Hi, im 16 and i just startedmy first real jobrecently and i've been trying to get myself a car. I joined this forum because i knew i was going to get a Civic, '89 as my first car, because where im from they are the best car to own. The thing is, if i buy this '89 i want to know if later on i will have the option of putting in an engine from a newer Civic, because i don't want to buy a car without any room for improvement.

Can anyone help me out?

 

first off, welcome to the forums.

I'm can promise you that later on down the road you'll have the option of doing an engine swap. Probably the biggest problem you'll face with it is deciding what engine to swap to. I'm not 100% sure of the laws, but I believe the engine you swap to has to be the same year or newer than your car (if I'm wrong, somebody please correct me). But since you'll be getting an '89, you most likely will be swapping to a newer engine anyway.

Even if you don't swap to another engine, Honda engines are very easy to make power on. Install an intake, header, exhaust, and you've probably just bolted on around 10-15 horses. As long as your engine is in good condition (search "compression test"), you can turbo the engine to gain massive amounts of power.

Either way, I'd definitely recommend buying the civic. They're a lot of fun to modify, and even more fun to drive.

 

Welcome to the forum. I don't know what state you live in, but in IL if your car is older than '96 then you do not have to pass emissions. You should be able to swap any engine you like in there if you don't have to worry about emissions. I think it should be the same for most other states except cali.

 

You have to have it emissions tested in IL. Pre-'96 cars didn't have OBDII though, so they have to test tailpipe emissions. Later cars just plug into their computer with the engine running.