decisions on some modsss

[japa_VTEC]

Hey guys,

Here's a quick pic of my EK1.

http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/5559/img00182201010031055nop.jpg (http://img638.imageshack.us/i/img00182201010031055nop.jpg/)

My first car, love it. Just need some help or advice on what I should modify/add next. I'm planning on getting wheels and some coilovers for moar lowzz at the end of the year, so dw about that.
Maybe a new exhaust? Strut bar? Probably a new slim white liscence plate? Some interior stuff? I'm open to many options.

as you can see, I've already got a type R front lip and jdm grille that I colour coded myself, DIY painted gunmetal headlights and an HID xenon conversion. The interior is full stock (that ugly carpet stuff). I'll probably be getting a rear type R lip soon too

Being a d-series, I'm not too keen on any engine mods but i'm considering an engine swap in future. But throw me some ideas!


Thanks guys!

[japa_VTEC]

i'll be fixing that scratch soon :D

[TheSaint]

nothing wrong with the D - but if you can afford a swap its the better option in the long run

i would go for front and rear struts + a tie brace - does your car have an OEM swaybar? if not i would get the OEM 14mm kit
that way when you get your coilovers etc it will really work hard =)

hit me up with a pm if you need any ultra racing parts - i can get them at a good price =)

[japa_VTEC]

nah i don't think i have an OEM swaybar. i jsut searched them and they sound like a really good mod for the money. thanks dude, i'll consider that

keep going!

[kcokla]

id go for a rearsway bar + reinforcement bar(not tie bar).

[waix]

spoon carbon wing perhaps.

[brandonek1]

i reckon colour coded side mirrors wouldn't look too bad

[mugen_ctr]

stick a em1/ek4 swaybar on, makes a whole different to handling if ur on a budget, for less than $100, cant go wrong

[GenesisEG]

It depends entirely on the budget too.

Buying cheaper second hand parts could save you a fortune and at the end, you might still be able to achieve a good result.

Personally, I prefer to save up and buy good quality aftermarket parts where I can, all brand new. It takes me longer to mod my car, and it upsets the wife more because I have to spend more money, but in the end, I am happy with the result.

I think that if I settled for the budget option, I'd end up dissatisfied and would not enjoy the car as much. For instance, I picked Function 7 LCA's instead of second hand OEM LCA's, and each time I see them, I smile. Took me longer to save, and probably doesn't make a hell of a lot of difference at my level of driving, but hey, that's what I wanted, and I'm glad I did it.

That's a question you're going to have to ask yourself before you start spending money on your car. What do you want to do with it? Will you be happy with 'good enough' or do you want the absolute best you can get?

Another thing to keep in mind is not to get too carried away with modding your car until you have a plan for it. It's so easy to get carried away buying everything you lay your eyes upon, but you'll waste money that way and you'll end up with a less than ideal setup.

Do it once, do it properly. Plan your mods, plan the order. Work out what you want to do with the car. Do you like the winding roads or do you like thrashing people off from the lights? Do you want a practical car or a pimp mobile.

Good cars are a result of good planning and alot of research.

I can't really make too many suggestions on parts because I don't know what you want from your car. The idea of buying coilovers simply to lower your car is a bit foreign to me. Chop the springs if all you want is a lower ride. To me, suspension is a contributing factor to handling, braking and accelerating. The aesthetic aspect of the height of the car is secondary. I bought my coilovers so I could take the car around corners faster. I picked the height and the damper settings to best suit the roads I drive on. It looks good, but the looks really had no influence on the tuning of the suspension.

Brakes are another thing that often get overlooked. Improving your braking power will make your car safer, and it can also improve the overall performance of the car around tracks or on winding roads where the ability to brake later means a better lap time.

Then you have to pick the size of your wheels, and what kind of wheels you will buy. Do you want to pimp it and stick 18's on there, or do you want to go for a more performance oriented wheel/tyre combination and stick with 15's? What about the width? Wider wheels can hold wider tyres, but then you have to think about fitting them in the guards, and going too wide can impair performance in some regards.

Then you have your tyre compound and tread pattern. Do you drive in the wet? If so, semis are probably not suitable. If not, then you probably want as much traction as possible. However, you need to consider how often you drive your car. Is it a daily, meaning you will wear through soft compound tyres quickly, or is it a weekender, in which case you really can get away with anything.

I hate to swamp you with all of this stuff, but it's clear to me that you're keen on getting stuck into your car, and I think you should be prepared. It's hard, but it's very rewarding to do some serious research before you start doing anything to your car. In the end, you'll have yourself a real weapon, and you'll be glad you didn't waste your time and money on buying things that may have looked good at the time, but really wouldn't have done you any good in the long run. I would really like to see some quality cars on the road, and although there are a few floating around, it's surprising how many people just throw money at their car and hope for the best.

Let us know what you are hoping to achieve with your car, and then we can probably help you out a bit more.

[japa_VTEC]

wow thanks for all the replies guys, especially GenisisEG.

Well, this gives me a lot to think about. So far it looks like rear sway bar is the way to go, and i think colour coding my mirrors may be a good one :)

More directed towards GenisisEG; i wanted to get the coilovers for a good combination of looking good and handling (i'm not so keen on insane lowering). As for wheels I'm going to be looking at 15's or 16's because of the ride comfort and preformance. I'm not into that whole bling bling thing. I'm looking for a good combination of a practical yet still nice and tight on corners and a bit of a kick when i put my foot down. Keep in mind that this is my first car, and it is a little CXi haha. I'm planning to do the big stuff on future cars with a bit more potential. I'll try my best into making this a neat well balanced car.

Thanks again for the responses!

[GenesisEG]

Well, if you're interested in coilovers, I'd like to suggest HSD. They're quite cheap compared to many of the more popular brands, but I've found mine to be right up there as far as performance goes. You're still probably looking at 1600 bucks or so for a set, but compared to brands like Spoon, that's quite cheap. It'll give you a great ride, and with the adjustable damper, you'll be able to soften it a touch for day to day driving. Check out the available brands, but I think you'll find HSD are the best bang for your buck. I have a friend that drives competitively and he uses HSD. If it's good enough for semi-pro drifting, it's good enough for my pleasure cruises through the parks.

Bracing is a must if you want to take corners at any speed. Older cars like ours tend to lack the rigidity needed to take corners properly. A nice rigid chassis will give you better cornering capabilities, and will improve the driving feel. It'll also be safer, since you'll probably find the car will behave more predictably. I'm hoping to get myself an ASR setup. I'd probably suggest to do the coilovers and the bracing all at different intervals. If you do everything at once, you won't be able to appreciate the difference each part makes. Do the coilovers, then after a few months of driving, add a strut brace, then another strut brace, then a sway bar, then another sway bar. Do it in stages, and you'll see the difference. It'll also allow you to adjust to the feel of the car each time it changes. Doing everything in one go makes the car feel completely different and you won't really understand how any of it works.

Regarding the wheels, 16's are probably the biggest you'll want to go if you really want to engage in performance driving. 15's are probably ideal. The thing to consider is width, offset and style/brand. Volks TE37's are my favourite wheel, and I'll be saving up for a set of them in red for my white EG. The width and offset will be harder for you to determine, you may need help with that. Just make sure you are happy with the style/brand of wheel before you buy it. Don't just buy a set because of a good deal, you'll regret it, and you'll end up losing money when you sell them for the set you wanted in the first place.

The engine is something you'll probably have to wait for. I am going to put a B18C in mine, but it's going to take years before I can do it. I'm determined to make sure that every other aspect of the car is up to scratch before I invest in a bigger engine. Before you worry about that oomph under your foot, make sure the car handles well and brakes well. Last thing we want is your car wrapped around a pole with you in it.

Now, regarding the mirrors, if you're doing it yourself that's cool, but if you're going to spend money on painting them, it might be a good idea to first consider if you are going to replace them. I want CF Spoon side mirrors, I'd never waste money changing what I have until I get those. Before you do anything to any part of your car, just consider what you will be doing in the future. Doubling up on your mods is a big waste of money. It might even be worthwhile sitting down and writing down a list of mods you want to do right down to the brand and model of the parts, and then ordering them so you have a clear plan of what you want to do. It'll help to eliminate waste and it will stop you from wavering too much on your path. If you have no clear idea of what you want to do, you'll end up with a half-arsed car and an empty wallet.

Anyway, best of luck with your car. I'm sure you'll be happy with the end result if you put a little bit of thought and effort into it.

[jks24]

ill just say i really like the colour mate, as above there is heaps of potential to make this a good well balanced car, just takes patience as others have already told you. Do things in intervals like genesis said, I did coilovers first then went on to sway bars etc later on and it was good to feel the difference and have the feeling of money well spent. If funds permit I would be getting rid of the drum brakes on the back in the near future..

[japa_VTEC]

cheers genisis, much appreciated.

thanks guys, well i'll take it step by step, i may just save a little more for some better wheels and coilovers. 1.6k for coilovers woww, i was thinking around the 1.2k mark haha, time to start saving hardd.

cheers for the comments

[jks24]

cheers genisis, much appreciated.

thanks guys, well i'll take it step by step, i may just save a little more for some better wheels and coilovers. 1.6k for coilovers woww, i was thinking around the 1.2k mark haha, time to start saving hardd.

cheers for the comments

for 1.2k you would prob only get something secondhand?

[mugen_ctr]

add another $100-200 ontop of 1.2k an u get bc coil-overs...
As ur first car, just like most of us, its the learning car, so dont kick urself all the time if something goes wrong, thats how we all learn, an being 1st, dont always go by what everyone says

if ur working on a part-time basis an at uni/tafe, like me, real stuff is just to expensive lol, in the end, as long as the product works its magic, than i cant justify spending half the years work pay on that real part alone, mugen, spoon or so, as long as the fakes work the same as real ones than its just as good, haters gonna hate :D

[brandonek1]

add another $100-200 ontop of 1.2k an u get bc coil-overs...
As ur first car, just like most of us, its the learning car, so dont kick urself all the time if something goes wrong, thats how we all learn, an being 1st, dont always go by what everyone says

if ur working on a part-time basis an at uni/tafe, like me, real stuff is just to expensive lol, in the end, as long as the product works its magic, than i cant justify spending half the years work pay on that real part alone, mugen, spoon or so, as long as the fakes work the same as real ones than its just as good, haters gonna hate :D

so true haha. just gotta make the most out of what you've got..

[NEE]

If you need someone to fit any of your proposed mods... I can... for a fair price. PM me if you're interested.

[-B18C2-]

nice sports max range from jdm yard some coils then ur set (Y)

[japa_VTEC]

i'll probably stick with some second hand parts, but i'm looking at these skunk2 pro S coilovers for $1170. does anyone rate these?
i was also looking at a cheaper option and that was getting some low springs with an upgraded set of sports shocks. what's the difference, besides the adjustability of the coilovers?

mugen_ctr; haha man i'm in the same boat, studying full-time at uni with a part-time job. fakes ftw lool

NEE; i'll be sure to get back to you with stuff like installing suspension because i don't have a proper jack etc.

[jks24]

i'll probably stick with some second hand parts, but i'm looking at these skunk2 pro S coilovers for $1170. does anyone rate these?
i was also looking at a cheaper option and that was getting some low springs with an upgraded set of sports shocks. what's the difference, besides the adjustability of the coilovers?

mugen_ctr; haha man i'm in the same boat, studying full-time at uni with a part-time job. fakes ftw lool

NEE; i'll be sure to get back to you with stuff like installing suspension because i don't have a proper jack etc.
skunk2 pro s seemed alright when I was looking at coilovers, I ended up getting the pro c's but the pro s are good for street use if thats what you are going to use the car for..

[japa_VTEC]

what about the skunk2 shocks? couldn't i just slap my stock springs or some skunk2 springs on them?
are their any cons to doing this?

[GenesisEG]

My advice, for what it's worth, is to avoid playing mix-n-match with suspension components. Coilovers are great because they come in a matched unit. The damper is matched to the spring. A good, solid knowledge of suspension theory might enable you to play games with it, but for the average user, it's probably safer to go with a tried and proven combination of parts. So many people have serious handling issues, amongst other things, when they start mixing springs and shocks.

Still, it's entirely up to you if you want to experiment, but if you're running under a budget, then you really can't afford to be venturing too far from the trodden path. My suggestion to buy premium parts might sound very costly, but making silly purchases in the hopes of saving money usually ends up costing you more in the long run when you have to fix your mistakes.

I bought genuine Recaros, HSD coilovers, CTR wheels, ITR brakes, Function 7 LCA's, Spoon shift knob with a new OEM boot and a Buddy Club shifter, Nardi steering wheel and Spoon boss kit, and so far I've only spent around 5 grand on mods. It's a great car to drive, and for 10 grand I have myself a little ripper. Sure, I probably could've squeezed in a few more mods with the same budget using cheaper parts, but I wouldn't be as proud of my car as I am, I wouldn't enjoy it as much, and I'd be forever kicking myself for cutting corners. Don't do that to yourself... Shop around, find the bargains, but always set a standard for yourself. You want a car you can be proud of, even if it takes you longer to build.

[davidvtec]

i got a rear lip i want to get rid of. pm me if your interested :)