450s Aegean Blue FK7 Sport (CVT) - build log

MichaelB450

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Here’s a build log of my 2019 Honda Civic Hatchback Sport (CVT), but first a bit of background. I ended up deciding my current car because I was stubborn and wanted a hatchback. But my options are very limited, without getting anything closely resembling an SUV. My other option was a Toyota Corolla Hatchback, which ended up being quite a bit less practical compared to the Civic hatch. I was very much fixated on the Sport trim; since all the other trims have the hidden exhausts that really make the car look weird and the slight power bump over the normal trims was a nice bonus. I got my car back in November 2019 and it’s been a great daily so far, got my first oil change done back in late August 2020.

I’ve always had a bit of an itch to do some modifications to my car that didn’t involve lighting upgrades. I wanted to do performance mods, but I was also afraid to do them. Since I thought I would instantly blow up the transmission with even as much as an intake, but after finding this forum and doing a lot of research. I realized that the transmission was nowhere near as fragile as I originally thought, so now I’m working towards building my car the way it should have come from the factory. So far I've got all the performance mods I wanted to do installed, I will be focusing on handling mods some time next year.

Below will be some pictures of my car in its current form as well as lists for future mod plans. Bear in mind some of the items might not happen, since this is supposed to be a sort of lightly modified daily.
Honda Civic 10th gen 450s Aegean Blue FK7 Sport (CVT) - build log 20201206_165450_HDR (edit)

Honda Civic 10th gen 450s Aegean Blue FK7 Sport (CVT) - build log 20201206_165853_HDR (edit)


Currently installed “mods”:
Lighting:

- Sealight Xenower X2 6000K, 300% brightness, LED headlight bulbs (for low beams)
- ZDATT HB3 100 watt 6000K LED headlight bulbs (for high beams)
- AUXITO LED fog light bulbs 3000K
- Auxlight 7440 brilliant red LED bulbs (for brake lights)
- LUYED 1600 lumens reverse light bulbs
- Amazenar Amber/yellow T10 LED bulbs (for side markers)
- XSPEED 194 LED bulbs (for all interior lights)
- Auxlight 7440 amber/yellow LED bulbs (for indicators)
- DIYCarModz plug and play load resistors
Miscellaneous:
- Mishimoto catch can for Civic 1.5T (yes I know it’s not really needed, it’s just for peace of mind)
- Engine bay side panels (I didn't like the exposed fender liner on the left and right sides under the hood, looked rather cheap to me...)

Currently installed performance mods:
- Mishimoto Honda Civic 1.5T black front mount intercooler
- Procivic upper grille
- Holley MSD Blaster Ignition coils
- Mishimoto short ram intake for Civic, non Si, 1.5T

Currently installed handling mods:
- Working on it(TM).

Future handling mods:
- Spoon Sports Rigid Collar Kit (Front and rear)
- Cusco front, center, and rear power braces
- Megan Racing sway bars (28mm front, 22mm rear)
- SiriMoto Phase 2 Sway Bar End Links
- 27WON front strut bar
- Front big brake kit (when rotors are worn out)
- Lighter 18 inch wheels (maybe, not sure what brand I will go with).

Future performance mod plans:
- 27WON Civic Hatchback front-pipe back exhaust + front pipe
- Engine tune to have no more than 200 ft/lbs to the wheels (after powertrain warranty expires)

Future miscellaneous mods:
- Seibon carbon fiber vented hood (maybe...)
 
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MichaelB450

MichaelB450

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Update: Mishimoto intercooler and bigger grille were installed on Tuesday by a shop. Unfortunately the grille has a bit of a fitment issue for the upper part, but it's nothing too major.
Honda Civic 10th gen 450s Aegean Blue FK7 Sport (CVT) - build log 20200922_173642_HDR

Honda Civic 10th gen 450s Aegean Blue FK7 Sport (CVT) - build log 20200922_174230_HDR


I heard that an upgraded intercooler would cause more turbo lag, but I haven't noticed any added lag to when the boost kicks in. If anything the car feels a bit more powerful now and the turbo spools up a bit faster. It does feel as if the engine braking is a bit more powerful now in D shifter position.

What I wasn't expecting was the AC to be much more powerful with the addition of the new grille. Although that sort of makes sense, since the heat exchanger can take in a lot more air now. Overall very happy with the intercooler and grille (even with the fitment issue).
 

Feddy_Ace

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Update: Mishimoto intercooler and bigger grille were installed on Tuesday by a shop. Unfortunately the grille has a bit of a fitment issue for the upper part, but it's nothing too major.
20200922_173642_HDR.jpg

20200922_174230_HDR.jpg


I heard that an upgraded intercooler would cause more turbo lag, but I haven't noticed any added lag to when the boost kicks in. If anything the car feels a bit more powerful now and the turbo spools up a bit faster. It does feel as if the engine braking is a bit more powerful now in D shifter position.

What I wasn't expecting was the AC to be much more powerful with the addition of the new grille. Although that sort of makes sense, since the heat exchanger can take in a lot more air now. Overall very happy with the intercooler and grille (even with the fitment issue).
It’s probably because the Mishimoto IC keeps volumetric pressure within stock spec. With the big intercooler kits the volume is increased, which means it takes longer to build pressure, which creates lag. I’m definitely gonna go this route because I want to preserve my throttle respond right now. It’s nearly lag free.
 
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MichaelB450

MichaelB450

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It’s probably because the Mishimoto IC keeps volumetric pressure within stock spec. With the big intercooler kits the volume is increased, which means it takes longer to build pressure, which creates lag. I’m definitely gonna go this route because I want to preserve my throttle respond right now. It’s nearly lag free.
Sounds about right, I have also noticed recently that when I am a bit below 1500 on the gauge that I get 1 bar of boost when looking at the turbo boost gauge. I don't think I got boost building up at that low of an RPM before.

If I am staying at a constant RPM (2000 for example), I will initially get 3 bars for the boost gauge and then it drops down to 2 after a bit. Not sure if it was like that before installing the intercooler.

Fuel economy appears to be about the same with the intercooler installed, getting around 34 MPG with about 70% highway driving per week day.
 
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MichaelB450

MichaelB450

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Well I decided to go full JDM style for my cars fog lights, the yellow fog lights actually look pretty nice. I still have my Sealight 6000K LED fog lights on hand in case I will need to swap them.
Honda Civic 10th gen 450s Aegean Blue FK7 Sport (CVT) - build log IMG_2464 (crop)
 


Shazad

Update: Mishimoto intercooler and bigger grille were installed on Tuesday by a shop. Unfortunately the grille has a bit of a fitment issue for the upper part, but it's nothing too major.
20200922_173642_HDR.jpg

20200922_174230_HDR.jpg


I heard that an upgraded intercooler would cause more turbo lag, but I haven't noticed any added lag to when the boost kicks in. If anything the car feels a bit more powerful now and the turbo spools up a bit faster. It does feel as if the engine braking is a bit more powerful now in D shifter position.

What I wasn't expecting was the AC to be much more powerful with the addition of the new grille. Although that sort of makes sense, since the heat exchanger can take in a lot more air now. Overall very happy with the intercooler and grille (even with the fitment issue).
Hi where'd you get the lower mesh grill from?
 
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MichaelB450

MichaelB450

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Ignition coils went in last week and got the intake installed yesterday. Intake works great and sounds good. I even chrip tires a bit on occasion. The metal box does a pretty good job with reflecting heat and it doesn't get very warm.

Honda Civic 10th gen 450s Aegean Blue FK7 Sport (CVT) - build log 20201030_113118_HDR
 
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Ji671

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I was debating about the mishi intake and painting the box with some sort of heat deflection paint! Looking at your future parts, I can testify with the Cusco power bar set.....DO IT!!! It changes the car drastically, especially if you have a front upper strut bar as well.
 
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MichaelB450

MichaelB450

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I was debating about the mishi intake and painting the box with some sort of heat deflection paint! Looking at your future parts, I can testify with the Cusco power bar set.....DO IT!!! It changes the car drastically, especially if you have a front upper strut bar as well.
It's not a terrible intake, but if I had a choice I would have gone with a high flow cold air intake. But of course there are no Carb legal options out there currently, so Mishimoto intake it was.
If you do go with the Mishimoto intake, be warned that the metal box will rub on the adjacent charge pipe (in certain cases). A simple fix for that is to put foam tape on the corner where it's rubbing. That way so if it does rub on the charge pipe, it won't be metal to metal contact. I have tired adjusting it to fix the rubbing, but that would involve moving it so that the box contacts the ECU connectors (which is probably not good for them).

Thanks for the info on the power bars, I will very likely do them when the sway bars get installed, since the undertray needs to come off for that install anyway.
For the rear power brace, did you need to order any extra bolts for it to install correctly? I know that for the normal 10th gen Civics, the middle power brace needs 2 extra bolts added in (as they aren't present for them). But I can't find any information on the rear power brace.
 


Ji671

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Thanks for the info on the power bars, I will very likely do them when the sway bars get installed, since the undertray needs to come off for that install anyway.
For the rear power brace, did you need to order any extra bolts for it to install correctly? I know that for the normal 10th gen Civics, the middle power brace needs 2 extra bolts added in (as they aren't present for them). But I can't find any information on the rear power brace.
I'll keep the info in mind if I decide to get the mishi intake. The front one, make sure you get the sport and type r specific power brace. The mounting points are in different locations and the Type R and Sport power brace bar is longer. As for the rear power brace, you actually don't need the bolt that it comes supplied with. You take out the rear subframe bolt and use that to secure the power brace. The center power brace comes with the extra supplied bolts that are use to secure the section near the resonator. I'll try to snap some pics the next time, because I'm going to take them off when I do my Spoon rigid collar set install.
 
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MichaelB450

MichaelB450

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Not much in the way of modifications currently, I'll get back to doing those early next year. But I did go out today to take some nice up to date reference photos for the thread starter. Here they are again, if you're too lazy to scroll up to the thread starter.
Honda Civic 10th gen 450s Aegean Blue FK7 Sport (CVT) - build log 20201206_165450_HDR (edit)

Honda Civic 10th gen 450s Aegean Blue FK7 Sport (CVT) - build log 20201206_165853_HDR (edit)
 

Ji671

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Honda Civic 10th gen 450s Aegean Blue FK7 Sport (CVT) - build log 20201205_115925_HDR


The pics I mentioned. The rear one is the straight bar without the bracket in the middle. If you get the front bar, note that you will have to take off the bolts that hold the intake resonator on the bottom. Weird I know but that was the only hiccup I had with it.

Honda Civic 10th gen 450s Aegean Blue FK7 Sport (CVT) - build log 20201205_091013
 

supaaacharge98

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Nice to see another CVT doing a good build. Seibon was something I wanted to get on my civic but ended up not doing that because I decided to hold off on my next car.
 
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MichaelB450

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I decided to do one more upgrade for my car for the end of the year, I've been on the fence about this for a while. But decided to do it, since it seems my indicators were not bright enough to grab people's attention. So that's what I did today, upgrade my indicator lights to LEDs.

I also purchased a load resistor made by DIYCarModz, on Youtube. Since he claimed, and confirmed, that they output a lot less heat compared to the usual load resistors and that one of his kits, installed for the front indicators, would fix the hyperflash error completely. I can 100% confirm that they do what he advertises!
Plug and play design is a great thing to have as well, I didn't want to do any major modifications to the harness to remedy the hyperflashing. So I highly recommend DIYCarModz load resistors. They are rather expensive, but 100% worth the price because they are not as big of a fire hazard.

I probably won't post a picture of the before and after, since this kind of modification has been done countless times.

Edit:
Went to shoot some videos today to show a proper comparison and converted them to GIFs. The stock halogen on the left and the LED is on the right (for both GIFs).
Honda Civic 10th gen 450s Aegean Blue FK7 Sport (CVT) - build log Headlight indicators

Honda Civic 10th gen 450s Aegean Blue FK7 Sport (CVT) - build log Tail light indicators
 
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