i have a 96 civic dx 2dr with a d16y7 engine with about 150k miles on it. all stock internals with a cold air intake, aftermarket headers, muffler, and brand new stock mid pipe. anyway, i am considering getting a turbo kit for it. ebay has them for about $1000 and i know i will also need a new ECU, about $300 (what is OBD and what do i need?), as well as some larger injectors (is 440cc good enough?). so all in all im looking at about $1500.

on the other hand, i was considering doing a B16 swap, which will set me back close to $2k installed.

a b16 puts out about 170hp stock, and ive heard that the turbo kit will get me around 200hp

i prefer the turbo option, just so i can put a loud blow off valve on it, but im wondering if that extra pressure will end up damaging the internals. i would be willing to do some internal upgrades later on.

i only need this to hold over for a couple years. i want to get a real VTEC within 3 years, but i have a low budget right now.

whats your opinion?

 

I was juggling engine swaping or turbo for awhile. I wanted a GSR engine, but I thought the prices out there were ridiculous. So I decided to turbo my d16 instead. Found a used turbo setup on the hondaswap forum for $700 shipped, including pretapped oil pan. Only thing I need is to get a pre chipped ECU p28, use crome and get it tuned. After all said and done I'll prolly spend about $1500 with the tune being $500 of it. Prolly get about 180whp.

It's up to you, I would say turbo but if you find a good deal for a b16 go with that.

Also check out the ECU section and the other sections for more info.

Oh make sure your engines healthy for boost first if you decide to go that direction, do a compression test and also a leakdown test. Search for more info.

 

Do a compression and leakdown test on your engine; if everything's okay, you're good to boost. But a word of warning: do not buy an ebay turbo kit. Trust me, a good 98% of the new turbo kits on ebay (can't speak for the used kits) are more or less total crap. Look at it this way: when doing something that has a major effect on the operation of your car, don't you want to put quality parts in?

Anywho, you're looking at way more than $2k all said and done for a b16 swap unless you got one hell of a deal. Usually b16 swaps are around $3k once they're in the car and running.

Also, a b16 might get 170hp at the crank, but using the generic 20% drivetrain loss number, you're looking at 136whp. With a turbo kit on a d16y7, you could safely get around 200whp (I wouldn't push it more than 200 on stock internals)

 

I got a D16 to and was looking at vamping it up but i thought id be better off to do a B swap as after all work is said and done you have a larger HP to work with. Even tho you turbo a D series they're not exactly the best series to work with. Yea a swap costs more but youre gonna eventually go vtec anyway right? Why not wait a little bit and invest the money in a vtec B series or the like that also gives you the option to go tohigher and bigger range of HP then a D series. Just throwing it out there.

 

personally id go b16....but thats just because inDOHC VTEC fan

 

Sigh...who cares about a larger range of hp in the end. You do not need more than 350ish to the wheels in a front wheel drive car...its just gonna be a waste because you wont be able to put it to the ground. Now if youre gonna go for a track car, sure swap it, but youd need a heck of a lot more than a built engine for a good track car.

 

^ +1

All I have to say to JDMSON is go to turbod16.com and get educated.

 

in my opinion, go with the swap, because you can always boost it later on, with alot more power. I was contemplating the same thing, an decided to do a swap. Plus, your motor has 150k so you prolly wont want to run too many lbs of boost any way, without doing damage. plus 2k for a b16 is a good deal