Honda Car Forum

I have a 1993 Honda Civic DX Coupe with the stock engine in it and I would like to put a performance chip in it. Is there anything I need to do before I put a performace chip in the car? What are some good performace chips and where to get them? Also will I be availible to install the chip myself and if so how difficult will it be or do I need to have it professionaly installed?

The DX is the base model of the Civic. anything you do to it will not get you any type of performance. The motors in these cars are junk. you will be spending $300 for about 3 hp.

Your first step for utilizing a performance chip would be to buy a performance car. A 93 Civic? Forget what the other guy said about the DX being the base model. IT'S A CIVIC!!!! I mean, look at the name. It's not called the Honda Badass. It's the Honda Civic....civilized, friendly. I wish people would quit turning these Jap grocery getters into racecars. Even the SI has only 200 hp. The lowest model mustang has that much!

Ok you can go two routes depending on your budget. Hondata.com cost an arm and a leg.or Go to homemadeturbo.com look for a guy name xencorn something like that he does chip ecu for $70 and loads a base map. But you not really notice any power.I had a 1995 CX CDM comes stock with the DX motor and tranny. I race 2004 Civic SI Intake, Header, Exhaust, better tires, and tied with him with a stock car. Race my friends V6 eclispe auto same mods as SI beat him by 4 car lengths again I was stock. He ran a healthy 16.0's 1/4 so I was like wow good motor. Later that year I swap out the DX tranny for EX/Tranny cost $120(grind in 3rd not bad) it made a world of difference I beat the si by 2 car lengths, later I add a 50 shot zex hide the kit and it was good enought to hit high 14's. Story is just because you have a DX dosent mean its bad. PM I have some ideas to have a 12's sleeper

DISREGARD COMMENTS THAT YOU GET FROM PEOPLE TRASHING THE JAPANESE MARKET... THE CIVICS GAINED POPULARITY BECAUSE OF THE HORSEPOWER TO LITER RATIO. ANYWAYS, MOST CHIPS GIVE YOU GAINS WHEN THEY ARE TUNED AROUND THE REST OF YOUR AFTERMARKET PARTS. MAKE SENSE? ADDING A CHIP TO YOUR CAR, AND ESPECIALLY ON A DX (SORRY, BUT IT'S TRUE) WOULDN'T HELP MUCH WITHOUT A STRONG PERFORMANCE BASE TO BEGIN WITH. IF YOU FIND IT HARD TO SHELL OUT THE MONEY FOR A B16, AT LEAST LOOK TO INVEST IN A D16. I'VE SEEN EX'S SHELL OUT SOME REASONABLE POWER CONSIDERING THE MONEY INVESTED... ALL IN ALL, DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY LIKE THAT.

I agree with sevenkillersins. I drive a 95 civic ex, it's chiped out. As far as installing a new chip on your ECU, you can do it yourself if you know how to desolder and then resolder. In your car you won't notice much of a performance gain. There are other things you can do if you want to make the car faster, but with the D15B motor most upgrades won't produce a noticeable gain in HP. The best thing you could do is swap the head from a D15Z1 onto your motor. This would make your motor into a VTEC. From there you can add things such as you mentioned and get a little more "bang for your buck."If you do buy a chip for your ECU be careful. I recommend hondata. There are alot of cheap knock off chips that can damage your engine.