Adding some pep to my step! (2004 Civic LX coupe, auto)

brilla84

New Member
I drive a 2004 Civic LX Coupe (1.7 liter) with an automatic transmission. I've had the car since it was new, and I think it's time to breathe some new life into it. I don't have a lot of mechanical knowledge when it comes to cars, but now that it's older I am not afraid to get my hands dirty and learn to do some modifications/improvements.

I don't have a ton of money but I planned on doing a few things here and there. Starting with the intake, then exhaust, and possibly ignition components.

My civic is my daily driver and I do a lot of stop-and-go city driving. Everything on it currently is stock!
I don't have unrealistic expectations and I'm not looking to get into racing, just looking to add a little bit of power and better throttle response, make the car more fun to drive around, easier to pass old geezers, etc.

I plan on going the naturally aspirated route for now. Turbo is out of my budget (not looking to stick a huge amount of $ into this project). I'm looking into getting a short-ram air intake, what do you think of the K&N 69-1008? I was thinking about a cold air intake, but decided on a short-ram intake instead because this is my daily driver, I don't want any issues with water getting into the engine. If you have any other suggestions for a short-ram air intake, let me know. I'm to understand this might slightly improve my gas mileage and about a 3-4 horsepower gain.

Next I want to look into upgrading the entire exhaust (headers, cat, resonator and muffler) and I just need suggestions on what models to buy for those pieces of equipment. I'm not looking for it to be extremely loud or "riced out", just some extra torque. The kind of torque that will help me go from 20mph to 45mph in the city, to get around slow drivers quickly.

I'll probably also be upgrading the ignition. If you could recommend brands or models of what to look for, that'd be great. Really anything that will improve performance. My knowledge of ignition systems is fairly limited so I'm not really sure what to look for.

Also, what kind of performance gains should I expect to see from the exhaust upgrades and ignition upgrades?


Thanks!


P.S. I ultimately regret buying this car with an automatic transmission and wish I had a 5-speed manual... but I will live with it!

Also I should mention one of the issues I have with lack of performance is in relation to how long it takes the transmission to shift into a lower gear after coming out of a corner (although I know this probably is unavoidable due to the automatic), but also how much the air conditioning saps power like crazy. I don't want to get rid of the A/C, but I've heard that certain upgrades can help to mitigate this issue.
 

Esotericimage

Taking an H-T break
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Well, nice of yuo to want to dive in and get your hands dirty..

As far as your upgrades, Theres some truth you should know..

The D17 ignition went from using a "wasted spark" ignition like on the previous models to a coil on plug type. Which makes cleaner burns and reduces energy loss. So theres really no upgrades for that..

The Cold air vs short ram debate has been going on for decades.. I prefer a cold air, but wrap the piping to insulate it from under hood temps. Another option is to use the stock sized K&N filter and cut the bottom off the air box to let air hit the whole filter.

Now your engine is one big air pump. The more air you can get in and out of efficiently, the better it performs. So freeing up flow on the inlet means you'll need to free up on the exhaust.

So a 4-2-1 header should be looked into to keep up torque. Also a free flowing exhaust with MANDREL bends (not crush) with free flow muffler. The larger the muffler, the more it cancels out noise and rasp. Vibrant universal are better suited and have more preforations than the flowmaster/magnaflow brands.

Now remember, doing these mods will most likey DECREASE your MPG's, not increase them. simple equation that more air inducted means more fuel.. so if MPGs are what your looking for, then leave it alone.


Personally, I would just make it look nice and leave it stock.
 


brilla84

New Member
Well, MPG is nice and all but I don't care that much about it. I'd accept a decrease in MPG if it means I can get a worthwhile performance boost.

I will probably be tackling hail dent repair, a new paint job, getting the windows tinted (not sure why I haven't yet), and probably some HID headlights and rims, but once I started thinking about it, I figured why not spend a bit of cash on some performance upgrades.

Do you think an exhaust upgrade is worth doing, and what kind of performance boost could I expect?
 

Esotericimage

Taking an H-T break
Registered VIP
5+ Year Member
Use a heat gun and dry ice for ding repair, and like i said, i would leave the engine alone , lower it and get wheels.. for the $$$$ spent for marginal gains, id just clean it upand make it look decent.

but its up to you.






 


brilla84

New Member
Yeah, you're probably right. The $ to performance ratio isn't good enough to merit spending the money on performance upgrades.

I don't know that I'll lower the car, but I'll definitely be tinting the windows, going with HID headlights, fixing some minor hail dings and probably going to learn to paint the car myself (I know a guy who does this for a living).

That'll at least make it look nice, and make it easier to sell and get something more powerful in a few years or so.


Those aero kits look pretty sweet..!
 

Mr.Baker

Mr. Search
Registered VIP
5+ Year Member
10+ Year Member
Esotericimage said:
Personally, I would just make it look nice and leave it stock.
Click to expand...
For the most part, because of lack of support for these d series powerplants, the 7th gen is a better candidate for cosmetic upgrades over power upgrades.
I wouldn't even waste time with an intake, maybe exhaust to make it sound better and dress it up a bit.
The cost vs benefit I don't think is worth it for these cars unless you're doing an all out k series swap, which then I think you're better off getting an EP3 or RSX to begin with.
 

NoLock6697

New Member
brilla84 said:
I drive a 2004 Civic LX Coupe (1.7 liter) with an automatic transmission. I've had the car since it was new, and I think it's time to breathe some new life into it. I don't have a lot of mechanical knowledge when it comes to cars, but now that it's older I am not afraid to get my hands dirty and learn to do some modifications/improvements.

I don't have a ton of money but I planned on doing a few things here and there. Starting with the intake, then exhaust, and possibly ignition components.

My civic is my daily driver and I do a lot of stop-and-go city driving. Everything on it currently is stock!
I don't have unrealistic expectations and I'm not looking to get into racing, just looking to add a little bit of power and better throttle response, make the car more fun to drive around, easier to pass old geezers, etc.

I plan on going the naturally aspirated route for now. Turbo is out of my budget (not looking to stick a huge amount of $ into this project). I'm looking into getting a short-ram air intake, what do you think of the K&N 69-1008? I was thinking about a cold air intake, but decided on a short-ram intake instead because this is my daily driver, I don't want any issues with water getting into the engine. If you have any other suggestions for a short-ram air intake, let me know. I'm to understand this might slightly improve my gas mileage and about a 3-4 horsepower gain.

Next I want to look into upgrading the entire exhaust (headers, cat, resonator and muffler) and I just need suggestions on what models to buy for those pieces of equipment. I'm not looking for it to be extremely loud or "riced out", just some extra torque. The kind of torque that will help me go from 20mph to 45mph in the city, to get around slow drivers quickly.

I'll probably also be upgrading the ignition. If you could recommend brands or models of what to look for, that'd be great. Really anything that will improve performance. My knowledge of ignition systems is fairly limited so I'm not really sure what to look for.

Also, what kind of performance gains should I expect to see from the exhaust upgrades and ignition upgrades?


Thanks!


P.S. I ultimately regret buying this car with an automatic transmission and wish I had a 5-speed manual... but I will live with it!

Also I should mention one of the issues I have with lack of performance is in relation to how long it takes the transmission to shift into a lower gear after coming out of a corner (although I know this probably is unavoidable due to the automatic), but also how much the air conditioning saps power like crazy. I don't want to get rid of the A/C, but I've heard that certain upgrades can help to mitigate this issue.
Click to expand...
what wheels do you have bro?
 

XpL0d3r

I had a Civic once.
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2nd pic looks like Work VS-XX. Possibly the 3rd pic too, tough to tell. I've always wanted them, but $$$$.
 
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