[GrimZ23]

Hello fellow Bhpians, Greetings from Lucknow! It has been a long time since I’ve been lurking the forums but never got the guts to post. But now it feels like a dream come true to finally post about the modifications I have done to my Honda City 5th Gen. I’m sorry for any grammatical mistakes I might commit in my post. I’m here to get advise from my dear seniors on future mods as well as to showcase what I have done so far.

Backstory:

Always been a Honda fanboy, I live in a joint family and the first City came in 2001, following the second generation in 2007 which was then followed by 4th gen facelift in 2019. So when I was given the option of which car I would get I choose the 5th gen city in August 2021 and that was honestly the best decision I have made till date.

Start of cosmetic modifications

The RS kit: As soon as I got the City I went ahead and dechromed the front grill, blackened out the side mirror and the spoiler. Till this time the RS kit wasn’t available in India, 2 months later I finally got the RS kit courtesy of MindAutoMods in Delhi, I immediately bought it and got it shipped to Lucknow
The final look:

Starting the 1/1 Journey

Nardo Grey: Some time later I got the idea of how beautiful would it look in Nardo Grey and so went ahead and got my City wrapped, the colour however was a bit dark to my liking, but hey I finally owned India’s First NARDO GREY HONDA CITY!


Type R roof spoiler and ORVM covers:
As a fanboy I always loved the civic and the FK8 Type R design always fascinated me! The roof spoiler it looked so good on it. So I thought why not get the roof spoiler for City, the sloping roofline would look so goos with it.
With this in my mind I got in touch with Modsters Automotive Chennai. We discussed about the building the part, I gave them the idea and finally agreed on making the Type R roof spoiler and ORVM covers in FRP. It took a month for the parts to be build and another week for them to arrive, and now another 1/1 mission accomplished! India’s First Type R Roof spoiler for Honda City was installed on 2nd August 2023 along with the first ORVM COVERS.


Repaint
2 days before Holi 2024, City was parked in a basement parking lot of a complex, when a drunkard decided he didn’t like the mods so, he hit the whole right side of City damaging both doors fender and the bumper. The damage was extensive enough that I had to go with the insurance claim, the wrap roll that I had left wasn’t enough to cover all the damaged parts completely. So I did what I had always wanted, Repaint to the exact shade which I wanted from the beginning.
Resulting in a better looking, finished Nardo Grey City!

Type R front bumper, With in-house DRL
After the repaint I thought why not give it a more unique look, there was one last piece of the Taiwan Imported Type R bumper left with a known dealer of Grease Monkey Lucknow. They Immediately got it shipped and now the front end looked so good! Only thing which was missing were the DRLs. We searched alot but we could only find 4 bulb looking DRL and they definitely weren’t suiting the front end. Tried to get them from China but shipment got rejected twice. So Grease Monkey Automotive Lucknow, made it possible by designing the DRL out of an acrylic sheet with sequential indicators. Again first in India TYPE R DRL for City making it 1/1.

Mechanical Journey

Even though I’m 23 I am not allowed to solo travel with City out of town (completely respect my parents concern) that was my biggest reason I couldn’t start with mechanical mods sooner. I was in dilemma that in Lucknow there is no one who does mechanical mods. Until I was introduced to Grease Monkey Automotives Lucknow. The owner, is like an elder brother to me now, a true car enthusiast, build Bodykit, muffler, bonnet, cold air intake for his Hyundai Accent on his own way back!

Current Mechanical Mods


Exhaust: DeCat Valvetronic exhaust with a custom built 3inch resonator, in the coming week we will be installing 2.5 Inch SS pipes throughout and I’m getting rid of the valvetronic and replacing it with a straight muffler.

Stage 2 ECU remap Currently running a stage 2 Quantum Red ECU remap with Crackle overrun from Quantum tuning with claimed gains of 20bhp and 30NM torque, I hope to soon dyno test it. I acknowledge that there isnt much gain because of the NA engine but the power flow is now throughout the rev range and the drive feels much more smooth.

BMC OEM replacement air filter: got the conical air filter first and we were building a custom cold air intake, with the filter being placed inside the grill. But it failed because 1. The MAP sensor was having issues fitting in the intake we made 2. During pulls the engine bogged down, especially during gear shift so for the time being we are using the OEM replacement.

Upsize tyres and Brembo pads: 185/55/R16 stock tyres weren’t able to perform after the tune at all and since they were almost near end, I went for 205/55/R16 Yokohama S drive and they offer so much more grip. Also I changed the pads from Honda pads to Brembo extras for somewhat better braking (they were also cheaper than Honda OEM for ₹3800)

My dream and help required

After I bought City, both Virtus and Slavia came to the market following Verna. At this time I decided why not fixing a turbocharger to the 1.5NA. This has already been done in Malaysia to a City hatchback, but currently I’m still trying to acquire knowledge to be able to do it here in India.
This has been my dream and I would feel immense proud in building India’s First TURBOCHARGED City. I’ll be forever grateful if fellow BHPians could offer me their opinions on the same.




This is my City. I would really appreciate if respected members give their opinion on the current build as well as my future plans.

[saikishor]

What a beautiful car you have there! I must say youu are living my dream.

Have you considered any suspension upgrades like lowering springs? These should take care of the wallowy handling of the City.
Would also suggest some window tints to make your ride look even cooler.

Regarding the turbocharger, not sure if someone in our country has the expertise to take on such a task. I would suggest not to do this exercise, as long term reliability would be a concern.

Also, may I suggest some alloy wheels for your car? Maybe something like the ones on the Mitsubishi Evo X:

Lastly, one small nifty mod I would suggest is to get rid of the halogen indicator and reverse light bulbs at the rear. Swap them with LED's.

[GrimZ23]

Hey, thank you so much for appreciating.
Yes I have thought of a coilover suspension upgrade in the near future, also thank you for suggesting alloys these BBS look dope! I haven’t upgraded them since I couldn’t find the one which I love till date.
I thought of RAYS but there are so many replicas in the market already. I’ll soon upgrade the alloys though just waiting to come across the ones I love.

[NarediAni7518]

The car looks smashing in this shade and the kind of mods done to it, especially the front fascia!!

[Sids85]

Love the mods, especially the bumpers look lit. But didnt it void warranty on the car?

[superblover]

Originally Posted by saikishor

Regarding the turbocharger, not sure if someone in our country has the expertise to take on such a task. I would suggest not to do this exercise, as long term reliability would be a concern.

I disagree. Kindly check out Race Concepts in Bangalore. They have been extensively working on the City over it's various generations and have turbocharged the VTEC as well. Kindly request the OP to get in touch with them regarding the turbocharging possibility for the car.

https://youtu.be/2yiRLs6BgOk?si=lBFeg_sHhSf9zr9p

[Tokengrip]

Car looks fab and i think your mods have been done with a lot of taste. Love the effort with regard to the lights and the bumper. Really love the bumper upgrade.!

I think it's time for a alloy wheel upgrade. Something in black ideally to bring out the final look. Would really complete the look.

PS- do get rid of the rubber paddings on the door.

[Tony2298]

Originally Posted by GrimZ23

Hello fellow Bhpians, Greetings from Lucknow!
This is my City. I would really appreciate if respected members give their opinion on the current build as well as my future plans.

What a beautiful car you've made! I'm literally in awe, this is what Hondas are capable of, only if Honda Cars India Limited launches some of these tasty RS editions and even better with VTEC Turbo engines I see them shoot up amongst the enthusiasts once again.

I really love Honda right from childhood, my love was ignited back in the day with their CBR Fireblade motorcycles, their astounding performance in MotoGP with Valentino Rossi and in F1 with Ayrton Senna, they were a force to be reckoned with.

Their Indian innings started so well with the City 1st gen being so good it easily outshone the better built Mitsubishi Lancer, then their Civic, Accord and CRV were the numero uno choice among the affluent. Even though Skoda was right up there and they pushed the bar even further with TSi engines even back then, reliability issues is what made people choose Honda, they simply knew how to deliver fun without hampering reliability.

The 8th gen Civic is and will always remain my favourite car ever, those sleek lines, sexy silhouette, creamy 1.8 i-VTEC with crisp MT box and futuristic spaceship like interior and cool instrument cluster wows me even today! I remember being in my high school days back when Civic was launched, there was a small tent set up near my school and a shiny black Civic standing right there, I rushed towards the car, the SA understood my excitement and allowed me to sit on the driver's seat, man the experience was surreal. I took the brochure and price list, went to my home, pestered my Dad to buy one even though I knew it was way out of reach of us, I even scored very high in my Physics exams to please him but sadly we couldn't buy one.

Just have a look at it. Still looks stunning!


In recent times I did want to acquire the CRV back in 2020, even arranged the cash required to get one but sadly Honda decided to discontinue the CRV&Civic as they sold their Greater Noida plant.

As of now they have a short but good lineup however it's not what I saw Honda back as a kid, all of their aspirational products are gone from India with very thin chances of returning. City, a brilliant car overall is sadly selling in low volumes since people find VAG sedans better overall and it is being cannibalised by its own siblings the Elevate and Amaze.

Still, if I were to choose a car from Honda lineup it would be the City, i-VTEC for sure in MT. The car delivers everything, performance, reliability and tech along with Honda's excellent service and warranty packages and it might be a personal opinion but I find the exteriors and interiors the most balanced in terms of look and quality. City looks sharp especially in the Obsidian Blue paint shade and most eye pleasing IMHO.

You've done a fab job of modifying your City and I've been following you in Facebook too as a member of Honda City fan club. Loved your modifications!

Thank you
Tony

[F10D1061]

Hey, great mods, both aesthetic and mechanical.

Some more mods I'd suggest:

1. The turbocharger. Ask the same guys who did your ecu if they know someone and if they can help you in sourcing it.

2. End to end exhaust. The 1.5NA is a 4cyl and as such has some room to play with the headers. You can try with Automech Mumbai and ask for the same.
This definitely gives a noticeable torque boost (never measured, only feeling in the pants measurement) even for low capacity NA cars in daily driving.
One more neat trick would be trying a direct 4 to 1 setup, which would greatly increase your top end at the cost of your low end. Else a more standard 4 2 1 setup is recommended by me to keep things practical.

3. Bigger and better brakes. You need negative acceleration more than positive acceleration. Replace the entire brake calipers please. Either use good aftermarket brands or go for OEMs of the civic etc. They may be compatible.

4. Stiffer suspension. I don't recommend lowering the city for the roads we drove on, but a stiffer suspension with better shocks would definitely make it a nimble handler with the yokos.

Atb, and looking to hearing from you soon. You're an inspiration to peeps like me to get more mods in spite of parental intervention.

[Vignesh_N/A]

Originally Posted by superblover

I disagree. Kindly check out Race Concepts in Bangalore. They have been extensively working on the City over it's various generations and have turbocharged the VTEC as well. Kindly request the OP to get in touch with them regarding the turbocharging possibility for the car.

https://Youtu.be/2yiRLs6BgOk?si=lBFeg_sHhSf9zr9p

The keyword here is "reliable build". I would suggest OP to do proper research before handing over the car to anyone.

[superblover]

Originally Posted by Vignesh_N/A

The keyword here is "reliable build". I would suggest OP to do proper research before handing over the car to anyone.

Reliability is inherently thrown out the window once you start tinkering with the mechanicals of a car. Its subjective and any claims of reliability have incredible variance. No single tuner can ever test as much as an automotive OEM and there will always be tradeoffs on the peace of mind front. Race Concepts haven't just slapped on a turbocharger and called it a day. They redesign the internals from the ground up with custom forged pistons and crankshafts and what not, to ensure safety while increasing power (Like any good tuner should). Kindly take a look at this video where they detail a first gen turbocharged City.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sfNNoe7MCM

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated to them in any way. Just wanted to highlight someone doing good work for others to see.

[reignofchaos]

Originally Posted by superblover

Reliability is inherently thrown out the window once you start tinkering with the mechanicals of a car. Its subjective and any claims of reliability have incredible variance. No single tuner can ever test as much as an automotive OEM and there will always be tradeoffs on the peace of mind front. Race Concepts haven't just slapped on a turbocharger and called it a day. They redesign the internals from the ground up with custom forged pistons and crankshafts and what not, to ensure safety while increasing power (Like any good tuner should). Kindly take a look at this video where they detail a first gen turbocharged City.

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated to them in any way. Just wanted to highlight someone doing good work for others to see.

I suggest you read up on this very forum about how these guys ruined some cars from fellow BHP'ians . There are many documented cases of massive booboos.

And no tuning a vehicle up doesn't mean reliability goes out of the window. Absolutely don't agree with that. Anyways this is where I shut up as this is OT.

@GrimZ23: Nice car but be very very sure of what you want to do.

[superblover]

Originally Posted by reignofchaos

I suggest you read up on this very forum about how these guys ruined some cars from fellow BHP'ians . There are many documented cases of massive booboos.

And no tuning a vehicle up doesn't mean reliability goes out of the window. Absolutely don't agree with that. Anyways this is where I shut up as this is OT.

@GrimZ23: Nice car but be very very sure of what you want to do.

Thanks for the heads up reignofchaos! I didn't do the due diligence of actually checking TeamBHP for Race Concepts related threads. Considering that i have no horse in this race, I humbly request OP to listen to the advice of the above two gentlemen and arrive at a decision they are comfortable with!

Cheers!

[Doge]

If you want to go crazy, I would rather look at swapping the engine for the 2.4 in the Accord rather than turboing this one. I saw a couple of Jazz(s) at sportech greater Noida with the Accord engine, I believe Faisal Khan did a video on one of them. You can contact Harsh, the owner of the workshop to enquire, if I remember he correctly he has also super charged and turbo charged Honda's before.
I personally feel it would be cheaper and less of a hassle to just sell the City for a Virtus/ Slavia and mess around with it. As an ex third gen owner who had to get rid of the car because of the dumb NCR ban, the best part of the City to me has always been how bulletproof and fill it and shut it kind of car it was, in my 13 years and more of ownership. The engine also was and is still a gem, would anyday chose the ivtec over the new 3 cylinder turbos.
So try to not ruin this aspect of the Honda!

[ssjr0498]

I have been running a B16b type R, turbocharged from the past 6-7 years in my humble OHC Vtec! Just a word of advice, "cheap and fast wont be reliable, fast and reliable, wont be cheap", not saying that you will cheap out, but please remember this so that you buy once and cry once. It is a headache to redo things and given we have limited resources for parts in the country, it can bite you really bad. Also, please please do a thorough research before you take a plunge into this black hole!
Best wishes for your build!