I am new to civics and have not looked back since getting mine.

I have a 2001 civic dx coupe with
2" lowering springs
17"wheels
custom 2.5 exhaust with 4.5 out
aem v2 short ram

I want to make it faster but,Im new in the field of hondas so I just putmodded the obvious.

its a stock motor.. what should the next step be in getting more passing power? is a swap the best thing to do? or is there a better way to get performance out of this stock motor?

all input appreciated!

 

unfortunately since you have an '01, the only legal swap (technically you can't legally swap an engine into a car if the engine is older than the chassis) of any real value would be a k20, which is quite a bit of money. If you have $5k to throw at your car, I say go for it (get a k20a2... you can't go wrong with 200hp and 6 gears ).

 

little outta price range haha. do you suggest headers?

 

it's header, there's only one (no "s"). Anyway, yeah, it'll help, but it's not going to be noticeable.. you might see 5hp or so. Honestly, I'd say keep looking around for a 5-speed transmission. It'll be the best thing you can do for performance.

 

well i would suggest getting a vtec head from an ex model cus i dont think any of the dx came with vtec that would make a noticable diffrence thats if im right and you dont have that vtechead already. and also that 5 speed tranny if you have an auto.

 

+1

5 speed will make it so much more fun to drive

but......at the price of a 5 speed and a vtec head. You might just want to keep saving and go for the k20....

 

well the head shouldnt be more than 200 and the tranny would be around 250 depending who you get it from .. and a k20 would be around 5k so thats still alot of saving he would have to do.

 

he will have to get a manual tranny ANYWAY, so he might as well start somewhere.

 

Well, you can get a Header.. But if you want REAL power, i'd go with the K20a. If you just want a little something to play around with, I/H/E is the best thing for you, but if you want SERIOUS power, swap into a K20a, that would be your best bet. 220hp, 8k redline, and a 6-speed. Honestly, modding a D17 is kinda pointless to me, since they don't put down power that well. Just trying to beef up a D17 isn't the best idea, but if you want a little something to play around with(Like me, I have AEM v2, and soon to be Header/exhaust to play around with during college, until I make the good money for a K20a). From I/H/E on a D17, you can only expect maybe 15~20 hp if you're lucky. Instead of spending like $800 bucks on I/H/E, you could use it to save up for a swap .

But in all honesty, it depends on what your goals are, and what you're willing to spend on performance. Also, turbo is out of the question for a D17, since the compression is low, and D17's don't like boost that much . But, there has been some people who have turbo'd their D17, and have had some nice results.. But, honestly, i'd be more better off with a K20a, you can't go wrong with one.

But its entirely up to you, and you're goals.

 

on the subject of a k20 swap id be 5k just for the engine how much if you had a mechanic do the swap for u and what additional costs would there be?