i posted this in the introductions section and then realized i wasn't supposed to post technical questions there:

hey guys, i just bought a 99 civic ex coupe, 5speed. its a great little car and gets excellent gas mileage. i have a mustang as my performance car and i just bought the civic so i could garage my mustang (its a 95 and only has 40k miles on it). anyways, i had two questions:
1) the car has 135k miles on it. i can tell it was well taken care of. the timing belt has been changed and everything appears to work properly. is there any other preventative maintenance i should do now, considering the age of the vehicle? everything appears to be in good condition, i'm just new to hondas.
2) are there any 'free mods' or relatively cheap performance mods i can do to increase the power without sacrificing fuel economy? i don't want to do anything that will make the car sound ricey. for instance, i was wondering if i could advance the ignitiontiming at all and still use 87octane? and how could i advance the timing?

thanks

 

i thought there would be more people on this site...

i just found out that the car has a traditional distributor. so (in addition to the questions i asked above), anyone know how much timing advance i can run on 87 octane without detonation? car is bone stock.

 

Theres cheap little upgrades that can increase the performance a little bit, but dont expect too much from it.

 

$300 magnaflow exhaust
$200-$300 4-2-1 header
$5 decals that give 10hp+
$100-$200 lighter flywheel
$100 short air intake
lowering the car increases handling and top speed, not that you'll ever be driving that fast.....I don't know.

get a better intake manifold, maybe another $300?
ported head
high flow catalytic converter - $100

without the ported head and intake manifold you'll probably gain 20hp and the lighter flywheel makes acceleration faster.

 

guess there isn't really any free mods for a n/a 4 cylinder. i'm not really wanting to do more serious mods because id rather spend that money on my mustang and i don't want my car to sound like my lawnmower. any help with the ignition timing would be appreciated.

 

Well there are some less expensive mods that you might like.
You can get an ebay short ram intake and put a good filter on (the ebay filters are trash) and that'll only cost around $70 or so total.
You can buy a Megan Racing 4-2-1 Headeer for around $150 on ebay.
And then the exhaust will cost more than that (~$400 on ebay if you look hard for a good deal) if you want it to not sound "like [your] lawnmower"?

You do realize that not all aftermarket exhaust systems are like that right?

There are more quiet, non-coffee can exhausts like the Apex-i WS2, RS*R Exmag, and GReddy SP2. You can watch clips on youtube and see how they sound.


I think if you do I/H/E you'll be pleased with how it sounds and the little extra horsepower, since you are only using it as a DD.

 

greddy sp2 or magnaflow exhaust FTW

 

thanks, i'll have to do some research. i'll admit i don't know much about import performance. i guess the only cars that stick out in my memory have obnoxiously loud and lawnmowerish sounding exhaust (except i always thought subaru's turbo flat 4s sounded badass). if there is a performanceexhaust that is quiet with a nice tone (and normal sized tips) i might try it out. what if i just replaced the header? would that add power if i kept the stock exhaust? would the longer tube design's scavenging make me fail emissions? thanks again

 

Well, if you just upgrade to Header.. It might helps a little, but not as much with the full combination of I/H/E, since they all benefit each other greatly. I only got a AEM V2 on my Civic, and I love the sound at high rpms, and i'll soon have a 4-1 Megan header, Random tech high-flow cat, and Apexi WS2 exhaust, i'm sure i'll love the sound. The exhaust has a 2.25" tip, and it doesn't look like or sound like a fartcan at all.

 

You can also buy after market spark plugs and wires wich will help t to run more smooth and might give it a pinch extra of hp. Oh and make sure that you dont EVER buy an ebay mod chip. I did and it didn't do ****. 8$ 15$ 45$ theyre all the same!!! and they dont help at all. You think hey why not 8 buck and i might get more horsies whats to loose. Trust me! Oh and dont even think about those stupid elctronic superchargers, I've heard that they hurt your engine more than anything and give Zero extra horse power. Oh and aslo the tornado intake air flow things dont work ether.
Sorry I didn't really give you things that will help but hopefully by reading this you wont make mistakesby buying crap. Performance aint cheap.