Hey, I'm a new member to the site, just wanted to say hey to all the car enthusiast's out there. I just recently bought a 2000 Civic from a friend of mine. I'm not new to Honda's, I owned a 1992 Prelude a few years ago, but this is my first Civic and I love it so far. Any low-cost tips anyone has for me to help get this mini-beast going would be greatly appreciated! I will post pictures as soon as I can get them. Thanks guys!

 

Welcome to the forum!

What do you want to do with the car? IMO, boost it or swap if you want power first.

If you want looks, go with a lip kit and suspension.

 

I've got a few things I"m doing to the appearance of the car first. Smoke headlights, etc. But I don't know of much I can do with the SOHC d16 engine.

 

You can do a lot with the SOHC motor. If you want respectable power, you have to boost though. I have seen a full performance build on a D16z6 motor (basically the same as your D16y8 motor), totaling over $5k (cam, high cr pistons etc etc etc etc), and the car put down only like 160 whp/130wtq. A huge let down.

I put a supercharger on my D16y8, upgraded the clutch and fuel system (fuel pump and injectors), added a methanol injection system, and tuning and made 160whp/145wtq. Only spent about $2k total.

Now, a bare bones turbo build will run you about $2k, and net more power. However, I was happy with the JRSC results since the full 145 wtq was being produced at like 3k rpms and stayed there until redline.

Basically, you just need to sit down, figure out how much power you want, and set a budget. Let us know what you come up with and we can tell you if that seems reasonable or not.

Be careful about smoking headlights, too dark and I am sure you will get pulled over for it. What about black housing headlights? The $80 sets on eBay are fine as along as you apply an extra layer of silicone sealant around where the lens meets the housing.