Hey guys just new to this forum and from what I have read so far a lot of guys seem to know what they are talking about. I have recently bought a 99 civic EX and am looking to do some work to it. Was just wondering what you all would recommend as a place to start. I want to do both performance upgrades as well as appearance upgrades so if you could just let me know what would be the best place to start, especially in the performance area as I am still learning about performance upgrades I would really appreciate it. Thanks

 

It really depends on what type of money you got to lay out at the moment.If you got bank then hit up the performance stuff first since that will take up your money quick with buying and installing unless you got a hook up who can help you out.The appearance stuff is cheaper and alot of it can be done yourself maybe except painting.Im doing a mix of both since i dont wanna have a ride that looks fast without it having some ***** you know. If i can give any advice do the simple stuff first rims,springs,lights,tints. Then jump to plugs,wires,intakes,exhaust,headers.Hope that helps you some..

 

Id start with the basics, air intake, iridium spark plugs, bigger gauge ignition wires, and strut bars.

 

Do your necessary bolt on's first, cold air or short-ram, header, hi flow converter, and a cat-back exhaust, that way your not restricting your engine that will help you out and you will feel the deference, then work on pulley, spark plugs wires, then some intake manifold work maybe new throttle body or spacer. then but I forgot to ask are you goin all motor, or turbocharged/supercharged???

 

as of right now I'm planning on just going all motor. but possibly in the future I will be looking at turbo/super charging it. does that change what you would recommend as a starting point then grn?

 

you plan on staying with the SOHC? what are you planning to get out of the car? just a quicker daily driver, or drag racing, or auto-x, circuit racing?

 

well I'm not sure right now sacions. I would eventually like to do an engine swap as well but at this point I don't have the funds for that so that will be a future project. Right now I am more interested in simple additions to the engine that will help me get a little more performance from it. And yeah its just a daily driver at this point but who knows where I will go with it at a later point. right now I'm just looking to dress it up a little bit visually as well as get a little more out of the engine. so any suggestions would be appreciated regarding either direction(staying with the SOHC as of now or with an engine swap to a DOHC, I was thinking B18 but if you would suggest otherwise then let me know, you know more on the topic then I do) thanks

 

if you plan on changing the motor, its best to keep the mods simple. intake, header, and exhaust. you could reuse a short ram intake with the DOHC, as well as the exhaust (though it might need a different cat or something to get it to line up.) so if you get a quality used header, then you could sell it for nearly as much as you paid for it when you do the swap. that way youre not out much money for some decent power in the meantime. the way i started was whenever i had a problem with my car, i would fix it and use a better part. when a bushing ripped, i got polyurethane ones, when my plug wires went bad, i got decent ones (though i found out later on that they can actually hurt the power on an otherwise stock car) yknow, that kind of thing. then, as i could afford it, i got a few upgrades as they came up. a lot of what i have on my car is used, from what friends upgraded past. or when a friend decided to sell his car, i got a few performance parts for a little cash and the stock parts. i really dont have much money into my car besides the motor. and tires. on that note, if you lower it, get a camber kit on all four corners. it will pay for itself within a year. but the best place to start, and most of the people here agree, is with a good ( i mean REALLY good) set of tires. then a set of sway bars and strut braces. then GOOD brake pads and SS lines. i also love the feel of the brake pedal now that i have an Integra brake booster and master cylinder. so i kinda rambled, but i hope something here helps. good luck. oh, and the B18c is a great choice for a swap.

 

thanks for the advice sacions

 

All the performance sugestions are good, and as far as visual stuff, just get some nice rims and good tires, 15's or 16's will look good. At the same time put some lowering springs on it to tuck the rims and make the car handle better. This will be a good start.