New Member form Middletown, DE
 

Hi im new to the forum and Civics alltogether. I recently purchased a 97 Civic EX and i want to make a low budget project out of it while still being my daily driver. It may have 218k on it but i feel its still got alota life left in it since it was a well taken care of 1 owner car. Id like some suggestions as to simple mods and performance upgrades that can be done while sticking to a very tight budget, and id prefer to be able to do the work myself. i thank you for your input ahead of time. Here's a photo of the car as it was the day i purchased it.

Intake, header, exhaust for cheaper performance gains. You'll also get a feel for working on the car by then. The exhaust system is usually one of the hardest things to work on with a 12 year old car!

Ebay intake will be fine, just go for a K&N filter, or AEM Dryflow filter.
Many say that the Megan header from Ebay works well. Get a 4-2-1 header.
Apexi WS2 exhaust (The best IMO) Youtube it for sound clips.

After that, I would say go for suspension work. A nice Koni's or KYB AGX's with Ground Controls would be nice. You could also look into getting a rear sway bar.

How much money did you say you have? I could keep going if you want....

Welcome to HCF.

Right now im flat out broke from the purchase of the actual vehicle, but i did manage to scrounge up enough money to get an AEM SRI for the car that i installed today. Hopefully if i can get some more time in at work and unload some unneeded items ill have a larger budget to work with maybe say 1000-2000.

As long as the intake has a good filter on it such as the Dryflow or K&N, you should be good.

With $2k, you should have enough to properly do simple bolt ons, suspension, and a lip. When I say properly done, I mean getting all new gaskets/bolts for the exhaust, new rear lca's and bolts (your stock ones will probably seize up when removing them....have fun :)), alignment after the suspension stuff, and be able to have the lip(s) professionally painted to match the car, and possibly get a nice short shifter, too (~$100).

Did you say if the car was 5spd. or auto?

It is in fact a 5 speed, and if i can accumulate the money those definately sound like some feasible options for me.