I've been playing around with an EK hatch since moving on from my challenge Integra, and it's proven a fun endeavor. However I am starting with one of the most gutless versions; a 97 (EK) CX, so it's the 1.6L non-vtec with the wide ratio transmission.
I am looking to get a bit more acceleration out of it, so wanted to check with the hive- those who have played with these, what would you recommend? Dump the single cam and swap? SOHC Vtec swap? Turbo?
I've spent lots of time with these over the last 15 years, including NA and turbo.
What is your planned use for the car and budget? That has a lot to do with what I would recommend.
In reply to Sonic :
Use is primarily fun on the street. Maybe autocross strictly for fun (have coilovers ready to install).
Budget is lower the better. I'd say gradually building up to $2500, but would prefer to keep it in chunks of up to $1200 at a time.
Arent the earlier D Series better from a performance/reliability standpoint? Something about the oiling and bearings on the D16y7 and y8 having issues vs say the Z6 and A6 motors
I vote turbo. Would make the longer gears interesting. Or search for a wrecked Civic EX. Much better ratios. Or EX trans and turbo....
It sounded like the vtec head and intake were a nice gain 20-30hp over the stock non-vtec? Any experience with that?
Z6 bottom end with a Y8 top end is your ideal combo but it's not critical. Honestly VTEC isn't really critical at the fairly low HP and powerband a D is capable of.
Chinese cast exhaust manifold
Chinese GT28RS
Chinese Skunk2 Pro intake manifold and throttle body copy
1000cc injectors,
E85
220 responsive street/autox friendly hp all day long
A B-swap is within the budget. Which variant is best will depend on local availability.
Whatever you do, fit a really light flywheel.
chaparral said:A B-swap is within the budget. Which variant is best will depend on local availability.
B series swaps have gotten stupid expensive. All the good sources have dried up. I did one last year on a CRX and my butt still hurts from the experience. 
Andy Hollis said:chaparral said:A B-swap is within the budget. Which variant is best will depend on local availability.
B series swaps have gotten stupid expensive. All the good sources have dried up. I did one last year on a CRX and my butt still hurts from the experience.
Noticed that. Anything vtec as a swap is $1500 for a long block
Turbo is cheaper and will yield actual, useable torque
Agreed for your situation a turbo is probably the best bang/$. Vtec head will bolt on for 20hp easy with the Y8 intake manifold, and the EX trans will really help but still has tall gearing relatively. It will be incremental though. The turbo is much more. I had lots of fun with the turbo y8 in my car, but no matter what I did it would blow head gaskets in 2.5 endurance races, every time, with 9 psi. Running on the street or autoX it probably would have lasted for a long time. We eventually gave up and went K24 which is not as much faster as you would think than the turbo D.
Be sure to budget for a proper dyno tune.
The fairly simple fix for the D series oil problems is a ported oil pump. I've never had an oiling related failure in over 30k racing miles on D16Y8s.
http://www.theoldone.com/articles/d_series_engine_building_tips/
In reply to Sonic :
Thanks for the advice and sharing your learning. Sounds like turbo is the best path, with maybe a y8 head/intake if I can find one.
That link is hugely helpful; I'd heard about modifying the oil pump but had not seen it done.
To add, ARP studs and a metal head gasket are needed over 6psi. Head is pretty easy to remove.
Sonic said:Agreed for your situation a turbo is probably the best bang/$. Vtec head will bolt on for 20hp easy with the Y8 intake manifold, and the EX trans will really help but still has tall gearing relatively. It will be incremental though. The turbo is much more. I had lots of fun with the turbo y8 in my car, but no matter what I did it would blow head gaskets in 2.5 endurance races, every time, with 9 psi. Running on the street or autoX it probably would have lasted for a long time. We eventually gave up and went K24 which is not as much faster as you would think than the turbo D.
Be sure to budget for a proper dyno tune.
The fairly simple fix for the D series oil problems is a ported oil pump. I've never had an oiling related failure in over 30k racing miles on D16Y8s.
http://www.theoldone.com/articles/d_series_engine_building_tips/
What software/ecu combo did you run?
This was a while ago now, I don't even remember for sure, whatever my tuner had for OBD1, ectune or Crome I think. If I did it again I would just go Hondata.
It's 2023, throw a K in it
In reply to mr2peak :
Doesn't fit within budget unfortunately
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