How to Safely and Cost Effectively hit 300WHP on your 2022+ Civic or Integra with the L15 engine
If it was easy, everyone would be doing it amirite?
We’ll we’re here to tell you that with just a few simple mods, it is just that easy. Look, we’re no strangers to getting lots of power out of the 1.5 liter turbo engine Honda has been stuffing inside Civics since 2016. In fact, we’ve written several blogs on getting 300 and 400 WHP out of these engines already here and here.
Right now we’re going to focus specifically on the 2022+ Civic and the 2023+ Integra because we all know that’s what you want to hear about.
So where do we begin? Well, to extract any meaningful power out of any modern day car, you’re going to need a way to communicate with the car's ECU or its brain to adjust timing, ignition, fueling, and other parameters. Without this, you’re going to be really limited in how much power you can make. Luckily we have not 1 but 2 options for how to do that, KTuner and Hondata.
Both of these have base maps and are going to allow you to upload custom maps (tunes) to the car.
We won’t get into the weeds too much here because you can just read this blog we wrote about tuning maps here.
What you want to focus on is the Custom tune option referenced in that blog because you will eventually want one. Just remember a Ktuner or Hondata is a device and a map is just that, a map. They work in tandem and both are needed.
Now that you’ve gotten your tuner of choice, we need some go-fast mods. In reality, you’re not going to get past 300WHP without upgrading physical parts. Why? Because what Honda gives you from the factory is not enough. These parts are often too small and too restrictive. We can’t have that in our plans so let’s go big!
First, enter the downpipe. Our 27WON high-flow catted Downpipe is the largest diameter one out there.
This mod frees up gobs of power as it replaces a very big restriction in power; the stock downpipe. By going bigger, you are able to get more exhaust gases out of the engine more quickly and that means better turbo responsiveness and power. This downpipe by itself is good for 12 WHP! Got it? Good!
Up next is the Intercooler. You wouldn’t think an Intercooler by itself would make power, right? Wrong.
Our intercooler has proven to net gains of 15WHP. It’s an impressive unit with nothing else on the market like it. It’s got a large core area for dissipating heat, end tanks with built in heatsinks, and trick features like vortex generators and internal airfoils to get every last bit of gains for your Civic and Integra.
So, what else? Well, the truth is that without a larger turbo you can’t blast past 300WHP.
The stock turbo is just not up to the task. When pushed, the stock tiny turbo becomes inefficient and chokes out, especially at the top end. It just runs out of steam. Here we have our Gin turbo upgrade to step up to the plate. The primary job of the turbo is to increase the density of the intake air. Denser air means more power potential. We often see this expressed as PSI or Pounds Per Square Inch. The stock turbo is designed to run anywhere up to 18PSI. With Gin almost 30 PSI is possible.
Finally, our 4 Bar Map Sensor can come out and play.
These are small but mighty upgraded sensors allowing you to run more boost. Just know that the stock MAP sensors physically cannot see more than ~28 PSI of boost so if you want to run more (and you will), you need to upgrade the sensors. Our upgraded MAP sensors have a range of around 45 PSI.
So, is that it? Well yes. The above are the least amount of parts you can get away with and still crush 300HP. Want more mods? Go for it.
Our Intake system, inlet pipe, and catback exhaust system for example free up even more restrictions and can help you eke out even more power. We’ll call them nice-to-haves and most do run these on their way to complete a full build.
Now, a quick word. We’re basing the above on averages. Averages from what we have seen and tested ourselves and what lots of our customers have already done. The 300WHP mark is easy to achieve given the right combo of parts and conditions.
Don’t get bummed out if you fall just shy of it. Why do we mention this?
Fuel. Fuel is key. With 91 octane, sometimes you just can’t reach 300WHP due to the Octane rating. Using 93+ or Ethanol is the answer. To run ethanol, all you need is a flex-fuel kit. These can be purchased from multiple sources.
A couple of last minute call outs. 1) The stock clutch and 2) the stock head studs. We’ve got entire blogs that we’ll be releasing dedicated to these two potential trouble spots. Just note that sometimes you will want to upgrade both of these items to beefier components. Some choose to proactively do this sooner and some later. Others stick with the stock parts and reliably run 300WHP+ without any issues. Again, it depends on the use case. At 27WON, we run our cars hard and we’ve had good success with stock components around the power levels we are talking about here. YMMV. If you need any specific advice, just give us a call or shoot us a text and we can discuss your exact build plans and goals.
And there you have it fam, the super duper easy guide to making 300WHP on your Si or any 2022+ Civic and Integra. Got questions? Drop them below.
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-Vlad