This discussion really depends on what your budget is, and what your technical proficiency is. A muffler is not going to give you much performance gain, in your case it would have more of a bling effect then anything else. I'd spend cash on a performance header rather then a muffler.

There are cheap ways to achieve your goals which involve removing weight where weight is not needed. Of course removing things like the carpeting (40 lbs) will increase road noise, and looks like crap after your done, this may not be what your looking for. There are write ups on the net about this. Removing weight will increase pretty much everything, acceleration, braking, handling, and gas mileage.

If you really want a vtec motor look for a used D16Y8 out of an EX. It will be a direct swap into your 98. You can probably do this drop for $1000 or less.

You can get 5 piece suspension kit on ebay for about $100. H-Brace, upper and lower tie bars and a C-pillar. These are worth it, and you'll notice the difference in handling. Its cheaper to buy the whole set all at once rather then buying several smaller sets over time.

 

alright. i just bought a 97 DX for $150 canadian. motor siezed in it, body is in good shape. thinking about doing it as a project car and putting the vtec in it. then i can keep my 98 dx as a daily driver for now then the gf can have it when im done the 97. so should i focus on the vtec and the 5 piece suspension for now and go from there? i wanna basically go full out with this car over time. thinking about doing the interior while its all torn apart. so basically carpet out, small role cage that i can still put the back seats in it once and a while. any other ideas i should focus on?

 

You have a lot of options, and a lot of work on your hands. Do research before you do anything. See what route you want to take for your new project. These forums are a good place to start. Read about what other people have done, and decide what it is you want to do. What trim are the two cars? Coupe, Hatch, or Sedan? I'd pick the lighter of the two assuming they are not the same trim. It would help if you list all the specs on the two cars.

Here's a list of weights for all models since I don't know what models you have. The last column is the stock weight in pounds.

1997 Honda Civic DX HB MT 2319
1997 Honda Civic DX HB AT 2253
1997 Honda Civic DX CPE MT 2337
1997 Honda Civic DX CPE AT 2271
1997 Honda Civic DX SDN MT 2370
1997 Honda Civic DX SDN AT 2319
1998 Honda Civic DX HB MT 2339
1998 Honda Civic DX HB AT 2392
1998 Honda Civic DX CPE MT 2342
1998 Honda Civic DX CPE AT 2385
1998 Honda Civic DX SDN MT 2339
1998 Honda Civic DX SDN AT 2385

You have a wide variety of VTEC motors to choose from, you should pick one according to your budget, then read about what it takes to install it. When you say "i wanna basically go full out with this car over time" I'm assuming this means you have funds to perform all the mods. The best you could do is probably a K20A type R or a K24 from japan. Its expensive though. How much are you looking to spend on this project?

 

hmm


Phearable is a tuning company. Crome and Uberdata are tuning programs. Phearable tunes with Crome and possibly Uberdata on the chips they sell.

So, just clarifying, they're not the same kind of thing.

 

SCT makes good chips for Ford. I'm not too sure about other cars.

Good tires will help on handling.

Look into a short throw shifter to.

 

well i have big plans for the car, like most people usually do, but its goign to take alot of time, and money which is short due to other project car (pro touring '57 chev which is almost done!) ya im lookin at vtec's and i'll really consider one out of an EX for sure

 

if chips are what you want, i've heard great things about lay's and doritos.

not that expensive too

 

^j3rk

 

^you dont lik3? red hot lays in a bologna sandwich ar3 swesom3

 

Have you inspected the timing belt and/or have record of it being replaced? You may be walking before you are modding if you dont look into that...(depending on mileage)