[8695Beaters]

Well to do more than 9 psi, you need pistons, and connecting rods for starters. To make lots of power (enough to beat most of the V8s at the strip), you will need some head work, valvetrain upgrades, cams, and some really good tuning. But with a street-driven front-drive car, 300+ horsepower tends to be the maximum. Torque steer becomes an issue, fuel consumption goes way up, drivetrain parts start to break and engine repairs become killer. It can be done, but for a car that you say nees to go to school and work and such, it won't be cheap or all that comfortable. Even the SRT-4 and MS3 have major problems running just under 300 hp. And this is after months of research, engineering, and tuning. That doesn't include the hassle you'll have with cops tailing you because your car chirps its tires and burps flame after every stop.

ITBs only work on NA cars. A turbo blows through a bunch of pipes and goes into the throttle body. ITBs means there is one throttle body per cylinder, and splitting up the turbo flow is not easy, so nobody does it. I think it would be cool if someone thought individual throttle turbos though. You could make lots of boost and have no turbo lag. But that's a rather tough problem, and not your answer. But on an NA car, yes ITBs do add power. More air can come in, so more power can be made. But it's usually not worth the hassle, because the parts are expensive and the gains are small. You are better off going the forced induction route.

It's cool to ask questions. That's the best way to learn. The people who don't ask questions blow up their stuff or hurt themselves. For you and your car, stick with the setup you have and feel out the car some more. By making some passes in your car and getting to know how to drive it, you will better be able to figure out what it needs. For example, right now I know my car is traction limited, so I either need less air in my tires or better tires (the first is definetely the better route, considering I just bought tires). Stiffer springs would also help prevent the front tires from getting unloaded during my launch. The point is too many people blindly throw parts at their cars, when they could be making the same gains by learning how to drive it (my buddy has this problem. That's why I can keep up with his Mini-S despite all the work he's put into it). Figuring out my launch cut 3/10ths off my quarter mile time. And that was completely free.

Again, if you want to mostly drag race, I still think the Civic isn't right for you. Any V8 will respond better to the same upgrades and the cost is not as much as you would think (some V8 parts are cheaper than import parts). Even if you don't want a V8, anything rear-drive will be much better. Front-drive will never hook up as well as rear-drive. It's just physics. If corner carving is primary and drag racing secondary, then the Civic will be fine.