Modding Advise

Dii Miller

Dii Miller

Active Member
55
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Im really new to all of this. But I got my first car. The most I could afford at this time is a 2014 Lx 4dr civic. I did a little bit of homework and found these things out.

Front wheel drive (so I'm assuming spoilers is not an option)
1.8 ltr R18 engine
Ivtec that bites down around 6000 rpm? (I went on a straight away and floored it. But I could be wrong)
Cvt transmission (no gears.. Interesting)
Independent rear suspension..
And single cam.

I'm just asking for some advise on what I can do to improve the performance of my car. I know that it's not the best platform to be working off of. And I know that it's not a manual... But I'm just trying to work with what I got right now. Any advise would be amazing. I'm willing to learn and I'm willing to listen. Thanks fellas.
 
NoMoreNissans

NoMoreNissans

Well-Known Member
512
315
Ottawa, Canada
Vehicle Model
Civic LX
Body Style
Sedan
yes FWD but there are a variety of spoilers you can install on your car. OEM Si, wing, decklid, and hybrid spoilers all available from the dealer. Plus Mugen aftermarket spoilers etc

theres no 'sport' vtec activated at a certain RPM with the R18 engine. vtec in your case refers to a 'regular' driving mode and a 'fuel economy' mode which is activated when cruising on the highway. Kind of the opposite of how the Si vtec works

engine performance upgrades on these cars do very little even when coupled with a Hondata flashpro tune. And they do absolutely nothing if you don't tune the car, would probably hurt performance actually. Your best bet is to make the car feel faster by upgrading the suspension. I'd reccomend a Progress 22mm rear sway bar to start. Its about 200$ and really tightens things up. Think about performance tires and maybe lowering springs/coilovers if you wanna take handling a step further after the sway bar

enjoy your car man!

pics!
 
Dii Miller

Dii Miller

Active Member
55
29
NoMoreNissans said:
yes FWD but there are a variety of spoilers you can install on your car. OEM Si, wing, decklid, and hybrid spoilers all available from the dealer. Plus Mugen aftermarket spoilers etc

theres no 'sport' vtec activated at a certain RPM with the R18 engine. vtec in your case refers to a 'regular' driving mode and a 'fuel economy' mode which is activated when cruising on the highway. Kind of the opposite of how the Si vtec works

engine performance upgrades on these cars do very little even when coupled with a Hondata flashpro tune. And they do absolutely nothing if you don't tune the car, would probably hurt performance actually. Your best bet is to make the car feel faster by upgrading the suspension. I'd reccomend a Progress 22mm rear sway bar to start. Its about 200$ and really tightens things up. Think about performance tires and maybe lowering springs/coilovers if you wanna take handling a step further after the sway bar

enjoy your car man!

pics!
Click to expand...

I'll send some over :) thanks for the info!
 
Dii Miller

Dii Miller

Active Member
55
29
webby said:
Ktuner or hondata flashpro (with a custom tune) will be needed for any real engine performance gains. I don't know if you want to spend that kind of money without taking aftermarket parts into the equation?
Click to expand...
I'm open to anything that I can do to improve the performance. So yes. Aftermarket part recommendations would be awesome.
 
Dii Miller

Dii Miller

Active Member
55
29
NoMoreNissans said:
yes FWD but there are a variety of spoilers you can install on your car. OEM Si, wing, decklid, and hybrid spoilers all available from the dealer. Plus Mugen aftermarket spoilers etc

theres no 'sport' vtec activated at a certain RPM with the R18 engine. vtec in your case refers to a 'regular' driving mode and a 'fuel economy' mode which is activated when cruising on the highway. Kind of the opposite of how the Si vtec works

engine performance upgrades on these cars do very little even when coupled with a Hondata flashpro tune. And they do absolutely nothing if you don't tune the car, would probably hurt performance actually. Your best bet is to make the car feel faster by upgrading the suspension. I'd reccomend a Progress 22mm rear sway bar to start. Its about 200$ and really tightens things up. Think about performance tires and maybe lowering springs/coilovers if you wanna take handling a step further after the sway bar

enjoy your car man!

pics!
Click to expand...
So should I chip her up first? Before adding things on.
 
webby

webby

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Dii Miller

Dii Miller

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stilletto

stilletto

Well-Known Member
1,709
1,422
Chicago, IL
Vehicle Model
Volkswagen Golf GTI
Save yourself both money and a headache. Si's are CHEAP, just search the interweb. You could put the money needed for those listed above, ~$1500+, towards a decent FB6.

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk
 
Ernesto Montano

Ernesto Montano

Well-Known Member
94
67
Miami, Fl
Vehicle Model
Si
Body Style
Sedan
Nothing wrong with exterior modifications, I would go with:

Red type R honda badges
Coils or lowering springs (on my r18 i used megan racing lowering springs, worked pretty nicely)
Wheels (those are completely based on your liking)
Rear wing (OEM Si spoiler which imo looks sweet as hell.)
 
Dii Miller

Dii Miller

Active Member
55
29
stilletto said:
Save yourself both money and a headache. Si's are CHEAP, just search the interweb. You could put the money needed for those listed above, ~$1500+, towards a decent FB6.

Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
I'm not looking to get a new car. I'm looking into what I can do with what I have now.
 
Dii Miller

Dii Miller

Active Member
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This is hard... I'm going to admit.. With so many posts out there saying that it's not worth modding a base model civic. Kinda making me regret getting this thing.
 
webby

webby

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The r18 motor (non si) is built for fuel economy. It will be very expensive to get minimal horsepower gains over stock. That is why most people will say if that is your ultimate goal, swap it for the si. You can still make the car more fun to drive with suspension modifications. The decision is ultimately up to you.
 
NoMoreNissans

NoMoreNissans

Well-Known Member
512
315
Ottawa, Canada
Vehicle Model
Civic LX
Body Style
Sedan
Dii Miller said:
This is hard... I'm going to admit.. With so many posts out there saying that it's not worth modding a base model civic. Kinda making me regret getting this thing.
Click to expand...
LX trim is the lightest Civic variant, weighs hundreds of pounds less than the Si. If you upgrade the suspension it will be plenty of fun to drive around corners and will last forever

Don't start hating your car cause it's not a sportscar lol. Neither is the Si tbh
 
Dii Miller

Dii Miller

Active Member
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Good point... Thanks for the reassurance. Haha. Currently waiting on a diagnosis. Car was clicking when I was reversing and turning
 
Ernesto Montano

Ernesto Montano

Well-Known Member
94
67
Miami, Fl
Vehicle Model
Si
Body Style
Sedan
Bro, trust me you did good. The R18 is in my opinion one of the top brand new cars you can get for the price. So much value for what you pay for. You should just work with what you got and any little modification will make you feel good when completed. Power isn't everything. If you were to swap for the Si then you would just end up getting used to the power that it brings and want more. I had a R18 coupe and it broke tons more necks then my Si because of how I made it look, and I loved that thing. Here are some pics for motivation




Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk
 
Dii Miller

Dii Miller

Active Member
55
29
Ernesto Montano said:
Bro, trust me you did good. The R18 is in my opinion one of the top brand new cars you can get for the price. So much value for what you pay for. You should just work with what you got and any little modification will make you feel good when completed. Power isn't everything. If you were to swap for the Si then you would just end up getting used to the power that it brings and want more. I had a R18 coupe and it broke tons more necks then my Si because of how I made it look, and I loved that thing. Here are some pics for motivation




Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Holy **** yeah... I'm inspired lol!! It's breaking my neck and I'm just looking at a picture.
 
Tak

Tak

Well-Known Member
616
388
New York City
Vehicle Model
LX
Body Style
Sedan (FB2)
Agree with @Ernesto Montano and @NoMoreNissans

Don't get little upset by having the base model not Si.

There are many cars having more HP than Si. If I would want more HP, I could've got something else.
Power isn't anything in my equation. I want to make my civic cool and very fun to drive around, plus saving some $ on gas and insurance.
If you know what you are doing, you can mod a base model to outperform the Si. But it is just the $$$ = HP ratio that make people not to dump the $$$ on the base model.

As you have the base model, you may check the build thread area that gives you some ideas about modifying the base mode. There are many cool base model around.
In Asian country, they don't even have Si. They only have R18 and R20. You may see this thread as most of them are base model around the world.
http://9thcivic.com/forum/threads/modded-9th-civics-around-the-world.9614/

Last, I don't know much about working on a car. But I learn as I go by putting stuffs a little bit together at a time. It makes my base model so enjoyable.
You can see my build thread as well for your ideas.
http://9thcivic.com/forum/threads/tak-the-3-of-my-9th-gen-civic-r18.14569/

Cheers :)
 
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