Upgrading my Si

RSX

Newbie
Points
11
Location
U.S. Homestead
Car
Honda Civic Si 4-Dr
SO i basically have a stock 2008 Honda Civic Si Sedan, ...Black ;) and was wondering since I'm good at maintanince on cars but not racing mods. What would be the best way to go about upgrading, like intake first then add turbo and I know many things need to be upgraded along side it so...any ideas?

What should i do to the car first and steps?
What is a great, not just good, intake?
What type of turbos best?
Thanx for any feedback!:bigsmile:
 
I am staggered nobody has taken you up on this!!! Oh well over to me then;

From the sound of it budget is not going to be a huge issue but a ball park would help. You're probably very well placed being in America as Civic's out there have been notorious for being well kitted out and modified with the likes of company's such as Spoon and Eagle doing wonderous things with them.

First stop is obviously the ground up basics, and I mean basics. Before you go into the engine get your suspension sorted (I'd recommend Eibach coilovers), uprate your brakes (EBC do a set of ultimax discs as a minimum, personally for the power you are talking about I would go all out and spend on a full set of Tarox discs, callipers and hoses), go for a lighterweight racing alloy (O.Z., Momo, Konig etc) and get a good look at tyres (Toyo T1R Proxes are a personal favourite). Poly Bushes and struts would be a next step and that way the chassis is bullet proof however it may be worth leaving the strut brace off of the engine bay for now as you won't be sure what impact the mods will have on clearance of the engine.

Now that the car is ready for it bring on the power plant!! This is where planning would be best i.e. what do you want from the car? You mentioned that beautiful word "Turbo" so I assume speed and a great big smile? If you are going to do the turbo a full on exhaust (Mugen have great parts for civics as do tanabe) along with a 4-2-1 mainfold is a necessity (Spoon is definitely brilliant here but expect to pay about 2k) Along with a quality induction kit (Not got a great idea on these unfortunately).

Have you thought about using throttlebodies as a way to increase power? 4 in a row look amazing and would be pretty unique!?

Regardless of your chosen path for intake planning this part is the most important as these mods are the biggest in terms of engine space and depending on your choice ot turbo that could get limited very quickly keeping in mind the intercooler is yet to go in. In terms of turbo's I'm not the best to consult but Garrett seem to get good reviews when teamed up with a turbonetics control unit keeping things dandy! In terms of size you will be aware of the advantages and disadvatages of each so that is really personal choice. A quick idea for a intercooler would be to top mount this and have it set in the bonnet or near a vented bonnet that allows more workable space in the actual engine bay.

Next step is fuelling so fuel rail uprated feul pump (AEM high pressure regulator and fuel rail wouldn't be a bad place to start), Walbro oil tank, fuel injectors (RC engineering are a safe bet for up to 1000cc) not forgetting upgrading your fuel lines. Heres where it gets tricky, I wouldn't want to go into to much of this but you will generally have the choice of spoon or Eagle to do the internals. i.e. gaskets, pistons, valve springs, forged pistons etc, by the time you are at this stage a specialist is really your only option.

After having done all this and by this time spent about £30k you can put that front strut brace on, fire up the engine management controller, boostcontroller, fuel and temperature controller and take your beast for a spin!! Just remember and give me an invite to the unveiling!!!

Questions anyone?
 
quickly reading through rustyboys post

if you go the turbo route then a 4/2/1 exhaust manifold wont be any good for the turbo as it would ned to be a much shorter manifold in a 4/1 then the turbo. using the 4/2/1 would mean the turbo would end up near enough under the car.

biggest issue you will have with forced induction is the compression of these engines is already 11:1 so you would need to drop it down.

most seem to go down the supercharger route with honda engines due to the kick with the vtec - you would suddenly have faster exhaust gases
 
Pgarner spoiimg my fun! lol

You do make a valid point about the 4-2-1 I hadn't really factored that in! In terms of compression why would the supercharger be the better option over the turbo in this instance? The result from the vtec like you say would be more exhaust gasses but the super chsrger will have the same issue only with actual engine revs?

I may be missing the point?
 
quickly reading through rustyboys post

if you go the turbo route then a 4/2/1 exhaust manifold wont be any good for the turbo as it would ned to be a much shorter manifold in a 4/1 then the turbo. using the 4/2/1 would mean the turbo would end up near enough under the car.

biggest issue you will have with forced induction is the compression of these engines is already 11:1 so you would need to drop it down.

most seem to go down the supercharger route with honda engines due to the kick with the vtec - you would suddenly have faster exhaust gases

With a 4:2:1 manifold you could use two smaller turbos instead of one larger one. With two turbos of a slightly smaller size you get the same effect of a large one but the turbines in the turbos get up to speed faster for less of a lag when you stomp on th throttle.
 

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