AntF

...or do they?

Sorry for the odd title, I had a burst of LotR inspiration.

As incredibly obvious, I'm rather new to the boards. I am also (unfortunately?) new to the tuning "scene", or whatever you may want to call it. And I have a question which I want to ask of all of you. (I did a search already, yes.) How exactly did you get acquainted and educated in this field? I am currently the owner of a simple '96 Civic CX my self, and I would like to learn more about tuning. But how does one start, exactly? I've very little knowledge about the tuning scene, and I'd like to hear about how you have gotten into it, and how you've learned over the years. Any examples or resources would be incredibly nice. I hope to learn from you all and become the bestest of friends in the future!...but the learning part will suffice for now.

Aphelion

first you buy a helm's manual. no other manual comes even close. you can buy a hard copy from the company for $60 (worth it), or you can buy a bootleg pdf version for about $5 on ebay. I recommend the hard copy because, while the price is steep, it's easier to flip to diff pages and to take it out to the garage.

elrandeeto

i had always been into muscle cars, then i bought a crx last november , and ive learned everything from this site and nonvtec.com and reading books but mostly here on h-t .

just look around at people setups read all there questions and answers . save the ones that u like or you think you might want to have a similar setup down the road . just think of possible swaps or problems even if its not something wrong with your car or has to do with yours , you will be learning .

feel free to pm me with any questions you have , if i cant answer i can point u in the right direction

AntF

Thanks for the help guys. I'll make sure to look into that Helm's manual for sure. I'm heading out for the night, but I'm glad I've already got some information. Now I can just stay up all night on the internet browsing HT and reading a Helm's.

O3DigitalBath

i've been reading through the car boards since about 7th grade (starting 3rd year of college now)...i've always been into cars

sicky

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by AntF &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">...or do they?

Sorry for the odd title, I had a burst of LotR inspiration.

As incredibly obvious, I'm rather new to the boards. I am also (unfortunately?) new to the tuning "scene", or whatever you may want to call it. And I have a question which I want to ask of all of you. (I did a search already, yes.) How exactly did you get acquainted and educated in this field? I am currently the owner of a simple '96 Civic CX my self, and I would like to learn more about tuning. But how does one start, exactly? I've very little knowledge about the tuning scene, and I'd like to hear about how you have gotten into it, and how you've learned over the years. Any examples or resources would be incredibly nice. I hope to learn from you all and become the bestest of friends in the future!...but the learning part will suffice for now. </TD></TR></TABLE>

We need more noobs like this (yeah yeah, joined a few months ago, with this name, been on HT for a few years now). Best advice, search the archived for anything. The amount of information and knowledge will astound you. Best of luck.

slammed_coupe

if your talking about "tuning scene" as in modifying your car just go shopping in various car stores....decide what stuff you like ...look at pics of cars and see what you like.

now as far as "tuning" as in fuel tables ignition tables timing and stuff like that i just have hours of reading books...course with Tom Payne from Payne Technologies in EFI tuning about 4000$ course for 1 week and also the best tool in the world a AWD Dyno

mericbe

Well I was in your same boat when I walked into the scene. I had friends with some ricers wanna be (cavys, escorts, and all that american crap) now this was back in like 98 still in High school. One of my buddy's brought the 1st GSR to the town. He found it at a Car Auction for 10,000 dollars. It had a CF hood, Suspension Techniques 1.8 drop springs, OEM OPtion Equipment camber kit, Greddy Evo Catback and all documents stating that the dealership installed all when the car was purchased. It had only 50,000 miles and it ran like a scalded dog! Well anyway my buddy had to sell it or lose his license after he played around w/ it too much. Well this dude bought it put 1500 miles on it and totaled the car. MY buddy bought it back built the motor to make it spec to a ITR and dropped it into an Integra and I was hooked after that. I bought my 1st body last year and did an LS swap into a Civic coupe basically by myself. Did a rear disc conver. I love my car but not fast enough, plan to turbo or vtec it, I dunno yet.

But to get started just get familar w/ the ins and out's of your. Like using a Helms or something. Find a friend or 2 u can hang w/ that palys around w/ Imports (stay clear of the ricers). Also trying to do all upgrades your self. If you plan on lowering your car try to do it yourself if your comfortable, good luck.

1995Ex_Sedan

What do you plan on doing to the car? Thats what tuning is for. You don't really tune a stock honda. You tuned a Turboe'd, or swapped honda to get the maximum power out of it, while making it safe and reliable.

mericbe

Actually u can tune a stock Honda motor. Like if I had a bone stock B18C (GSR) I wouldn't want much more power. I would get a Clutch masters stage 3 clutch, KYB's w/ Suspension Technique springs, Vtec and fuel controller, AEM V2 CAI, Greddy Evo Catback, MSD cap plus external coil, better plugs and bigger wires. and fuel rail plus regulator. Isn't that tuning a car? A car like this on the streets would be pretty quick compared to a stock motor with stock everything am I correct?

AntF

Thank you for your kind words and advice, sicky.

slammed_coupe, I have heard of that EFI course...but, $4,000? Would you say it was worth the price?

Thanks for sharing your story mericbe. I would read up on lowering and lower my car, but it already scrapes if I'm not careful already, so I'm not really interested in lowering my car at the moment. ;/

1995Ex_Sedan, well, I would like to get a bit more minivan passing power out the car as of now. I just graduated from high school myself, and have made $2k off my summer job. Eventually, I would like to recreate a EK9 with my car. Only here in the states, of course. It's wishful thinking right now, but I was thinking of a B18C. But I doubt my budget allows that, very much. I *think* my best bet is a B16, but I am not sure. I'm still a n00b, of course. But I feel that I should restrict how much power should be going into my car, espicially since it is a FWD. I hope to max out at 250 BHP; all wishful thinking and the like. I still need to learn the tools of the trade. But thank you for clearing up when tuning is the correct word.

Oh also, where are the kind of shops that I could hope to find products that would pertain to car enthusiasts named/located? I know slammed_coupe refrenced to these type of shops. CAIs, headers, exhausts (the holy trinity, huh? haha) and the like? All I can think of off the top of my head is more of...maintenance car shops. Kragen, and the like. ;/ Or better yet, has the internet served you guys well? I could most definetely find everything I need on the internet (since the internet has everything in the universe and then some), but would you recommend it?