First of all, great forum. I've been checking things out on here for a little while now and I feel very cool joining the community here.

Anyway, I'm really excited to say that I recently bought a totally stock '98 Civic DX Hatchback. I feel great about it, the car is in really solid shape, and I've wanted one for a long time. I want to start working on the car as I can afford to.

The idea for what I want to do can basically be summed up as this:
I wanted to build something that kicks a little *** that I can still drive a good bit. Nothing too out of hand, I want the car to be "nice".

Eventually I want to swap the motor and do some of those types of mods, but I think I'd like to do some upgrades to the suspension and brakes first. I'm just unsure of where to start. Any info would be totally awesome. Thanks...

 

welcome!

considering the fact that the car is a decade old, new bushings and some sticky tires would be a great place to start.

 

If it were up to me I would have done my safety upgrades before any type of performance upgrades, but a dying motor forces me to swap soon lol

Stick to things that can most likely save your life first like these.
-Front Rotors/Brake Pads (I use autozone duralast rotors and hawk pads )
-Rear Disc Conversion (From and integra/civic si... helps stopping power a bunch)
-Good shocks/coilovers (skunk2, koni, ground control.. ect..) and maybe lca's
-wheels and tires (if you need/want them)

after that you'll have decided whether or not to build a motor for na, turbo.. ect...

be sure to check the appearance/cosmetic section when you lose your trial status too! beautiful hatches in there that are all oem parts

gl with the build and welcome to HT

 

Thanks a lot- I think I'll be looking into the rotors/pads, and new bushings first.

Is there some sort of kit available that I might be able to get all the new bushings I need at once?

Also, am I right in saying that coilovers consist of a spring and a strut? Would those lower the car, and replace the existing struts and springs?

Oh and thanks for the quick replies, that's really pretty cool.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by davidofazrael &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Thanks a lot- I think I'll be looking into the rotors/pads, and new bushings first.

Is there some sort of kit available that I might be able to get all the new bushings I need at once?

Also, am I right in saying that coilovers consist of a spring and a strut? Would those lower the car, and replace the existing struts and springs?

Oh and thanks for the quick replies, that's really pretty cool.

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

energy suspension as well as a couple other companies make full kits in order to replace bushings.

coilovers consist of a threaded shock body with a spring on an adjustable perch. they'll give you adjustable ride height while replacing the shock and spring in one shot.

 

is there a chance of coilovers (like the skunk2 ones) having an effect on the alignment of the car?

and if so, is there a way to fix it so i'm not chewing up tires (like will getting a simple alignment adjustment be enough)?





Modified by davidofazrael at 8:45 PM 4/22/2008

 

yes, changing out the springs will affect your alignment but a simple alignment at your local shop will fix all those issues