HI,
I have several questions about several things in my car. I just got a 98 honda civic EX.It says vtec on the side,but im not sure if it is because i got this car at an auction and it looks like the cat before me tried to do some heavy **** to it like putting headers,AEM air intake system...and a couple other things.I just got into the whole racing thang so i wanna start with baby steps. So my first questions would be:

1:How do I find out what kind of motor i have in my car?

2:What kind of ECU chip is best for my car?

3:How do I find out if its really vtec?

I have a couple other questions but they dont come to mind right now,Ill ask as they come up

So ANY help is good help,Thanks.

 

first off, welcome to the forum.

1. on the sude of the motor (toward the front of the car), where the block meet the transmission, there should be a number stamped into the block. If its the motor that should be in it, it will say D16y8

2.Are you talking a plug and play chip like a "performance chip" or are yoy talk like having the ECU chipped to be able to change the fuel maps and have it tuned?

3. if its the d16y8, then its vtec but if you want to be absolutly sure, look for the vtec solenoid located here:



heres a pic of it close up, ignore the fact mine isnt pluged in, i took the pic a while back:

 

thanks for repplying..
1.ok so i looked and yeah,its the right motor
the problem is,theres black fluid leaking out of it(which it looks like oil)
obviously it shouldnt be leaking like that,so what should i do?i know i should get it fixed but is there an easy fix to it or something complicated and approx. how much would it cost?

2. im not sure which one i want,all i know is that i want more hp.
my buddy at work was telling me he got an ECU for his lancer and now when it changes gears,its a lot better.Keep in mind his and my car are automatic,unfortunately

 

1. Oil leaking from where, and how bad?

2. ok well neither will do the car much. The performance chips are a joke, more so with our cars. Civics don't respond well to bolt-ons. And having your computer chipped would be a waste. You only need to do that when you start getting into heavy mods.

With our auto trannys, they arnt compleaty controlled by the ecu. For example I have the motor out of an ex but still have the tranny that came with the lx. The ex's redline is 800 rpm higher, but even with the new ecu, the shift point is the same.

 

from where you told me to look for the d16y8 inprint and a little to the left of that where the block ends...its not too bad,but ANY oil leak is bad so its hard to say,but on a scale from 1-10(1 being a minimal leak) id say its like a 2 1/2-3?ha

ok well with that being said,i guess what im loooking for is something to make the acceleration go A LOT FASTER...It seems like when i drop it down to d2,it still takes some time to speed up so i just want LOTS AND LOTS OF ACCELERATION
What should i get to get better/faster acceleration?

 

Easy answer... nothing easy or cheap

these motors do not respond well to bolt-ons, at all. So the only sure fire way to get a decent amount of acceleration is to turbo charge it.