Civic EG

Hey ladies and gents!

In about 1-2months time I'm looking to buy a 92-95 model Civic. I love jap cars to bits but I would say my knowledge is basic regarding modifications to them.

The Civic is going to be my first project car and I want to make it special, I've heard loads of brilliant things about them, a friend of mine who has an EP3 Ctr spent over a fortune modifying its performance has said if he was to start again, it'll be this type Civic! Plus I was in a friends Civic and I know they're built well, as a car went into the side of us at 70mph and all of us survived with a few bruises! I have a lot of respect for these Civic's!

Basically I'm looking to learn how to rebuild the engine, take them apart, upgrade them etc, but I want to learn everything. I know it's not an over night thing to do, but after reading about all these different type of engines, such as;

B-Series
D-Series
K-Series

What are the differences, which engine to go for, what's the best move on what to do next with them?

My budget on buying the Civic isn't big, I'm just looking for good body work, because I'm going to be re-spraying it, along with new suspension/wheels/handling performance (all this will come later) but first want to work on the engine. Not too bothered about millage as I'll be re-building it or swapping it, depending on what is best and recommended by you guys!

Any info for newbies like me will be much appreciated! Any other links to learn about these engines and why people go for certain models and what they're best for will be much appreciated! Just wanna learn everything there is to know about them! So eager to get my project under way!

Thanks people,
Paul!

If you have the Money, Get a K24a2 out of a TSX, A slightly Cheaper Option is to Get a K24a1 Block, From the CRV and put the Performance iVtec Head on it from the K20A or K20A2 from the Civic Type-R or the Integra Type-S/RSX-S. You don't want the K24a4 block as you would need to change the pistons to work with a Performance iVtec Head. If you plan on swapping in a K-block, Stay away from the K20a3, Its only 2.0l and has the economy Vtec, A Good B20vtec will beat it in a Race. An Awesome Site to learn about K-Series Is K20a.org. If you swap to a K, you will need to swap to a Cable Tranny.

If you don't have 5-8k to Drop on an Engine there are alternatives thankfully.
B-Blocks are getting Cheap these days, and you can make good power off one. The down side is a New one has not been made by Honda Since 2001, However there is a company that makes Aftermarket Honda B-Series Blocks, I cant remember there name off hand, I know it starts with an E, something like Enydon(google didn't find anything though)

If you want good power cheap you can take the Block from a Integra LS(b18a90-93 b18b94-01) or a B20 Block from a CRV(before '02) and put a Vtec Head on it from a B16, or B18c1 or B18c5 to make a LSvtec or B20vtec(also know as CRvtec) Good B20vtecs. The Downside of making a Hybrid engine like this is they are never as reliable as they where when Honda Built them, If you build them right(DIY on this site) they will be reliable though. Stock B18a/b's or B20's take boost pretty good. If you turbo a B20 be careful as it has thin sidewalls.

Chances are they car you will get will D Series Engine, If you are lucky you will get a D16z6. I personally have this engine and love it. They love Boost and the Bottle(Nitrous) If you Turbocharge your D Series Engine you will beat a stock B Series Engine in a Race, and be alot cheaper doing it. Another good thing about D Series is they are Hella Cheap, you can get a new block from 50-200 bucks. Try doing that with a B Series, Let alone a K Series.

H Series are also good engines, H22's can beat K20's and K24's in Drag Races, they have all there weight right on the Wheels for good traction, However Because of so your handling is effected. The K blocks are sloped back and therefore will handle better then a H22. The H22a has thin sidewalls therefore if you want to Boost, the H23 would be the way to go, Possibly putting the H22a DOHC Vtec head on the H23. The H Series is the big brother to the F22a/b Engines. the F22a/b has Steel sidewalls and therefore a strong bottom end then the H series. However there transmissions are Rubbish. Get any power and you will literally blow them up.A good frank for a turbo build would be a F22b bottom end(steal sidewalls) H22a DOHC head, H22(not shit like the F22 tranny) or a B Series Transmission(Via a H2B Kit, Costs about 1000 bucks, however its worth it), For Boost you want the GSR or the LS Tranny. The B16 tranny will give nothing but wheel spin. Installing a H or F Series engine means you have to convert to a Cable Tranny.

Thats a very very basic overview of the engines. You have alot, I mean ALOT of research to do on what engine you want to do. You have to determine the following.

- What will the Primary use of this Vehicle Be? Daily Driver? DD/Weekend Warrior? Drag Racing? Auto Cross? Rally?
- How much Money do I have to Spend on a Engine Build?
- Do I want to Turbocharge the Engine?
- How Important is Engine/Tranny Reliability to me?
- Do I have the Time/Place to do the Swap in Question?
- Can I afford this Vehicle to possibly break?
- Can I wire up or afford to hire someone to wire the Swap(Expecally import if you are doing a K Swap)

Once you answer those questions, Look over your options. And before you buy anything, Do your Research, Don't Take other peoples word for its self, Look into and Research and make sure they are not giving you BS.

welcome to the site! The motor choice depends on

1. how much you want to spend
2. how much power do you want

cheapest: D series
Most expensive: K series

easiest to swap: D Series (B series isn't much harder)
hardest to swap: K Series

least HP: D series (127 HP)
most HP: K series (200whp)

The B series is in the middle on all those lists.

B series also has the strongest aftermarket support.

The K series has a 6 speed manual transmission.

Welcome to the site.

Your swap choices have been list above, what Teal said is a good base on how to pick a swap.

Welcome to the site.

The best advice I can give you:

Don't go only on people's opinions, because everyone's is different, but opinions may be helpful a lot of the time.

But, do your homework, research EVERYTHING before doing it, if you're going to do it yourself, if something is being done by a shop, research the shops you're using.

Good luck on the buy, and good luck on the build. Everyone on here is awesome, and very helpful, so just ask for help, and it will most likely be answered.

Thanks for your information people!

I'm going to be using the Civic for social only. I'm not aiming to build it for anything specific as of yet, just want it good for the streets, with respectable power (150-200bhp) and handling performance is very important too!

Thank you for the run down on engines Chrono and Teal! By reading what you've both written, B series seems to be my best option. It'll be a good learning curve!

Not sure what is meant by the 'Tranny' ?

My budget, engine wise, is relatively high, maybe a few thousand. I just need to know exactly what I'll need, good places to purchase from (I'm from the UK - so maybe links to good sites that also ship etc). I won't have the money up front, this is a long term project so I can learn what there is to know about it all.

How much roughly would a good B Series engine cost? I was thinking just sticking to N/A - or perhaps supercharge instead of Turbo. Not really sure.

Paul Sizzle wrote:Not sure what is meant by the 'Tranny' ?

Tranny = Transmission.

Paul Sizzle wrote:How much roughly would a good B Series engine cost? I was thinking just sticking to N/A - or perhaps supercharge instead of Turbo. Not really sure.

Cost Varys depending on location. Locally I can get complete B16's for 700-900 USD (No Transmission). If you buy online you will be paying more then from a wrecking yard or Buying locally.

If I was to get it off a Website, I would personally go to hmotorsonline.
All Prices on the Site are in USD, There is probably a UK Dealer that will save you on shipping, The UK members will chime in soon enough I am sure.

For a good answer to your question though, For A Complete Swap ordered online, 1500USD to 2500USD, Plus Shipping.

Another Option not Discussed so far is Nitrous. I Personally have the Bottle and love it. For 450 USD I got a Wet Nitrous Kit. I love it as have the Reliability and Fuel Economy of my D16z6, and when I Race just hit the button and beat up on all the People who swapped engines in there cars

However, you still sound unsure of what you still want to do. You have alot of research ahead of you. And as has been stated before, Dont follow a Certain path just becouse Someone says so.

In my opinion, don't go supercharger, go turbo if you're not staying NA

Hi firstly welcome to the site I'm sure if you take the time you'll be able to find all the info you need.

Secondly where in the UK are you as I'm in the South East and can surly give you a hand with fitting and tech if you need it.

Third you mentioned B series would be your best option, if so I would look a buying either a VTI or SIR (Jap Import) as you wont need to do an engine swap they already have the B series engines in power in these is 160-170 BHP.

If your looking to work on suspension you have lots of options and depending on if you going to go on the Track or just drive on the roads will then help to choose what sus to have.

On top of suspension I would recomend strut braces, tie bars, induction kit, exhaist manifold and cat back system to bring your car up to a reasonable spec.

Once your to this point you have lots of choices stay NA (Naturally Aspirated) or go Boost Turbo or Supercharge, if you go boost there are many differences between the 2 but I would recomend Turbo for a B series engine.

THink that should be enough for you to think about for now.

Gimme a shout if you wanna anymore advice I'll be happy to help and also can sort out used and new parts for you on request if you need anything.

Thanks for the link and info Chrono! That'll come in handy! As for Nitrous though, that'll probably be one of the last things I'd do, IF I choose to do so.

Hi Ecc0, thanks for the welcome! I'm also from the South East and it's very kind of you to offer your help and knowledge, appreciate it! It'll be cool to meet up! Where abouts are you in the South East? I'm from Kent.

Ah right! Firstly, what does VTI and SIR stand for, what are they exactly? Secondly, how much would they normally go for? The only places I know where to look is autotrader and pistonheads. I don't really know anywhere else to go searching for a Civic. My plan at the moment was to buy any 92-95 Civic (preferably 94-95) as they all have the same chassis build (I assume?) so it wouldn't matter what model I get and regardless of millage as I'll be rebuilding/replacing engine, and as long as the bodywork is in good condition and no rust. I'd be happy to pick one up off of an elderly lady for about £400-600!

If the VTI/SIR isn't much more, then I'd be more than happy to purchase, it's just knowing where to look really, all I know is autotrader and pistonheads heh.

As for handling/suspension, yes it's very important to me, if not the most important. I want it for our UK roads (we both know our roads ain't the best for smoothness) as I don't want it for track as of yet. I heard they don't need much to improve suspension (just referring to springs/coilovers etc) as the EG Civics have double wishbones? Where as the EK and EP3 etc do not? Regardless of that, want the ride to be to be decent for just smooth driving/cruising but also want the handling to excel in it's ability to handle when I choose to drive hard and fast when cornering. So I'm not looking to lower the Civic down to the floor exactly but lowered enough for good handling but relatively decent for just average driving. I've heard good things regarding TEIN suspension, whether they're better off for my situation, I don't know.

And yes I'll want to have strut braces, tie bars, induction kit, exhaust manifold and all that! I know how I'd like my Civic to sound, I don't want it to sound like a moped when flooring, nor do I want it to sound like an old man dieing. When idling I just want a nice deep but subtle tone, and when hammering and shifting through gears, it'd be nice to sound like the equivalent of a Subaru as they sound nice imo! It's just knowing what parts to go for, all these manufacturers to choose from!

So I kind of have a rough idea on what I want really, but as for Turbo/Supercharge, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it as I'd rather begin with NA so I can get used to knowing my engine and how it performs at its stock HP and tune it as much as I can from standard.

Thanks for your advice and consideration Ecc0, like I said it'll be cool to meet up, and I'd gladly come to you for information regarding parts, appreciate it!

Just a few more Newbie questions;

What does EG exactly stand for? Is it just the name for the 92-95 Civic and LSI, Si, SIR, VTI just the models for them? Same question for EK 95-00 Civics and EP3 too. Also what does LSI, Si, SIR, VTI stand for? I'm assuming the differences are the engines/power? Just like how you have standard EP3's then Type S & Type R?

Thanks guys!
Paul

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Honda_engines

Thank you, that has helped a lot!

No problem

teal_dx wrote:welcome to the site! The motor choice depends on

1. how much you want to spend
2. how much power do you want

cheapest: D series
Most expensive: K series

easiest to swap: D Series (B series isn't much harder)
hardest to swap: K Series

least HP: D series (127 HP)
most HP: K series (200whp)

The B series is in the middle on all those lists.

B series also has the strongest aftermarket support.

The K series has a 6 speed manual transmission.

D15z1 has 92hp

Hi I'm in Harlow Essex and no that doesn't mean I'm a chav lol

Think that wikipedia post should tell you most things you need to know abot the engines if you click about a bit more that'll move you onto othere parts about Hondas.

Thats where I started 2 - 2 and half years ago and now I build Hondas in my spare time for road and trace use.

Your budget seems very low for buying the car I bought my DX 1.3 carb for £150 but it was advertised at £600 so I don't think you'll get much Honda for your money.

I you choose one of the D Series SOHC (Single Over Head Cam) Civics and then diside to change to the B Series DOHC (Double Over Head Cam) engine you will have alot of additional parts you will need to change such as

Subrame (Stronger with ARB(Anti Roll Bar))
Wheel Hubs
Breaks
Drive Shafts
and also wiring if you choose a non vtec civic to start.