pain2bare

So I've looked through the archives to try and find out what order to do upgrades for more hp and have found this:
http://www.torontocivics.com/tccforu...n&pagenumber=2

My question is, if people think this guy is wasting money buying an intake,header and exhaust for his 95 DX am I wasting money to buy it for my 2000 si coupe?

imported_91SiRacer

yes it depends on what road you want to take with the car.If it's going to be just a show car keep the D motor but if you want speed bolt on's just isn't going to cut so you will have to either turbo it or swap the motor.

DumbasSi

My opinion would be yes it's a waste of money.

In the 3 years I've had my 98 SI Coupe, I've had several different combinations of intake and exhaust. Honestly all I really ever noticed was a very, very small increase in performance, but mostly just an increase of noise.

The money that it would cost you to purchase a decent I/H/E combination, you could buy a really sweet suspension set-up that you'll notice and appreciate alot more then a few measly HP.

But, this is just my opinion.

zeeman

iTrader: (1)

i agree with DumbasSi suspension mods are better bang for buck.....and WELL worth it. Get some sway bars you'll love em.

bbarbulo

iTrader: (2)

yeah, its a waste of money. only mods worth getting are turbo or a swap.

pain2bare

Ok, thanks for the brain power all. Now I will search the archive for suspension related threads. I'm totally new to this car mod thing so any additional info would be greatly appreciated. All I've done to the car so far is new tires and I was shocked at how much I noticed those!

bbarbulo

iTrader: (2)

the 2000 Civic is the last great susp platfrom... well except for the 01 Integra and 01 Prelude LOL

but basically there is so much you can do its nuts. my car is like a friggin go cart it sticks to the road like that Saab 9-2 commercial, and I still got some improvements I wanna make, like urethane bushings.

imported_trackhack

Go with the urethane bushings, before you start pumping BIG money into the car and it's suspension. The full kit from energy suspension is comparably cheap. Be sure to get the large trailing arm bushings as well and to add a TON of grease to everything. It's the labour that will cost you as the install is quite time consuming, especially if the car is older. The benefit is well worth the effort as it makes a HUGE difference in all areas. Also since you have to remove the suspension to do the install of the bushings, once you go to install your aftermarket springs/shocks/coilovers you won't encounter any seized/rusted bolts. Just my $0.02

Oh and ditto on the Go-Kart Bruno

imported_viper_2_4

agreed

imported_Dawson

DumbasSi i agree with you and viper_2_4 a nice suspension is better than a little amout of power

bbarbulo

iTrader: (2)

thing is after many $x,000's of bux in susp work, you realize your engine is lagging behind in the fun factor. By then, it's time for a HP injection, like boost or swap.

gator_b6

i agree...there's just so much that can be done. i also don't have a whole lot on my car (just getting into it) and have been thinking of doing the suspension as well as people seem to agree it's a worthwhile mod.

now have to figure out what to get cause it there has to be a lot of thougt involved for price, feel, handling, etc. one change will affects another.

the only thing i am sure is that once you start, there is no end, cause there is always something else to do!

bbarbulo

iTrader: (2)

depends, if you can be a good boy and make a plan, like sways, drop, shocks, rims and slight stereo upgrade and leave good enough alone, then you can build an awesome car on a decent budget and have hella fun. but if you go into it with no plan and start buying random **** like indiglows, altezzas, racing pedals, $500 steering wheels, and $100 shift *****, that's where you get fuct w/o making any real progress on the kaa. you need to sit down and say to yourself... what can I make better on this car? and write it down and do a budget. Then decide if you wanna dive in or not. I bought my car new, so if I sat down and did the math, I'm sure as hell that I'm sitting on a $40,000 Civic, yet it looks like a $18,000 Civic. I mean, today, I could prolly replicate the same car for about $18K, but it's really worth about $10K on the market.

zeeman

iTrader: (1)

Don't even start with what modified cars are worth on the market. I don't know why you would want to, after spending so much time and effort on a car, sell it.
But bbarbulo....once again.....has an excellent point. If i would have planned on moddin my car before hand i would have bought a cx hatch not a EX coupe.
My theory is if you spend all this money on goin' fast and handlin' good why would you want to attract theives with a fancy bodykit paint job and rims? Sleepers attract less heat too...know what i mean?.....whats the cop gunna pull over....stock lookin car vs flashy show car? I digress....
Realistically not everybody can drop $10k into their car in the matter of 6 months.....so know what your budget is, set your goals or project plans, do your research, shop around and buy accordingly.

pain2bare

Couple things:

What will the urethane bushings do?

What does I/H/E stand for?

DumbasSi

I/H/E= Intake, Header, Exhaust. The most basic of mods.

Urethane bushings replace some of, or all of you car's various rubber suspension and engine/tranny bushings, firming and stiffening things up. The rubber bushings that come with the car wear out over time. It is a very tedious and time-consuming job to replace your suspension bushings unless you have to proper tools and lots of patience.

Nova_Dust

In order for a D15/16 to perform, you will need to do a couple of the following:

1) extremely light body
2) a lot of money for a good N/A setup
3) some money for a decent HP gain with a turbo or supercharger

Number 1 won't be street driveable, and most people don't have number 2 and the time. So it usually falls in number 3 category.

With a light body, a NA D can reach low 12 high 11 second on 1/4 mile. But that's a track car, and you simply can't drive it on the street. Most people haven't even sat in a low 12 second car, let along owning one. 12 second can be a quite experience and it is not easy to control a car that quick.

If you like the challange, you can try to make a NA D track car. But if you need your car for daily driving and you want your car to have the same feeling as an Integra Type R or even a little better, turbo the D, or swap another engine in it, because a fully built NA D in a regular street car is a waste of effort. It is a small light engine, it needs to be paired with a very light chassis/body.

Remember, D block is not useless, you just need to know how to utilize it with the right car.

imported_trackhack

In regards to the polyurethane bushings, it took me about 14 hours to completely remove all the suspension, remove the bushings, and install the new ones.(Master Kit) Mind you I didn't have the aid of a small press, just a drill and an air impact hammer. That and encountering some stubborn bolts burned alot of time.
Needless to say, now I have a small press...

bbarbulo

iTrader: (2)

LOL, at least you got an impact hammer... all I'll be doing it with it my two hands (equivallent to a 2 tonne press ) and a metal saw. j/k Removing the susp is no big deal, I can prolly do it in under an hour once the car is jacked up and the wheels are off. Getting the bushings out and all that... that could take me days though.

imported_trackhack

Since everything on my car has 10lbs of grease on it, It all comes out in way under an hour. My dad jokes that its held on with zippers.

FYI it's going to take more than just a metal saw to get those bushings out. I ended up using an oxy-act torch, the said impact hammer, MANY drill bits, Large vise and lots of bleeding knuckles

I have a bit of insight on this install, let me know if you want some tips to help you out.