i would like to have more horsepower in my 98 civic EX coupe (non vtec)all i have now is. a cold air intake. everything is stock. i dont want the loud exhaust. i like the look of being stock. and oh i have it lowerd. all i want to know is what could i add to my engine at low cost that would give me more HP? if so how much would it add. thanks

 

If you have an EX it should have a d16y8 engine, which does have VTEC. And to answer your question, you aren't going to get more horsepower out of that engine without spending a good amount of money. The first things people usually do for power are intake, header, and an exhaust system. There are a few quiet exhaust systems out there that still have a nice tone. Keep in mind though, that bolt-on mods aren't going to do much at all for horsepower on that engine, and they're going to end up costing you a decent amount of money. Really you have 2 options that will give you a good, noticeable increase in horsepower.

A. Turbocharge the d16y8. This is most likely going to cost you anywhere from $1000-$2000 or more depending on the route you go.
B. Swap another motor into the car.

 

For the money it will cost for a header, exhaust and intake the hp gains you get are not worth it. If you are serious about making more power then you are going to have to swap the motor or turbo ur D just like devney said.

 

^^keep in mind that if he turbos it he needs to upgrade his exhaust to maximize power gains from the turbo. The stock exhaust system has too much restriction and cause the engine to have less potential.



As devney said, you do have VTEC. Just because it might not say VTEC on the valve cover or say VTEC somewhere, doesn't mean you don't have it. Just to make sure you do have a VTEC engine for sure and the engine wasn't swapped for a non-VTEC, check out this link.

You need to start with exhaust. You may like the stock exhaust, but you gotta choose one: more power, or stock exhaust. There are quiet exhausts out there (GReddy SP2, Apex-i WS2 - I have this one and it's great).

Power isn't cheap. To get more power, you need to either build your engine, turbo it, use nitrous, or a combination of any of those I just listed. Bolt ons like Header, Intake, Exhaust, and High Flow Catalytic Converter are good, but they won't give you much more power. If you build the engine, you should get these. If you get a turbo, you should get an exhaust and, if you want, a high-flow catalytic converter. With a turbo, the intake and header are replaced by turbo components (charge piping, and turbo manifold).

 

best bang for your buck: turbocharger. Have like $2K saved up before oyu go at like previously mentioned. The bolt ons on your SOHC 1.6L aren't gonna do much. To see big gains it's either swap or boost. Get a compression test to see how your engine is going, then go from there as far as boost goes.