Cali Noob

Hi All,

Wanted to get some input from people that have more experience than I, I recently picked up a '94 DX Hatch 5spd, I have sorted out the "needs" and am starting to turn my focus on the "wants". I have a decent hookup on some product lines, wanted to see what peoples thoughts are about the following:

B&M Shifter: My first thought was Skunk2 or Blox, I know they specialize in tuner cars and have a strong Honda product line, but I can get the B&M pretty cheap, like eBay cheap. Save a buck or go for the Skunk? Also, want the double bend, feels like the shifter is too far forward. Does the double bend move if much further back than the single bend?

Energy Suspension: This one is kind of a no brainer, guess I want to know if their are any red flags with using their stuff, specifically eyeballng the the shifter bushing set, figure do them at the same time I do the shifter, my stock shifter feels like its plugged into a rubbery sponge, want to liven up the feel of it, make it feel more precise.

Magnaflow Exhaust: I can get the full catback for cheap, I think what I want is the Apexi Noir setup, but at full price it costs about 2x the money. The reason I want the Apexi setup is it looks very low key, mellow sound so as not to draw too much attention from Johhny Law, and it's good quality stuff. But it's big money, has anybody heard the MF system, is it all loud and "ricey" sounding?

AEM Intake: I live in northern California, we get rain (believe it or not, it's raining right now!!!), was thinking "short ram" because it places the filter up higher. My friend lost an engine in his EF because his low hanging filter "cold air" system sucked in a bunch of water as he tried to cross a flooded intersection, hydro-locked. DOH!!! Am I too worried about nothing? As I understand it, AEM is good stuff, does anybody know different?

Last order of business on my mind are seats. I'm not particularly tall (5'11"), but I feel like I'm sitting "on" my car, not so much "in" it. The interior, seats included, is all stock. How can I sit a good inch or more lower in the car? Del Sol seats? Integra seats? Is it time to start saving up for a set of Corbeaus? Any input here will be appreciated, I checked out the seat brackets and it doesn't look like there is any way to adjust the stock seats "down"...

Thanks in advance for any input...
Rob

dE.fUsEd

It's a DX. Adding intake and exhaust will yield minimal gains and only make your car louder.
I would do some research about swapping a motor in there.
A D16Z6 from the civic Si would be a fairly simple swap, and give you quite a bit more power.

If you have money to spend, I would save up for a B-series DOHC motor.

The suspension and shifter would be good mods though. Forget that other stuff. It will just make your car annoying and draw unwanted attention.

B18dudeg

Prelude seats try them out you may fall in love with them I bought a set and won't ever get rid of them now

Cali Noob

I want to do a swap, but that is a ways out financially and being in CA makes doing ANY swap complicated. Figure if I'm going to jump through all the hoops and expense to make it happen, may as well go big with a K20 (cross that road when I get there). At any rate, I won't waste the effort on a small fry single cam, given the pain in the *** it is to do a legitimate swap here...I digress.

This other stuff can be done a little at a time, which is good as I don't have a big budget at the moment. Has anybody tried these things? I want the seats and shifter ASAP, figure the intake and exhaust might pick me up a couple hp and mpg's. I'm not trying to beat a GTR in the 1/4 mile with a couple of cheap bolt-ons, just want to make simple improvements for now.

Cali Noob

Are they "nicer" seats or did they make you sit lower in the car? What year Prelude did yours come out of?

B18dudeg

They're more of a bucket type seat sat a little lower and I just felt much more firm in them and from either a 92-96 or a 97-01 work

mikekh10a

iTrader: (2)

i've sat in ek seats, eg, dc, del sol, rsx, s2000 you name it, but i remember del sol seats make me seat the LOWEST, i know that for a fact. with dc and ek seats and what not its all cushiony, not with del sol. you'll sit much lower with those i can assure you.

i have a B&M shifter in my car, it works pretty good, hasn't snapped on me yet and it's such shorter throw.

xxEG6xx

where in cali do u stay at maybe u can swing by my house and take a look at my 2 egs 2 get some ideas pm me or something

NotAJDMFanBoy

The B&M shifter is made of solid stainless steel. The stock shifter is hollow mild steel. The B&M will NOT break.

New bushings and a new change ball cuff (the plastic part going around the ball on the shifter) will tighten the shifter up a lot.

No idea on what sits you the lowest, but I know Integra GSR seats have adjustable lumbar support, and that's pretty nice for a bolt in seat.

Cali Noob

Thanks for the input, I'm going to give the B&M a shot, already ordered my shifter bushings. Think I'm going to pass on the Magna Flow, for what I want, baffled is the way to go. Time to start saving up for the Apexi WS Noir system...also think I'm going to pass on the intake for now, going to do a drop in K&N filter for the time being.

I think what I'm going to do for seats is troll Craigslist and try to find a clean pair of black or gray Del Sol seats, I was looking at a car the other day and it looks like they would drop me down a good 2 inches or so. If they end up being too low, I can space them up. Saw an ad for a Prelude being parted out nearby, think I may go size up those seats too. I'll come back and let everybody know what I find.

I stay in Nor Cal, near Hayward...wish I was near Riverside, I'd take you up on your offer to drop by and check out your cars, I love that sort of thing. Thanks for the offer though xxEG6xx.

Libertariat

B&M, is okay. I've had my skunk2 for 6 years now and it's amazing. I think the skunk2 dual bend and the 440gram **** is hands down one of the best things you can buy for your car.

As far as the engine goes, don't do anything unless you're going to turbo or swap it. D-series n/a can be great, but only if you're willing to strip it down and put new pistons, sleeves, etc and run high compression. you can make it as fast as a b16 for about the cost of a b16.

Anything you do to the d-series will not actually make it faster. All you'll do with intake/exhaust is make the car louder and likely just move power from the bottom end to the top end. Anything you notice is all hype from the butt dyno.

Del sol seats are great, so are integra seats. Either are a good choice. I'm 5'11" also, and I was a tad too tall for sitting up as straight as I do in stock seats. I have Civic Type-R recaros now and I'm about an inch lower and it's perfect. I set like a grandma.

Cali Noob

"I set like a grandma. "

Lol, I do too, seems like if I recline too much the steering wheel is too far away and if I move the seat forward, the pedals are too close, can't seem to win with these seats. I want to sit upright and lower so I'm not brushing the headliner, that's where I need to be. There is an area near Sacramento that has several junkyards, a couple of them specialize in imports, I'm going to take a road trip up there next week and see if I can land a set of seats that are appropriate and maybe pick up my cluster while I'm at it. Who knows, may even find a nice cheap set of Si wheels or GSR blades while I'm there...