99 swap

[bennerman]

I bought a 1999 civic dx hatchback a couple of weeks ago, everything on it is stock, more or less, with a D16Y7 motor. I am not happy at all with the performance of this motor, and I don't really think there is much I could do with it to make myself happy with it. I've been considering an engine swap, so, that said, I have a couple of questions. #1 I've heard that with a head, cam and ECU, and probably more parts, I could change my engine into a SOHC VTEC, is this true and how hard is this? #2 If I decided to just swap the engine entirely, I would like to go with a DOHC VTEC if possible, what motor would be the easiest install and best bet for me? If you know any prices or anything for either of these options that would be awesome too. I'm just not really sure what I want yet, I just know I want a faster car, one to be proud of. Thanks in advance!!

Benner

 

[HondaMoCo]

theres two options you can go with. but first you need to figure out how much power you want to make. do you just want to have something thats slightly peppier? do you want to be alot faster?

option 1: you could put a d16y8 head on your motor which will convert it to vtec, and would make you a little bit faster, but dont get me wrong it isnt going to feel extremely different. This will give you a better platform to mod, but only if you wanna have a decently fast car, and dont want to spend too much money, but if you plan on going with a b-series anytime in the future just save your money.
parts needed
complete d16y8 head (d16z6 head will work and is more common, but y8 is better)
ecu from a 99-00 civic EX,
thats basically it, i would have the head inspected, pressure tested and hot tanked before you install, and if it has alot of miles on it re-build it

you can expect to spend 300-400 for this swap, and it will definately yeild better results then any bolt on part

option 2: you can put a b-series motor in there, you need a b-series from an obd2 vehicle, get the whole complete swap, motor, tranny, ecu, axles, mounts, linkage, after that it is a direct bolt in, this will generally yeild much better results then anything you can do to that D-series other then a turbo kit your looking at spending roughly anywhere from 1500-5000 completely depending on what model b-series, how many miles are on it, jdm, usdm, aftermarket parts allready on it, etc.

 

[bennerman]

So if i were to just get a head from a Y8, have it installed, roughly how much more power would I have? would it be noticable? Would i need more than just the head? I think just changing the head would make a lot more sense financially than doing an entire swap right now and for less than 500, i could definitely do that in the very near future, but I would just want to make sure it would be worth it and everything would work fine.