Hi all im new to this site n really enjoy reading everyones helpful tips and advice and i apologize in advance cause im sure im not the first one to ask this but here goes...i just got a 97 civic ex (will have pics soon) manual. I am far from mechanically inclined i however have had a great interest in beginning a long term project on a civic. Money is an issue to an extent and although i have plans to do some more significant mods down the road i just would like some tips n ideas for the beginning of my mod journey. I am aiming more for mods under the hood than anything on the body or interior. Also if neone has directions they can point me in on maybe diy's online to help me with ne suggestions i receive it would be greatly appreciated! i hope one day not too far away i can have mine lookin and performin like some of urs do.

-chris

 

Well, if money is an issure honestly, do what I call an ebay build. On ebay there are tonz of cheep parts that do perform. And get the haynes repair manual and make it your "nighttime book" its amazing how much you can learn. Start off small with your build, and dont focus on one part of the engine make sure you do everything or else you will bottleneck it. Start off with the basics, exhaust, intake then move on to ignition, then feul delivery, and then with all that power you may want to get a better clutch stage 1 or 2 then you have a smooth running engine, then you can even move on to do a bit of head work, valve springs, retainers, valves, camshaft. Just be logical about the mods you put on, dont make a 300hp monster if your driving your kids to school everyday... And you can get all of that on ebay! Or other sites across the great internet..

 

Well from my understanding there are 3 different ways to go, If you are making it a long term project I would recommend saving money for high quality name brand parts and piece the car together little by little until you get to the desired result, it all depends what type numbers you want and how you want to get to them and what the main purpose of the car is going to be. I am doing a long term project as well that will probably take me about a year at the rate I am making money now but it should be pretty nice when it is finished

but if you give about what you are looking for as far as power goes I have confidence the people here at HCF will be able to tell you the best way to achieve your goal for the best prices and with the highest quality parts. Welcome to the forum and hope you will enjoy your car as much as i do mine

 

Thanks for all that info so far...well my thoughts on it are i would like to eventually have it be pretty modified to be superior performancewise to the bazillions of kids driving around my area in their moms civic they inherited and put a chrome tip on the exhaust and a sticker on the windshield....i would like to be able to hold my own against a decent majority of performance cars yet i dont want the fastest civic in my state or a high maintenance machine that'll have me swappin motors every 6 months...i dont have ne kids and this will eventually just become a toy/semi regular driver for me....if this is the specific you were talkin about i hope it helps and as far as the money i look to have maybe 50-100 bucks to put away for the car a month right now until i receive a pay bump in a few months yea i agree about trying not to only work on one thing i would like to just slowly evolve all areas of the car....thank you so much guys im goin to look for that manual right now

 

oo well with only that much going inn this project might take awhile...ok ill tell you what i did im 16 and a little short on money also, just make sure you do a lot of looking around on sites and ebay.... i found my exhaust/header package one ebay and it was like 550 fof a 4-2-1 racing header and a catback exhaust and its all from the amazing megan racing so its not bs parts then i put together my own coilovers from skunk2 so i didnt have to pay for the exspensive full coilover kit they offeres you just need to look around and know what you looking for..the guys here are really nice and they know a butt load of info so just ask

 

yea im kinda bummed i dont got more funds for it right now but i know its something im gonna continue to enjoy doing and hopefully down the road ill have more money free for another engine and whatnot but yea ive only driven the car a few times since i bought it its at my mechanics getting new brakes i havent looked under it yet but i know something has been modified on the exhaust jus gotta take a look when i get it back whatever was done im sure it prolly wasnt top dollar...it also came w a cold air intake but i havent looked to see what brand, type or anything yet....so given that either of these are halfway decent perhaps i should move along to the headers? or try a combo or replace either with something better?

 

Header isn't a bad idea if you already have a cat-back exhaust and intake. If the intake filter looks old, replace it ASAP with a good one like K&N, the piping brand name really doesn't matter all that much, so you should be fine as far as that goes. After you do the I/H/E (Intake, Header and Exhaust) I would get a short shifter then move straight to the suspension. New springs and shocks on a civic makes a world of difference and as a daily driver, you will be glad you made the change. After the suspension I'd try to find a nice set of 15-17" wheels because the lower profile and wider tires will also give you a much better grip and feel on the road, and the car will look much better! Take a look on craigslist.org DAILY for great deals. I've bought LOTS of parts off of craigslist with little regrets (Bought one set of "civic Si wheels" that turned out to be prelude Si wheels...) so just check the parts carefully before you buy them to make sure they are in good condition and will fit your application. Good Luck! Post up some pics!

 

Yea ill be sure to check it all out asap when i get it in the morning....well thats good i at least got one mod down haha it actually came w some nice 17s n some fresh rubber on them n i definitley like them haha ill get me some pics up sometime tomorow once i get it home....and yea based on my short experience in it some shocks might be getting bumped up the list shortly haha so neways what suggestions do u have in my look for headers?

 

so i apologize for not checkin out the great info in the i/h/e faq that helped out alot my question now is how much if any does my decision on i/h/e affect my plans down the road for an engine swap/any other major upgrades?

 

If anyone can please answer my last question it would be greatly appreciated thanks again guys...