Hello ladies and gents. New forum member here looking for some help.

So I've been driving my '92 Accord LX for approx 7 years now and was recently looking to perform some very subtle mods. I'll be buying a new car soon and decided that I could part with my old faithful so I decided to keep it.

Here are some things I was looking to fix/change/upgrade/mod.

1. Shocks - it seems that my shocks are starting to let go. After close to 13 years I'm startingi to hear loud thumping noises when driving over small holes in the road. Also whenever making left hand turns, especially, I hear some more grinding which I believe is coming from the shocks. - So I was wondering what the best solution would be here for the best-bang-for-the-buck shocks which are a little stiffer than the stock ones. If you guys could offer some help with regards to the brand/model and price. I'm thinking it would probably be best to replace front and rear shocks. Although the rear shocks seem to be holding up well being that most of the car weight is in the front where the engine is housed.

2. Wheels - I'm still riding the stock 14s and was again looking for a pair of, most likely, 15s. Nothing extravagant, just something that doesn't require plastic hub caps. If you could offer some information and prices for these.

3. Transmission - this will be a fix. My transmission has always been messed up in the sense that when depressing the break and switching gears, without moving, from Reverse to Drive, the car jerks. I almost failed inspection because the guy though that my engine mounts were either loose or broken. I'm sure other have had this problem and was wondering if you could offer advice as to what the best solution would be here.

4. I'm open to suggestions for other subtle mods I could perform, very cheap at that, which might give my lady a little kick in the rump. Are there any engine modifications, air intakes or such which I would be able to get done for a fairly cheap price that might pep up my car a little? Again, I'm looking for something that will improve the ride a little bit. I realize it's an old car, and it still does drive pretty damn well.


I appreciate your help very much, and am looking forward to your responses and suggestions.

-Pete

 

Suspension - I used Monroe shocks on my 90 Accord Ex and have been pleased w/ performance (surburban driving only). You should also check all the ball joints for loosenes and/or cracked boots. Some joints can be fixed by boot replacement. Replace all the anti-sway bar bushings.

Wheels - Check ebay. wheels out the wazoo; OEM and aftermarket.

Transmission - How regularly have you replaced the trans fluid? It should be changed every 30K miles or 2 yrs. If this hasn't been done, I would drain and replace fluid w/ Honda ATF. Does the Trans D light ever flash? If yes, then you need to extract the trans code/s from the trans control unit. Short service check 2P connector under glove box and read flashes; long flash 10's digit and short flash units digit, eg LF-F-F-F-F is 14.

good luck

 

Thanks for your reply. I'll look into the Monroe shocks. Also I'll snoop around eBay to find some wheels.

As for the transmission. There was a time where the trans fluid was not replace for quite some time. I get the D flash during very hot summer days. I think in the past year it only happened to me once, but I remember a time where it used to do it quite often. The illeffects of the flashing was heavy loss of power and I would need to shut the car off and let it cool off, then start it up again and hope the flashing goes away.

Now that my D4 light has finally went out, I can only tell whether it's happening by the loss of power.

 

<< Also whenever making left hand turns, especially, I hear some more grinding which I believe is coming from the shocks >>

Jeez, this must be my "post about cv joints" day. But that's your most likely culprit.

 

shocks- get kyb gr2 instead, it's a well known company making high quality shock, gabriel are cheap but you are not getting the samething as kyb. they cost around 200 for a set of four. if you looking for a little more performance and not spending big buck, look for tokico blue hp, they will do the job nicely, it's only like 50buck more.

wheel- it's pretty much up to you, go hit up google for.. volks, rota, konig, 96 itr, some of the accord stock rims are pretty cool looking(6th gen SE rims, 5gh gen ex 7 spoke, integra typeR 96spec(114.3x4), prelude 4th gen, etc)
just look for something 114.3x4 or 4.5inch by 4.

tranny: you pretty much got it, i am guess it's the motor mount. they run about 80 buck per piece, you'll need two i think(on my acura, two)

other mod: try search tb coolant bypass, intake, weight reduction, etc