1996 Civic hatchback, D16y5 (lean burn roller rocker), M45 JRSC, nd some goals.

Hello Gearheads,

I cant afford to race cars...  But I do enjoy my driving and have sunk lots of time and money into the satisfaction of it.

I have had a 1996 d16y7 (strait up 16 valve) manual transmission DX stripper (power nothing) hatch for 14-15 years-bought it with 85k on the clock for $3,200.  It is at 220k now, and the most recent 100k of that it has been shod with the 'HX' lean burn 4 inlet valve idling 'puter, (scant) emissions stuff, head with the amazing roller rocker valve train, and other cast off parts from CL as HXs 'suck' and all sorts of good OEM parts sell for peanuts after a swap.  Like a $15 (with heat shield) complete to the cat 2000 EX d16y8 header and B pipe that is a work of double wall hybrid stainless/mild steel welded art and a 99-00 civic SI exhaust I bought for $50 and had lightly modified into place for another $50.

Koni Yellows, Eibach pro line springs, Suspension Techniques anti sway bars, 99-00 SI brakes and MC, 14" HX 11.5 lb Eneki wheels with good rubber and I have had a really good time momentuming.  40mpg at 80mph is not an exaggeration.  You can really feel the vacuum at 3,000 rpm at 80 per when there are only 8 inlet valves opening- the gas pedal is mushy, but it just takes the smallest mushy throttle opening to keep it rolling.   That kind of mileage took a coroplast belly pan, aluminum skid/airflow smoothing plate cluged to the OEM under chin plastic, a mostly closed off nose, and some coroplast closing of areo issues at the rear of the car.  No 'hypermiling' involved.  Solidly 34-36mpg mixed and near 50 if driven on flat highway at 60mph which is rarely, but still...  It has been great fun, but it is one tiered engine and traffic is getting pushy around Portlandia these days.  I need more go.

Go goals?:

0-60 sub 6 second

1/4 mile sub 14 around 100 mph trap

1 g lateral acceleration

stop like hell over and over

40mpg going 80mph

as close to a 500 mile range as the 12-13 gallon  can possibly yield if I keep my foot out of it.

It needs to last so 7,500 RPM redline.  Besides, that is plenty of spinning.

According to the interweb calculators I'll need 190-200hp wheel to do that.

So Ill need to massage the engine and M45s breathing, get the right cam in there, run stock just a bit more or compression (10/1 ish).

Over the last couple years I have grown more and more enamored of the direct driving experience offered by the car as Ferrari and Porsche charge 50k to delate all nanny NVH comfort stuff this Civic never had and I decided to keep it- according to Honda it was a 2.240 lb vehicle.  I really like the longer 96-00 wheelbase for what I do, and I love the utility of a hatch.  So I have started in on its renewal-  so far:

-3 years ago- Rebuilt transmission.  All bearings, along with differential bearings were replaced, and a 180 ftlb clutch was installed.

-this year- I replaced all the suspension bushings with 'Hardrace' bits along with the ball joints.

-last week- 2.5" magnaflow cat, 2.5" in out x  18" vibrant resonator and a 2.5" in out magnaflow muffler.

- working on a 4-2-1 DC Sports which is growing to 2.5" after the 2/1 merge.  It is going to get more seramic and welded on fastener points for heat a shield between it and the oil pan.  Heat management is going to be a big variable to control. in order to archive Victory!!

-this year Purchased a complete 96k D16Y8, with it's 'EX trasmission', and a complete but fairly overspun and heat beat  JRSC M45 as kitted for a 96-00 civic EX except it has the 4 rib snout pulley, and has a 4 rib '4 lb' pulley.  Those came from a different Kit.  I want the wider belt and I am willing to work to get it fitted right.

I've read everything I could find on the interwebs on what Im trying to do.  D16y8 Vattck Yo! and a JRSC?  Sure!  D16y7 and a JRSC!  Absolutely! Slap em on and get your wheel hop on!!! D16y5 lean burn.... Wha?????, not so much.  It is worth 6-8 miles to the gallon so I'm intent.  Adding dirty smelly hot air to closed loop low power operation is good and modern and NOX generation un-friendly.  Rollers are cooler than friction so there is that. The JRSC low demand bypass makes warm air.  Warm smelly air equals good mileage....  Right?  has so far....

I'll post pics and pout up verbiage as I founder forward.

Two big questions I think I have answered for myself buy maybe (likely) not.....

Can I move the drivetrain to the passenger side by 1"- to easily remedy the 'shock tower clearance problem' that compelled Jackson to offer a 3 groove belt pulley solution?  More belt is better.  I want to run the '6 PSI' belt and use water meth for peak power/safety.  Ive read good evidence that more belt is a very good thing- slippage and associated longevity.  The interweb wisdom is beat the tower with a sledge hammer.  Nah.

Even the entry level axles can be ordered in custom lengths for the axle shop.  Other than that a flex coupling on the DC sports header and some shifter linkage tweaking and I should see nothing but blue sky.  Right?

Engine management via AEM piggyback.  No tuner is going to even want to know what the heck Honda is doing in 8 valve mode.  So I'll leave that to Honda.  Closed loop dyno tuning with AEM and the AEM water meth setup sense?  Right....  maybe?  hopefully?  The right people have that stuff down..  Right?  Hopefully?

Crower for cam grind?  Honda folks like 'Rocket' these days...  It is a bit of a wilderness.

Thanks!

I got my beginnings as a Honda guy (and still have a few), so this is very interesting to me.

Please post pics!

I didn't consider the management side of things, that's a good thought. Part of me thinks a K swap tuned for economy would be the easy button here, but this should be very interesting. The gearing will be the big factor here that makes your two goals of mpg and acceleration fight each other. The D series trans has such wide ratios in stock form. A close 1-2-3 and spread out 4th and 5th will be needed. Any plans for an LSD?

I kinda left the D series scene around the time the $$ Bisi D series headers came out that were supposedly worth a lot of power. Would coating one of the replicas be a worthwhile pursuit vs the DC header?

I will post lotsa pics!

I want to keep the weight balance as is or improve it, and I also want to hit 2,200 lbs ish wet without me in it.  2,450 with me.   Any K blows that out of the water.  Moving the motor to the passenger side improves weight balance things-  and since it is specifically a street car, I want to retain (and regain) travel and compliance.  So D series it stays.  There is a whole d16y5 for sale a couple miles away for $150 bucks... it Sooo cheap.  And I love supercharger throttle response noise and powerband.
I do like your idea, The K version of the y5 is similarly ignored and cheap, but not that cheap.   And the threads I read all pointed out that by the time you K ize you wishbone civic the cost of the 200 hp version K motor pencils out way better. 

Power steering, subframe stuff, more radiator, more tire, more wheel, more more more.   I have a manual rack, no AC, no power windows, no ABS.  My indulgence and focus is getting the lean burn architecture integrated in a reasonable quick car.  A Jeckly and Hyde personality of a motor.

The BISI ansd BISI replica headers are hella cool but they make their contribution way up in the power band.  I want a mini grunt mill 4-6,5k rpm focus.  4-2-1 suits that.

Towards that end I bought a replica Kamikaze shorty 4-1 (Endyn's SC choice) and intended to ceramic coat it but it was a POS.  Round tubes into rectangular flange openings,  off center out of kilter everthing, way not flat, super junky.  So a good used DC Sports already somewhat ceramic coated became a solution that will not hurt me at all.  It is very well made-  in Corona Cali it says.

One shift to 60, two for the 1/4 mile.  The CX DX HX ratios have wonderful gearing for what I do.  turning 3k in lean burn to go 80 is priceless.   4th gear spinning 4-4,5k in 16valve mode for maintaining winning gaps in angry 65-70 traffic is super fun and a grunty wee motor with snappy throttle response is the ticket.

Yes on LSD.  MFactory makes one for the carrier size I rebuilt.

Im pretty sold on my hallucination.

My Honda VFR800, the 2002+ model, used a VTEC setup that was half valves closed below a certain RPM.  I didn't know they ever did that in cars.  Used oil pressure and a control solenoid to engage and disengage the valves.

Frankly it's a stupid setup on a bike but I can see how, in theory and done right, it could be great in a car. 

I like your project goals and these cars always seemed pretty cool.  Will be watching this thead.