tuning d16 pointless?

Sup guys. I have a 97 EX Civic, still with the 1.6L SOHC VTEC motor in it. It's also an automatic. I realize this is possibly the worse scenario to satisfy my desire for speed, but here's the deal: My dad bought the car for me a couple years ago and he still owns the car. He is the reason the car is an automatic. He is also the reason I haven't performed a motor-swap. He's totally against it. Other than that, I'm free to modify. I was curious if there is much I can do to the D16 motor to make it perform at a competitive level at all? Any opinions are welcome.

Sure, its fun to put stuff on cars. Sure you may not get as big a gain as a more performance oriented engines, but its still fun. How does your dad feel about forced induction?

Like I said, besides motorswap or tranny swap...anything goes. I was considering the idea of a turbo'd d16 myself ;]

Well, if anything goes. I'd suggest looking at Turbo D16 (http://www.turbod16.com) There's a guy in there right now running a D16Y7 with an auto tranny at 10 psi.

You can check out what I've done to my little D16 at

98 Civic EXT (http://www.cardomain.com/id/98civicrider)

it can be done and can be fast but yea as spectre said won't be as fast as a tuned B but still can be a fun lil car to zip round in.

Man the restrictions your dad gave you sound like something you would see in a tuning mag. Anyway, I would say you would have to go FI IMO. Just build it up so that when you boost you don't kill your engine. Why can't you at least change the tranny?

Well, when I got the car he said I couldn't have a stick because I was still learning how to drive and it was too much of a hassle to do. Now 2 years later, he STILL won't let me do it because "there's no reason to". Basically, my parents are strictly against racing. I can't do anything about it. However, if I got the turbo, I would definitely take her to the track.

Ive been looking into doing a turbo d16 on my next civic and Ive learned a lot from people who are VERY knowledgable about it, so any questions feel free to ask. Basically, the automatic tranny is definitely gonna hold you back. I know a guy running 8 psi with a 15g greddy kit and still only makin about 155 hp at the wheels. Now with a stick, youd probably see about 190 whp, but 155 whp still aint too shabby. Youd be beating gsr's stock, by a good two or three cars. It really depends on how much money you have to spend, and what your hp goals are, if you know what those are, I think I can help you out a lot better.

I'd suggest looking at Turbo D16 There's a guy in there right now running a D16Y7 with an auto tranny at 10 psi.

If youre talking about Quad Damage, he just completed his auto-manual swap, but he did still run 10psi on his auto tranny for a while, so hed be a good guy to talk to.

Thanks for the help!

:nono: Definitely not pointless. Definitely not as good as a swap would be though. Edelbrock has a cool turbo called the Performer X. I was looking into it before I made up my mind to save and do a swap. It says something like 176hp to the wheels, and around 142 lb ft of tourqe. :naughty: Sounds good to me. I personally am still saving for the swap, but it's also my car. I'd say look to turbo. Although, maybe a sc wouldn't be a bad idea since you're running an automatic. Good luck

Nobu

The Edelbrock kit isnt nearly as good as people have hyped it up to be. Over on TurboD16, theres a guy running that kit at 7 psi, and making those numbers you posted up above, however, theres also a guy running the Greddy 15g kit at 7 psi, and making 181 whp and 165 wtq, so the efficiency of the Edelbrock kit really isnt all its made out to be. Dont get me wrong, its a great kit, just overrated. However, one of the benefits of that kit is that its complete. For a little over 3k, you get everything to need to run 10 psi, which is nice.

There are two Greddy kits that are possibly for your car. The 15g, and the 19T. The 19t is newer, and at 10 psi produces between 20-50 more whp than the 15g. The 15g is also meant for 92-95 civics, so there are some very minor modifications that need to be done. The 15g costs about $1400, and to run more than stock boost, youll need an intercooler (johnnyracecar.com has nice ones for about $230 shipped), blow off valve, and some better fuel management. It comes with the blue box, which really is a bad idea to use past 7 psi since its not tunable. As for the 19t kit, its around $1800, but comes with a larger, more efficient turbo, additional injectors (which youll need to run more than stock boost, which is 5.5 psi) and the emanage, which is tunable, so you can run up to 12-15 psi on that, tuned of course.

Basically, here is a break down of prices if you wanna run between 5.5 and 7 psi, and then also 10psi:

Edelbrock kit: $3100......+ $100-$400 boost controller

Greddy 15G: $1400........+ $230 intercooler, $70-100 IC piping, $200 BOV, $275 RC 440 Injectors, $275 Apexi VAFC (fuel management), $100-$400 boost controller, $60 boost gauge

Greddy 19T: $1800.......+ $230 intercooler, $70-100 IC piping, $200 BOV, $100-$400 boost controller, $60 boost gauge, $100-$200 Emanage Dyno tuning.

Another thing I forgot to add...if you wanna squeeze the most power you can out of your automatic tranny, a torque converter is a good thing to look in to, I really dont much about the, but from what Ive heard, they can make automatics a lot faster.

Yeah, I don't know much about turbo efficiency, I just liked the way Edelbrock has everything put in a kit ready for install. I've also heard that a tourqe converter makes a tremendous difference in AT's. Never tried one though. Maybe if my wife would hook up her whip.....(That's got me thinkin' 'bout two project cars now)

actually, alot of drag racers go with the automatic set up...it makes for a more consistant trap time. They just get a really big set of brakes for the rear and do e-brake launches...I know it sounds crazy, but that's what they do...a friend of mine who drives a 10 second focus recently had his manual tranny swapped out for an automatic. He's still running 10's, but it actually is more consistant than before.