where to start???...sorry im a noob

Hi All, lets see if i can get some help from you guys. I own a 2000 Civic EX that i just finished paying off. So far nothing has been put into the engine/car pther than an AEM CAI. I want to make my car a bit faster.....im not a racer mind you, more of a ricer :eek7: (sorry to say that....hopefully no one will bash me for being a ricer). I am not looking to gaining a shit load of HP....i have read that installing a turbo will give me 50HP off the back...which i would not mind having at all. My question to you turbo guys is.....where should i start before installing a turbo?? i have read from guys in this forum that they recommend people custom make their turbos rather than buying a turbo kit. I honestly think that i would go with the kit since i have little to no knowledge of turbos....i just know that they make you go fast. People also have mentioned ratios and a whole bunch of other stuff. i have been reading the turbo tech 101 thread but all that to me sounds like "wa-wa wa-wa-wa wa-wa".....sorry i have no understanding and sorry if i am wating anyones time. hope ya can help. thanks

---on another note, i will be putting in a Magna flow cat-back exhaust and a high flow cat this June.....am i in the right direction?

Well, a turbo can give you a lot more than 50 horsepower. A stock greddy turbo kit gives your engine around 70 horsepower at the crank. Crank horsepower is what is advertised on magazines. That is...putting the kit on the stock engine. If you upgrade your fueling system and other things the kit can push 100 or more horsepower. The magna flow exahaust is good...even if you decide on the turbo itll help you.

i wouldny go magna flow, and a high flow cat is a waste of money in my opinion ...
1st of all..nothing flows more exhaust smoothly than a 20.00 test pipe that just blots inplace of a cat...instead of paying all that money for some high flow junk..just put you cat back on when you have to get it inspected then back to the test pipe..if you dont know what i mean..do a search for "test pipe" on ebay and take a look! high flow cats are a complete waste of money
2nd as far as the magna flow..im not dashing it in any way cause its good for what it is i guess, but its just not worth the money, there are alot better systems available for certain applications..and you have everyone under the sun pretty much...check out a Greddy, tanabe, Apexi and Thermal and see what they offer to suite your needs! Magna flow is ok, but its not great...you spent the money on teh AEM CAI so its only fair to your car to continue doing so..and the price diff is not that great
3rd as far as a turbo, you can run a small turbo kit on there and it will give you a nice pull, but your stock internals will limit you on the ammount of boost you can run..resulting in 8 psi give or take...if this is the case then i wouldnt reccomend building your own custom kit..especialy since you dont know much about vehicles. I would say a stage 1 bolt on greddy kit will be your best and cheapest bet. I dont usually reccomend going with Greddy kits except for cases like this...I see greddy kits as dell computers, there great if you want some power for the buck but dont know much about building it and dont want anything super-advanced ! hopefully that helps i tried to be as simple as possible

thanks tranzlogic......you gave me the answer i need as far as my turbo goes....i will look into the other exhaust systmes you mentioned and most likely go with them. I will also look into a stage 1 greddy kit. as far as my internals go.....are you talking about my injectors, cam gears, pulleys, fuel regulator, and fuel filter?? so far i plan on getting AEM evrything as far as the filter, regulator, and cam gears and doing that myself. do you happen to know a link where i can read up on the internals of my engine or what do you recommend me doing to my internals?? if its too compiclated i guess forget it and i will just deal with a nice pull, lol. thansk again man.....everyone here has been so helpful.

or you could just do a B series swap and sell your current EX motor and tranny and stuff.

i dont think i wanna do that.....i havent found any reliable speed shop here in new york that i can trust with that....even though i dont think i need a speed shop to do that kind of work......i shouldve just forked over the extra cash and got me an Si instead.....or even a 'Lude. but it was my father in law who got me the car at the time and i had no choice. where would i get a B series from anyways??...a junkyard.....if so, how reliable could it be if the previous owner abused the shit out of the engine....thats a risk i dont think i would like to take.

i doubt you will find any B series swaps from junkyards loll...... a place i know alot of my friends got it is www.hmotorsonline.com or you could try ebay........ they come directly from Japan and no they arent abused...... a swap would be way more reliable than turboing on your stock internals.

sweet!, i will look into it. i always thought people swapped with junkyard parts.....guess its the noob in me. since i have read posts in here about rear drum to disc conversion using junked parts i thought the engine would be the same. much thanks DjiNN....like i said i will look into it and see what can be done on my end. now i guess i will have to go into searching forums about engine swaps and what has to be done.....you dont happen to know any reliable links or forums do you??....if not, i will do the search tonight when i get home. Much thanks man!

well most B series swaps come from japan ......... and if people are smart enough they wont keep a motor like that in junkyards :) but if you have any other questions, you could msg me on msn messenger ....... djinn_inc_@hotmail.com or aim: DjiNNInc.

thanks again man....like i mentioned b4....ima do my research before i ask any more questions.....i have seen people on this forum get yelled at for not doing a search....lol....i dont blame people for being upset, shit they do have a search button for a reason.....thansk again man.

hehe np.

here try this http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=19176

by you internals i ment your pistons,rods at the minimum, valves, sleeves and a deck at the normal...either way you dont wanan get into any of that on your engine..a b series perhaps, but your not intrested in a swap as far as I can tell, you just want teh most pull you can get for the buck on your engine without rebuilding the whole thing ground up. As far as piecing together your fuel system i would wait until you decide on a turbo kit, because a mild greddy kit that i reccomended will come with injectors and so forth and run on a relativly stock fuel system...once you start getting into changing over your fuel system and so forth yo get into computer issues which means now you have to get your computer chipped and so forth..which i think again is more than you wanna get into..check out the greddy mild street kits and perhaps the apexi and read up on what they come with and youll see what im sayin..most generally a complete kit is gonan cover all your bases for that 2nd gear pull your looking for...but the cams and gears are always a great idea, so im glad your with me on that ..anything else or if i failed to answer your question let me know

yeah, your right tranz...i think getting into the whole piston, rods and that sort is out of my league right now.....maybe if i get my hands on a dirt cheap honda i'll play around with it just for experience, but not my current car. but thanks again, and i will look into the greddy kits since they are like dells, lol.

holy shit!....i just got back from reading some - not all - of that forum that DjiNN gave me for engine swap. and i think i made my choice of really not swapping til i have more experience/knowledge of what i will be doing. seems like there is a lot to know and do in order to swap. so ima just stick with a little turbo kit and take it from there. oh, tranz, so i guess changing my fuel regulator/rail/filter would be a waste of money? or would it even make a difference. I see that you say i will also have to get my computer chipped if i do that correct?

well " have to " is a strong command, it would be in your best interest to do so if your gonna start changing your fuel delivery because your gonna want the ecu to compensate. but theres nothing wrong with a high flow filter or pump..in actuality those will ensure enough fuel is getting supplied but wont actually be dumping more fuel such as to big of injectors or too much fuel pressure would...a full turbo kit will come with what you need, but if you wanted to add the aem high flow fuel filter it wont hurt you..same goes with a pump..they just deliver, they dont supply...so thats cool. but i would leave the rest alone for now until your more experianced..you wouldnt wanna go changing things in that dell would you..lol..since its already made to work in unison. what area you live in ?

im in the NYC area.....sucks so bad. potholes eat up rims when you dont know if your gonna hit one.....i am on my second set of rims cuz i dented the first set really bad when i hit a pothole in a neighborhood that i wasnt familiar. that sucked cuz i didnt even have the wheels for 6 months. then some old man swipes me and takes a chuck of my rear.....oh the drama man, lol. so i guess i will get the fuel reg and pump to make my engine bay look nicer, lol.

just be careful with the pressure regulator, wrong fuel pressure makes for a shitty mix..and then welcome to the world of probloms

thanks for the heads up......i'd assume that it would come with a booklet or something that will explain to me how to regulate it and a recommended state to leave it in, no?? if not, i guess i will go searching for a site that will help me with regulating it. plus i have the search button here so i can look thru these forum. you been so much helo man, thanks

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