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Finishing sorting out the civic (fwd only currently)

Contributed by: Enginebasics.com

So the swap was finished and I started to drive the car.  Wow what a fun car to drive.  The V6 motor has torque EVERYWHERE and the brakes and suspension feel great.  The car actually feels like it handles better even though there is a lot more weight over the front end.  I would assume this is because of the updated geometry of the front suspension along with the RL aluminum sub frame really stiffening up the front and letting the suspension do its job instead of the frame just twisting.

SO WHAT PROGRESS WAS MADE TO BE DRIVABLE?

1.Well I installed “bolt on fender flares” to deal with the fact that the track width is now 6” wider.  While I wanted to keep the body looking stock this just wasn’t possible if I wanted to keep the big brakes.  If I was willing to ditch the big brakes and order custom offset wheels I could have got it all to fit under the stock body but the huge brakes are really just another part of the car that makes this swap so awesome!

2. Sorted out all the gauges and got everything working.  Speedo works, Tach works, coolant temp sensor works, gas gauge works.  Basically when passengers went for a ride they assumed the car was just a stock civic till I got the gas or listening to it.  The sound of the V6 is great.  I currently just bolted up the factory exhaust pipes from the heads to the mid muffler.  This means that the OEM cats and resonator were still installed.

3.  Tires.  It runs 245’s and the grip is great.  One of the complaints I see a lot from people with J swaps is that 1st and 2nd gear become useless because of all the torque.  I found that 1st gear is a mess if I go WOT, but 2nd hooks with no problems.  I would assume this is because of the fact that I not only went up to a 245 width tire, but jumped to an overall tire height of 24.7”.  If you haven’t read the article here at engine basics about how to gain traction then you should.  Link ---> IMPROVING TIRE TRACTION is a great article that will explain why increasing the diameter of a tire is the number one factor in increasing your contact patch.  Sorry to all you STANCE/SLAMMED nation people as you guys usually will do the opposite and put little diameter tires on your car so you can drag frame everywhere. 

So the big question right:  Is the car fast?  What did the final weight come in at?

The car is quick.  I didn’t take it to the qt. mile track but did some friendly pulls with people.  Let me be clear about the car.  It is a bone stock J35a8 motor.  It has a 71mm throttle body on it that most likely doesn’t do a thing to help with power and other than that the motor is stock.  It is running the stock exhaust with ALL 3 CATS, and the twin 1.75” exhaust.  Only other mod you could say is the ECU.   What I am saying is the results I saw would be seen by anyone who swaps a Honda V6 motor into a little light hatchback.  First race I had was against a buddies 1994 Supra Auto TT running 12 psi.  I pulled him by two cars.  Was very close.  Next was a buddies E46 BMW M3.  Pulled him by about 3 cars.  Next was a 2012 bone stock mustang 5.0.  Wow, close race, but again pulled him by a car or two.  Then did a pull with a 2007 BMW 540i with intake and exhaust.  It was a freeway pull but I pulled away no problem.  Knowing all this I would bet the car runs low 13’s.  It’s easy to see how guys with just a J swap civic will run mid to low 12’s if they do some basic bolt on’s.  I think K swaps are sweet, but I really don’t understand why anyone would bother when a j swap is probably cheaper/faster/and has way more potential.  But hey, I love that everyone does their car the way they like.  It’s what I love about the car culture….the variety.

The weight.  If you don’t remember, the previous car weighted in at 2234lbs and the new V6 swapped car was 2544 lbs.  So it looks like I picked up right around 350lbs.  Please understand that most J swaps don’t pick up this much weight.  You have to remember that I swapped in the whole sub frame with the HUGE heavy brakes and the large V6 AWD transmission with its transfer case.  Just the brakes alone I know were another 70 lbs and you can bet the tranny and transfer case were another 70-100 lbs.  I would expect a typical j swap to pick up 120lbs-150lbs over a k swap.  Minor weight for the torque and potential gained. 

So where do we go from here?

Well I have enjoyed driving the car for the last 6 months and have now started to tear it all apart again to go AWD.  Check back for updates as the civic finishes its transformation to an Acura RL.