Ceramic or Stainless Steel

Several questions actually. I'm planning on getting headers and a cat-back for my 94 civic. Looking at the price of headers, I can get the ceramic ones for $270 but the stainless steel ones costs $340. Why the large price difference? Is it because the ceramic ones do not last as long? How long will they last before they... rust??? Which is preferred? Also, does it really make a big difference if I get DC Sports or Greddys? I figure they would provide the same hp boost. I'm going to get Greddy SPs. Can I install this myself or who it be better to have a mechanic do this? I don't know if the cat-back can just be installed w/o twisting the pipes, etc. Thanks.

First off all before you go buying all this stuff you should probely need to know that donig all this to a SOHC cam civic motor is not really a good idea. If you really want to go fast you will need a new motor first. If you are intrested in learning about motor swaps just say so.

But anyway if you do want to hook up your SOHC civic motor then here it goes. Stainless Steal is much better than Ceramic for 2 reasons. One it will last longer and look nicer and two it will flow better than a ceramic header. DC sports makes great headers, as for exhaust the greddy sp or Evolution would be a good choice.

You can install the exhaust yourself as long as you can get your t old exhaust off. Depending on how rusted the bolts are to your stock exhaust that is the only real problem. There is no bending or twisting required. The exhaust is made to fit your car precisely. Me and a friend of mine put my exhaust on but we had a tourch to get the old one off.

If you have anymore questions feel free to ask.

Thanks for the info . I'm not going to race, but would like to add some more power to it. Why isn't it a good idea to change the headers and cat-back for a SOHC cam? How much extra hp would I get with these mods? How much would the engine swap cost (ie. for the engine and labour costs)?

Its not bad too hook up a SOHC motor it will just never be that fast without a supercharger or a turbo. I did'nt mean that it would be bad for the engine, its just they are hard to make fast with just bolt ons.

If you got headers intake and exhaust you would probely get about 20hp to the wheels. A friend of mine has a 95 civic ex with exhaust headers and intake and i roll on him all the time. I beat him by 2 car lengths when my car was stock with just short shift and getto intake.

A new motor would run you about 3500-6000 depending on the motor. You could get a b16 160 hp for about 3000-3500 w/ labor or gsr motor 180 hp with labor for about 4000-4500 or type-r 195 hp w/ labor about 6000.

Thanks for the advice. So if I add a CAI, headers and exhaust, I should be able to bump my car's hp to 155hp? Your 93 Integra is not V-tec, but it is DOHC, right? Is that why you can beat your friends '95 EX? Or does your short shifter make a big difference? Do you know what my engine code is? Thanks!

d16 ...I think you have a d16y7 (could be wrong can't remember)

the b18b = what the integra has (I'm assuming since its non-vtec) has a lot more tq than a regular civic motor

If your just looking to whup a few neons and stuff...get the cai (AEM is my personal favorite) some DC Sport Headers and a Apex,Thermal,Greddy,Tanabe,etc catback exhaust


Some pulleys and a diet will help out a lot also

Originally posted by eXwiLL94
Thanks for the info . I'm not going to race, but would like to add some more power to it. Why isn't it a good idea to change the headers and cat-back for a SOHC cam? How much extra hp would I get with these mods? How much would the engine swap cost (ie. for the engine and labour costs)?

My car is a b18a1 DOHC Non-VTEC. I beat him because of the differnce in torque. I have 140 hp 126plbs of torque to the flywheel. So I have more torque then civics have horsepower. So even if he had 140 hp from bolt ons he will still only have about 100-115 plbs of torque so you get the point.

The short shifter could not make that much of a differnce i hit gears faster but it has nothing to do with hp. It may take .100 of a second of at the track but its hard to say.