ok need some advice? car wise.?
 

ok last saturday after work me and my coworker raced (I know it was childish racing stock civics a 00' honda civic against my 99' civic honda ex) but you know i just wanted to see if my car can actually leave him in the dust, well it didnt. he beat me:( heres what i think i lost, my RPM went to redline which i didnt like because it didnt shift from 1 to 2 by the way it's auto, which i now dispise automatic transmissions. so here is my question im a noob at this car modding/tuning stuff. i mostly want to tune mostly the engine to get more HP i dont want decals, and loud exhaust, etc. i want a nice clean civic. i want enough HP to beat at least a mustang or something you know. and im thinking about also doing a tranny swap auto to manual, would it be worth it? i got the car from a local dealership you know the ones that just sell used cars:( its my first anyways being 17 years old. i will need to start saving money in the summer for all this to happen:)

There's not enough engine in a Civic to make Mustang-beating power without really cracking your wallet wide open. You'd have to start with an engine swap to bring in a block that brings a) more original power and b) more aftermarket power adders.































Your EX came stock with a D-family engine. It's a good enough mill to get you around town and stuff, but if you're wanting to stick your foot in it once in a while, the B family is the way to go. They're real popular with riceboys wanting to make more power in their little go-devils. The downside of all of that is, while you sink a mountain of money and time building a car that is going to be tough to work on down the road, if you come across a Mustang even packing the bottom-line V6, he's got the torque to drag both his car and yours away at a decent pace. You've got to stir the gears pretty darned fast to keep the engine in its power band, and he's just going to stuff his foot in it and drive away.































As for swapping in a manual to replace the auto, it seems to me that the car you've got on hand is nothing like what you want. Wrong engine, wrong tranny, wrong power levels. Maybe you're in the wrong car.