Civic vs. Charger

I have a Dodge Charger which I am trying to fix that has a 318. I dropped a 4-barrel 600cfm Edelbrock on it as well. I am wondering what the chances this 3500lb. car will beat my friends mildly suped up Honda Civic which elegedly weighs in roughly at 2500-2800lb from what he told me. He's got upgraded exhaust, suspension, and a racing clutch and supposedly upgraded the fuel injectors. As sad as it is, I don't want to stick my Charger up against a four banger piece of crap and be the laughing stock of the town. I am planning on some very serious upgrades here soon for it such as a pair of 360 heads I bought dirt cheap and I plan to shove a nice fat cam in there.

Does anyone know relatively how much power a '96 Honda Civic DX has stock?

If you don't wanna' run em', I'll take em' on with my 22 h.p. Troy-built rider. :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: **)

Well I was watching some old geezers the other day that were in tuners.... yeah weird I know, but they said in ricers fixed up really well with about 8 grand can get 350HP and sometimes more. I don't know much abour ricers and could care less but if I were you then I wouldn't worry. You will probably smoke em. You should put in something bigger than a 318 and show him off even better though. haha.

Oh I fully intend to drop something bigger in it. I was thinking about sticking a 500HP 360 in it but now I am thinking of just going all out 440 Magnum. There is one problem. First I gotta get the car running. Second I gotta fix the body. Third I gotta find a 440. Forth I gotta strip the 440 and rebuild from the ground up. Fifth I gotta rebuild the front end suspension, K-member, and drivetrain to handle a big block......

That is why I haven't yet put something bigger in there. I have no doubt with a few more mods I wouldn't have any trouble but I am thinking a relatively stock 318 which is probably only getting 200HP to the wheels, would be made a laughing stock. SO..........

How about a 383 with 440 heads, Supposto put about 325 to the crank. this info was off American Muscle car on speed channel and it also said that it was called the 383 Commando, my dad said he had a '68 Cornet with that setup cept' he put the 440 heads on because his car didn't come with them. How about a 440 6 pack or maby even a 426 HEMI. My dad said he had his '68 Cornet until the '80's when he was going to fix it up and drop a 426 HEMI in from a car down the road that sombody left in a feild that a guy we knew had ( guy we knew was going to give the HEMI car to my dad ), the HEMI car was a '69 RoadRunner. My dad never found the time to fix the Cornet and, he called some guy that restored cars and had him take both cars, when my dad talked to him last ( bout 2 years after he took the cars ), he wanted to find out what he did with them and, he started restoring the Cornet and used the HEMI from the Roadrunner.

The DX is a lame duck. It only has 106HP and 103ft.lb of torque. The car weighs aprox 2,200lbs depending on equipment. The mods the guy listed won't do crap for the car-he is pushing MAYBE 120 and that's if he is really, really lucky.

To give you an idea of this cars performance, they run mid 17's in the 1/4 stock. If he is the stereotypical "tuner" he has added a huge steroe system that weighs the car down and will increase his times.

*IF* your 318 is in any kind of condition you should beat him pretty handily.

Fear not,
Abe

I don't know how to compare drag times but I know on our 1/8th mile drag down here, he is supposedly getting in the 9's with this car. He says he could do better but he can't get traction...... which could have a lot to do with red lining it and putting it in gear :LOL:. Again, he said it has the exhaust, suspension, raceing clutch, upgraded fuel injectors, and he recently upgraded a lot of the electrical stuff suchas the distributor and the plugs and wires and some other crap.

I am not actually worried that he'll beat the 318. Prob is it's 32 years old and has been sitting for several years now.

what kind of gears do you have? In your car that can make a big differance. Me and my brother both had 72 chargers that came with 318's the gears I think 2.73 we both ran mid 16's. until I changed gears 4.10 I droped to high14's.

hey, i dont think you have juch to worry about, the honda sounds pretty weak, he would need a turbo to get any realy power out of that thing. Im just wondering what year your charger is and you should really find out what gear is in it, because that can very well decide the outcome of the race.

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Originally posted by Matt167
How about a 383 with 440 heads, Supposto put about 325 to the crank. this info was off American Muscle car on speed channel and it also said that it was called the 383 Commando, my dad said he had a '68 Cornet with that setup cept' he put the 440 heads on because his car didn't come with them. How about a 440 6 pack or maby even a 426 HEMI. My dad said he had his '68 Cornet until the '80's when he was going to fix it up and drop a 426 HEMI in from a car down the road that sombody left in a feild that a guy we knew had ( guy we knew was going to give the HEMI car to my dad ), the HEMI car was a '69 RoadRunner. My dad never found the time to fix the Cornet and, he called some guy that restored cars and had him take both cars, when my dad talked to him last ( bout 2 years after he took the cars ), he wanted to find out what he did with them and, he started restoring the Cornet and used the HEMI from the Roadrunner.

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Not a commando if it came from a coronet. Commando were Plymouth engines, Magnums were Dodge engines. Just thought I would clear that up. And as far as the Hemi is concerned, I'm sure he can just go to the local junk yard and pick one up:LOL:

Anyhow Freak, I agree with the others, dump that rubberband 318 and get a 383 or 440, then put all your worries aside and watch him choke on your smoking tires.

It would probably be a lot easier finding a 383 than a 440 at this point. Most 440's have been plucked from the salvage yards. Chrysler sells new castings for RB (440/426) and Hemi engines. The trick thing (and far more expensive) would be Chrysler's 528 crate motor. As for 440 heads, from '68 on, the heads on a 383 and 440 are the same. The '67 440 heads have small combustion chambers, but are really hard to find.

Good luck!

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Originally posted by CarFreak
Oh I fully intend to drop something bigger in it. I was thinking about sticking a 500HP 360 in it but now I am thinking of just going all out 440 Magnum. There is one problem. First I gotta get the car running. Second I gotta fix the body. Third I gotta find a 440. Forth I gotta strip the 440 and rebuild from the ground up. Fifth I gotta rebuild the front end suspension, K-member, and drivetrain to handle a big block......

That is why I haven't yet put something bigger in there. I have no doubt with a few more mods I wouldn't have any trouble but I am thinking a relatively stock 318 which is probably only getting 200HP to the wheels, would be made a laughing stock. SO..........

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hey i did know where a 400ci dodge engine was for sale if u want me too i can check and see if it is still there:whacked: :toocool: :cool:

Awwww jeez ! I'll stick in my 2 cents worth.

Civic verses Charger, is that aquestion ?

If you really want to go big on that mopar, but not go hemi how about a 413 with a cross ram dual 4 barrel setup. Now that will get you screaming down the ole 1/8 mile. Oh yeah I work with a guy who is selling a 413, but you have to buy the car also. It is a 1964 Dodge polara 2 door post.

CIVIC'S HAHAHA .WHAT A JOKE I GOT A BUDDY WITH ONE WITH PRETTY MUCH THE SAME UGRADES I BLEW HIS DOORS OFF WITH A PROPANE POWERED CHEVY TRUCK..'HE HASN'T TALKED TO ME IN 3 MONTHS. HAHAHA DONT WORRY ABOUT THE CIVIC,, MY DAD STILL HAS THE ORIGINAL 440 IN HIS OLD DODGE POWERWAGON AND CALLS IT A WORK TRUCK HAHA..AHH SWEET MEMORY'S..OF THAT TRUCK MY HEAD STILL HURTS FROM THE SMARTIE I GOT FROM IT WHEN I WAS TEN!!!. SOMTHING ABOUT 4X4IN JUST ISNT RIGHT TO ME.

Just asking, but what would happen if you took a 383 and bolted on a set of 360 heads combined with a EFI kit from a newer dodge? Seems to me that with the increase in compression and the EFI feeding it that would be a pretty hot setup. Personally, i know very little about Mopars, but I think it would kick some @ss.

hey car freak,
look you can probaly beat him i have a 74 dart with a 318 "bone stock" and i raced a dx civic mildly tuned and won as well as your friends car probaly is pushing around 180 to the crank if that car is like a 88-91 it came stock with 90hp=mexico, 110= canada and if its andything newer its probaly v-tec which gives a boost of power around 3800-4500 rpm which does help i mean you probaly can take care of him but i can promise your not gonna win every race in the world it all about fun man.

Couple things...

You don't have to change the K-frame when doing a small block to big block swap in a B-body.

360 = small block, 383 = big block.

Your Charger most likely does have 2.73 gears if the 318 was from the factory. You can pick up a center section with 3.23 or 3.55 gears for a Mopar 8.75" rear end pretty cheap at any swap meet.

If you swap in a big block, you will be swapping transmissions also. (two different bellhousing patterns)

If you stay with a smallblock, a 904 torqueflite will have a little less parasitic loss than a 727 torqueflite.

A well built ( and I mean correctly matched components) 318 Charger that hooks up on launch will spank the hell out of just about any mild to moderately build naturally aspirated FWD Honda.

im going to have to agree with Lord you shouldnt have anything to worry about .

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Originally posted by Lord Antagonism
A well built ( and I mean correctly matched components) 318 Charger that hooks up on launch will spank the hell out of just about any mild to moderately build naturally aspirated FWD Honda.

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I used to be a huge Honda follower (Still am but dont own one anymore..) and this statement is correct.

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Originally posted by southerner
Awwww jeez ! I'll stick in my 2 cents worth.

Civic verses Charger, is that aquestion ?

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thanks their southerner I agree with your 2 cents now my 2 cents charger vs jap crap hum hum realy cant think of anything nice to say about this
:confused: :rolleyes: :LOL:

I'ld say get it running with the 318 and go race. In my ancient street-racing experience, it wasn't necessarily the biggest motor or the baddest car that won the race, it was the one that was tuned right. There are plenty of monster-machines that can't get out of their own way due to poor tuning. If your not careful, that guy will've sold his car by the time you get yours done. Get the 318 running and practice the fine points of carb and ignition tuning. Then if you can't beat him, put in a big-block and send him to another time-zone.

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Originally posted by The F.N.G.
The DX is a lame duck. It only has 106HP and 103ft.lb of torque. The car weighs aprox 2,200lbs depending on equipment. The mods the guy listed won't do crap for the car-he is pushing MAYBE 120 and that's if he is really, really lucky.

To give you an idea of this cars performance, they run mid 17's in the 1/4 stock. If he is the stereotypical "tuner" he has added a huge steroe system that weighs the car down and will increase his times.

*IF* your 318 is in any kind of condition you should beat him pretty handily.

Fear not,
Abe

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hopefully the chances that he has the stock SOHC motor in it are very very slim :)