help?

[mellojoe]

hey, gang. I'm about to buy a '98 Civic LX. Its that 4-door model. Its got only about 40k miles on it and its got zero options (which I like). I plan on upgrading pretty much everything after the fact, so...

I'm new to Honda and Honda tuning. Is this a good car to buy? What are the easiest ways to get power out of it? What kind of options for good Turbo packages exist? Where are great stores/online shops that have decent stage packages? (I'm mostly looking through those to get a good idea of where to go with this car.)

Thanks for the help.

-MelloJoe

[oc civic]

if you want fast i would shy away from this... any 96-98 model is going to be fairly slow compared to somethign twin cam.. the motor in teh car you are lookign at is a slug its a d16y7 sohc nonvtec... if you want to get out of the 15's in teh 1/4 mile nd be reliable you will NEED a twin cam swap... i would seriously consider an ek hatch with a blown motor swap in a twin cam b16 or b18 and you are alrready around 14 sec in the 1/4 mile

[oc civic]

Originally posted by mellojoe
Is this a good car to buy? ----Not if performance is the KEY concern
What are the easiest ways to get power out of it? ---motor swap then forced induction... cheapest beign nitrous, more elaberatee being turbo
What kind of options for good Turbo packages exist? -- no disrespect but youd be wasting time and money

Where are great stores/online shops that have decent stage packages? (I'm mostly looking through those to get a good idea of where to go with this car.)--refer to last question

[iRACEmyCTR]

I would save up for another month and buy a 99 si. You start off with 160hp, red/clear taillights, and the aftermarket supply is endless.

[ShEaNy]

u can buy that car cheaper....save for a swap..and swap the engine....look at the weights..of the LX and other models to compare....more horse with less weight = nutz...

[mellojoe]

Whoa! Thanks guys. I'll shy away from that.

I guess its back to the drawing board. I'll look into that 99 si.

Any other suggestions?

[oc civic]

if you are looking to go fast start with a 92-95 hatchy.. adn swap.. then go from there..

my next project will be a 92-95 hatch

[mellojoe]

Originally posted by oc civic
if you are looking to go fast start with a 92-95 hatchy.. adn swap.. then go from there..

my next project will be a 92-95 hatch
I want to stay away from older models, as I really want something with very low miles and to be as maintenance free as possible (before I start modding). I was really hoping for something less than 5 years old: so, 1998 or newer.

[sohc_vtec 2NR]

if you plan on modifying your car to be quite fast then why not get an older civic for like $2,500 and get a 99 SI engine swap..u'll still a very reliable engine...unless u don't like the stylin' of the older civic...

[Mischief(LTS)]

i agree. the SI is the way to go. the older models are sluggish. and in order to get anything out of them you need to put a bit of money into them. even the newer model civics (01/02) (a bit being around 5-7 grand) we're talking engine swap, cold air intake, turbo/supercharger, headers/pulleys, exhaust system, and maybe NOS. whatever you do, if you plan on fixing up for speed, get a stick shift and throw in a short throw shifter. and some other small goodies you can throw into the engine that would regularly rob the engine of valuable horsepower.

but hey, if you indeed plan on getting a newer non si, go show! i dont have nearly the enough cash to throw around into my engine, so i decided to fix it up for show. comin along nicely. there are so many things you can do to a civic for speed OR show. you should just do one thing at a time so you dont get in over your head.