10 Best Mods - 10th Gen Civic 1.5T

When we say "best", we're throwing cost out the window. Inevitably, many of the best mods usually cost more money. So this isn't about how much something costs, this is all about smiles per gallon and pure driving satisfaction. Welcome to the best mods list. Buckle up.

The 10th Gen Civic 1.5T packs quite a punch considering the engine is only slightly larger than 4 soda cans. With a healthy dose of boost from the MHI TD03 turbocharger, this little 1.5 liter lights up like a Christmas tree in December.

But we all know that's just not good enough. Along with making it go faster, many of us like to make them handle better and look meaner. Here is a list of 10 things you can do to your 10th Gen Civic that will put a smile on your face, at least, and at the most, blow your mind.

1. Bigger turbo

Let's just go straight to the blow your mind category. The 10th Gen Civic turbo upgrades available today make it too easy to bolt-on that much power. No, they're not the cheapest thing in the world. But with fully customized turbine and compressor housing castings that match the profile of the stock turbo, it makes it a breeze to swap in the new gear and go make 100 more horsepower. That's about what you can expect to make with one of the 27Won or RV6 bolt-on turbo kits.

Many will say you need to build your motor. There are instances where you can get away with this power level on a stock motor for a while. You need to maintain your car well and have a very solid tune from someone that understands what they're doing. If you have that, I wouldn't be afraid to jump into the 300-350whp area on stock engine. But again, this isn't about money or resources. This is about best mods. Built motor aside, a bigger turbo is a great thing.

2. Flex Fuel 

Can you tell we're biased towards speed and power yet? 

Ethanol is a gift from the race gods. You can use ethanol without upgrading to a FlexFuel device through custom tuning. But FlexFuel makes it a hell of a lot safer and more convenient. Here's where a flex fuel kit really shines. You don't have to measure out your pump gas and E85 every time you put gas in the car. You don't have to worry about traveling long distances and not finding an ethanol station. You don't have to sit in a parking lot and switch maps. The sensor tells the ECU how to adjust for whatever ethanol content you have in the tank. It's practical and easy. You go to the gas station, throw a few gallons of E85 in the tank, top it off with regular gas, and off you go. If you want to run ethanol, we strongly suggest you do it with a flex fuel kit.

3. Wheels

We believe the right set of wheels including the style, color, and offset, can completely change the vibe of a car. I think most of us would agree. Plus, how many cars do you know come with wheels that you don't immediately want to change? That's right, almost none. Maybe unless you got a $100k+ car. Get yourself a nice set of wheels and you'll instantly have an itch to look back at it every time you park and walk away.

SSR GTV01 Wheels from our very own Project FC3.

4. Exhaust

The tried and true modification. It's a veteran in the modifying game. There are times when it doesn't even matter how fast you go or how much power you make. Your car might even look like a red headed stepchild among the trailered track monsters. But if it sounds good, it's going to turn some heads. It's also going to resonate with you every time you drive it, literally. Get your sound right, get your mind right. If you want a little head start on deciding, check out this video where we compared 7 back to back. Oh, and here where we did 3 more.

5. Intercooler

OEM's just put junky intercoolers in cars, I guess. It's not surprising because it's all about saving a buck on the assembly line but that just means it's a really critical part you need to upgrade if you want to make power. Once you get one, not only will it give you a quick little boost in power, but it really opens up the ability for the tuner to get more aggressive. Because the air is cooler, the cylinder gets a nice injection of dense, cool air that is more predictable to tune and creates more cylinder pressure. It's not a hard hitting bump in power like a turbo upgrade but it's the single best bolt-on part out of all the major ones you'll do to the car. Intercoolers are a very important part of modding your 10th Gen.

6. Coilovers

Along with the wheels, the right stance can also change the appearance and style of the car drastically. Don't get us wrong, coilovers are for more than just stance. It's just convenient that you can make it look perfect with some basic adjustments. Those adjustments are really what puts these on the top 10 list. Along with being able to set the height and stiffness to where you like it, a good set of coilovers will significantly improve the feel and handling ability of you 10th Gen Civic. It's a major overhaul of the factory functionality and will leave you with ultimate flexibility on how you want your car to feel, perform, and look.

A set of Tein Flex Z Coilovers shown above. These even come with the error cancellation devices that are placed on each individual corner of the Si specific models.

7. ECU Tuning Device

Don't underestimate the importance of this device just because it's number 7 on the list. The reason why I'm putting it that far down is because as a stand-alone part, it's not life changing like an upgraded turbo. Yes, it will give you a noticeable bump in power and torque. Yes, you can look at a lot of cool things going on with your engine and configure shift points and warning lights, like on a KTuner V2 shown below. But the tuning device by itself is not the amazing part. What makes this thing really awesome is the flexibility it gives you to tune your 10th Gen Civic according to what parts you have on the car and what fuel you're using. Almost 100% of anyone reading this will need someone else to tune the vehicle for them. But that's normal, we always recommend using a professional tuner with a lot of experience. Although it's #7 on the list, you still need it for #1 and #2. So it's a pretty big deal.

The KTuner V2 touch screen tuning device.

8. Carbon Fiber

We won't name any part, in particular. Anything carbon fiber is a game changer. It's one of those things that nobody actually needs (unless you're really racing), but if you have it, it sets you apart from the other builds in a huge way. You can make dang near anything out of carbon fiber. Most often though, they'll come in the form of hoods, wings, spoilers, trunks, engine covers, front lips, side skirts, and more. When executed well, it can look very clean and tasteful, while serving up plenty of function. If you have an itch to stand out, carbon is a great way to do it.

Project FC3 with the carbon treatment underneath our custom vinyl wrap.

9. Anything from Acuity

Acuity gets their own section here. Although I can point to their full shifter assembly as probably the best of the bunch, anything that helps you change gears faster and with more confidence is a big win. Whether it's a shift knob, a simple short shift adapter, or the whole enchilada shifter (below), this is an important part in improving the 10th Gen Civic. I have personally "upgraded" the shifting in many other cars and I'm telling you, all of those modifications pale in comparison to what this shifter did to our own 10th Gen Civic Si project. The shifting experience is almost too good to be true. I didn't realize it could be that good in a manual.

10. Big Brake Kit

This is one of those mods that many street cars will never get to fully use to it's potential. If you've ever taken a lap around a track on street brakes and literally felt them melt away from corner to corner, causing you to pucker your rear end as quickly as lap 2, you'd know that a big brake kit is worth every penny. If that doesn't sound familiar to you, I wasn't exaggerating. I did that on purpose once to see how well a stock set of brakes held up on a track. The answer is they don't....at all. An upgraded sport pad and set of rotors will most certainly help and will take you much further than stock. But having a set of opposed piston calipers fed by stainless steel brake lines and pushing an aggressive pad against a rotor built for abuse will give you such solid feedback in your brakes that you'll be blown away how insufficient the factory braking system is compared to what you could have in a nice big brake kit on your 10th Gen. And if you're buying them for looks as much as performance, they look as good behind the wheel as they perform at the track.

A variety of big brake kits are available from the likes of Wunderladen Racing (utilizing EBC calipers 👍), StopTech, and Wilwood.

This post was originally published in March, 2020 but has been updated to reflect current parts and accurate information!