What's good everyone? I'm a new member here (duh), but this isn't my first forum. I've ventured in different hobbies like, sports cards and I’m pretty big on clothes (think what you want) but I've been getting bored recently, need something that was going to catch my attention. Many of my friends are big on luxury cars but I just have a thing for tuners, my favorite car is the skyline but besides that, I'm big on Honda Accords and Civics. I have recently let go all my previous hobbies and decided to save for my first car (Honda Civic Ex, 1999-2002). I would like to buy a car with a good body and solid mileage and transform it INTO something like the cars I see here; problem is I have no clue about cars. How does one gain knowledge, the things I read here are rather confusing .The only thing I know about are body kits but I would like to go further than that.

Was hoping to join this forum and get a lot of knowledge from reading and members helping me out. I am guessing a 1999-2002 (edit) Civic Ex ranges anywhere from $3500-$5500 (correct me if I am wrong)... I need help with just about everything, what did most of you do upon buying and tuning your first vehicle?

 

Well, first of all welcome to the forum. I too am a newbie at this but I got a 00 civic ex. The things I've done to it are 1. new strereo. 2. bought headlights. 3. paint unpainted parts(side skirts/grille/mirrors.) one thing that mostly everyone does is drop the car a bit and/or add a lip/body kit. The more experienced one's swap engines, add turbos etc. it depends on how you want the car. but we're all here to help =]

p.s when i bought my civic it had ~87k on it and i got it for 3k.

 

seems like u got a good deal, i found a civic for 2700 not a ex though, how much does the body kit cost to install? Whats the best body kit to get and how much is painting...

 

I'm not really sure on the body kits, but i think they're around ~300? i think ppl will recommend lip kits instead since they're cheaper and the paint can be done by you, i think there's a thread by hobo where he shows how he painted his (car)lips and side skirts. as for the painting it depends if you wanna take it to a shop or do it yourself. Most of use aerosol spray paint that you can get matched at auto zone, napa or a local auto shop. but thats for small painting projects, not the whole car.

for paint doubts try here and here, good info on them.

 

avoid most body kits

lips are the way to go. If being "unique" is the reason you want a body kit (common claim from body kit advocates), get one of the rare/more-expensive lips instead.