I'm currently selling my 2000 Toyota Tacoma 4x4 supercharged, lifted, sweet *** truck to get myself a civic to help save some gas. Anyways, I'm looking at getting a 2002-2004 Civic coupe ex model. What are some things I should look for in a used one? I'm not going to do a bunch of modding to it, but do cold air intakes do anything, or are they like the ones made for my tacoma where people have dyno'd them to actually decrease hp and tq? I do want some rims for it, what is a good size on the factory stance (no lowering)--should I look at 16's or 17's? Also does anyone have pictures of some gunmetal color rims on their civic? Thanks for the help guys, here shortly I'll hopefully have a civic-------Dave

 

Well good luck gettin people to reply...haha.

Actually the reason I say that is becasue I ahve posted a few questions my self and have gotten no answers or even replies on any of em...and its been a few days.

Dont worry fellow Newbie I wont shun you.

I have owned several vehicles that I have ran CAI's on. I had a 96 civic hatchback, and it seemed to help it perform better. The only thing I must warn you about (and this is from personal experience) if you purchase say a AEM or even a knock off CAI and it relocates the filter to the lower left hand side of the car, (if your facing the front of the car)...watch out for water! A large puddle after some rain will make you wish you never owned a CAI. It will destroy your motor. Trust me.

Other than that...in my opinion CAI's do make some difference. As far as huge horsepower gains? Doubtful, maybe a few ponies here or there. But combine a CAI and removal of your cats, or even a catback system to help it breathe better all around, rather then just intake air...Make it count, if your gunna help it breathe better on the in side, then help it breathe better on the out side also. CAI+Header/exhaust mods.

I have 17" gun metal wheels on my civic, I will take some pics and post em for ya. The car is not lowered, however it does scrape rear fender on the tire when I hit a bump or take a corner quickly. I am thinking of actually raising it to fix that problem...
Not sure if it would be the same with that year model civic though.

 

Thanks Tonymore for the response--I tried the search feature and its like the one on the ttora forum I belong too--it doesnt work worth a hoot. Anyways, since Im getting this car strictly for its mpg--maybe I will stay away from performance stuff and get some rims and the windows tinted. I would like to see some pics of your rims though. Thanks, Dave

 

I am processing the images of my wheels right now...

I would say that anything over the stock air box has got to be an improvemnt on these little cars. The factory Airbox I took out of prior to boosting it was full of all sorts of restrictions...Just a thought.

Even if you didnt do anything with the exhaust, I would try a CAI. If anything you can always return it. But as far as exhaust is concerned...I personally would cut off the factory muffler and put a free flow type on there to allow more air to get out. I am not in favor of those weed eater sounding cars but there are mufflers, (ebay has tons) that are not junk for cheap. Buy one and take it to a shop if you dont have the tools to install it yourself. Its kind of silly, but the factory mufflers on these little cars weight a freakin ton. The aftermarket "sport compact" muffler will generally weigh a 1/4 of that. So if weight reduction is high on your list...then that is something to look into also.

I will have those pictures up in a second...

 

Here are the pictures of those wheels. Gunmetal ASA LS-5 17 inch. 205/40ZR17.



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Well first off you picked the right car to save money on gas..... Second the 2001-2005 Civics are geared toward economy not really mod friendly. If you get a whole Intake headers and Exhaust setup you might get 10 to 12 HP gain and thats on EX manual models. If you plan on modding in the future, go get a used SI(2001-2005) with a k20a3. These motors are alot more mod friendly.

 

Thanks Tonymore for the pics----definetly the color rims I want, but Im looking at a different style. D17SOHC--Ive been looking and looking at 1999-2000 Civic SI's, but to try to find one here in AK with low miles is impossible let alone finding one at all--I dont care for the stlye of the 3 door ones at all--I also compared mpg between the SI and EX and noticed its quite a bit different. THanks for the help---Dave

 

+1

 

Yep, I bought it for the gas mileage...

 

hello scroder you might think about a short ram i have one it works great i don't have gunmetal wheels i have sport max black chrome good luck finding a civic

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