New to the forum.. just bought a civic got some questions.

Hi, just signed up with the forum after buying an 89 civic si hatchback for a weekend hobby.. was wondering if you guys could answer a few questions that I have.
1. Do you know of any sites as to where I could buy kit pieces to update the old bodystyle..(it looks rather drab).
2. Performance Mods(engine, exhaust, etc.).. same type of question as 1.. I bought the car to piss off my friend whos always mouthing civics.. and was wanting to beef it up a bit and race his ass. Hes always making fun of the so-called ricers.. and their resonator mufflers.. so i was wanting to slap a fat one on there and do some doughnuts in his yard hah.

The car is a 4cyl rwd 4spd manual.. thats about all i know.. until I get it inspected and checked out thoroughly before I mod any of it. I pretty much test drove it and had a friend do some on the site work to check it out to see if it was a lemon or not and then paid cash for it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.. I dont really need direct links either.. just point me in the right direction with a url and I can usually find stuff myself. Thanks - AD.

Originally posted by AccessDenied

The car is a 4cyl rwd 4spd manual.. thats about all i know

first of all, you do not have a rwd(rear-wheel-drive) civic.

www.groupbuycenter.com is always a good place to start for any of your needs.

to make any serious power it might be a good idea to look for an engine swap at places like www.passwordjdm.com. a b16 would probably be a good choice.
if all you won't is boltons go to the group buy and look for intake/header/exhaust. i would go w/ aem cold-air intake, greddy or dc sports header, and greddy, apex-i, or thermal cat-back.

it all depends on the money you want to spend and what you want to do with the car.

er yea I didnt mean to put rwd on there. I was typing it in a hurry and trying to make phone calls at the same time.. thanks for the info.

[ebpda9]

4 speed manual ??? are u sure ? if u pm me maybe i can do something for you

[shadowracer]

4spd base model yuk! I had one swapped it with an Si trans world of difference

[blind34_1]

well, for engines, anything D series will bolt in without a mount kit. A ZC will work well, and your stock si trans will bolt in (but ive never heard of a 4speed manual si trans??) Your ecu will work with the engine and little to no wiring will be required. ZC longblocks go for cheap and make for a good swap.

As for exhuast, its kinda up in the air on what you want. a good header seem to be unanimous with DCsports, comptech, and a few others. stay away from the cheap crap in jcwhitney, like pacesetter. For my hatch, I'm considering tanabe, but probably only for the muffler, because tubing is pretty much tubing (assuming mandrel bends, not crushed) and that I can get locally and not pay shipping. for your exhaust, my suggestion is going for about 2.5-2.75 inch piping, to a high flow cat (landspeed racing or random) into your choice of header.

I'd suggest getting a baffle for your exhaust so your friend wont make fun of you having a lawnmower, but hey, its up to you.


As for other things, air intake everyone will tell you AEM CAI is best, but if you wanted to you could make your own (http://www.teamdelsol.com/-howto-/-c...diycoldair.htm)

good choice on the car, there is a lot of potential with 4th gen hatches, which is why everyone wants one.


civic4g.com, another link

[slowEJ6]

do an A6 block with a Z6 head or just swap in a Z6.
feel free to PM me if you want more go-fast info for that motor. otherwise this post is pointless.


www.importfan.com
www.asylumms.com
www.groupbuycenter.com
www.ebay.com

Originally posted by AccessDenied

2. Performance Mods(engine, exhaust, etc.).. same type of question as 1.. I bought the car to piss off my friend whos always mouthing civics.. and was wanting to beef it up a bit and race his ass. Hes always making fun of the so-called ricers.. and their resonator mufflers.. so i was wanting to slap a fat one on there and do some doughnuts in his yard hah.

Ok, ive got your plans covered.
(strictly engine performance).
To whoop up on every mustang and camero you see, you'll need:
1). A B16A1 engine - it has a cable transmission and will mount directly into your engine bay, so you do not need to buy a mount kit.
*you will have to get your ignition wired for VTEC (not VTECH) because your stock igintion will not adapt to the cam-changeover that occurs while in VTEC

2). Get your new engine checked out by mechanics - if it is mechanically sound it will be able to support a turbo kit.
*You will need a RevHard stage II turbo kit - it comes with a T3/T4 Hybrid turbo and all of the neccessary equipment to make sure it will not hurt your car. (yes, even an MSD system)

3). You will need a 3inch catback Exhaust - this will help your car by decreasing backpressure and will work well with the turbo.

*************That's it for performance, now just redo your suspension - new springs, shocks, struts, wheels, tires, and your breaks so you dont die with all this new power.

With those mods, you will crush anything that gets in your way (for the most part).

The turbo kit should not be set to boost more than 8-9psi (pounds of boost) because your engine will not run reliably on more than that because your internals are still completely stock.

--this is based under the assumption that you have a decent but not unlimited ammount of money.

the engine i listed you use is the best suited engine for your car - other people on this board will say to use a GSR motor, but the B16A1 will be more than enough for your tiny hatch. (not to mention the GSR costs much more money)

Dont waste your time with any motor that is not B-Series, All D-series Honda motors will not support any serious mods and are not worth spending money on - I was seriously considering building my motor (d16z6), but then asked myself what the fastest honda's are running - they all run either B16's, B18's or H22's

[drdingo21]

Originally posted by cashizslick
Dont waste your time with any motor that is not B-Series, All D-series Honda motors will not support any serious mods and are not worth spending money on - I was seriously considering building my motor (d16z6), but then asked myself what the fastest honda's are running - they all run either B16's, B18's or H22's

thats not entirely true. There are some built d seriers motors out there, and they can be built just as much a any other motor, but its usually just easier to get a b or an h series motor to build up.

I wouldn't mees with a b16 i would go straight for the b18c because of the more stock power and tourqe, don't get me wrong b16 can be modded nicely but you will hit the "can't mod anymore" point on a b16 before you would a b18 power wise.

If you don't wanna do an engine swap right away then look into nitrous, its about $500 and it will add 55-75 horsepower.

[blind34_1]

there are plenty of respectable d series motors that are built...I guess its all a question of what you like.