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Hey you guys, I just saw someone had a thread wanting opinions on his goals for his 03' EX. This kinda got me thinking since I'm so indecisive about what I'm going to do that I would do one too. I have a 2003 Honda Civic EX. Sounds lovely and all until we talk transmission. Its an Automatic (NOT BY CHOICE) I got the car handed to me in GREAT condition so I couldn't turn it down, plus I love Civics. But I really can't afford the K20 swap or anything. I have the D17 engine with 127 HP stock. I do have exhaust on it though which supposedly gets me an extra 20 HP so AT MOST I have 147 HP. But, I was thinking a turbo to get me around that would get me about 225 Horse. I don't know what to do. I want something that'll "get" so kids can't say "Ahh, its an auto, what can that do?" but 225 HP would make me plenty happy since the 07' Si has 197 HP. I don't know, maybe its stupid, but still. I can't swap.

I talked to a friends uncle who is a mechanic and huge Civic modding fanatic (has a nice hatchback Si) and he said ehh, go for it. But still, I've only really asked 2 people who really know what they're talking about.


Help me out please!

 
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dude boosting an auto.. i'd give u props. But only if you did it right idk about you having 147 hp with just a exhaust..... but our autos prolly only put down 97 or so to the wheel stock. (i believe) So unless u build and boost, that mark will be really hard to hit. by the time u got it there you could have saved up for a k20 swap, with a 6speed tranny and N/A. But then again thats just my 2 cents coming from one auto owner to another.

but someone on here has a 335hp Turboed D17.. unfortunately its not a auto hehe
https://www.civicforums.com/forums/7...no-inside.html

 
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Hey man I'd like to first off compliment you on your civic... it is very clean, just the way I like um. And your absolutely right about it being in great condition.

My civic has suffered some abuses i.e. curbs, rear end bumps by dumb drivers... and my favorite... the invisible fast food entrance concrete island(those bastards). But yeah... I'm long overdue on a paint job... I'm really not feelin the red, but imma wait till I'm dont with the engine... which is killin me on research alone.

Good luck on your quest cuz by the looks of it we are going to be suffering lots of headaches trying to choose the right path. This stock engine is not feeding my hunger.

 
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its up to you bro, no matter what way you go to with your car, your gonna have to spend lots of money.

 
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ur exhaust by no means gave u an extra 20 horses . thats probably damn near physically, virtually, and imaginably impossible. i have an auto. even with your full exhaust. on a good day. with the air at a nice temp. and a bag of ice on ur motor, at a dyno, ur lucky if u get 107-110 at the wheels. slap on ur basic turbo , nothing fancy with a decent halfway tune and ur looking at that 147 easy. so um... you dont have the money for a swap. you can peice together a really nice turbo kit if u look around and have patience, for less than $3000. thatll get u over 147. that 225 horses, ur lookin at a handful of boost and internals being redone. and if ur gona go the route of building ur block. ur better off with a swap. if u dont have the money for a swap, then say goodbye to having the money to make 225 horses on our d17s. and dont say ull be plenty happy with that becuz the new civic si's have 197. thats a whole differnt car. theres cars out there dynoing half the horsepower of mustangs and eating them like breakfast at the tracks. i dono what to tell u about ur goals....theyre very possible u know? not stupid or anything, it just takes time and money. as do most good things.

 
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dezod's v2 turbo gives an stock auto about 170hp friend of mine from N.C has it on his car with a good tune!

then i bet with some built internals, ei, port and polish, rods, cams, springs etc.. u could hit 200 easily to be honest


edit:quoted from dezod about their port and polished head "This head produced some massive power gains that we did not expect. The baseline was done on an automatic D17 with our bolt-on S1 kit, which made 164whp and 142wtq @ 5 PSI. (The next step was just adding the port and polish head, and retuning) The new results where 208whp and 211wtq @ the same 5 PSI! This is a net gain of 44whp and 69wtq. Now 200whp 7thgens on less than 6 PSI are no longer a rarity, they are a norm with Dezod Motorsports."

boom thats the way to go.

 
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^^ $$$$$

 
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dont turbo your daily driver, because if you break down, your gonna cry, always make sure to have a back up vehicle, thats the only thing keeping me from doing all kinds of ridiculous engine mods, is that i need this car everyday, cant afford no down time plus i dont have a garage, which sucks big fat ***

 
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yup making power is expensive Ive already spent about 6k on my turbo d17 and I still have more to buy...

 
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Thanks man, but it wasn't handed to me like that. I got the kit, lights, removal of some stuff, rims and paint job after it was handed to me. But haha, I know what you're talking about.

 
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Thanks alot you guys. I figured I'd come here because you all know what you're talking about. I was looking at a turbo for around $2,800 from ProCivic. I know I would have to make engine mods before anything to make it "right." I'm all about that, no point in doing stuff if you can't do it right the first time. I mean idk, K20 swap just seems out of my reach. Isn't the engine alone 5,000-6,000+? I was figuring one of the nicer turbo kits, get me the boost I need. I usually never go for the cheapest/easiest stuff because you usually pay for quality. Haha it sucks so much with an auto. Although maybe it helps my speeding issues My deadline is about December. I'm hoping I can get enough info and do enough research to hopefully do it the right way.

 
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yea you dont have 147hp, you have about 100hp or so max. check out www.dezod.com for turbos

 
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hey did anybody see the update for BOILERMAKERS turbo set up. he spent a gwop and has worked real hard on his entire build. he just got his numbers in and posted a dyno graph. heres a link to the page where the dyno is but read from the top of this page down to the actual graph and ull see what people have to say about numbers. for some cars, they mean different things u know?

some guys are always saying hey why swap a k into a civic, why dont u just buy an rsx to begin with. well maybe cuz civics are lighter, itll be funner to drive, itll probably be quicker depending on what u do with it. so dont go so much as to numbers, go towards something more liek what people experience. research and see what people say and what happens with there products. take the best from all worlds and u might get what ur looking for. maybe not number wise but im sure itll be as fast as u want.

 
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https://www.civicforums.com/forums/7...e-12-a-12.html


lol woops

 
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save yourself a lot of time and use the vic as your daily.

buy a mitsubishi eclipse dsm gsx

they're AWD and turbo'ed from the factory and you can find one for anywhere from 2000-6000 depending on milage and mods.

then you'll have a really quick car to have fun with. they're about 210 to the wheels out of the factory.

my friend's got one that's bored and stroked to a 2.2 and he's running it at 18 psi and he's putting around 300 to the pavement, and that's on mostly stock internals.

BUT...if you're a true to honda, i'd say it's a matter of opinion. either way you're going to spend out of your *** for everything. make sure you consider with a turbo, the maintenance that comes with it. but also, a swap is very expensive, and the labor is a lot too. make sure you get it done right.

as far as which is best...

swap= more power in the future, but lots of cash
boost= limited power but also harder to maintain than a NA k20

just keep searching the threads, there's a lot about this subject

 
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Yeah, I just can't imagine paying 5K+ for the engine then probably another 5K+ for the tranny. Then installation?! Good god

 
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I know theres a site where the engine, tranny, and all parts to fully swap are only about 6-7k....

dude heres one and it's not even in my book marks... i just randomly searched it
http://jsamotors.com/catalog_product.aspx?prod_id=13
K20a $6000 motor, tranny, all that jazz

 
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Thanks man, I don't know, haha maybe I'm just not picturing myself making that kind of money in the time that I'd like it thats why I don't look at the swap. But I just bookmarked that site so thanks man.


Thanks to all of you guys

 
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I agree. That is why I stopped with Exhaust and the K&N filter for power.

I'd just do some appearance mods and enjoy the car until you get another DD. Then do some K20a or whatever the codename is for the 2.0L engine.

As to the guy posting at the top of this page, he is right. I've seen GS-Ts and GSXs at the track. They are no joke when modded!

 
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if you want to do it right you can't be worried about spending the cash(swap or turbo). at least that's the vibe i get from reading threads on this

 
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Yeah with cars.. You have to pay ( and sometimes a LOT depending on the car ) to play the game.

 
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complete k20 changeover $4000+shipping (20000miles)

http://www.hmotorsonline.com/shop/sc...Engines&hit=10

turbo for an auto...$4500+shipping

http://www.dezod.com/pd_dezod_motorsports_version.cfm

man k20 FTW

 
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its not everything you need... you still need some other misc prts like SI axles, SI radiator SI subframe, AC lines, hasport k20 mounts. your prolly looking at 4k + 2k minimun in misc crap...

 
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oh

Ok so 6K k20w/6speed tranny maintanence = cheap per year lol

Turbo still an auto 4.5k maintanence = expensive per year

idk might as well keep savin for the k20 IMO hehe

 
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The age old saying... "Speed costs money, how fast do you want to go?" applies fully here.

 
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k20 DD FTMFW!

 
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I don’t know why many people seem to think that boosting a 7thgen automatically makes it unreliable and have high maintenance cost. If you spend the money up front, run a realistic amount of boost and don’t rig things you should have no problems. I don’t think 3k mile OCI’s add that much to maintenance cost. There are plenty of people here that daily drive their boosted d17 vics.

It will be unreliable if you drive like a complete *** all the time just like a k20 will too. For those who don't already know Honda's engines and transmissions HATE shock loading even when stock. This is why they are better suited for track days and Auto X Slam through the gears and do burnouts constantly, you will see what happens. So if you boost it be smooth and you won’t have probs. Also another reason I went with boosted "D" is because if by chance I did blow it up I can find an engine anywhere for a couple hundred dollars. Try that with a k20.

 
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maintenance is higher... oil, gas, sparks etc. it all adds up. Unreliable.. i thought doing anything to your engine makes it less reliable... so im guessing forcing air into it is one of those. thats y no sez theres a "Safe: PSI to run ever. i don't think anyone would argue that a boosted engine is more reliable than a N/A one with the same driving habits. Im not saying its unreliable, cause i know plenty of people that have run turbo set ups for years, but think of it this way... in Car and Drivers new report as to which vehicles have the least amount of engine problems. It was like Jag, Lincon, Porshe, Honda, and Mercedes i believe... honda is the only non high end company in the top 5 and seeing as how Honda stays N/A with their engines, i believe its part of the reason y they dont have problems.

But then again, i don't have either, and i am jus going by what everyone on this site, club rsx, honda-tech, and k20.org tell meh. so all in all its only my $0.02