Help me pick my first engine mod

Austin Kuhlman said:
Last question I swear...I read the thread with VIT talking about the PRL intake and how it was the only one netting power, but some people brought up that the stock ECU won't know how to deal with the extra airflow. Do you think I could throw a PRL SRI on my stock '15 Si and net power, or should I just wait until I've got FlashPro?
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A tune is absolutely necessary with any 3.5" intake which is all PRL makes.
 
If your like me and have a very small budget to work with then a CDV delete is first IMHO. Intake side wouldn't worry about till after you do a DP/exhaust(any 3" for performance). If you want hp gain mods of the bat then I would save up for a flashpro and tune your stock car. Enjoy that while you save for a DP then exhaust then intake. You can't get any of those bolt ons and run with out flashpro so you might as well get it first. You will have to recalibrate every time you add a part though so the more you can do at once the cheaper it will be for re-tunes. Hybrid racing shifter cable bushings are a worthy upgrade with a short shifter/weighted knob/solid base bushings combo. We have a 22mm rear sway bar stock so the 24mm IMHO can wait unlike the 12/13 that is 19mm and benefit a lot more from the stiffer bar. Lighter wheel and tire package is also high on my to do list, someone has weighed our stock setup and each wheel/tire is 50lbs. Dang boat anchors so Enkei RPF1's 17x8 with a fitting tire should shave about 20lbs per side as rotational mass. With an Eibach pro kit to drop it 1.5 inch is perfect for daily driving IMO. How far do you want to take it and where do you want mod first, power/handling?
 
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http://www.corsportusa.com/2012-honda-civic-buddy-club-racing-spec-quick-shift-kit/
For the Buddy Club Short Shifter cage and all that I will be purchasing at one point

http://www.corsportusa.com/2012-honda-civic-si-corsport-aluminum-shifter-base-bushings/
Would recommend with the SS, these are the cheapest I believe on the site and never mind supporting a vendor

http://www.corsportusa.com/2012-honda-civic-si-hybrid-racing-performance-shifter-cable-bushings/
The HR cable bushings are pricey but the design out preforms any other brand and gives practically no chance of snapping a cable due to a bind.

@CorSport was great to deal with since the HR bushings were on back order by 2-3 weeks and kept me informed without fail as well as having great prices with shipping included pre checkout. Definitely will purchase through them again :thumbsup:
 
Darkout said:
If your like me and have a very small budget to work with then a CDV delete is first IMHO. Intake side wouldn't worry about till after you do a DP/exhaust(any 3" for performance). If you want hp gain mods of the bat then I would save up for a flashpro and tune your stock car. Enjoy that while you save for a DP then exhaust then intake. You can't get any of those bolt ons and run with out flashpro so you might as well get it first. You will have to recalibrate every time you add a part though so the more you can do at once the cheaper it will be for re-tunes. Hybrid racing shifter cable bushings are a worthy upgrade with a short shifter/weighted knob/solid base bushings combo. We have a 22mm rear sway bar stock so the 24mm IMHO can wait unlike the 12/13 that is 19mm and benefit a lot more from the stiffer bar. Lighter wheel and tire package is also high on my to do list, someone has weighed our stock setup and each wheel/tire is 50lbs. Dang boat anchors so Enkei RPF1's 17x8 with a fitting tire should shave about 20lbs per side as rotational mass. With an Eibach pro kit to drop it 1.5 inch is perfect for daily driving IMO. How far do you want to take it and where do you want mod first, power/handling?
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I'll probably stay away from new wheels for a while, but it sounds like the tune is the best thing to do at the moment. I go to school and only work part time so my income is pretty low but since I know I'll have it for a while I'm ok with having to save up. It's nice having something to look forward to. CDV delete first, then save up for a tune, followed by SRI/exhaust sounds like the plan for me. Thanks so much for your input, you answered a lot of my questions in your post. I'm definitely gonna take a look at those bushings, short shifter and rear sway-bar you mentioned.
 
As far as I understand you just reload your stock tune before you have any service/warranty done. This puts the ECU calibration number to where it should be as far as Honda is concerned. The calibration code tells Honda "nothing" has been tampered with/stock tune. Being a technician I don't plan on going to Honda except for warranty concerns I can't fix.
 
Darkout said:
We have a 22mm rear sway bar stock so the 24mm IMHO can wait unlike the 12/13 that is 19mm and benefit a lot more from the stiffer bar.
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The size of the bar is only part of it. Honda increased the size of the front as well...which negates some of the increase in the rear. And I don't believe the stock size for 14+ is 22mm. The 12/13 stock size was only 15mm.

Moral of the story, a 14+ will benefit greatly from a 24mm RSB.
 
squiggy said:
The size of the bar is only part of it. Honda increased the size of the front as well...which negates some of the increase in the rear. And I don't believe the stock size for 14+ is 22mm.
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I think the stock rear bar on the 15 civic si is 20mm.

This is a great thread though. It should probably be stickied because it basically covers everything I learned in months of research.
 
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Thanks for the links. So basically hybrid bushings if they're in your budget but if not get aluminum as a good plan B? Also, how does a short shifter and upgraded bushings change the way shifting feels?
 
I'm starting to think that instead of constantly trying to "up" the rear sway bar that an easier route might be to get a smaller front sway bar from a previous/earlier year Civic or lower trim level. It would help create the same effect but without overloading the frame and mounting components with ever larger and therefore stiffer rear sways.

I know that some of the extremely hardcore track rats remove the front sway entirely and on the 8th gen a few guys would swap down to the LX front sway as it was the smallest available. I think since the mounting points on the front sways "should" be the same it might be an easy swap. It would need to be looked into but if you could gain the same handling improvement from a $55 LX front sway vs a $200+ 22/24mm rear sway that could be a very interesting option.


EDIT: Install wise front vs rear is PITA vs easy. So thats something to consider too.
 
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