Hello all. I decided to make this compendium of information and tips to help disspell some of the repeated questions we get about the D15B7 engine and to make a "one-stop shop" of info on these engines.

Many of the members of this board have D15B7 engines in their Civics (myself included). Many of us also wonder about how best to tweak these engines to get the most out of them if a swap is not in the future for our cars. This guide will attempt to guide (no pun intended) you in the right direction with your car.

The first thing to remember about the D15B7 is that it sucks for performance purposes. This engine was built to do two things: have high fuel economy and be reliable. At these two pursuits the engine excels. However, throw in the need for it to be fast and you have a lackluster platform to work with.

For the most part, the D15B7 does not respond to "bolt-on" mods well. Short ram intakes (or cold air intakes), headers, exhaust systems, throttle bodies and intake manifolds will all produce fairly small gains for the type of investment you will make in them. Therefore, for the tuner looking for a cost-effective way to boost the performance of his car, bolt-ons for a D15B7 are not the way to go.

However, there is quite a bit of room for improvement in the way of increasing the amount of power that is actually put to the ground in a car with the D15B7. For one thing, changing the transmission out to the Si or EX transmission with its shorter gears will produce a noticeable increase in acceleration. Couple this with the addition of a lightweight flywheel and your car should feel quite a bit quicker than it used to. Add in an LSD and you should see even further gains, not only in acceleration but in overall handling as well.

In addition to increasing the amount of power that is actually put to the ground in a D15B7-powered car, you can also make some gains by reducing the weight of your car. This is nothing new to most hard-core racers, and in fact, most dedicated drag cars are simply sheetmetal shells with an engine attached. The amount of "gutting" you do to your own car will be up to personal preference. Generally, even with lightweight racing rims, carbon fiber hood and trunk, deletion of A/C, removal of carpeting and sound insulation and even the removal of the back seat you are still only looking at a few hundred pounds at the most of weight savings. Basically, don't expect miracles, but do expect your car to feel a bit quicker off the line.

So there you have a bit of an overview of some of the things you can do with a D15B7. Now, let's get down to specifics.

Transmission Upgrades

Si/EX transmission - a cost-effective way to increase the acceleration capabilities of a D15B7-power Civic due to shorter gearing

Lightweight flywheel - this mod will augment the effects of an Si/EX tranny swap or at least make the DX/LX tranny perform a little better


Engine Upgrades

This seems to be an oft-overlooked avenue of making more power of out a D15B7, but there are a surprising variety of choices.

Mini-Me head swap - a cost-effective way to boost the power output of the D15B7 while also giving it VTEC; expect to gain around 15 to 20 horses with this mod

Stronger rods - if you are planning to build your motor up for a turbo setup in the future, these will be one of your more important components; Crower is the only brand I am aware of for the D15B7

Different pistons - this is an area I am not particularly familiar with for the D15B7; however, there are some choices out there for boosting power and providing increased reliability in a turbo setup

Adjustable cam gears - these are only important for turbo setups or otherwise highly modified engines that require the increased tunability; moderately modified cars usually need not apply

Metal head gasket - you may already have one of these if you did a Mini-me depending on what gasket you decided to use, but Cometic and a few other brands also make these specifically for the D15B7