Basically you want more torque then. Wouldn't a full performance exhaust system help the car become a little more responsive? Then a ECU remap and have it chipped. Pretty expensive mods that yes, will be pointless on a small engine, but if you have deep enough pockets for the mods, why not
Jakg, have you contacted Adrian Flux to see what insurance would be on the Civic. Like I said on MSN, there is an 18yr old with a EK9 Civic paying £1,800 FC with Adrian Flux. May be worth a call.