Typical lsvtec experience?

We may earn a small commission from affiliate links and paid advertisements. Terms

PdxEG

New Member
So I'm new to this site (1st post) and never driven an eg so I contacted a seller on cl to checkout his car just to test drive it for fun, which he was cool with. SO I just had my first expierence in a swapped civic, like losing my virginity all over again.. pretty damn exciting, and now im hooked on civics. Check out this ad to see what i drove and tell me if my experience was typical or if the car is whack. This is what it says..

"Up for sale my 95 grey civic hatch with a clean title and good tabs for 2014. It has a Lsvtec swap done by sv performance with new water pump and racing timing belt, new radiator and starter. This swap was put together by sv performance with a b18b1 with low miles around less than 70k miles with a new golden eagle headgasket and ARP head studs . It has a Jdm sir head with CTR cams vtec cracks loud and hard. It has 4-1 headers with 2.5 straight pipe . It has a gsr tranny with new tranny fluid no grinds or pop ups shifts into all gears perfectly. The body is 7/10 due to paint job and small dings here and there nothing major. The interiror is 7/10 due to no carpet with a Jdm sir cluster." $2600


So when I drove it, it was wet, and I the clutch was pretty crazy like the car either died or revved up to like 5k, far from subtle and i could hardly help from burning out at every stop. I'm not sure how I could daily drive that, but none the less very fun and fast. The owner revved it up to like 9k..im guessing not a good idea for an lsvtec (Usually redline at 7k i beleive? and was loud as fuck) let me know what you think of this car and price and upgrades and potential specs of this car because the owner had no idea and its the only eg i have driven so far. Thanks and much appreciated.
 
find out more info on the motor. is it stock bottom end? what ecu is running it? has it been dyno tuned by any chance? how long has this guy been beating on it? lsvtec is fine if done right, but if its stock bottom end, 9k is not good. also, its unlikely its even making good power that high. as for the clutch, im sure you could get better at driving it. my integra has a beefy clutch and just under 400whp and i can start without spinning.
 
Stock bottom and stock ls ecu I beleive and it hasn't been tuned. He had it rebuilt with in the last 2 months and yeah the clutch would definately take some getting used too. He said it was a stage 2, which im unsure if that matters. If it was a gsr or stock ls motor or something oem and not something frankensteined would it still be as hard to daily drive or is it purely the clutch making it difficult? I agree that if i had more time behind the wheel, it would have gotten easier but even the owner had troubles driving it smoothly.
 
Sounds like it was built on the cheap (stock bottom) with corners cut (no tuning). Stay away.
 
Since that is the only eg I have driven so far, are most clutches like an on and off switch like that? It didn't seem very daily driveable. And when we hit vtec the whole car shook pretty hard and I saw a motor mount in the backseet (idk if he forgot one)
 
If its a strong compression motor and has a decent clutch.....it'll take seat time to get used to getting out of first gear.

The shimmering and chatter could be a few things. Might have bad shocks or bushings or motor mounts or needs a traction bar.

Do a compression and leak down test on the motor. If it checks out and the trans feel good...it's a decent price for the whole set up. But I would not buy it unless the compression checked out.

If the compression or leak down don't check out....you could use that info to lower the price and actually build the bottom end like its suppose to. But I wouldn't go this route unless you have some decent mechanical ability, a reputable machine shop, (in terms of imports), and extra funds.

No matter what....it needs a chipped and socketed ECU with someone knowledgable tuning it (dyno preferred)
 
Since that is the only eg I have driven so far, are most clutches like an on and off switch like that? It didn't seem very daily driveable. And when we hit vtec the whole car shook pretty hard and I saw a motor mount in the backseet (idk if he forgot one)

Most Honda clutches are extremely progressive and very easy to drive- they're considered one of the easiest manual cars to lean on.

And quite a few B swap guys leave the front mount off the engine- if the mounts are nice aftermarket units it's not a big deal, but busted OEM mounts without the front one will let the engine move around a lot.

VTEC crossover causing the whole car to shake = bad (or stupid) tune, busted mounts, bad fueling- any number of things. The crossover should ideally be smooth.
 
Most Honda clutches are extremely progressive and very easy to drive- they're considered one of the easiest manual cars to lean on.

And quite a few B swap guys leave the front mount off the engine- if the mounts are nice aftermarket units it's not a big deal, but busted OEM mounts without the front one will let the engine move around a lot.

VTEC crossover causing the whole car to shake = bad (or stupid) tune, busted mounts, bad fueling- any number of things. The crossover should ideally be smooth.

Hey thats great to know. I was gonna be pretty bummed if my experience was pretty completely typical. Although fun I wouldn't want to drive it everyday (I got stuck ona highway on ramp going up-hill, because I couldn't stop spinning the wheels and get traction..it was wet)

As far as my mechanical ability is concerned its pretty nonexistant. But im eager to learn and have some friends that could help me.
 
Back
Top