I have a 99 Civic EX Coupe that I am interested in getting more performance out of.

With that said, let me also say, that I am NOT a mechanic nor do I have the time to rebuild or spend a lot of time working on this car.

I bought this car about a month ago, and I have done nothing to it yet. First, I looked to see how easy it would be to change out the exhaust, when I discovered this car already has a 4-2-1 (2 piece) header in place. I see this as one thing I don't have to buy. So with that done, I need a cat-back exhaust and a CAI ... for starters.

What I am trying to achieve since this is my daily commuter car, is to ramp up the performance without taking to many chances ie... I don't want to roll the dice and take a chance on blowing my engine up.

From what I have read on this website, the D16Y8 (it says it on the timing cover) is a good engine for forced induction. So with a CAI, exhaust system in place and no time to be out of this car for any extended periods of time, is a turbo the way to go?

This car has an automatic transmission and the engine has 122,000 miles on it.

I want this to be my little 'sleeper' car. Power under the hood, without looking like something out of a "Fast And Furious" movie. LOL

Is 200whp ... possible?

 

automatic ====> not worth it

 

You'd have to switch it to a manual before turboing it.

But 200whp is achievable

 

Are there any other options with it being an automatic, or is a manual tranny swap the ONLY alternative?

 

iirc, there are no full tuning solutions for an automatic ecu. so you'll have to resort to a piggy back fuel management system, unless you want to shell out for the aem fic, which again, so pointless in an automatic.

a manual conversion is not the only alternative, the best alternative imo is to shell your auto and buy a manual....

 

Ok... well I'm glad I know that up front before shelling out the cash on a turbo kit and THEN finding out it's a useless endeavor.

The only problem I have with manual shift, is stop and go, bumper to bumper Houston traffic. Manual transmission in this regard is a royal PITA!! Thats why I went with an auto.

Doing a conversion would involve the trans, linkage, pedals, shifter, master and slave cylinders ... etc. I'm pretty positive that I do not want to go that route.

Oh well... time to step back and punt!!

Thanks for your help!

 

Seriously, just buy and drive a manual for the rest ofyour life and you won't even notice it in stop and go traffic anymore, especially with a light civic clutch