Upgrade suggestions?

[Danielrod61]

So, I have a 1995 Dx coupe. Under the hood is the stock Vtech engine with a few upgrades. I have a short ram intake, headers, and a chipped computer I believe. The thing is, I want to make her really run. Yesterday I almost got beat by my friends completely stock '98 Lx. It made me kind of mad. After a second run I beat him at the take off, since mine is manual. (The first run was after turning onto a street, so I didn't really count it.)

Anyway, I want to fix my car up and make her faster than any of my friends cars. I've looked into getting different headers, full exhaust, computer swap, intake manifolds, power programmers, and possibly a turbo? Tell me what you think. Engine swap isn't an option right now as this is my daily driver.

Any suggestions or comments are welcomed!

Thanks.

 

[young_]

........I guess I'll give in.

Your civic is a dx? I thought 5th gen DX didn't come stock with vtec motors.

Anyways, short of internal work or major work, i.e. turbo, your best bet is all the bolt ons. Header, intake, exhaust, etc.


and also, please stop racing your friends cars. No one on this site condones illegal street racing. It's dumb, reckless and you accomplish nothing. All you're doing is destroying your car and risking an accident or numerous fines and citations.

 

[Danielrod61]

Here's the thing. My Civic has a Lx badge on the back, but it's a coupe with manual everything... What's with that?

That's what I was thinking.

I usually don't street race, this was the first time in a long time. We go to tracks. I understand the seriousness of breaking the law. Sorry about that.

 

[young_]

Here's the thing. My Civic has a Lx badge on the back, but it's a coupe with manual everything... What's with that?

That's what I was thinking.

I usually don't street race, this was the first time in a long time. We go to tracks. I understand the seriousness of breaking the law. Sorry about that.

Not all lx's have power everything standard. Try running the VIN through a decoder and see what you come up with. Just google "VIN decoder" You can find your VIN in the door jamb, on the dash, on the firewall, all over the place really.

And as far as racing goes, we've all been through that stage. It's good that you understand the seriousness of it all though.

 

[Danielrod61]

Okay, will do that.

Yeah, I know I'm not above the law. Now that I'm 18 I could do time, so it really hits home.

Anyway, I bought an exhaust yesterday, and was going to have it put on, but maybe I should get headers and pipes too? What do you think?

 

[Danexis7]

And on another note its VTEC.not vtech like the phone..

 

[Danielrod61]

Haha. Sorry.

 

[young_]

Okay, will do that.

Yeah, I know I'm not above the law. Now that I'm 18 I could do time, so it really hits home.

Anyway, I bought an exhaust yesterday, and was going to have it put on, but maybe I should get headers and pipes too? What do you think?

I have the stock manifold and cat on my EX coupe and I installed an ebay cat-back the other week. Sounds pretty good. I also have an aftermarket intake. Check out my build thread

 

[Danielrod61]

I will!

But aftermarket headers will give me more horsepower, yeah? I think I'll buy new ones, but in reguards to my sound, do you think I'll need a whole cat back? I got a OBX-r 3" muffler.

 

[young_]

You won't get a whole lot of horse power out of bolt on's but you will notice some small power gains. And a whole cat-back would be better simply because of the restrictive piping of the stock exhaust. They say the biggest you should go on a NA (not boosted) motor is 2.5" inches. Which is what mine is. Apparently you lose the necessary backpressure if your exhaust is too large.

 

[Danielrod61]

Ahh, I see. So, will my 3" be too big?

 

[young_]

I think the muffler will be good on the sound end, but I want more power. If getting a whole exhaust system means more power, then I'm going to do it. Or are just the headers where more power comes in?

The whole exhaust system.

 

[Danielrod61]

Okay. And what brands would you suggest from personal experience? I was looking at some stuff on Summit earlier.

 

[young_]

Okay. And what brands would you suggest from personal experience? I was looking at some stuff on Summit earlier.

Eh, I'm a cheap-ass. I got my exhaust off of ebay. But I've heard good things about Mugen, Skunk2 (if you got some money), and even Yonaka.

 

[Danielrod61]

Well, I love saving money too! Haha. Working at Little Caesars only pays me so much xD

I think headers are next and maybe piping. This is all going on my list.

What about a computer swap? I've seen a lot on Craigslist, but wouldn't even know where to start with the search for one.

 

[Mr.Baker]

Champagne dreams, Boones' farm budget...................

Here's the thing. My Civic has a Lx badge on the back, but it's a coupe with manual everything... What's with that?

Simple, someone put a 'Lx' badging on it.
Coupes of this generation only came in Dx and Ex trim. Lx was only available in sedan form.
Dx has manual everything, Ex has power everything including sunroof and the d16z6 SOHC vtec motor.

 

[Danielrod61]

That's what I figured. The Dx is stock Vtec, yeah?

 

[Blood_Shot]

no

 

[Mr.Baker]

That's what I figured. The Dx is stock Vtec, yeah?

Dx is the base model for coupes, so it would not come stock with the vtec motor.
Dx should have the d15b7, which is non vtec.
Someone has swapped motors.
From the sounds of it, you need to educate yourself, all of this info is out there regarding what trim models there are and what they did and didn't come with.

 

[Decipher]

Swapping your ecu isn't going to help, nor will any "reprogrammers" or "performance chips". All they do is change your air/fuel maps and kill your motor quicker with very little gain if any. If you're trying to see significant gain with a d series motor, you'll need to go forced induction, or crack the piggy and build the engine to it's limits. There are no secret weapons or shortcuts about it... to make an economy car that can barely do 100whp go fast... it takes money. If you're serious, I'd start working out a budget.