Inkubus

hey yall
as the title says I'm new to honda, new to this forum...have hondaheads as friends irl. hopefully yall can answer some of my questions.

first off I got 02 civic ex manual trans. great car but I know it could be better. now I want some more hp in this thing than what came stock.

I figure in the future I will do an engine swap, k20a2 or something like that. but not for a while yet. this car has 89k miles on it which is good...low...and I'd rather be more stable in life when I do a swap...so I'd just like smaller gains for now. 1. unless you guys think a swap would be better idea?

if not...figure Ill get intake tubes on ebay, buy an AEM filter and drop it in...save some money there, get a better exhaust after reading more of the exhaust sticky. then maybe crower stage 1 cam. 2. what kind of boost would those 3 things give (intake, exhaust, s1 cam)?

if a swap is better for my situation...3. will I need a crower stage 1 cam? or will it not matter at that point? and I figure Ill still need to get a better intake and exhaust anyway

so what do yall think? any help is appreciated.

EDIT: probably would help for you to know what I'm looking for: better acceleration, especially from a stop. I'd like better sound than stock. and some more horses under my hood...if you suggest not doing swap yet, then just enough to make this thing move a bit better...again, especially from a stop.

GolNat

iTrader: (7)

Welcome!

Things to make it accelerate faster:

1.) Headers, Intake, Exhaust
2.) Stage 1 Cam. Stage 2 for more
3.) Sticky tires

A swap is always a better option if you want to make the car faster, but I agree that it should be done when your finances are in order as it will cost 3k-5k.

Buying a cam for the D17 that is in your civic at the moment is not going to help with a k swap. They are not interchangeable and the k series has 2 camshafts.

Suspension mods seem to be what most people start out with but if you really want to make it a little quicker (not faster) then save for the stage 1, intake and headers.

Inkubus

Thanks GolNat. I've been lurking since before I got the car, seen your posts around a lot, helpful stuff from you.

Thanks for clearing up the cam thing for me.
I'll be doing intake/exhaust then. I was thinking get a cheapo CAI from ebay, swap out the crap filter it comes w/ for a higher quality filter. Good idea, or should I buy tubing from a brand as well?
And yeah, new header might be a good investment.

And suspension mods...I know for one I am gonna want to lower the car. I'm sure I'll be back in the suspension forums in no time with questions...

GolNat

iTrader: (7)

Thanks, I try.

Most people end up doing exactly that. Just swapping the eBay filter for a nice one. There may be slight fitment issues with some of them but I am not sure which ones. There should be a "rate your intake" thread somewhere.

Makes the car look better and increases handling, it's a win win!