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What's up everyone, I'm new to the forum and I'm new to owning an ILX.
A little backstory:
I recently bought a 2015 Civic Si less than 2 months ago. About a month after I took the Si off the lot, I was rear ended and my Si was totaled
just two two days ago, I got a decent deal on this 2014 ILX Premium 2.4L in PMM.
It doesnt have the OEM aero kit and is completely stock at the moment. But I wanted to work on some light mods, preferably for form over function.
I did a lot of research in the past day and just needed some clarification on things.
Questions:
Are the stock HID's upgradeable? I wanted to see if there are options to upgrading to brighter HIDs.
What brand would you recommend for an HID kit, for both low beam (if changeable) and fog lights? I'm sure I read it right but I assumed it follows the civics bulb sizes 9006 for low, and H11 for fogs.
how simple is it to convert to 16+ taillights? I know the outer edge tail lights are plug and play but I read somewhere that the trunk portion of the tail lights will need some wire modification.
Who are on coilovers? What brand would you recommend for a daily driver? I had a 94 integra sitting on Ground Control and the ride on that was meh, decent. It was tolerable.
Ive seen a few ILX's on this community and man, they're clean. It's a unique car to mod so thumbs up to those who held it down.
Future plans:
Coilovers
Fog light upgrade to HIDs (Morimotos are what I'm leaning towards)
AeroFlow side skirts
06 STI lip
HIC visors
5% tint in the rears and either 35 or 50 in the front
i-VTEC DOHC decal - maybe
HomeLink - maybe
OEM Aero Kit - Maybe
My first piece of advice is go weathertech with visors. More low profile and in channel. Also warranty replaced both fronts or both rears if anything happens.
I had the hic visors and the chrome on my trim still had adhesive residue. Smh
As for your performance suggestions, I would not expect anything from the CAI and with your 4 cylinder engine, coil overs or a sway bar really isn’t going to do anything either. I would suggest perhaps a Sprint Booster for quicker acceleration. The rest of the mods look just fine. Just my opinion.
My first piece of advice is go weathertech with visors. More low profile and in channel. Also warranty replaced both fronts or both rears if anything happens.
I had the hic visors and the chrome on my trim still had adhesive residue. Smh
Thank you. Your car is one of the ones I been seeing every time I try to search something haha. Clean car man!
Thanks for the advice on the visors. I thought they looked cool with the chrome trim, but I'd rather not have adhesive stuck on the trimming.
As for your performance suggestions, I would not expect anything from the CAI and with your 4 cylinder engine, coil overs or a sway bar really isn’t going to do anything either. I would suggest perhaps a Sprint Booster for quicker acceleration. The rest of the mods look just fine. Just my opinion.
I see, I just wanted the sound from an intake honestly lol. Maybe I'll try a short ram one when I have the funds.
What exacting is a Sprint Booster? Sounds interesting.
Hello Bob,
Welcome to the forum.... Sorry to hear about your Civic SI, but glad to see you picked up an ILX! As for your mods, I can speak to a couple of them. 1) Light package upgrades - Yes everything is able to be upgraded, the question is at what cost and look. 1a) The front HID are based on the 9006 (low beam) however the actual ballast is attached to the bottom of the headlight assembly. If you replaced the ballast with a different one it may not fit in the same area and the wires probably will not feed through the same way. I personally am not that impressed with the HID low beam output, but have changed a couple things to help it out. All in all it still has HID's which are quite a bit better over the SI stock headlights. 1b) You are correct the fog lights are H11's and these are easy to replace with almost any aftermarket HID kit. 1c) The 2016-2017 rear taillights are plug and play for the outer lights, however the inner ones are more difficult to replace, for two reasons: 1st you need to access the old lights mounted in the trunk lid which requires the removal of a couple screws and clips, and then you need to carefully pull apart the portion of the trunk that has a sticky adhesive (below the license plate area) - This will allow you to have enough space to remove the old taillights and drop in the new ones. 2nd you need to run power to run the LED strip night lights, I used the license plate bulbs wiring - this will turn on the LED's at night and provide the power.
2) Performance: Cold Air Intake or Short Ram Intakes will definitely provide some performance boost, however these gains are small and will work better if you string it with other modes to assist the breathing of entire engine setup (ie intake manifold, downpipe; exhaust; or forced induction). Some crazy guy on the forum hydro locked their engine from a CAI (not going to say who it is but I may know him... hahaha!)
3) Sway bar: I am not sure how much it will improve the ILX, however I believe there is someone on the forums who upgrading the anti-roll bars to the 22mm ones used in the Civic SI (I don't believe it cost that much and it is fairly easy to do the rears.).
Hello Bob,
Welcome to the forum.... Sorry to hear about your Civic SI, but glad to see you picked up an ILX! As for your mods, I can speak to a couple of them. 1) Light package upgrades - Yes everything is able to be upgraded, the question is at what cost and look. 1a) The front HID are based on the 9006 (low beam) however the actual ballast is attached to the bottom of the headlight assembly. If you replaced the ballast with a different one it may not fit in the same area and the wires probably will not feed through the same way. I personally am not that impressed with the HID low beam output, but have changed a couple things to help it out. All in all it still has HID's which are quite a bit better over the SI stock headlights. 1b) You are correct the fog lights are H11's and these are easy to replace with almost any aftermarket HID kit. 1c) The 2016-2017 rear taillights are plug and play for the outer lights, however the inner ones are more difficult to replace, for two reasons: 1st you need to access the old lights mounted in the trunk lid which requires the removal of a couple screws and clips, and then you need to carefully pull apart the portion of the trunk that has a sticky adhesive (below the license plate area) - This will allow you to have enough space to remove the old taillights and drop in the new ones. 2nd you need to run power to run the LED strip night lights, I used the license plate bulbs wiring - this will turn on the LED's at night and provide the power.
2) Performance: Cold Air Intake or Short Ram Intakes will definitely provide some performance boost, however these gains are small and will work better if you string it with other modes to assist the breathing of entire engine setup (ie intake manifold, downpipe; exhaust; or forced induction). Some crazy guy on the forum hydro locked their engine from a CAI (not going to say who it is but I may know him... hahaha!)
3) Sway bar: I am not sure how much it will improve the ILX, however I believe there is someone on the forums who upgrading the anti-roll bars to the 22mm ones used in the Civic SI (I don't believe it cost that much and it is fairly easy to do the rears.).
Good luck with the mods!!!
Thanks man, it was a sad day losing the SI. But, here's another K24 to mess with.
Thanks for the long response haha. I just ordered some morimoto H11B 3K bulbs. I thought the light output on the lows woulda been better, but I'll do some research before changing out the lows.
As for the intake and other performance mods and also the rear tail light upgrade, that will probably come last.
With the weathertech they sit in channel so you still see the oe chrome trim. Check out tbe recent shots of my car in my thread.
Ahh, I see. For the mats I was planning to buy to OEM ones but the weather tech is better since they have more coverage. Pricier but hey, you get what you pay for right? Haha
I upgraded to the SI rear sway bar and felt a difference. It was a low cost, OEM upgrade.
Also, installed an HPS silicon tube with stock airbox and K&N panel filter. Felt a minor difference, but not much.
Where are you guys picking up the rear sway bar from (OEM Dealership?), does it come with all of the fittings? Or does anyone recommend going outside of OEM?
I'm not sure if this question has been asked/answered, but if I were to upgrade my low beam HIDs, would I need a whole new HID kit? Or would I be able to just purchase better 9006 HID bulbs?
I haven't looked into my headlight housing area yet so I'm not sure if it would be plug and play if I were to just buy better HID bulbs, or if it is best to just buy a whole new kit.
your car comes equipped with HID headlights. thus, you do not need an HID retrofit kit... you only need bulbs..what were you thinking in terms of upgraded bulbs?
Thanks for the response! Those could be an option, but I guess I should say I'm looking for a budget bulb haha. Would a simple Morimoto XB bulb make any difference?
Link here: https://www.theretrofitsource.com/bulbs/aftermarket/9006-morimoto-xb-hid.html?preselect=50556
or would you recommend something else? I feel the OEM bulbs aren't as bright as they should be.
i dont have an ILX and havent seen their light output.
I did, however, installed an HID retrofit kit on my mom's 2012 kia sportage. I used the Morimoto XB bulbs.
the Morimoto bulbs were an INSTANT upgrade over the halogen bulbs that came stock...BUTT are no match for my 2006 Acura TL's Stock Osram bulbs.
i dont have an ILX and havent seen their light output.
I did, however, installed an HID retrofit kit on my mom's 2012 kia sportage. I used the Morimoto XB bulbs.
the Morimoto bulbs were an INSTANT upgrade over the halogen bulbs that came stock...BUTT are no match for my 2006 Acura TL's Stock Osram bulbs.
Oh okay I see. Would you be able to upload some photos of the light output on your TL? I'm considering the Osram bulbs.
For fog lights, what's better in your opinion? HID or LED?
Hello, I'm new here but what about a Hondata or Ktuner on the 2.4ILX is it worth it anyone know the approximate gains you get?
If all you do as a mod to your vehicle is Hondata and/or a tune with KTuner (etc) you will only see a marginal gain on the 2.4 ILX, however there is apparently dynos to prove these gains. I have a first generation 6 speed manual 2.4 L engine with a couple mods:
- RV6 - Stainless steel high flow catted downpipe
- Injen Cold Air Intake
- RBC (2009 Honda Civic SI) intake manifold.
My mods would be somewhat similar to the below dyno from Hondata's website. I am still debating on bringing it in to get my own dyno and trying it with the mods only and then again with the Hondata tune. https://www.hondata.com/flashpro/fla...15-us?filter=7
There are people on the forums that would argue against seeing a 20-35 HP gains with these mods stating that it is not realistic, however I can tell you from my experience I can definitely feel a difference. I would not be able to really appreciate/notice 10ish ponies, but personally I notice this and it would have to be in at least 20 plus ponies.
Not sure if you have a 1st or 2nd gen ILX, but good luck on your mods!
If all you do as a mod to your vehicle is Hondata and/or a tune with KTuner (etc) you will only see a marginal gain on the 2.4 ILX, however there is apparently dynos to prove these gains. I have a first generation 6 speed manual 2.4 L engine with a couple mods:
- RV6 - Stainless steel high flow catted downpipe
- Injen Cold Air Intake
- RBC (2009 Honda Civic SI) intake manifold.
My mods would be somewhat similar to the below dyno from Hondata's website. I am still debating on bringing it in to get my own dyno and trying it with the mods only and then again with the Hondata tune. https://www.hondata.com/flashpro/fla...15-us?filter=7
There are people on the forums that would argue against seeing a 20-35 HP gains with these mods stating that it is not realistic, however I can tell you from my experience I can definitely feel a difference. I would not be able to really appreciate/notice 10ish ponies, but personally I notice this and it would have to be in at least 20 plus ponies.
Not sure if you have a 1st or 2nd gen ILX, but good luck on your mods!
Awesome thank you for the input. How hard was the intake manifold to install?
So I ordered a 06-07 STI lip but received what looks like an 05 STI lip. I'm having trouble trying to fit the lip on. I tried going through Jon's DIY post about STI lips but the one I received doesn't have the tabs. It looks identical, but without tabs. Any tips on the install? Do I have to bend the lip a bit? I know I'll have to cut it. Or should I return it and make sure they send me the right one lol.
When I installed mine (looked just like that) I removed the under bumper panel and marked it direct as it lined up. I installed using stainless and nylock nuts thru in the center section and some of the screws that came with to hold the ends. The way I did mine, I didn't need to trim. I just used a heat gun to re-profile a bit.
It also made it easy to change the fog bulbs to LED thank you usdmJON for the tips. I do wonder if the '18 CTR splitter would fit.
My first two lips were the 05 STI lip so I know that will fit nearly exactly the same. Yours will be even easier since you already have a hole in the dead center of the lip.
Just use a screw to drill that lip directly into the bumper and follow the DIY I made. Any questions just ask.
Daill1 Id love to see a pic of your STI lip and how you got it to fit without cutting any of it off.
Im going to try and work that lip on this weekend. I guess my problem is the position of the lip. I found the center, I just don't know whether I should let the lip sit Sticking out a bit, or more flush with the bumper. It seems like I'll have to let it sit flush with the bumper in order for it to work.
Hi I'm new to moding so my question is what's the best way/cost effective to get 30hp out of the 2.4l ilx?
Ktuner+air intake Down pipe or manifold?
If you are serious go to a local shop and tell them you want more power. Depending on your year you may not have any tuning options.
If you are new to modding I cant stress enough how people here arent going to be able to help you enough. As well no one with an ILX here is going to be able to answer those questions. I believe only 1 or 2 people have ever even dynos an ILX let alone get any gains. They supercharged their ILXs but neither of them frequent these forums.
Look up local tuner shops and tell them you want more power and let them research it. I dont have enough info to help and I believe I can safely say no one here with an ILX has done much tuning.
Awesome thank you for the input. How hard was the intake manifold to install?
The RBC Intake manifold was not super difficult however you will need to purchase a kit to make it fit (to make the seals and the injectors fit), the work will take you 3-6 hours depending on your skill level and tools. You also need to route one of the air lines with a "T" fitting to ensure the brake assist works. I have some pictures of how mine looks in "My 2013 Build". However there are some pretty good how to links in the civic forums. You will probably not want to do this mod unless you get the Hondata Flashpro tool, as the mod will run a little different (probably a little rich) without proper tuning.
People go back and forth about the mod and it is definitely a matter of opinion with regard to performance gains/trade off along the power band. Without a doubt it looks better and sounds better.
A full side profile and a front shot would be nice. It looks the the front still curls down a good amount.
It does still have about 1/4 of the curl, I need to set up a cooling fixture (at the time I just wedged stuff I had under because PPP).
I do have to say though, I may not even finish it, I really like the splitter on the CTR and from pictures, it looks like the contour fits.
Here's a quick shot at the lip.
I was trying to change my fog lights, but the plastic cover is a pain in the ass to take off, so another day will do lol.
06-23-2017, 03:09 PM
