Help and Opinions on what mods to be done. =]

Hey guys,
I just wanted to ask you opinions again about the civic=]. My gfs dad has found me a civic gli(hopefully facelift model) but in stock honda green. Bit iffy about the colour but cant complain. Ive just been thinking about mods to do to it. As i am finishing up my HSC and starting to work before i go to uni, my budget isnt that great, but i do have a goal to achieve in this civic before moving on to another car. Just wanted to ask you opinions on whats modifications to do and when to do them like.. what before what (order).

Things that i can think off my head

Interior - ek9 gear knob (proberbly replica), type r shift boot, DIY black paint for console and dash etc.. eventually having the ek9 steering wheel, ek9 cluster, sr3 recaro (black) and ek9 floor matts. just want it to be comfortable and a bit sporty =]

Exterior - CTR lips all round(maybe replicas), CTR grill, spoon SW388 black rims(rota replica maybe), spoon mirrors (replica maybe), spoon spoiler (replica maybe) and of course a paintjob (tafetta white or electron blue)

Suspension- dont know much about these but coilovers, and sway bars.. info would be appreciated =]

Sound - Cd player alrady installed, any systems that are good and cheap?

Engine - eventually wanting a b18c7 conversion (gfs dad will help me), but that would be hopefully by end of 2011. for now i want mods that can be transferred onto new engine.. does this include I/H/E? um.. more info would be appreciated greatly =]

Brakes - upgradedas well.. but atm no idea on brakes so again any info would be great.

So i just wanted to ask for you opinion in my situation, not loaded in money(explains the replicas but will try hard to have at least a few genuine stuff lol), Start small, not really likeing the colour but can deal with it for a while as it is my first car =], and no clue on the order to mod. Um including approximate prices would also be mad.=D

Cant wait to be part of the honda community ( can drive it next april ... green P's)so i have tme to saveup

Alsogoing to America february 2011, would you adivise to buy parts up there and bring it back? how would you do it? Yea just basic advice.. LOL lots of noob questions, just excited sorry

Appreciate the help

David

I'm going to take it that you are talking about an EK civic? I have a EK1 (pre-facelift - CXi) in the Green, I love the colour now, am getting the whole car resprayed with a fresh coat of the same colour.

I am pretty new at modding too, as I am currently at uni and have NO money, lols. Just started work in the Army Reserves though, so money + mods are going to start increasing :D.

I can tell you a bit about I/H/E. Intake you have to be careful about, most intake mods aren't legal for p platers, though you can do some simple things. I have a cold air intake and will be getting a K&N panel filer, as long as its in the stock air box you are safe. As for swapping it, an upgraded panel filter in the stock box will fit both, but if you intend to go to something bigger like a Pod on a new intake arm, then your best off to wait till the swap. A D-series intake arm is different to a B-series (I think :P).

Headers won't be swappable. D series headers wont fit a B series engine, so if you are only going for mods you can re-use, headers are out.

Exhaust is one of the easiest parts to use for both engines. You can invest in a good exhaust system now, and when you can swap and turbo (if you lean that way) you wont have to touch the exhaust. You might get some strange looks if you get a full on big exhaust, ready for a b18 turbo build, and then drive around with it hooked up to a D16 :P, but don't let that phase you if you are set on your engine swap... only having to buy one exhaust is the easiest and cheapest plan, and you get the benefit from it all the way through :)

Also, all suspension, handling, lowering mods will all be fine before and after. The advice I got was get coilovers, sway bars, struts, camber kit etc, and do as much to the ride and handling as I could before the swap, as these all are not effected by the swap.

This is all advice I got given when I posted my own "I'm new to modding, tell me what's what" topic.

Hope it helped.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by crazy.ivan

I'm going to take it that you are talking about an EK civic? I have a EK1 (pre-facelift - CXi) in the Green, I love the colour now, am getting the whole car resprayed with a fresh coat of the same colour.

I am pretty new at modding too, as I am currently at uni and have NO money, lols. Just started work in the Army Reserves though, so money + mods are going to start increasing :D.

I can tell you a bit about I/H/E. Intake you have to be careful about, most intake mods aren't legal for p platers, though you can do some simple things. I have a cold air intake and will be getting a K&N panel filer, as long as its in the stock air box you are safe. As for swapping it, an upgraded panel filter in the stock box will fit both, but if you intend to go to something bigger like a Pod on a new intake arm, then your best off to wait till the swap. A D-series intake arm is different to a B-series (I think :P).

Headers won't be swappable. D series headers wont fit a B series engine, so if you are only going for mods you can re-use, headers are out.

Exhaust is one of the easiest parts to use for both engines. You can invest in a good exhaust system now, and when you can swap and turbo (if you lean that way) you wont have to touch the exhaust. You might get some strange looks if you get a full on big exhaust, ready for a b18 turbo build, and then drive around with it hooked up to a D16 :P, but don't let that phase you if you are set on your engine swap... only having to buy one exhaust is the easiest and cheapest plan, and you get the benefit from it all the way through :)

Also, all suspension, handling, lowering mods will all be fine before and after. The advice I got was get coilovers, sway bars, struts, camber kit etc, and do as much to the ride and handling as I could before the swap, as these all are not effected by the swap.

This is all advice I got given when I posted my own "I'm new to modding, tell me what's what" topic.

Hope it helped.

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Yea Honda civic Gli, i see header are out but are those cheap? and do they give a considerable power boost? but all your information was very helpful thanx mate. we seem to be in the same boat as we both have no money atm. =] Hopefully i can get the money for the mods. Did you like the green in the beginning, and if you have cosmetics, like lips and stuff did you colour code or make them black?

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Originally Posted by dxlmt

Yea Honda civic Gli, i see header are out but are those cheap? and do they give a considerable power boost? but all your information was very helpful thanx mate. we seem to be in the same boat as we both have no money atm. =] Hopefully i can get the money for the mods. Did you like the green in the beginning, and if you have cosmetics, like lips and stuff did you colour code or make them black?

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Headers don't give you a huge boost, probably only 10hp or so, but they increase throttle response. I about to buy some D-series headers for $130 of ebay. They got decent reviews of the guys here, so if $130 isn't too much for a part you will buy now and sell again when you swap (you wont get the $130 back :P ), then go for it.

I was in-different to the colour at first, but it grew on me, an now I think its the best colour the civic comes in ;)

I haven't got any lips, but if I did, I would keep them black (my little sister just got a 4 door GLi, and it is green with a black lip, looks great!)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dxlmt

Sound - Cd player alrady installed, any systems that are good and cheap?

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And as far as sound goes, you get what you pay for. I have a Kenwood head unit, Kenwood 6x9's in the back and Infinity 6.5's in the front. Is got great sound quality and volume, but to really use the potential of my system (I paid a good $500 for the set-up) I need a 300W amp at least (though I think some body panels will shake loose once I get that ;) ).

I found Kenwoods are a good "supermarket" audio brand (meaning they are available everywhere, to quote a salesman), but Infinity is the next level up, its just better than the Sony, Fusion, Kenwood, etc. that you can pick up from Supercheap Auto. If you don't want to pay for Infinity (or any of the equivalent brands which are 10-20% more expensive and 10-20% better than the supermarket brands) I would recommend you give Sony a try. While I love my system, I am not sure if Kenwood is worth the money you pay for it. My best mate has a Sony head unit and speakers, and his seems to be just as good as mine, but he didn't pay quite so much.

Anyone else's opinion? did I make a mistake trusting in the brand name? or once I get my amp, will the bar then raise to what I paid for, and all be well? lol

Well, that's my ramble about sound. I am a bit of an audiophile though, so I might be being overly critical/detailed/long winded. But take it from a Kenwood owner, maybe Sony is worth a look.