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Hi all,

so a couple of years back I have a 98 civic DX as you can tell by my username and it was a very fun car to drive and I loved being able to drive it, using any excuse to drive my 5-speed manual as it was my first manual car. Anyhow flash forward of me owning the car for not even a year and unfortunately, I have problems with the car every other week, and I was forced to sell the car because it became too unreliable. I don't know if it was because of how I was driving the car or if I just have bad luck with cars, but nonetheless, It felt like every other week I would repair something and something else would come up to where I would have to fix it. As of right now, I own a 2017 civic auto and honestly, I want to go back to a manual so I'm thinking about trading in my 2017 base model civic for a 2017 SI. My question is, how reliable is the SI without mods and with mods? I want to eventually turbo this car and do performance mods on the SI so at what point does it become less of a daily driver and more of a hassle to maintain the modifications? I think I've read in other forums that civic engine blocks can handle around 450-500 hp and around that in Torque before they crack. Ultimately I would like to be able to daily drive it and take it to the track and have it be reliable all at the same time, but a little more extra oomf? would be nice (the turbo will come a year or two later down the line once ive gotten used to the base N/A SI)


thanks for your time?

 
Rep Power: 127

The K24Z (engine in the Si) actually doesn't have a ton of engine aftermarket (very similar engine to that of my TSX so I've done a ton of research). From factory, they are very reliable cars. I'm about to hit 160k miles on mine with mixed driving.

Full bolt-ons while keeping it NA is more than enough to have fun and stay reliable. 500hp in a FWD platform would be almost undriveable on a track, not to mention daily driving

If you require forced induction, they respond very well to supercharging, and it maintains good reliability.

 
Rep Power: 513

10thgen Si has the same base engine as the non-Si turbo models (hatchback base model is the 1.5T, coupe/sedan base model is the K20 non-turbo). As far as I know, they haven't used the K24 in the current generation of any Honda models.

Biggest differences between the Si and non-Si turbo models is the MAF sensor (digital vs. analog), rods (beefier than the non-si counterparts), compression ratio (10.3:1 vs 10.6:1), and the exhaust wheel on the turbo (blade count to produce more boost for less).

 
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Even better. You don’t need to turbo it.

I guess my mind went K24 when he said he wants to turbo it.

 
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could you explain why I don't need to turbo it, are you saying that there are performance mods for the intercooler, intake, etc etc?

 
Rep Power: 513

it already has a turbo. 10thgen Si is equipped with the same L15 series 1.5T engine (same as the other 1.5T equipped non-Si turbo Civic, CRV, and Accord), albeit with a few "modifications" from the factory (the aforementioned rods, turbo exhaust wheel, MAF sensor/housing, compression ratio) that allow it to accommodate/produce more boost (20.3psi from factory vs. the 16.5psi in the non-Si Civic turbo)

edit: you can definitely upgrade the existing intercooler, piping, intake, turbo inlet pipe, the turbo itself, etc., the latter of which would require a custom tune. Stay away from vent to atmosphere blow off valves since the 1.5T utilizes a recirculating bypass valve (BPV). If you were to use a VTA BOV, it'd take metered air out of the intake stream, and you'd end up running rich.