hope im posting this in the right spot now.

Ok I got a 2001 Civic LX
I LOVE the way the car looks, the interior is nice (not too old like the 1995 that grew on me finally)

I want something fun to drive thoug. Not really looking to race, probably never will aside from at a stop light maybe...what would I spend $1000 on? I seen a turbo kit for $500 on Ebay, JDM too but Im not sure thats what I want or if that'd be a stupid choice. I spent $4000 on the car, I cant and wont spend more than $1000 on mods (probably ever, the 1000 is probably all ill ever put into mods for speed). Suggestions? Thanks in advance.


P.S.

I've also considered trying to get a different one (I couldnt rip the engine outta this thing its got maintanence records from like 2001), and doing an engine swap but it looks like that runs 6000 MINIMUM with labor and engine. I'm pretty picky with cars for look or id consider another one. how much better off would i be getting a 1995 civic? keeping in mind id want a brand new paintjob and interior work to bring it a little up to date looking (so additional costs obviously). i like the 95 civic, 2001 civic, 2001 style mustang sort of (interior is ugly), i dont know. the 2001 is probably one of my most favorite looking cars ever though, ive liked this thing for YEARS and just recently got it. i literally like it more than probably any car under 50-100 thousand. just to stress how much id like to make THIS particular car fast if its not too bad. my budget is about $5000 give or take a couple hundred including vehicle. (paid 4000 for this civic).

 

you're not going to make that car fast for $1000, your only solution to making it fast is either turbo, or swapping. and i'd stay away from that $500 "JDM" turbo kit. sounds like trouble at that price range and the fact that they are claiming its JDM.

for $1000 you'd be better off lowering it and getting some better tires for your stock wheels.

 

Cheapest way to get performance for least amount of money is a nitrous kit, personally first I'd do is suspension.

 

you got $1000 and you want to be fast lol, I got $2000 in my motor and im just running 15.6.......but if u want performance grab those $1000 and send it to hondata so they can send u a k-pro ecu and a camgear

 

damn you guys pay way too much to go fast then if 1000 doesnt get you ANYWHERE. haha

anyway to know how much speed thatd give me @turbo/cam gear

not sure i could spend $1000 bucks without knowing im gonna be satisfied ;/ again though im not looking to race just something fun to drive.

 

wont be fun to drive with stock suspension.

 

I drive a 01 lx sedan, so maybe this opinion will help...
The best money ive spent on the car was on suspension. I went with Tokico and am very pleased. Handles really well, but still right around stock ride height so its nothing thats gonna stand out to the police. Short of heart surgery, the car just isnt gonna be fast in a straight line. I do HPDEs periodically (mainly autox and track days), and the car handles great. Ive done a few tracks that ive kept up with cars with 3x the power in the twisties (granted they lost me halfway down the straight haha). keep in mind im nothing more than a weekend warrior with what i would call ok racing skill.

Put your money on handling, bc thats really the only feasible way to go fast in the car. I/H/E is gonna buy you about 10hp for well over a G if you do it right. worth it? absolutely not. Throw that same grand into dampers, rubber, and some quality brake pads, and youre really gonna have some fun with the car and be able to push it much harder.

Also, yea you can probably rig up a turbo for your price range but you gata keep in mind one very important factor...youre driving on almost 10 year old suspension parts and brakes that were meant for a 100hp car. to go fast, you gata be able to control it and stop it, which doing so will put you well over budget, likely close to 2x what you payed for the car to do it.

 

Wanna go fast? Sell it and buy something else, bolt-on doesn't even do ****.

 

see thats the whole thing, i dont plan to race. i probably wont even race from stop lights like i said, i really just want something thats fun accelerating. suspension (after everyone including u whos told me to get it) would already be my choice if i was actually racing (turns and stuff, where it would help me) but due the the fact i just wanna have that speed to get ahead of people easily at lights and gay **** like that, isnt turbo what id want?

then maybe if i liked it enough and got into it id start working on other stuff. i cant see stock suspension being too bad for what i plan to use the car for

let me know please thanks alot

 

Anyway .. for $1,000 .. you're not going to do that much easier than you already do. Unless you install a dry kit, or something. But even that isn't going to make a huge difference.

A turbo kit is going to cost a lot more than what you're willing to spend. So until you're ready to fork out $$$$ for a build, turbo, or swap ... forget about making your car noticeably faster.

As mentioned, your best place to put that money is into your suspension. (or the bank)

 

recommendations on another car? something 5500 and under? something hopefully 1999+ that i guess isnt a honda.

 

why? do a header exhaust and intake and if you have some cash left lower it. why spend the cash and trade for another car when you can slowly mod this one?

 

Header & Intake will yield negligible results. You'll need to do a little more research on the chassis before recommending typical performance enhancements.

 

please elaborate a little bit as i am also new to this platform. all i knew about was the downpipe issue but i have not looked into it that much.

 

The OP wants to make his car faster and you recommended the typical I/H/E modification which doesn't do much (if anything) to increase the performance characteristics of this model.

While other Honda motors tend to respond well enough to bolt-on "performance" parts, the D17 does not. The advertisements lead people to believe that by adding these items to their car, they could potentially see a dramatic increase of power. All hype. The gains are minimal. (very minimal)

So unless you're putting those things on your car for their appearance or noise factors, it's pretty much a waste of money.

 

i see thank you for explaining

 

No problem. Glad I could make sense of it.

 

because i want to spend $1000 and thats it. i spent $4000 on this car like...idk
if i wanted to 7000, 10000 dollar car i would have bought one. i saved my money way too long to spend tha kind of money on a car, im trying to get a house. i was looking to spend $1000 mods an thats it, period. but it sounds like ....thats not even cloe to enough
i want something with some ******* pep to it, i just realized...i need to be looking at torque i think?
i just basically, in simple terms, want to be able to pass 80, 90% of cars at stop lights no problem...

ive been taking a look at the cars ive been interested in and it seems civic is prtty much the last choice on the list. let me know if im wrong with looking at torque but it makes sense to me.

heres my stats:

CIVIC EX - - Power: SAE and 95 kW , 127 HP @ 6,300 rpm; 114 ft lb , 155 Nm @ 4,800 rpm
CIVIC LX - Power: SAE and 86 kW , 115 HP @ 6,100 rpm; 110 ft lb , 149 Nm @ 4,500 rpm
lance es - Power: 89 kW , 120 HP SAE @ 5,500 rpm; 130 ft lb , 176 Nm @ 4,250 rpm
jetta gt - Power: 85 kW , 115 HP @ 5,400 rpm; 122 ft lb @ 3,200 rpm
99' 323i Power: 127 kW , 170 HP @ 5,500 rpm; 181 ft lb , 245 Nm @ 3,500 rpm
99 328i Power: 144 kW , 193 HP @ 5,300 rpm; 206 ft lb , 279 Nm @ 3,500 rpm
01 altima - Power: SAE and 116 kW , 155 HP @ 5,600 rpm; 156 ft lb , 211 Nm @ 4,400 rpm


ECLIPSE GST/GSX- Power: 157 kW , 210 HP @ 6,000 rpm; 214 ft lb , 290 Nm @ 3,000 rpm
lance OZ - Power: 89 kW , 120 HP SAE @ 5,500 rpm; 130 ft lb , 176 Nm @ 4,250 rpm
03 evo - - Power: 202 kW , 271 HP SAE @ 6,500 rpm; 273 ft lb , 370 Nm @ 3,500 rpm

 

make that 90% of cars at stop lights, or more. considering most cars on the road are just average cars. i dont even mean racign btw. im just trying to stress the fact that i just want a quick *** 0-60 without having to floor it. thats exactly what i want. right there.

suggestions please thanks everyone,.

 

out of all those cars you listed, only a couple are under your $5500 budget. you're looking at engine specs when in reality you should ALSO be looking at how much that particular car weighs. the most powerful of the ones in your budget is probably that 01 altima which also weighs a lot.

you want a fast 0-60 with your budget? probably won't happen. you want to pass 80-90% of cars at stop lights, you can do that with your civic... can't you? most people dont floor their cars when the light turns green.

it just seems you're trying to get something fast for no money at all. with your small budget you're probably better off getting a 1991 civic and swapping it with a faster motor (b18) if you want something "peppy" and light.

i've had my car since 2003 so i know a lot about our chassis, if you want to go ahead and try your luck at that JDM Turbo kit, go ahead, it might turn out to be exactly what you need, or maybe not.

 

you could maybe talk to this guy

https://honda-tech.com/forums/showpo...9&postcount=33

 

Crower Stage I N/A cam will net you more gains @ 250 dollars than I/H/E will.

 

"you're probably better off getting a 1991 civic and swapping it with a faster motor (b18) "


yeah i think ur right. 1000 i realized is nowhere close to enough i dont think for what i want...not wit h this car
the 01 altima isnt even fun, what i really want i think is low end torque

i dont want to have to floor it to pass people @whoever said that


i think ive figured out what to do, either spend some real money, get an older civic or just forget about speed. thanks everyone. case closed.

 

glad we could help, you'd be surprised how cheap parts are for older chassis .

 

You bought the wrong car for acceleration. This car is still nice, has alot of potential, and can be picked up for fairly cheap considering how new they still are and that most are unmodded. I love mine, I don't plan on getting rid of it anytime soon, maybe cause I have a few thouand into it and I like the way it looks and drives now... it's a bonafied RSX to me.