Whats up everyone. I am new to this forum and new to improving my car. I have a 2005 Civic EX. Its about to go out of warranty, which makes it fair game for me to have as much fun with it as I can.

Right now it only has 2 Alpine type R subs, with 2 alpine amps, capacitor, alpine door speakers and an alpine head unit in it. I have the ipod dock for the vehicle as well.

I haven't done any cosmetics or mechanical changes yet other than the tinted windows. I'm still learning all this mechanical stuff and working with my hands and tools so please take it easy on me with the technical terms.

What I'm looking for is any suggestions on what performs/looks well. I'm sure many of you have rocked out your cars before me. Please let me know what you guys like, dont like, what works. I'm happy to learn anything and everything I can.

I'm not looking to race or anything, but I definitely love being fast. And looking good.

 

Well man I also have the same car the standard bolt on stuff will make it fun but its not going to really give you to much in terms of real inprovement I would say if you have the cash go ahead and turbo....but whatever you do .....do not go rice the world has far to many civics that look like they are on crack but have fun with it and do what YOU like thats what is most important

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Trainerindc &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Whats up everyone. I am new to this forum and new to improving my car. I have a 2005 Civic EX. Its about to go out of warranty, which makes it fair game for me to have as much fun with it as I can.

Right now it only has 2 Alpine type R subs, with 2 alpine amps, capacitor, alpine door speakers and an alpine head unit in it. I have the ipod dock for the vehicle as well.

I haven't done any cosmetics or mechanical changes yet other than the tinted windows. I'm still learning all this mechanical stuff and working with my hands and tools so please take it easy on me with the technical terms.

What I'm looking for is any suggestions on what performs/looks well. I'm sure many of you have rocked out your cars before me. Please let me know what you guys like, dont like, what works. I'm happy to learn anything and everything I can.

I'm not looking to race or anything, but I definitely love being fast. And looking good. </TD></TR></TABLE>


^ now thats a good 1st post.

So ill try to follow it up well.

Sadly our D17's wont respond well to bolton's. A simple I/H/E ( intake header and exhaust) setup will give u MINIMAL gains, maybe 5whp. Not worth it in the least.

If u do want to go faster, there are really only 3 options

1) By far the best choice = Kswap, but they are SUPER expensive, I don't have a clue what your budget is, but they can run from $3000 ( for the lowest end k series, the k20a3) to easily over $8000 for the k20a( JDM integra type R ). TO many people this just isnt feasable, and they have to move on to cheaper power.

2) Turbo is the 2nd best choice. People are seeing around 200whp on a tuned 8-9 psi setup. There are a lot of kits out there, but i highly reccommend going to http://www.dezod.com and looking at one of their kits if your interested. They have complete kits that are arguably the best on the market.

3) Nitrous. Because our 7thgen's have a returnless fuel system, you MUST use a wet kit. This is because our fuel system does not allow a fuel pressure regulator to be used to accomidate the necessary fuel needed when using nitrous. By far the best kit our there is the ZEX wet kit, it has a few safety features to prevent accidents from happening, but it still is nitrous and eventuallly it will harm your engine.

All of these choice's have been covered EXTENSIVELY before, use the "Search" feature in the top right and im sure u can dig up any info you still have.

As for cosmetics, H-T isnt really a place for bodykits and chrome wheels. Most people here will tell u to get some nice lightweight JDM rims, and if anything a lip kit.

Im sure u can search through the Em2 picture thread at the top of the page and find something u like.


I cannot stress this enough tho. USE THE SEARCH FUNCTION BEFORE POSTING. Many old Em2 forum'ers ,like myself, have already throughly covered probably every topic u can think of. So if u have a question, use search 1st, and if u still cant find out what u need. Post away

Welcome to H-T

 

Thanks for the help. I did search but was not coming up with too much info for the time spent.

I appreciate the dezod link. I'm looking at engine management and turbo kits there as we speak. I'm a personal trainer in Washington, DC so I have a little bit of cash, but I know that this will be a never ending project. One thing will become another, and another, until I'm out of money. I know this.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Trainerindc &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> but I know that this will be a never ending project. One thing will become another, and another, until I'm out of money. I know this.

</TD></TR></TABLE>

Well at least u know this before getting started, I always make the mistake of telling myself " THis is my last modification".

 

welcom to H-T for engine wise it has already been coverd perfectly. As for the cosmetic part like stated above go to the picture thread and just find out what you like and what you can spend. Good luck man

 

So far I have bought the HIDs, fog lights, and body kit for my car. They weren't too pricey.

I'm still researching which turbo and engine management to go with. This may take a little bit. Any other suggestions please let me know.

I will post some before, during and after pics so I have a running log on how things went.

Any suggestions on rims that look good on the Rallye Red Civic I'm all ears.

Thanks for the help.

DC

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Trainerindc &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">So far I have bought the HIDs, fog lights, and body kit for my car.</TD></TR></TABLE>

 

you live close to me . welcome.

 

close to me too

hey for free training lessons, ill be your search button

 

Other DC people here? Sweet. I was starting to think this board is all cali people.

I was out in Vienna last night. We stopped at Amphora after going to the club.

 

there's a small DC network of people.

 

my brother lives in bethesda and I visit him a lot :D

Hey man if you are going to get a turbo honestly, work on the other things first I would say.

Shocks and Springs, definately get a short shifter for our car, a stage 2 clutch for sure, and theres even more after that if you are considering running more than 8 pounds of boost.

I think Volk time attacks would look good on a red car. :D

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ley &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">my brother lives in bethesda and I visit him a lot :D

Hey man if you are going to get a turbo honestly, work on the other things first I would say.

Shocks and Springs, definately get a short shifter for our car, a stage 2 clutch for sure, and theres even more after that if you are considering running more than 8 pounds of boost.

I think Volk time attacks would look good on a red car. :D</TD></TR></TABLE>

Volk Time Attacks. Good luck finding them, though. They're a limited edition production model, that have not been manufactured for quite some time.

 

I have family in Charlotte. I've been that way many times. I make it from DC to Charlotte in 5.5 hours police permitting. One of my best friends just moved down that way as well.

Why do you think I should do the other things first instead of the turbo? Shouldn't I knock out the more difficult and the more expensive now and then worry about less dificult and less expensive things?

 

I looked at volks. They are hot. And expensive. They cost about as much as its going to cost for the boost. So I think I'll boost first.

Looks like im going with some enkei's for now.

First round of work to be done is going to be knocked out this weekend. I'll post some before pics after work tonight and then some after round one pics early next week.

Thanks to everyone for their help.

 

post pics of your HID kit when you get a chance..i want to see...

 

hot

 

so what was this first round of work?

 

k20 swap? maybe?

 

I got held up by the weather, so I didn't get to accomplish anything. Freaking snow.

I'm not going to K swap my car, I've decided. I want to keep it as a d17. If I decide to go the K route I will do it with a different car. I'm thinking of trying a K series project with a vehicle that comes with a k, rather than swapping.

So far I have my hids, fog lights, b&m shifter and eibach kit in hand. The weather and my schedule have kept me from putting them in. This weekend looks like a go however.

I've decided on my rims and tires, but I haven't ordered them yet. I have also chosen to go with a dezod turbo, but I am going to wait for another paycheck or two to order that so I can pay for it in cash and not charge it on a credit card.

Since the weather here finally cleared up I can get my car washed and detailed and finally post some pictures.

 

dezod turbo good choice..

 

nice, you're going to want more of a drop then eibach kit though.

nice, post pics when you can .

 

haha yeah the volk time attacks suggestion was actually a joke because they are pretty much the rarest rim there is, other than takata green volk gt-v's!

You should do all of the other things first man because those things just overall improve the car, make it look aggressive by being lowered, actually make it feel like it has a sports transmission (short shifter + new clutch).

Anyways if you ask dezod, he will tell you you need a stage 2 clutch anyways, the stock clutch can't handle that kind of boost. I mean I have problems with my stock clutch and I occasionally gas it from time to time. You also need good struts that can handle boost as well. And I actually thought about this, the engine torque dampener would help for launches heh

 

wat enkei rims are u looking at?