Alright, well a little bit about myself to start off with. I drive a 98 ranger. Lift spindles, fox shox, just a basic lift kit. (Was saving for long travel but I don't have 10,000 bucks ). I'm into off-roading, but at this time, I don't have the cash to support my $60 fill ups each week. Almost all of my friends are into Honda's, Nissan's, and basically anything import, so I won't need help with modifications, or swap information as I have a friend who knows everything there is to know about civics and Honda's in general.

Basically, I'm looking at trading my truck for the following, and I need some insight as to if this is a good base platform, or if I should chose something else. I have two options as of right now.

A. 98 EX CLEAN TITLE!
AC
133,000
body 8/10
interior 8/10
5% tint
D16 with VTEC, not VTECH or V-TECH. (honda filter and fluid) with 5 Speed (honda fluid)
lowered 1.5" on 5 way ADJUSTIBLE tokico illuminas and an Eibach pro spring kit. the ride is incredible, because its lowered PROPERLY. no chopped springs or silly drop coil/coilover sleeve nonsense here. can be adjusted from softer than stock to annoying to drive on the 91.
15" Si alloys with falken azenis tires (205.50.15) very sticky when warm.
no modifications to intake or exhaust, because thats dumb.
last tank calculated at 40.2 MPG.

Bads:
missing sunvisors and rear seatbelts. i have no idea why, werent there when i bought it... also, sunroof cover felt is all scratched. i keep it retracted and tinted the sunroof 5%.

Pictures for "A" car :


My question is since the person hasn't posted if it's a D16A,B,C etc, how should I know what it is?


B. 2001 honda civic ex coupe
1.7 4cyl with 5spd
169,000 miles
white exterior ide give the paint a 7 /6 out of 10.
tan cloth interior fairly clean 8 out of 10.
15 red rota wheels on toyo proxys
rsx 6spd shift ****
clear side markers
clear headlights
unknown blue 3/4 lowering springs
pioneer headunit with new alpine 6x9s
aem c.a.i. (needs new filter)
gets around 35 mpg on average.
Its been a great reliable DD but my needs have changed and will be painting houses in my new job. So I need a truck with somewhat of a useable bed or can be made into a usuable space doesnt matter if it needs a little bit of work.
bad:the trannys been making noise in high rpms 1st through 3rd ive been driving with it for the last 6 months like that and it still drives fine. haven't the time or money to get it looked at. And the other is it has lowering springs on stock struts so the rides isnt the best and it needs a cat which hopefully ill be getting done within the week.

Pictures for "B" car :


Also has black rims -


My question is which should I get? What I'm looking at doing in the near future is just headers, intake, an exhaust, and a chip. Nothing else really, because I still want the 30+ mpgs.

 

Option A, the bad list is way smaller and the car is just way better looking!

 

Should have made this a poll.

Car A looks great, has decent suspension work and tires and appears to be mostly stock otherwise. This car gets my vote.

The engine it originally came with from the factory is the D16Y8. If it's not stock, you can find out which engine it is by looking at the block stamp.

 

Ok. My next question is how do I tell if it has Vtec, and if it's Vtec or Vtec-E? I know I can check under the hood, but the guy selling it doesn't exactly live right around the corner.

 

I'm going to ask the guy to get some motor pictures for me. How do I make it a poll? Not entirely sure to be honest.

 

It's too late, only a mod can do it now. It was one of the options that can be found while creating a thread.

Car A seems like a gem. I would go for it man.

 

Not sure how to post videos, but this is what my friend did by himself. Bought a 92(?) Civic off my good friend for 700, then swapped in a JDM GSR Motor with 35k miles on it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEKiF_g7jYA

 

Sweet, thanks for the input. I just need to get the title for my truck from my parents so I can actually trade for it. Oh how I'm going to miss taking it to the desert...

 

The Y8 is a VTEC engine. VTEC-E is the Y5 engine found in HX's.

Even though I like the look of the 7th gens better (just not that one) the 1998 looks a little beter kept, has less miles, is an EX (sunroof), and has VTEC. While the 2001 is non-VTEC and has no sunroof. Plus you have way more aftermarket options for the 1998. I would suggest car A.

 

So the consensus is car a. Sweet. When/if I get it, after I do the things I have in my mind ill post up. Would I need a chip for the mods I listed in the op?

 

The way obd2 hondas work is you will need a obd2a to obd1 wiring harness adaptor(this just converts the ecu plugs to obd1 ecu style, ebay around 40$) and you will need a chipped obd1 vtec ecu(can be had on ebay for ~115$) Then to get the full potential out of your car(horsepower and gas mileage) you will need to find a tuner to tune the car for you(anywhere between 150$ for a street tune or 400+$ for a full dyno/street tune). Find someone who will do a street tune to dial in the partial throttle for the best gas mileage. You can run the car on the stock ecu also, boltons should not do too much to the factory tune.

 

1) This is exclusively a technical forum, so please post non-technical questions about value in the Value sticky at the top.

2) Thread titles must summarize your tech problem - edited

3) Post your inquiries about the 01 Civic in the 01-05 Civic forum.

 

god i want the rims from car a on my 97 ex.

*goes back to trolling craigslist for rims*

 

My bad about that. I read through a little after I posted this and facepalm'd.

 

A

Good for a daily driver.

 

i vote A as well - for all the above stated reasons