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Hi I own a 97 honda civic dx with the d16y7 engine and 5 speed tranny and i was wandering what would be a good engine to put in there. If anyone else lives in Georgia let me know of a good engine swap shop. Also was wandering if the D16y7 could be modded and increase the horsepower anymore. Thank you
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There are quite a few things that you want to consider when doing this… First things first when modifying a car you need money. What’s your budget?
Are you going to be installing it yourself? What do you look to use the car for?Sell the Honda and buy AMERICAN Muscle. Problem solved! V-)
Seriously though, You can get the head ported and relieved, polished, and can get the intake and exhaust manifolds port matched. OK, let me stop myself, if you’re doing head work, and plan to run a manifold rather than a header, you need to go lick a window pane. W-|
Check your local emissions laws, and if you can swing it, cut out the Catalytic converter and fill the left over gap with a piece of exhaust tubing. Then scrap the Cat for good money. Or find a High-Flow cat. Either way, get a high flow muffler.
It’s counter-productive to do exhaust work without upgrading your Cold-Air intake system. My school taught us that Oil covered K&N type air filters can and will eventually wreak havoc on your MAF Sensor.I wouldn’t waste my money on some fancy Schmancy tuner chip. I say this because they aren’t really guaranteed across the board, nor do they really ahve a standard for comparison. If I may shift gears slightly off-topic, ALL of the diesel dipsticks out there love tuners because they THINK they are cool when they blow tons of black smoke. Well, truth is, those chips change the fuel trims for your injectors. The chip tells the PCM: “Ok, listen up. I’m in charge now and this is how it’s gonna be: these injectors are going to run wide open, or not at all.” So your injectors DUMP tons of added raw fuel into the cylinders, and you get black smoke! COOL! Right? Wrong, genius. What does black smoke mean? It means you’re running a rich condition. In other words, your engine is NOT running on the perfect Stoichiometric (stoy-key-oh-metric) air-to-fuel ratio. Your engine is now starving for oxygen to properly, effectively, and efficiently burn the fuel.
Case in point: my buddy has an 08 Dirtymax 6.6L 1ton dually. Thing is rated to something like 18MPG Highway. he’s got the stacks, lift kit, chipped-out, winches, etc etc. He thinks he’s cool with the black smoke, but wants to know why he only gets about 7MPG Highway. I explained it to him, and he said: “No, the chip is tuned for power AND fuel economy.” I said: “No, dude. You can tune it for EITHER fuel economy OR power, not both. You can’t have your cake and eat it too. It takes the energy in fuel to make the energy that we call horsepower and torque.” According to him, I don’t know anything about cars and trucks. W-|
Back on topic, if you’re made out of money, you can tear down your engine, and send the block to a machine shop. They can bore the cylinders, yielding larger displacement, and blue-print and balance the engine to run a crank and rods for a longer stroke. Again, this is higher displacement. There’s an old hot rodders’ saying: “There’s no replacement, for displacement.” What it means is, you can tune your PCM, build an exhaust and intake system, machine the head, throw bigger valves into it, etc, etc. When the day is done, it’s easier, faster, and better to just bore and stroke the thing and be done with it. Not to mention, it’s a h3ll of a lot more fun!
You can also look into that i-VVT, VTEC, and all of that other crap. I don’t know if anyone does, but it would make sense to make a PCM tuner to change the operational RPM range of the VVT system. You might even be able to get a bigger (AKA BETTER) cam. I don’t know your knowledge base of Cams, so let me try to make this explanation simple, effective, and hopefully NOT long winded.
Let’s assume that this (O represents your cam. The O used represents your “Base Circle”. When the valve train is riding along the Base Circle, the valve is closed. Let us also assume that the ( represents the actual lobe itself, as it is rotating on top of the BC in a clockwise fashion. The upper part of the lobe is called our “Opening Ramp.” As the lifter, push rod, and/or rocker arm (components depend on in-block cam V Over Head Cam) are riding along the Cam, the OR begins to lift the valve train so that the valve inside the cylinder is lifted off of it’s seat, allowing either intake air/fuel to enter, or spent exhaust to exit the cylinder. The center part of the lobe ( is called the “Nose”. This is the highest “lift” point for the cam, where the valve is held at maximum lift for a “Duration” of X number of degrees, referring to degrees of Crankshaft rotation that the valve is held at max lift. Finally, the lower part of the lobe ( is the “Closing Ramp”. It’s function is exactly opposite of the OR.
That’s a very BASIC description of how a Cam works in the engine. Now then, we can call our friends at Comp Cams, Thrush, Edelbrock, or whomever has the “Trick of the day” Cam shaft and order a different “Grind” than stock. What this means, is we can have a steeper OR which will lift that valve to max lift sooner. Then, we can include a higher duration of lift. If your valve reaches max lift sooner, then it only makes sense that we can hold it there for a longer duration. Lastly, we can order a Cam Grind that has a shallower CR. We can take a slightly longer period of time (Time measured in Degrees of Crank rotation. Directly relates to the location of the piston inside the cylinder.) to close that valve.
Basically, there is one performance related function to an aftermarket Cam grind. With a valve opening sooner, faster, higher, longer, and closing later, the engine can breathe better. On the intake side, we can allow the low-pressure inside the cylinder “Suck” more air/fuel into the cylinder. Compressing more air/fuel will give a more violent burn inside the combustion chamber, which directly helps to force the piston down on it’s power stroke with more torque, and, because horsepower is a mathematical function of Torque, and not a real number, it holds true that higher torque at a given RPM will yield a higher HP at the same RPM. On the exhaust side, all of the aforementioned valve changes will aid in effectively exhausting the spent gasses from the chamber. These 2 things, coupled with head flow and design, Manifold and Header design, and a few other details create what is known as “Volumetric Efficiency”.
IF I remember correctly, a stock engine will normally have a VE of around 70%. Meaning, if you have a 100 Cubic Centimeter cylinder at BDC, you will take in 70 CC’s of air/fuel. Opening your intake valve sooner, higher, longer, and closing it later will allow air/fuel to continue flowing into the cylinder beyond 70%. Can you reach 100% VE? Sure. On paper. Get a very aggressive cam, port, relieve, and polish the heads, run a larger, port-matched intake manifold, preferably a high rise, and long tube headers. Then, run a super charger or a turbo, and (mathematically, on paper) you can go well beyond 100% VE. In a real-world scenario however, you have to account for what that engine and it’s metals will tolerate before the whole thing just decides to come unglued.
I also mentioned a hi-rise intake and long tube headers. In a nut shell, the high rise provides a shallower angle for the air/fuel mixture to travel around, yielding better flow. A restriction in flow is directly related to poor VE, and therefore, lower engine performance numbers, which, needless to say, directly translates to a high ET on the 1/4 mile strip. Headers are (IMO) a touch more critical. You can have all the intake in the world, but if you don’t give those exhaust gasses an easy path to exit the engine, well, they simply won’t exit. NOW, you have already burned gasses trapped inside your cylinder, taking up valuable cylinder volume. This means less available volume for incoming air/fuel.
A long tube header will allow the exhaust gasses to escape as they continue to expand. Remember that it takes 14.7 parts of air to properly burn 1 part of gasoline. The air/fuel is compressed into a smaller space inside the cylinder. The burn process is only the start of gas expansion. All of that air will decompress when the exhaust valve opens. It will continue to need decompression because of heat expansion. It is good to know that anything will expand when heated, and contract when cooled. Except for water. That stuff expands when it freezes. Having a long tube header means that you have slower, more gradual bends in said header. This facilitates better flow of the rapidly expanding exhaust gasses.
I forgot to mention valve-overlap. Picture the inside of the cylinder when the piston is traveling from BDC on the Power stroke, towards TDC Exhaust. Right before TDC, the exhaust valve begins to close again in order to seal the incoming air/fuel into the cylinder. Just a couple of degrees before that exhaust valve closes entirely, the intake valve will begin to open. The rush of incoming A/F will aid in the expulsion of any burnt gasses that are too stubborn to leave the cylinder. Finally, at TDC, the exhaust valve will be completely closed, and the intake valve continues opening. The piston now travels toward BDC on the intake stroke, and A/F rushes into the low-pressure area created by the piston traveling downward. Atmospheric pressure forces A/F into said low-pressure area.
The reason I mention valve overlap is to illustrate why you may want to inquire with your chosen Cam company as to what overlap specs are coming on your expensive new cam. (Now that I think of it, perhaps ETCG can do a video explaining how VTEC affects overlap?)
Lastly, here is a fun piece of engine mathematics. I mentioned above that HP is a mathematical function of Tq, not a real number: Well break out your calculator ,the formula looks like this: HP=(TQxRPM)/5252
That’s direct from memory of a Hot Rod Magazine article. Horsepower is equal to Torque multiplied by RPM. Divide that number by 5252.If you have ever viewed a Dyno chart, you will notice that the TQ and HP curves cross or intersect at 5252 RPM. Maximum Tq is created at low RPM, and gradually tapers off. This is because the explosion inside the cylinder can have a greater energy force on the piston while it is traveling at a slower rate. When you reach say, 6500 RPM, the piston is already traveling at a high rate of speed due to momentum and inertia. Therefore, it makes sense that the explosion will have a smaller effect on the piston, ultimately creating lower Tq numbers. HOWEVER, because HP is a mathematical function of Tq multiplied by the RPM that we reach that TQ, and then that number is divided by a higher RPM number, we can achieve our higher HP numbers at our higher RPM. Let’s have an example:
Say we reach a PEAK Torque of 400 Ft/Lbs at 2500 RPM. (TQxRPM) this is the first part of our formula. Parenthesis in mathematics dictate that we must perform this part of the equation first. So we can rewrite the formula as (400×2500) This equals 1,000,000. Now, our whole formula can read HP=1,000,000/5252. That equals 190.4 HP at this RPM.
Mathematically, let us assume that this engine produces 250Ft/Lb @ 6500 RPM. 250×6500=1,625,000. It doesn’t take a mathematician to see we are going to have a higher HP rating. If HP=(TQxRPM)/5252, and we now have our formula reading HP=1,625,000/5252 then our horsepower rating will be 309.405
Capishe?
I’m sure someone in the class has a question, ask away.
Jason
thank you for the info on the engine the sadly my classes for machinist are about to be over other wise i could have done that for myself and the other thing is i am on a tight budget.
The real question is, what do you want to do, N/A or turbo? What are your power goals. Using a lot of DSM stock parts on a d16 can get you really quick for really cheap. I had a huge post all typed up for you, but I went to delete a word and instead the backspace button went back a page and I lost it. I don’t have time to type it all back up right now, but I can answer your questions as they come:
I am wanting to mostly keep it stock i could do a turbo but i would like it to be a sleeper. you know look ok but when its time to get down it does. thanks for all the help.
You should be able to reach your goal with a good intake/exhaust system, and a Turbo. Heck, I think a good turbo alone is enough
If you’re going to do the turbo thing on a stock internal D16, make sure that you don’t exceed 10 psi of boost. That’s all the stock internals will hold. You’re also going to need to do some supporting mods, like larger fuel injectors as well as some sort of engine management, since your factory ECM isn’t equipped to handle boost.
Also, you’ve stated your power goals, but you haven’t said exactly what you’re going to be using the car for. 200 whp (wheel horse power) on a dragstrip is going to need a different power band than 200 whp on an autocross course. On the dragstrip, it doesn’t really matter if you only make power in the upper limits of the rev range, but on an autocross course a car that will only make power at the top of the revs is going to be a lot slower than a car that makes power over a broader range.
Building a sleeper is something that I’ve always liked. I remember seeing in a magazine someone who built a turbo Civic that looked bone stock from every angle, even with the hood open. He hid the turbo under the stock exhaust manifold heatshield, put the BOV in the stock airbox and painted teh front mount intercooler black so it would look like an AC condenser. Even the exhaust was understated and not very loud. The only external modification was a set of stock wheels from an Acura Integra.
If you want to keep it NA, then the usual tricks apply. Cold air intake, header, high flow cat, larger diameter exhaust, VTEC controller (I’m presuming that your car has VTEC, it’s real hard to make power with a Honda engine without it), maybe advance the ignition timing a couple of degrees…
I have a saying when it comes to modifying something to go faster. Speed costs money. How fast do you want to go?
well i am mainly trying to get to 200 for right now just to have fun at the dragstrip but later on maybe more the only problem is yes i do want to keep it as stock as possible and that is great how that guy made it look stock . i would like to do something like that.
I do have one more question though. My civic doesn’t have an RPM Gauge in it and i really dont need one right now b/c i can listen very well and also i barely ever use the clutch i have the timing down. With all these Mods would it be a good idea to have one?
If you want to do it cheap, you can use the following from a DSM:
– 2G Exhaust Manifold $60.00
– 2G O2 Housing $30.00
– 14b Turbo $100.00
– DSM 450cc Injectors $75.00
– DSM Injector Resistor Pack $25.00
– 1G DSM BOV $30.00Total $320.00 for a turbo kit.
Then you will need to get a Vortech FMU, eBay intercooler kit and have an exhaust custom made. The factory internal gate on a 14b is 8 psi, so maye buy a 6 psi actuator off eBay. You will have your 200s easy.
thank you i will look into all of that already have exhaust machinied out while i was at the shop did my own works just fine and is legal now the fmu my engine is a vortech will i have to get other parts to use that fmu with?
well for starters what do u want to do ? track or daily driver? consider the budget as well most honda engines like the B and H series are about from 800 from a junk yard or salvage yard to about 2 to 3 thousand from japan? i recomend going the extra cash and buy one from japan make sure u get a forsure warrenty when purchasing ! also consier the fact motor mounts, wiring and lose of some features may be at risk but none the less everything can be pefect if you got the money! i recomend a b18b1 if your going to use as a daily driver wit some kick into it if not i suggest going all out using H22 ! im currently building my 96 Ek sedan ive got a 99 prelude engine im going to throw in shortly im going to use it for simple point a to point b type of driving with a little kick into it in case I get taunted but yea do a little research and find out whats best for you but remember you need the green to do so
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