Hello, Im Manne

[manne]

Hey, I'm Manne.
I'm a 16(17 in july) year old Male from Perth, Australia.

I just Bought a 1993 Honda Civic GL Hatch, which I have uplaoded some pictures of below.

I'm new to the world of Hondas, and don't know what to expect.
So I'll have a look around the site, see what I can find and learn..but some help would me appretiated ^_^.

Well, let me know what you think etc...

~Manne

[Muzz]

Hey there really good choice of car. It looks like its in great condition, paint is really clean. How many ks it done?

[manne]

206 thousand...
Hehehe, those photos do the car GREAT justice (the exterior anyway)
The main things that drew me to the car, was the clean interior, and well looked after engine bay.
The Body itself has a couple of scratches on it, and not the previous owner, but the one before that, left the car out in the sun and the paints fading on the roof.

[STTICH]

welcome.

take good care of the car, EGs are lovely :thumbsup: :)

[manne]

You can tell me that again :), It's so comfortable and smooth..

[manne]

so what can you guys tell me about this model Civic?

[Sensei]

Hi Manne, welcome to OH. Good choice of color and car. Civics are cheap to insure, run and modify (Have a look around in this forum and you should find all the info you're after and also a heap of cheap parts for it in our "for-sale" section)
BTW, Is this your first car? (guessing by your age, you're on your Ls or Ps?)

I know very little about civics (accord owner myself) but here's some basic info about your vehicle:
It's a Civic GLi Hatch which was manufactured from Oct 1993 - Sep 1995
It comes standard with1.5L SOHC 16 valve, 4-cyl MPFI engine
In stock form it makes an earth shattering 74kW / 133Nm
I think the chassis code is something like EG6? (someone correct me if I'm wrong)

People would suggest that you start off by getting to know your car, drive it as much as possible when you can and get a good feel for it. Once you're confident & comfortable with what it has to offer you might dip into the world of aftermarket modification. This is where this forum shines, heaps of info and DIYs on how to make your little hatch into whatever you want. We have people with experience and knowledge in "bling", sound system setups, motor swaps, suspension gurus, bolt on performance modifications, exterior body modifications, motorsports, the list goes on.

The best advice I can give you is to look around and start reading on this forum, use the search feature for your queries, as it's probably been answered before. Oh! & try to attend your local meets/gatherings/cruises, you'll get to see other folks with civics (EGs are everywhere!:p) & you can learn first hand from them.....damn! I rambled too much again :zip:.

[SiReal]

Hey Manne,

Nice car for 16!!!

Your car is actually a 1991-1993 GL civic - Its powered by a carburettor engine. so as for performance gains, dont expect anything nuclear.

But for looks, its a very cute little car. Install a nice audio system (dont have to go overboard), drive it leisurely, and u'll be on cloud nine :thumbsup:

[zpreme]

isn't it a GLi - should be EFI

[Joeyboy]

HIya Manne! another EG owner...WELL DONE on your purchase! u planning to do much with exterior/interior?

suggest getting good set of lowered springs and nice set of 17s wid low profile tyres and a basic aftermarket muffler (like a cannon) ... and d chix will start to notice ya

yeh as SiReal said, decent audio system will give it more rep points (as we say in Philippines - POGI POINTS, hehehe).

let us know your plans! enjoy...

[SiReal]

isn't it a GLi - should be EFI

Hey mate,
GLi = EFI
GL = Carby

Look at the engine, its a Carby :)

[manne]

SiReal, Zpreme sorry, that was my Mistake (late night posting) it's accualy a GL.

Joeyboy: I plan on a bit of everything. The Car itself is my First car, and I plan on learning about it. I wouldn't expect too much right now, but I already have a list of things to do. (1 of them is get the roof resprayed -_- expensive.)

Oh, and I already have a Girl, but those mods are a sure go (apart from the canon...but an exhaust)

SiReal: Yeah, I'm happy with it. and It already has a "Nice Stereo System", which is a JVC Deck, JVC rear Speakers, and Pioneer Tweeks, I'm happy with that.

Sensei: You got it!, I'm a L plater (will be on my P's in July), I've already had a look around the forum..but I turns out, I'm not good on Car lingo..and I know what things are, but not what they mean..so hopefully my little baby will teach me alot.

Well..that's about it..for now.

Oh Right, my plans.
Well forst off, The Body accualy needs a good respray(scratches, chips, paint of roof faded), So my First plan is to respray it...so my plan is to get a body kit, and have the car resprayed along with the kit.

Or, I can ignore the body for now, and get straight into the engine (which I know nothing about) and have a bit of fun...

~Manne

[rawr]

haha engine conversion ftw... welcome to the forums bud and nice car, if i were you i wouldnt worry to much about the paint atm as it can be a bit pricey and you would be better off respraying the whole car so all the paint is even and that can be pretty hard on your pocket specially at our age.. im 16 too :D Ps in may..

[manne]

Yeah, thats why Im gonna do it all in bulk when I get a kit, no point on respraying the body, and the nrespraying the kit later..

Although the car does look nice enough, So I might just jump straight into Engine mods.
I've been told by a few people to do an engine conversion, and the carby engines arent very powerfull. and I was told to get a Fuel Injected one...
But that is abit too expensive right now, and the Carby is good to learn on.

[rawr]

a b series conversion should be the same price as a kit and respray?

[manne]

Really? Wow...Didn't expect that.
I might read in on this...

[Jarkz]

Welcome manne... nice ride your've got there. You won't know yourself if you do a VTEC engine conversion...

forget the bodykit.

[manne]

hahaha, I think I'll tinker around with the current engine in it for now, that way I have some sort of idea of what is happening if I do a conversion.

[Muzz]

The best aspect of your car is its handling, the EG chassis and suspension system is really somthing special.

In my opinion, suspension is the best area to improve upon when 1st getting into cars, purely because you will grow as a driver better/quicker than if you put a powerful engine into a poor handling car while your growing as a driver.

Youll learn your car better, how it responds to your inputs and the cars true limits.

Theres a saying, that i belive is 100% true. "You cant truly drive a fast car fast, if you cant drive a slow car fast".

I recon the best first modification is swaybars, both front and rear. This will greatly reduce the cars bodyroll in the corners, it will corner much flatter it will greatly increase the performance feel of the car.

Second i would look into some lowering springs, good quality ones like kmac, whitline, tein, eibach etc. And good shocks like koni, kyb, tokico, bilsten.

When your current tyres wear out, some good tyres will make your car an awsome performer.

Just these few mods, will make your car an absolute ball to drive, it will handle really really well, and be the perfect base to learn on while you save up for a conversion. The combination of great suspension and a light car, makes for a car that is very capable in the corners!

[manne]

Ah, that sounds smart. ^_^, and I totally agree with you, do you know where I could get these parts from?

~Manne

[Muzz]

For swaybars and lowering springs, the 1st things id get, i would go with whileline. Autobarn is a dealer for whiteline parts so when you know what parts you want, just go to your local autobarn and order them. You avoid any postage charges that way and save some $$, its cheaper than ordering your parts off the whiteline site.
To get part numbers go to www.whiteline.com.au
Whiteline swaybars come with a heavy duty mounting system, which will help to prevent expensive dammage (subframe tear). In the past whiteline has been knowen to also repair this dammage if caused by their products for free.

Can get shocks all over the place, the best thing to do is do some research on ozhonda and the net, to find out the best shocks for your needs. (honda-tech.com has tones of shock reviews if you cant find much here). Once you know what you want, call up suspension places and get quotes. Koni yellows, KYB AGX, and tokico Illumina are popular performance shocks, koni being the most expensive, but also the best performing.

Same with tyres, have a read through ozhonda's tyre recomendation thread, find what you want, and start making some calls to get a good price.

EDIT: Also, have a look in the marketplace section of ozhonda.

[Muzz]

http://whiteline.com.au/docs/catalogues/WL_0323.pdf this is whitelines catalogue. A bit before half way down, youll find the parts for 91-95 civic.

[manne]

Thanks man, you've been a big help.
I understand that Swaybars are a DIY style mod?
and are farely easy to install?

~Manne

[Muzz]

The parts id get are.

1 rear swaybar, 22mm thick (last 2 options on the list)

1 heavy duty mount for the rear KBR28-22 (for use with 22mm rear bar)

Front sway bar 24mm - BHF39

Springs for front and rear, either control or flatout (30mm drop, 50mm drop)

[manne]

ahh yeah, why those? (i know i sound a little dumb, but this is all a learning exp for me)

[Muzz]

Thanks man, you've been a big help.
I understand that Swaybars are a DIY style mod?
and are farely easy to install?

~Manne

Yep, not too hard at all, perfect for a first mod. Just make sure, after you jack the car up, to place jackstands under the cars lifting points. Never get under a car that is only supported by a jack.:thumbsup:
They only cost $20 from supercheap aswell.

Also, buy yourself a torque wrench if you dont already have one, it allows you to do bolts up to the correct torque to prevent over tightening bolts or not doing them up tight enough. Somthing you dont wanna risk with suspension. Cheap ones go for around $40

[manne]

ah, thanks :D..

[Muzz]

ahh yeah, why those? (i know i sound a little dumb, but this is all a learning exp for me)

Nar dont worry bud, good thing your keen to learn.:thumbsup:

Whiteline actually develops and tests their products as a package. This means that the spring rates (stiffnesses of the springs), are well matched to the F&R swaybars stiffnesses for road use. Takes away a bit of the guesswork.

There is only one size front swaybar offered for your car, the 24mm.

There is however a range of diferent sizes for the rear bar, you could go 18mm, 20mm or 22mm. Your choice will affect the cars balance, how much grip is at the front compared to the rear. A thicker rear bar will give more grip at the front wheels, slightly taking some from the rear, your car will be more ballanced toward oversteer. A thinner rear bar will promote more understeer, where your cars front wheels lose grip first and the car goes straight ahead.

Ive got the 24mm front, and 22mm rear on my ek civic which is a very simular chassis, it runs perfect, i wouldnt want anything less than the 22mm rear (which can be adjusted to be like a 20mm rear bar). Infact, ill be upgrading to a 32mm hollow bar (equivilant to 24mm-28mm solid bar). Somthing i wouldnt recomend for a young learning driver though, as braking mid corner will get you sideways:eek: ;)

22mm rear would be perfect, even if you started it set on the softer setting (actually id recomend that), and to get used to the altered ballance of the car, stepping up to the stiffer setting later on once you grow used to the altered ballance.

The thicker rear bar will give you more grip at the front wheels when accelerating out of a corner, somthing youll definatly want if you decide to go with a more powerful engine in the future. It requires you to drive slightly different, which is another reason why i recomend this as your very 1st mod so you grow as a driver, with the cars ballance setup for performance.;)

Currently your car is setup to understeer quite alot, its safer for people who cant drive. Getting more of a neutral ballance will give you more grip where its needed during cornering, the front wheels.

Reguarding the heavy duty mount for the rear, civics are known to have weak subframes (what the rear bar connects to). A thick sway bar can cause the subframe to crack, this part braces the subframe and prevents it from dammage.

Whiteline products are priced excelently, made in austraila by an australian company, excelent quality, highly respected reputation and customer support.

EDIT: Reguarding choosing between the springs is a matter of preferance, how low you want your car will be. 1-1.5 inch drop is good for performance, 2 inch drop looks good, while still keeping decent performance, any lower and you start sacrificing performance for looks.

[manne]

Thanks man, thats exactly what i wanted 2 know.
Now to find out how much it'll cost ^_^.

~Manne

[Muzz]

Thanks man, thats exactly what i wanted 2 know.
Now to find out how much it'll cost ^_^.

~Manne

For the whiteline parts, you can go on there site, and go into the online store, enter the part numbers and ill give you the cost. Getting the parts through autobarn, is about 5% cheaper than those prices.:thumbsup:

[manne]

ahh ok, so I'll be looking at about $800-900
Cool. Time to save.

[hunterD]

nice car dude. I'm actually in the market in buying this car, this or red colour. sure is a nice little car

[manne]

thanks man...yeah there pretty nice.
Still trying to get used to the feel of the car (i've only driven falcons before this...big difference)