Okay everyone, as some of you may remember awhile back I was going to purchase a 99/00 civic si. Well the bank turned me down for the loan due to the fact that I asked for so much and I have no past credit history. So in turn I am taking up a vey large project, I am turning my 98 flamenco black coupe ex into a si. SOOOOO what i need to know is I know to make an exact si clone I need the B16a2, well my question is what would be the best buy as far as bang for the buck, I am looking at basic horsepower and torque for the base price. the few options I have been looking at are as follows:

1. Get the B16a2 and make an exact si clone

2. Buy a B20B from a CRV and have a little bit of a torque monster (for a civic anyhow)

3. Shell out the dough for a GSR and have horsepower and torque

The way I plan on financing this is I have a custom built yamaha banshee that I am selling and planning on getting about $4500 to $5000 out of it. And when i say I want to do a complete si clone I mean I want to do the body conversion and suspension to. So yes I know I wont be able to do it all at one time But I at least want to get about 2/3 of the project done, I have an I idea that i will do the conversion in 3 stages: (the one thing I am going to leave from the 98 is the dash board so that will be the only hint that the car is not a true 99/00)

1.motor swap
2.Body conversion (mainly front end and taillights)
3.Suspension.

Which 2 would you do first?

So my personal driving habit is I am pretty conservative as I want my car to last me til I am out of college or I can at least afford something else or another sport compact. But I do like to have fun to and when I say that I mean I go out on a country backroad and take it into the higher RPM's so I do like making my motor scream and It may sound like I am a bit of a ricer but I love the feel of VTEC changeover therefore I am leaning away from the B20B, however I also live in a hicktown so as the saying goes, there is no replacement for displacement, I am the only one with a 4 cylinder that has been modified for about 30 miles. And the other thing I want to take into consideration is modability, which one will allow me to the most tuning to it? Oh and one last thing I am not a fan of boost, mainly becasue of the fact that reliabilty seems to go to **** when you do it and seeing how this car is my daily driver I have to keep it as reliable as possible. So how many people will give me there 2 cent?

 

i would say that the gsr swap would be the best engine for all motor or turbo. As for the suspension, are you just gonna stick on stock Si suspension? if you are going to do that might as well get some nice spring/struts.

 

anyone else have some thoughts?

 

For NA B20/vtec hands down, so long as it's built right.

For turbo you can't beat the $-to-power ratio of a D-series.

 

If I were to be doing a swap to SI ( I have a 2000 witha a B16a j-spec, and am about to do the rear disc conversion), I would do motor first, then suspension, but like rice patrol said go aftermarket on the suspension, cheaper and better handling, then body. Most likely if I were to redo the swap I would have done the GSR motor, hell I still might. But thats mostly for emission legality issues. If you do end up swapping motors, just make sure you get one for your year or newer!!!

 

Being i live in a farming community I dont have to worry about emissions. And I know people say do it in case you sell it in the future, well I love my civic and it would not hurt my feelings at all if I had a hard time getting rid of it, just be a reason to keep it.

Oh and sillyred, did you notice a good power increase with the B16? I am guessing you had a D16 beforehand? Was the swap easy?