New from Houston
 

I posted in the "Hey You" sticky, but i'll call this my formal introduction.

Glad to be here... and here's my '99 Civic EX Coupe ...
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Hey welcome to HCF! Great stock EX time to get modding my friend.
Any plans?

Thanks for the welcome!!

As of now, this is my commuter car to keep the miles down on my new Ridge... but I won't rule out playing around with it when I have some extra cash.

So far I have changed out the stereo and speakers and slipped on some cheap seat covers to keep from trashing out the seats, since it is my 'work' car. Other than that, I wouldn't have any idea where to begin.

The body has a few hail dings and a small scrape on the left door and quarter panel where the previous owner hit something or got hit by someone else.

Where do you guys begin when you start thinking about mods? Engine, suspension, exhaust? I just don't know.

Well depends on the money you want to spend and how dedicated you are to a build. If your not looking for much I would say Intake, Exhaust, Header. If you want power obviously boost or engine swap.

Is there a noticeable difference in the way they run after changing out the intake and exhaust manifolds/header as well as the overall exhaust?

Also, is there an alternative to those loud raspy sounding exhausts? I find those rather irritating, LOL. I would rather have something that sounds deeper as opposed to louder.

Can you post a link as to where to look for such parts?

Thanks!

Get your ebay on. Different exhaust/muffler (and indeed intake) combinations will give you different notes. But if you want something deep, you be best looking at something with double the cylinders. The Civic loves to sit above about 4,500rpm. A nice exhaust will make it sing. But remember, you get what you pay for and there is no cutting corners when it comes to excellence.
I love my intake/exhaust settup. Get it breathing and the throttle becomes alot more responsive. It might also run more fuel economic... but you will be mashing the accelerator out of every corner anyway so it will probably cancel out.

this is the exhaust that i love. pricey but well worth it IMO.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYAlI...ext=1&index=32

Now THAT sounds like what I would be interested in!

I also googled it and yes, kinda pricey... but not surprising.

Would it be worth it to mod out an existing engine with 120,000 miles on it? Speaking of an intake, header and exhaust change.

I think it would be worth it yes. Your not going to get a load of HP from all three together, but 120,000 miles is not a lot for a Honda, def. if you don't beat the hell out of your engine. Now get a cheap intake pipe from ebay and get a K&N Air filter, because thats all that matters on an intake.

Then finish it off with that apexi exhaust and DC 4-2-1 header.

Ok thats good to know. I didn't want to consider mods if it was a pointless idea.

I think a good place to start would be a cold-air intake, header and exhaust.

From doing a little research, I can see a DC ceramic coated 4-2-1 2-piece header and maybe a cold-air intake off ebay (some are REALLY cheap, IDK if thats good or bad) or some other manufacture. I was looking at AEM, K&N etc.

As far as exhaust systems, the Apexi is nice, but I would also like to look at some other options. What are some others to look at, that are still a good system, but not as pricey?