Bryan330i said:
Hey "QuickCivicGuy" how did you ever get that type of performance from a Civic. You must have dumped a TON of cash in it. They are only 4's and at best 115 HP. They are a true economy car. Some guy in one wanted to race me and it was just too sad, he was like tractor trailer lengths behind me within seconds. Just corious, because this is like the ultimate conservative economy car, with NOTHING performance wise in mind in the design.
I have been into modifying Hondas for about 7 years now and the setup I currently run is what I like to call "the basics"
Start with a doule wishbone FF 2300lb (or less) car.......add a bullet proof motor....in my case a slightly used 2000 Integra Type R motor....add some suspension refinements.....switch the rollers to 10lb forged aluminum wheels that are 7" wide.....add some R compound tires....slap a free home made intake on it.....a slightly used header with a 2.5" collector and 4-1 tubing.....some adj cam gears....add an electronic piggy back air flow converter to adjust fuel delivery....a used fuel pressure regulator....a new 190lph fuel pump....stock 99 civic si engine mounts...and drive to the dyno....tune a little....make 175whp at 3000ft elevation and proceed to rev the car to 7K dump the clutch and run 13's all day long while being a very compotent chassis to club race
The cost is not cheap as I went the more expensive route both in chassis selection (longer wheelbase) and motor selection (a fresh US ITR motor, very rare and comes at a premium) but my mods have been minimal to say the least and are mostly basic upgrades that I needed to do just to run the motor in my chassis.....larger exhaust, mounts, fuel pump etc...the header was $144 and I sold the original for $100....the FPR was free...the cam gears I got through my mechanic and only cost me $250...retail is about $350....dyno was $75 an hour...only needed 2 hours to tune the entire map with decent results given my limited adj of fuel only...
If I wanted to build a cheap all motor 12 sec Honda all I would need is about 2K for the car and 5K for the powerplant and associated electronics.....7K total for a very realiable 12 sec NA car...wouldnt be much to look at though.
My car was purchased new for about 12K so that right there blew the "budget" build status but its shiny and straight and runs very nice despite making countless drag passes and "spirited" driving in the twities reving to 8600....and VTEC is amazing....for a street car its really the best of both worlds and BMW's vanos is similar
Most people forget the overhangs are short, its light and has a double wishbone suspension with numerous N1 races under its belt.....the running gear is the downfall in the US but its Japanese counterparts come with 5lug hubs, beefy brakes and motors that make 165whp stock.....mid to low 14's from an NA 4banger from the facotry and .93g on the skid pad with 6.5" wide all season tires
there are only limited by their FF status which I wish was MR instead but for a beginner an FF is easier to drive at the limit.....I will move up when I am ready for a quick MR....