

basics of beginers midding I/H/E...
Intake,headers,exhaust

i'd swap for a bseries or kseries
D's r decent but they are limited because of the sohc....

set your hp goals and decide from there

180+ ditch the D for a B

[aznlee]

i would do a b-series swap, alot cheaper than k-series, either a b18c1 or c5 or a b16 would be pretty quick too

[LilDrunkenSmurf]

b16 is best bang for buck
b18c1/5 will give more hp/tq but cost more
b18b is less (i'm pretty sure) more tq, less power, no vtec

k20 is the greatest, but not very feasible at it's current cost (AFAIK it's 8k-15k depending) could be completely off

[rc2002]

Don't bother with bolt ons for the existing motor if you're going for performance. I say throw a B18B/B20 in there with a GSR transmission.

A B18C (GSR) would be a great engine to throw in there if you have the money. That would be my second choice.