88-91 Civic Or Crx

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panzeral

Junior Member
I wanna get in on the Honda thing but my wallets a little thin. I can pickup a 90 Civic HB for 1800. The things immaculate and only has 138,000 miles on it. I don't want to swap a engine in since I don't have the cash to do so. So is it possible to soup its relatively weak engine.

Also anyone know how hard it would be to install a short shifter. Im also wondering if the 88-91 Civic HB's are lighter than the 5th generation. I heard they have really good power to weight ratio.


Dana

Wanted:
90-93 Accord DX-EX
88-91 Civic HB
88-91 CRX
 
D series motors cost more to mod than say a swaped B series, the thing is, you already have the D motor and you have to buy and swap in the B motor, if I were you I would save my pennies and get a B series.
Good Luck man....
 
Originally posted by panzeral@Jan 20 2003, 07:05 PM
How much would it cost to tune a D series engine.

well.. put it this way.. 200whp in a d series is going to cost ~2-2300.. its not the tuning that cost a lot. Its the point that you are going to spent twice the money on a d-series to get it to equal what you can get a b-series to. Plus a b-series has manufactors out its ass, where as a d-series you are limited to either get maybe 160whp going NA or spend the cash for a turbo setup to get 200 whp (with stock internals) and up to around 230whp with fully built internals.. and that is with a damn good tuner. Also, the d-series trannies blow ass. B (pissedoffsol) is on his 2nd, almost 3rd and has an almost stock d16z6 in his Sol.
 
What is the hp of the D series engine?, The car is a 90 DX. How much is a B series engine and how much do you think it would cost to put one in?
 
d16z head on your bottom end, 50 shot, low 13's with a vtec controller.

you could do everything for less than 1500.

d-series is great because you can just get another transmission when you break one...plus d-series bottom ends are everywhere.

if you don't want to spend money, go d-series with nitrous.
 
Originally posted by panzeral@Jan 20 2003, 07:59 PM
What is the hp of the D series engine?, The car is a 90 DX. How much is a B series engine and how much do you think it would cost to put one in?

the dx engine puts out 90 somethin hp.

the price of the swap depends on how much money u have and what engine u want... a cable tranny b16a1 will be 1200 or so for the package, around 400 for a mounts and a little more for a couple little things you'd need.
 
I'm not sure but I think that is a Dual point injection. If so changing it to MPFI and getting a Si Tranny will make it much more power I think the gains are upwards of 20hp then add CAI and get a Si cam and you are at 125 hp or so for only a couple hundred dollars. look here for info on the MPFI Swap

https://hondaswap.com/articles/viewer.php?id=52
 
yeah it is dpfi, fuckin crap, get a si complete head with manifold, injectors, tb and rail, ecu, and tranny....or just buy a complete d16a6 swap, not like they are expensive at all.

don't bother modding you dx motor.
 
a friend of mine told me that a D16 from a ex coupe can be swapped in fairly easy. He also said its possible to turbo it. Is this true. will this work in a crx hf.
 
dude, your better off buying an HF, even tho it's got less HP ratings, it's already MPFI. The dx on the other hand, is a TBI (throttle body injection). it will be much less difficult to do a head swap on an HF motor than a DX. But let's face it, I know your "stuck" on this D-series thing, (and i'm not criticizing d-series motors) but if your trying to tune a d-series for high hp, your better off swapping b series. take it from me, i put a z6 in my 4g rex, and i wish i went B18C. i'm an idiot.
 
RFHOMI2U no one is stuck on D series,the guy who posted stated that he can't afford to swap,so no swap Chet laid out a plan that won't even cost what a B16a1 would.Prawjekt cx had a good one too,probably even cheaper.
IMO (to original poster) stick with the engine you have,build up you car,suspension,brakes,exhaust,etc...maybe a intake that can be used later on another motor,theres no reason not to make your car better in other ways.Then when you can afford it do a swap.
 
if you can't afford a bseries than don't, a dseries is not crap as all these swappers would tell you. The advantages to swapping a dseries are just as good as a b16a would be, now a b18c is a different story all together,and don't get me started on b18c5 and b16b's, because there is no comparison. The b16a is just what everyone is told to do but if you want to do a bseries swap going all motor i would just save up the extra $$ for a GSR motor or ITR. The advantages of the dseries comes in the form of weight of the motor and tranny which are in general usually 70-75 less than the b16 swap, accessablility of parts(d series are EVERYWHERE) whether it be aftermarket or factory parts and a swap generally can be done in most 92up cars from sohc to sohc in about 4 or 5 hours(well if you have friends and are good than the bseries can also be done that fast too). I am just saying aftermarket support for dseries is just as large as bseries, you can get anything you want from cams, to pistons, the sky is the limit. Basically in a crx a dseries vtec motor or dseries non vtec with bolt ons can scoot along with most b16a/hatch's with ease. The only downfalls of d series is not their weak transmissions but their weak transmission gearings, but honestly an LS tranny is very similar to that of the dseries in gearing. The best bet for a dseries owner is to lighten up everything on the motor's rotational parts as possible to allow for quicker reving(underdrive pulleys, lightened flywheel, light weight wheels,etc) and then to make the engine rev up as quick(larger throttle body, the bseries TB's bolt right on in most cases and are found for under 50bucks for an LS throttle body, higher flowing intake manifolds the 96up EX D16Y8 manifold flows better and bolts right on to most dseries heads with little modification if any, headers, intake, exhaust also help to free up the breathing.) Although most dseries don't make power past 7400 rpms many companies such as crower, zex, and skunk2(sometime in the future) make camshafts that will make power upwards to 8g and beyond, although it is not recommended to rev higher than 8 on a dseries head without changing out its internals such retainers,valve springs,valves,etc and also will have effects on the bottom end after time. Just my .02, i love the bseries too, i am not bashing it, just saying that the dseries is very capable of power without breaking you wallet, you just need to research before you do any project.
 
ok i dont know about most of you out there but yes throwing out a 2000 dollars on a engine swap is cool but you better know how it went in there and every other nook and cranny of the swap or else youll be visiting :worthy: the same shop repeatedly that you have a personal account with by now and im sure thats not good.

on another note what if you do blow this joker up :unsure: . how soon can you find a nother engine or transmission????? huh? i cant hear you what???going back to the shop huh???oh you got to wait a week for it to come in??? man i did the same thing and got me a transmission from the junkyard and put it in a 2 days later

its your money but its also you who gains it worth back


ill stick with what i can comphrehend
 
Originally posted by panzeral@Jan 20 2003, 03:37 PM
I wanna get in on the Honda thing but my wallets a little thin.  I can pickup a 90 Civic HB for 1800.  The things immaculate and only has 138,000 miles on it.  I don't want to swap a engine in since I don't have the cash to do so.  So is it possible to soup its relatively weak engine.  

Also anyone know how hard it would be to install a short shifter. Im also wondering if the 88-91 Civic HB's are lighter than the 5th generation.  I heard they have really good power to weight ratio.


Dana

Wanted:
90-93 Accord DX-EX
88-91 Civic HB
88-91 CRX

heres my .02 cents...

first of all, sohc em's post makes me think twice about getting a b16! :) thanks for that awesome info.

ok..assuming u just wanna spruce up the performnace a little without writing lots of big checks...

1) get an intake (replaces the air filter) runs from around $80 to $250. good brands are K&N, AEM, Injen, DC sports. K&N also makes drop-in filters that replace your stock filter media for about $35..and they are re-usable. expect about a 2-5% hp increase.

2) get a performance muffler. there are loud ones and not so loud ones. the main thing is they let your engine breathe freer. good brands are greddy, apex, dynomax, magnaflow. prices range from around $50 to well over $100. while youre getting it installed, you can ask for larger exhaust piping. get 2" or 2.25" at the most. the piping installed should only be another $50 or so. expect a possible tiny loss of power off the line, but a nice increase in middle and top end of each gear. a muffler, larger pipes AND an intake could yield about a 10-15% increase in hp.

3) get a performance header. now these will make your car loud, but sound like it has a big engine. these run around $120 - $350 for a DC sports header. good brands are DC sports, chikara, comptech. these should give you about a 5-10% hp increase on TOP of what your other mods give you.

with all those or even just the intake and exhaust, your car will be ALOT of fun to drive. mine is :) i have a dx also. by the way, the 88-91 dx has 92hp and 89lbsft of torque.

if you did all those mods and paid top dollar for them, you would increase your horsepower by like 20-25% and would have spent roughly around $800, plus tax.
 
Originally posted by solblu@Jan 20 2003, 08:58 PM
I'm not sure but I think that is a Dual point injection. If so changing it to MPFI and getting a Si Tranny will make it much more power I think the gains are upwards of 20hp then add CAI and get a Si cam and you are at 125 hp or so for only a couple hundred dollars. look here for info on the MPFI Swap

https://hondaswap.com/articles/viewer.php?id=52

an Si engine only puts out 106hp how is a MPFI and Si cam going to top that. Even with CAI its not that great a change. but it is an improvement over 92 the stock DX has. the 88-89 DX engines are 1.5 not 1.6 enines. the 91 is a 1.6 and all the 4G DX engines were DPFI. ANd you should be able to put a short shifter on in 20 minutes its real easy. the '90 and '91 are heavier than the 88-89 cars due to the seat belt mounting point on the doors of the newer ones. about 100lbs difference. and if you are going to spend $800 just get a DOHC ZC, 138 HP and 108 lbs of tourque, better than you are going to get with bolt on's anything less than turbo.
 
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