*puts on flame suit* Honda Civic.... (kinda long)

[QUICK91LX]

OK, im sure im going to get flamed but hopefully some mature fellow svt owners would hear me out and give me some feedback on if this a good idea or what...
a friend of mine has a 95 civic hatchback that he swapped a 1.8L Integra GS-R VTEC engine into. ive driven it and the little sucker is fast! esp when VTEC kicks in. not nearly as fast as my cobra but for what it is, its highly impressive. totally stock motor too. he just ran a 14.6@94 with it...and that was his first time racing, without a tach and on bald kumho supra 712's. its not riced at all, except for a kinda big pipe that he got for $20. on top of all this, we figured out his gas mileage last time he filled up and it was 26 around town, and he pounds the piss out of that little car...so with gas prices the way they are, it has got me to thinking...

i drive alot...sometimes just for fun, but come the new school year, ill be commuting 60 miles per day. right now i use my 92 F150 4x4 with a 302 as a daily driver, and its killing me on gas. i was thinking of getting a civic coupe (hatchbacks are too ugly) and swapping in the B18C motor and trans and using it as a daily runner. the way i see it is, the coupe has real clean lines, will run 14's with the 1.8 GS-R motor and still get damn near 30mpg. how can you beat that? i dont have the $ for anything new and i dont want to rack up that kind of mileage on the cobra (plus 18mpg+2.xx for premium isnt too good) so it doesnt sound like a bad idea. my friend says it can all be done for around $5000, which i can get from selling the truck. am i crazy for thinking this way? trying to swallow some of my pride and try to be quick/fun and economical at the same time...kinda hard to find both in a car that i can afford. im just a college student without alot of disposable income.

*puts on flame suit*

intellegent comments requested, thanks for listening all

-Bill

 

[wythors]

My question would be, why get a hybridized thing like that? For $5000 I'd just get a nice, decent daily driver and leave it at that. My DD is a 2000 Taurus that I got last year with 47,000 miles that I picked up for $8000. It's comfortable, gets decent mileage, has decent power and runs great. With that kind of commute I'd be more concerned about reliability than power.

 

[QUICK91LX]

from my knowledge of the swap, the B series engines are a direct swap in, plug and play basically. my friend has not had a single issue with his car in the 13 months since it has been done, and its his only car.

im also considering ford probes...

 

[tfritz]

Ahh...the all mighty Vtec:

 

[1993R]

Some of the reasons you are writing about is why I bought my WRX. Hey I love my R and also owned a 93 Street model that I purchased new too. The reality is that my WRX is fast,fun,and economical. My R is loud,fast and fun.The reality of life is that you can like beer and scotch.

 

[QUICK91LX]

Ahh...the all mighty Vtec:

coulda done without that...

the reality is, the VTEC that all the ricers rave about is very much what they say it is, the little motor screams and pulls hard, almost turbo-esque the way it comes on, even a little more abruptly.

putting the honda part aside, how else can you beat mid 14's and 30mpg?

 

[baller760]

I say if you wanna do it go for it. Back in the day I almost did a b18c swap into my little beater 91 civic dx hatchback. But then I decided I didn't have the money at the time so I kept it stock. I still have that car and all 90 crank horsepower of it. It's slow as s#$! but at least it gets me 30mpg each time.

 

[98yellowstang]

how about high 13s, and 27 MPG?

Thats what my 98 GT gets on the highway..

Later
Jason

 

[RydeOn]

Hondas are cheap and easy speed despite what the anti-honda guys say. Backyard mechanic types like me and Im sure you too it is easy to keep costs of modifying down. For example, you can pick up a cheap civic for $2500 and put in a GSR motor. GSR motors I can pick up for like $800 complete with transax. This is alot cheaper and practicle than a 98 Mustang GT. They are a direct bolt in and all you need to get the VTEC to kick in is a controller, or a shift lite converted to a rpm activated vtec controller. If your thinking about it, then do it. Hondas are really fun to mess around with, so long as your not expecting for serious speed. They are great at what they do which is commute and go a little fast and beat up on. Their trannies take abuse and you can powershift them as much as you please. They also corner and brake very decently out of the box. I am actually thinking I need one too because gas is getting out of hand these days. The great thing is that if you decide that you dont like the Honda, they have very good resale value, and it will sell with no problems when you want to get rid of it.

 

[tontot77]

keep it American

 

[BZ's_03_SVT]

keep it American

I agree, it might be old school thinking but I am 29 so its not to old! Buy some thing domestic to run around in. Contour, Cavalier, light truck...i know it may not be as racy as you want but at least you promote the US of A. What ever you get you have to get one of those My other cars a SVT bumper stickers...lol

 

[QUICK91LX]

I agree, it might be old school thinking but I am 29 so its not to old! Buy some thing domestic to run around in. Contour, Cavalier, light truck...i know it may not be as racy as you want but at least you promote the US of A. What ever you get you have to get one of those My other cars a SVT bumper stickers...lol

one thing i am definitely not doing for this car is settling...im gonna take my time and look at everything that falls under my criteria and choose whichever i like the best...but no matter what it is DEFINITELY getting something like 'Don't laugh, my other car is an SVT Cobra'

 

[tfritz]

coulda done without that...

Oh come on, learn to laugh a bit.

I had a '99 Acura Integra with JRSupercharger, it was a blast and I miss that car. I'm not a brand Nazi, I like what I like and I'm Popeye...oh wait.

Honestly, do what floats your biscuit.

 

[QUICK91LX]

Oh come on, learn to laugh a bit.

I had a '99 Acura Integra with JRSupercharger, it was a blast and I miss that car. I'm not a brand Nazi, I like what I like and I'm Popeye...oh wait.

Honestly, do what floats your biscuit.

prolly should have put a lil smiley dude after that comment...oops...

i took it light heartedly, dont worry...

i suppose ill just have to talk to my friend about his car more, then go out and drive some other cars and see what i think...

even though it could be perfect to have a B18C1 civic, being associated with ricers really sucks...maybe i can start to promote non-ricey import performance hahaha...not many kids around here understand that concept

 

[doogz]

Who cares what other people think? Just don't put tezzas and a fart cannon on it. It's a great daily driver IMO.

 

[BlueOvalStangGT]

im also considering ford probes...

a 1994 mustang gt runs 15.0 stock, a 1994 probe gt runs 15.2 stock(both according to car-stat.com). probes sound like a good DD to me

 

[tfritz]

prolly should have put a lil smiley dude after that comment...oops...

i took it light heartedly, dont worry...

No big deal, easy to misunderstand stuff on the .net

You can almost say anything and get away with it when you put a smiley on the end. it's kinda like a disclaimer.

For example:

I wouldn't ever be caught dead in a honda! see?

 

[juicedsnake]

you think VTECH's are cool well the rotary motor is better in my book. I had a 91' RX7 Turbo II with no more than a racing exhaust and cone filter intake it ran 13.2's and got 25mpg on the highway and that was beating the piss out of that car. Also it out handle any honda you could throw at it. You can pick a 89-91' (the good years) Turbo (the N/A's run high 15's) for around $5000 N/A's are even cheaper.
Here is a pic of my old car....I miss that little rocket