handa ballade/4door civic

[guyt_x]

I am wanting to beef the performance up on my honda ballade
which is a 4 door civic for americans and others who dont get the ballade model

its a 2000 model with an 1800 motor
besides the k&n racing filter and wildcat free flow exhaust system what else can I do to the motor with out hurting my pocket?

[motorhead]

you could go for higher compression ratios for better boost of power - it does not up the hp but it sure makes acceleration much faster

[Kudosdude]

^^^^Smacks forehead at the ignorance^^^^

[guyt_x]

and when i want to sell it ?

[motorhead]

sel it lah - go to ebay - hehe

[guyt_x]

spells dumb

[crisis]

Re map the engine managment chip or buy a piggy back chip. This will unlock the performance that the factory surpresses in the interest of economy and drivability. It will cost you but it is the least intrusive way to increase power. Of course your going to use more fuel but then again we are only talking about a 4cyl 1800.

[MKielbasa]

Some of you amaze me.

A: Upping the compression WILL increase horsepower.
B: It is not somthing you can just "do": It involves changing pistons or heads.
C: Remaping the ECU is a good place to start. I think combining that with a flywheel/clutch package and a cam swap would have much better results, HOWEVER
D: Engines do not really have "unlockable power" Those chips tend to increase the timing of the engine as well as dumping in more fuel. The combination of which is great for power, but will also reduce longevity of the engine nicely. He may also then have to run premium fuel which certainly hurts the budget.

I've said it once and I'll say it again. A 1.8L motor will never make power with just "bolt ons" Going F/I or on the juice would be your best option.

[Nicademus]

you're gonna go in the hole when youresell it

civics hold value as economy cars. unless you sell it o some rice hungry kid you're gonna lose cash in the re-sale.

either plan on keeping it or finding some rice kid whose parents recently won the lotto

[guyt_x]

is because:

Im keeping all the original parts eg (exhaust, springs, plastics.)

So when it comes time to sell it all I do is slap on the original stuff and sell to someones mom.

I not looking to get amazing performance just knock its 0-100kph time down to about 7secs flat. (its 8.6 standard)

and make it handle like a bitch 17 inch rims(smith max) and a 50mm drop.

[Nicademus]

y on't you just sell the car now and get a nissan 240sx and do the SR20DET engine swap. you'd have a REAL sports car then, and infintely better performance than the excessive crap you're doing with a front wheel drive sedan

[guyt_x]

except for the skyline, nissans look crap.

I dont have tons of cash to spend on modding the car.

honda's can be made to look very sexy.

[Nicademus]

yeah, the S2000 and the NSX

but a civic? please. its crap

[guyt_x]

i said made to look nice

hondas do look abit poo out of the shop.

but they look very good after a few mods
some cars always look crap no matter what u do

[crisis]

The hidden power term was a bit meatphoric. Basically you want to optimise the motors volumetric efficiency. Its not about dumping more fuel. That just makes it run rich. Not always the desired result. Tooling aroung with flywheels and the like requires major surgery, is difficult to reverse in a hurry when you want to sell and can make idling a little rough unless you up the rpm which increases the fuel consumptoin. But we are talking about increasing power so you will always have to pay at the pump.