The truth: D16 bolt-ons

[Indy_Civic]

Over the past week or so there have been like 10 threads in which the thread starter asks if he can make his stock block D16 go faster, or have more umph or get 20-30 horses. Oh and on the cheap too.

Here are a couple magazines that did I/H/E upgrades to the d series and their results.

http://www.hondatuningmagazine.com/tech/0506_ht_1998_honda_civic_ex/index.html

before: Baseline / 106.1 HP / 94.0 lb-ft
after: 118.9 HP / 99.9 lb-ft and a $1250 lighter wallet

http://www.importtuner.com/powerpages/0106it_1993_honda_civic_si/index.html

before: 110.0 hp and 95.2 lb-ft
after: 117.8 hp and0 99.8 lb-ft $1300

The best quote: "Our tester came in with 110.0 horses and left with 117.8 horses--an improvement of 7.8 horsepower with three simple bolt-ons. What more can you ask for?"
Maybe another 75 hp with a decent turbo kit for a little more bank.


Hate away...

 

[somejaykid]

nice articles

 

[Tam4511]

Kool

 

[CHILD]

sticky this and save some bandwidth

 

[lethal6]

So what they are saying is for just a bit more money, you could start with a turbo in the first place and get 7x more HP for your money? That is what I got out of it anyway.

If I read your stats right, you spend $1300 on measly bolt ons and gain just shy of 8 hp, but if you spend a bit more for a turbo you gain 7x that much.

Simple bolt ons are a waste of money for how little power they put out. If you are going for looks, by all means drop a header in and/or an intake. If you want speed, save your money and go for boost.

 

[triple_A]

Yeah it seems totally ridiculous to spend 1300 bucks on 13 extra horses.
My car itself costs that much, lol.

I'd rather do an engine swap or boost it.. either way, you'd end up with a lot more extra power per dollar.

 

[lethal6]

Yeah it seems totally ridiculous to spend 1300 bucks on 13 extra horses.
My car itself costs that much, lol.

You can't think that way unfortunately. Especially if you are going to mod your car, or do anything to it for that matter. If that is the case, EVERYTHING you do to the car will cost more than what you paid for it. I paid $2k for mine and I have already crossed that mark and haven't really even done all that much to it. I plan to have it painted in the future. That will blow way past my original price with just that alone.

Ask someone how much they spent on their car when you see a very nice one that has been modified to the gills, or one that has been "JDM'd out". Most of them will say that they stopped keeping track, or "way too much".

When I built my last bug, I only paid $400 for the car, stopped keeping tabs at $3k spent. I know I spent over $5k in the build but it was worth it in the end to me. Hell the motor alone was a couple grand and the turbo was a couple grand as well, plus the body work, paint, beam, rims, etc. You get the idea.

 

[CHILD]

most of the time you'll spend more than the car is worth. The point of this thread is to help people to 1) realize what they get out of bolt-ons on a D series 2) encourage putting the money to better use with turbo or a swap 3) stop all these damn noob threads asking about getting more power out of their single slammer

 

[253eg]

lethal6 has to be the only cool 09er.

 

[pguff]

The prices are inflated in the articles though since all of them reference MSRP

 

[CHILD]

The prices are inflated in the articles though since all of them reference MSRP

cut that price in half and it still wouldn't be worth it

 

[triple_A]

You can't think that way unfortunately. Especially if you are going to mod your car, or do anything to it for that matter. If that is the case, EVERYTHING you do to the car will cost more than what you paid for it. I paid $2k for mine and I have already crossed that mark and haven't really even done all that much to it. I plan to have it painted in the future. That will blow way past my original price with just that alone.

Ask someone how much they spent on their car when you see a very nice one that has been modified to the gills, or one that has been "JDM'd out". Most of them will say that they stopped keeping track, or "way too much".

When I built my last bug, I only paid $400 for the car, stopped keeping tabs at $3k spent. I know I spent over $5k in the build but it was worth it in the end to me. Hell the motor alone was a couple grand and the turbo was a couple grand as well, plus the body work, paint, beam, rims, etc. You get the idea.

Oh I don't disagree by any means.
But spending +/-1500 bucks on a car and then spending another 1500 on a hand ful of bolt-ons just to give that car 10-15 more horses (if that) doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Because your car really won't end up that much faster (you could've just gotten a faster car to begin with)
And sure, turbocharging your car will cost you even more, but it'll end up a lot faster too.

But of course, if you do it for the love of modding and tuning, you probably shouldn't care about those numbers that much.

 

[BEAR_times]

Adding turbo to a car without moding your exhaust will limit its potential. I have left my car stock because modding a d16y8 does not make much sense to me. Why not start with a better engine and upgrading the tranny. Just like building houses, the foundation is what you will be building on. I would rather save $ instead of buying bolt ons.

 

[lethal6]

most of the time you'll spend more than the car is worth. The point of this thread is to help people to 1) realize what they get out of bolt-ons on a D series 2) encourage putting the money to better use with turbo or a swap 3) stop all these damn noob threads asking about getting more power out of their single slammer

I totally agree. I kind of got off track a bit with my long posting. Creature of habit I am afraid. I feel you on the noob power threads. I think the search button is invisible for first timers?

lethal6 has to be the only cool 09er.

cut that price in half and it still wouldn't be worth it

Amen to that.

Oh I don't disagree by any means.
But spending +/-1500 bucks on a car and then spending another 1500 on a hand ful of bolt-ons just to give that car 10-15 more horses (if that) doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Because your car really won't end up that much faster (you could've just gotten a faster car to begin with)
And sure, turbocharging your car will cost you even more, but it'll end up a lot faster too.

But of course, if you do it for the love of modding and tuning, you probably shouldn't care about those numbers that much.

That is true. We are on the same page for the most part. The stuff I have done to mine so far are all about the looks and functionality to me personally. I haven't done much in the form of power as I am still undecided weather I want to do a swap or build my D series into the beast that I know it could be. I know they aren't the favored motors, but that is kind of appealing to me to step out of the B and the other popular swaps and do the unpopular.

Adding turbo to a car without moding your exhaust will limit its potential. I have left my car stock because modding a d16y8 does not make much sense to me. Why not start with a better engine and upgrading the tranny. Just like building houses, the foundation is what you will be building on. I would rather save $ instead of buying bolt ons.

It won't only limit it, but you are wasting your money if you go with boost and don't upgrade the exhaust. If you are going to make it inhale deeper, you need to make it exhale better as well. Also with more air, you need more spark, and more fuel.

As far as modding the d16 see what I said above. Why go with what everyone else is doing? Sure you could take the easy way out and go with a bigger motor, but why not take the challenge and build the smaller motor into a beast? A "D" motor with the right internals and the correct addition of upgrades, could keep up with the big boys just fine.

My old bug was a screaming machine and it started out as a 1600cc. New heads, a healthy amount of machine work, beefed internals, and boost later it ended up killing its former self and a lot of the others around it as a 2332. All from the same motor. Sure I could have put in a subaru motor or another water cooled motor but it was more fun to use the original platform.

Sorry. I got side tracked again.

 

[Esotericimage]

sticky this and save some bandwidth

lethal6 has to be the only cool 09er.

+1

 

[lotz6996]

this is for those wanting to build their d series. this should be your goal.
http://www.d-series.org/forums/showcase/38764-my-ej1-6.html

p.s. this is not mine... unfortunately. i saw it and thought it went with this thread.

 

[Indy_Civic]

nice build

 

[bizoneoeh]

sticky this and save some bandwidth

good idea!

 

[mysedan]

unless you wanna be da underdog and come up...from zero to hero....u gonna need bolt ons anyways...

 

[Indy_Civic]

unless you wanna be da underdog and come up...from zero to hero....u gonna need bolt ons anyways...

The lesson to be learned is that its pointless to spend $160 on a CAI and another few bills on a 2.5" cat back and header when they give minimal gains and you would need to replace them if and when you go turbo.
Obviously, there are upgrades that can be done to get yourself ready for a turbo, but I/H/E (not 3") are not those. If you want to find out what you need, the search button and the stickies are good tools.

That is all.