Top 5 Performance Mods for Your 10th Gen Civic
After developing and wrenching on these 10th generation Civics for nearly 4 years we have decided to put together this simple list for new Honda owners and first-time modders. It’s a simple read and one that we hope will give some focus on what can be an overwhelming amount of information scattered all over the internet. We are going to cover what we believe are the top 5 modifications for your Honda Civic 2016-2021.
To give some context to this list we held it to the criteria below
Easy to Install
Readily Available
No One-off Complicated or Custom Parts
Give a Real Performance Benefit
Work Well with OEM and Other Mods on the Car
Add to the Overall Driving Experience
There is no shortage of great aftermarket performance Honda parts but if you are just getting started these are the ones we recommend you look at first.
1) Engine Tuning (Hondata & KTuner)
The L15 Earth dreams engine and the K20C1 engine from the Type R are both great factory turbo Honda engines but who doesn’t want to turn them up a bit? Both Hondata and KTuner offer easy to use engine management software that can all be accessed via your OBD II plug. These are hardware and software devices that allow you to access your engine’s PCM (or brain) to allow the ability to adjust a variety of engine maps. Things like fuel, timing, boost, and more can all be altered to further enhance performance. Changes to some of these key areas help unlock lots of extra power. It’s not uncommon to see north of 30+whp with just a tuner and a tune.
These are easy to install and display. You can choose to run a base calibration (MAP), purchase an OTS (off-the-shelf) tune, or really dig into the benefits with a custom tune. Regardless of what you choose, a tuning solution is a must-have.
Hondata & Ktuner V2 Tuning Solutions
2) Performance Downpipe
We added downpipes to this list because it’s one of the bigger power mods for the Civic. This is the second-best bang-for-buck mod you can do for your CivicX, #1 is above. These cars come turbocharged and a downpipe helps decrease back pressure which increases the efficiency of the turbo and improves boost response.
You can see on average around +13 hp and +15ftlb of torque with a downpipe upgrade! Not only does it make power, but it will add some spice to your exhaust note. Add in the fact that it’s a bolt-on part makes this one a no-brainer.
All of our performance down-pipes are sold with 200 cell high flow catalytic converters.
2016+ CIVIC TURBO PERFORMANCE DOWNPIPE
3) Front Mount Intercooler
The biggest enemy of performance is heat. It’s the killer of anything related to making us go faster, stop harder, turn quicker, shift smoother, and so on. It should not be a surprise that it also is a big roadblock in our pursuit for more power.
The factory 1.5T and 2.0T engines are equipped with a not so big intercooler mounted up front. The front mount intercooler, or FMIC for short, is tasked with taking heated intake air from the turbocharger and cooling it down before it enters the engine. In doing so we lower intake air temperatures which will allow us to get more air in the engine and with some extra fuel, we get more go :).
This is a great mod to add on early in your build so that it won’t slow you down later. You can see up to 20whp and 25wtq gains when paired up with other power adders.
2016+ HONDA CIVIC FRONT MOUNT INTERCOOLER
4) Rear Sway Bar
We put this on the list because it’s easy to install and makes a big improvement in the driving experience. A front-wheel-drive (FWD) car from the factory tends to have lots of understeer for safety reasons. Upgrading to a stiffer rear bar allows the car to rotate more in the corners which results in quicker lap times and a much more fun driving experience. Throw in the fact it’s only about 6 bolts to remove and reinstall and you get a quick and painless upgrade. Plus they are pretty inexpensive at around $250 on average.
5) Cold Air Intake
Last but not least we put a Cold Air intake on the list. This made the list because it crossed off lots of important things to us:
Well priced
Easy to install
Works well with others
Tons of options
Looks good under the hood
An upgraded intake system is probably the most popular upgrade any enthusiast can do. However, not all intakes are created alike. When searching for one the three things we make sure to look for are:
Maintains OEM like fuel trims and driving characteristics
Able to be upgraded
Easy to service
Accomplishing the above makes enjoying your intake so much easier.
27WON Honda Civic Hybrid Cold Air Intake
6) Clutch
Whoa! Now we are cheating. This one didn’t go on our list because it’s expensive and hard to install. Completing the four power mods above (#1,2,3,5) will put you up close to the limits of the factory clutch. So if you plan to go big powa with your Civic then a clutch is probably top 5 for you.
We hope this was helpful to some newcomers (Noobs) and as always thanks for choosing to REDEFINE the Aftermarket with us.
-Vincent