1.6vtec ep3 supercharging?

[russman777]

Hi all,
I have a 04 civic 1.6vtec executive and was wondering if anyone here has supercharged one before and what also needed to be changed.
What sort of power increase would I get around 50bhp? And what sort of costs.the car owes me no money but Its a good daily driver,heated leather seats/air con etc.so rather than buy a type r I am thinking of modding it to bring the power up a bit.
Any input would be great thanks.
Russ

[Grovsie26]

Seems a complete waste of time and money to me.

Type R's are very cheap now, and theres plenty to choose from. They also come with A/C.

[Mastodon2]

First of all, if your Civic is not a Type R, it's not an EP3 it's an EP2.

Secondly, in terms of cost, I don't know what you are looking at to supercharge a Civic, but one of my friends is supercharging a classic Mini and he is looking at something like £2000+ for the kit, fitting and tuning. I can't imagine it being any cheaper to supercharge a Civic. You'd be looking at adding the supercharger, upgrading the airbox and possibly intake manifold for the increased air flow, you'd need to add an intercooler, upgrade the oil cooling, change the camshafts, put a higher flow exhaust manifold on, a new stainless steel exhaust system and map the ECU to make it run right. If it's anything like an EP3 ECU, it can't be mapped on it's own and needs a Hondata ECU.

So a (very) rough price list based on what I've seen costed on other builds:
Supercharger - £1500 (very conservative, could cost a lot more)
Intake - £200 to £500
Intake manifold - No idea
Cams - £300+
Exhaust manifold - £500
Exhaust system - £350 to £1500 depending on how mental you go
Hondata ECU - £500
Mapping - £150 to £1000 depending on who you use and many sessions you need

So that is a very rough list of prices, but you are already looking at £4000 or so at least, which is in line with costs I've seen quoted to supercharge a Type R. Then consider that because the model you have is not sporty in the slightest, you will probably want suspension upgrades, brake upgrades, new wheels, new seats etc, and at the end you will have a car that will unfortunately probably look a bit barried. Who will you go to to insure such a heavily modified car? Once so little of the original car remains, I doubt any mainstream insurer will touch it.

Personally I wouldn't bother. By the time you've modded this cooking spec Civic, you could have had a Type R, and then some. Consider also, that you will probably have a hard time selling a supercharged cooking spec Civic. The Type R has a brilliant engine, but it's got a plethora of other upgrades to the chassis, suspension, weight reduction, unique interior etc, that all add up to make a very special car. If a fast Civic is what you want, I'd save up and get the real deal. I suspect the reality of the pricing above is probably considerably

Finally, on a note to touch on something OP mentioned, Isn't the VTEC in the non-EP3 Civics (barring the SiR models sold in the US) an economy cam? It was my understanding that in the Type R, the cam change switches to a higher lift and longer duration cam for more power, but in the other VTECs once you get over a certain rev point it switches to an economy cam which uses less fuel? I can't imagine that being brilliant once supercharged. It's not the first time recently I've seen a Honda driver mentioning their car "coming on cam" here recently, but I thought that the cam switch in most regular Hondas meant less power, not more.

[russman777]

Thanks for the replys.I didn't know its an ep2 i just thought o1-05 civics were ep3s.
Yeah I think for that price point I'd be better of leaving it alone.I think my plan will be now to just keep it as my daily as its a good little comuter and buy a project car which I can spend as an when I see fit as I'm not a fan of spending money I prefer to watch it in the bank lol,but do nothing with it :/ .an old quattro of some sort(not an original turbo a fav of mine)hopefully get it to 300bhp ish would be nice.thanks russ