Hey guys - I am a new member to the boards, been watching them for sometime though. I have an 89 Civic Si HB that I love to death - it is still running strong with 173K on the original engine (stock everything pretty much except for the head unit), and I want to give a new look that keeps the look simple. I do not want anything touching the ground - I am looking more for looks and ride comfort than performance right now since this car will be for getting me to school everyday.

What I was thinking:

Rims and tires - The tires on there now (14" Pirelli P4000) are completely shot after 10,000 miles, so I want to get rid of them in favor of the Yokohama Avid H4S - I have heard good things about these tires - I want a good high performance all season tires. To go along with these new tires, I was thinking of the 17" O.Z. Hydra Rims, like thesehttp://www.1010tires.com/wheel...Hydra. I was reading a thread here where the opinion was that 17" was too large for a CRX, but are they too large for my Civic? If so, can anyone suggest a nice looking (simple) 15 or 16" good quality rim? Looking around, I cannot find anything that suits my tastes in 15 or 16". $200 a rim is perfectly acceptable, since the Hydras are close to $240 per.

Speakers - The factory speakers in the car are shot (at least the left one is), so I was thinking of upgrading to the Polk Audio MMC6500 6.5" component speakers to complement my JVC 50W x 4 head unit ( http://www.polkaudio.com/car/s...c6500). I was thinking of Focal (maybe even MB Quart), but the Polks are supposedly 100W RMS. Maybe I am looking too much into numbers and not into quality, I do not know.

Front Bumper - The front bumper got a little smashed up, and I want to replace it, so I was wondering what a good replacement would be that is durable and lays more than 2" inches off the ground would be. Trying to find a stock bumper replacement (OEM) is almost impossible since Honda stopped making parts for the 1989MY after 10 years. I would be willing to spend $300 max on this part (closer to $200 would be ideal).

Anything else that should be done (short of an engine swap right now because I do not have the cash, and the D16 runs fine right now) would be much appreciated. I also appreciate those who took the time to read this and give me a response, because I want my car to be even more awesome than it is now.

Thanks in advance

 

Welcome to the boards. I don't have answers to all your questions, but I do for some.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Hydrogen &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Rims and tires - The tires on there now (14" Pirelli P4000) are completely shot after 10,000 miles, so I want to get rid of them in favor of the Yokohama Avid H4S - I have heard good things about these tires - I want a good high performance all season tires. To go along with these new tires, I was thinking of the 17" O.Z. Hydra Rims, like thesehttp://www.1010tires.com/wheel...Hydra.
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If you are putting on 17" wheels, it has to be for looks, since you will get better handling & accelleration with a 15" or 16" wheel. I don't care for the 17" look, but that's really just a matter of taste. You can get stickier tires than the Avids, but they're decent for an all season tire.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Hydrogen &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Front Bumper - The front bumper got a little smashed up, and I want to replace it, so I was wondering what a good replacement would be that is durable and lays more than 2" inches off the ground would be. Trying to find a stock bumper replacement (OEM) is almost impossible since Honda stopped making parts for the 1989MY after 10 years. I would be willing to spend $300 max on this part (closer to $200 would be ideal).
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Are you sure about this? Majestic Honda shows the 89 hatchback bumper cover at $112 dollars. Have you checked to make sure it's not available?

 

Thanks for the reply - 17" is not set in stone - I just cannot find a 15 or 16" rim that suits my tastes, but then again, I cannot find many 15" or 16" rims at all. I was looking at Tire Rack, and most of their rims for my car are 17 or 18". Do you know of any places or companies even that make a high quality rim smaller than 17?

On the bumper, does Majestic Honda sell OEM Honda parts? The dealer told me that Honda stops making parts for cars after 10 years, and that they would not touch the car if I brought them an aftermarket part. That does not matter to me so much since I was looking at an EF service manual off the net, and the install did not look bad at all.

Thanks again for the reply

 

Yes, Majestic Honda is a dealer that sells OEM parts online. I would check first about the availibilty of the part, since some things on their site are listed but are no longer available. Don't forget that you'll need to get it painted and that will cost money.

As for wheels, I had a set of 15"x7" five spoke Borbet's on the 90 Civic Si I used to have. They were reasonably priced (about $110 each), looked nice but not flashy. There is a good selection of tires in 15" as well.