I have a 92 honda accord ex 5 speed and am new to the car scene. I want to add performance parts and take out something's I don't need.

I don't want just random performance parts I want parts that will be worth it. A slow change to making it eventually pretty rocking. Any starting points?

 

Tires. Start with Tires. Biggest fun factor is having grip. You will then notice what you will want next.

 

Purpose, goals and budget! These are three main things to consider when modifying a car. The big thing to look at is, is the car even healthy enough to consider mods in the first place. In order to make performance parts worth the while you should make sure that your 22 year old car is fit for duty.

Put some money into the regular maintenance parts and health of the engine first. If you want to upgrade them now would be the time to do it. Such as brakes and suspension. You could do a 5 lug swap (larger brakes) and a suspension upgrade (coil-overs). You would be looking at spending a minimum of $1000-$2000 on new brakes and suspension for all 4 corners.

Price all depends on how much of the work you can do yourself and what the quality of your parts are. You say you don't want random performance parts, are you also looking for quality performance parts or are you on a tight budget?

 

I can do the work myself. It's a car I use everyday, and just want to actually replace everything with quality parts and have it as a fun ride around and zippy when you find the right moment.

It's a car I want to keep as a project of mine. You suggested suspension and brakes. I would like to follow that with steering in the mix.
Okay, what should I do after that? I'm going to swap the engine and transmission towards the final part after having everything I added.

 

Suspension usually goes hand in hand with steering.

If you are going to swap the engine then I wouldn't waste my time with any mods to the current engine. Wait and put the mods into the swapped engine. From my experience they aren't always drop in and go. They can usually require some gaskets and other maintenance before you drop it in. Water pump, timing belt and valve adjustment just to name a few things. Along with anything that would be easier to do while the engine is out of the chassis.

What engine and transmission are you looking to swap?

 

a simple air intake will add hp and mpg for a few $$$

 

Hardly, the factory system is efficient enough for the stock engine, just remove the pre-airbox resonator for a sound difference. Biggest change I noticed with my car so far has been going from the factory short 4-1 exhaust manifold to a 4-2-1 header. It was an ebay unit, so fitment kind of sucked, but it made a big difference past 4K. You won't notice any really big power gains until the factory cam is swapped out for something bigger. These engines are SERIOUSLY under-cammed from the factory.

 

I don't know if they are seriously under cammed, they seem to work fine. I think the biggest acceleration problem is the stock Accord transmission gearing. A trans from a Prelude allows better acceleration, and allows the engine to get into its powerband quickly.

 

based on the recent trend from auto mfgs more hp = more mpg

example:
Lexus IS300 older model i6 engine 225hp 19/25mpg
Lexus IS250 new model v6 engine 200hp 22/30mpg with a .5l smaller engine
Lexus IS350 new model v6 engine 300hp 21/28mpg withe .5l larger engine

even mazda offers 2 i4 engines for their current lineup and the smaller engine is underpowered and gets less mpg. kinda bass ackward but it makes sense to me seeing as honda sells the same H series B series and K series engines in japan that produces A LOT more hp

what im saying is american engines are de-tuned for less output and mpg suffers. those Lexus engines are built for max hp and get great mpg! almost better mpg than most i4 engines but no n/a i4 engine will output 300hp!

 

There's a lot of things you're not taking into account such as direct injection, gearing, weight, aero, and just more efficient engine designs. You're vastly over simplifying it.

Mike, most of the cam profiles in F-series SOHC engines are pretty puny from the factory for the displacement. They're smaller than most of the D-series profiles! A cam goes a LONG way with the F's as long as everything else is matched to the cam's profile, which it seems only a few people care to take into account.

 

KISS

no but seriously camshafts go a long way in any honda engine nuff said

also i was just lookin at pics of 7th gen and newer accords and the air intake is actually pointed toward the cabin not the front air dam? WTF what is this a minivan? LOL under tuned to produce less hp. what else? even on older civic models the battery needed to be moved for a proper air intake. more efficient design.

short story japanese car mfgs had a "gentleman's agreement" an unofficial agreement that noone would produce cars with over 300hp as a way to prevent a all out hp competition. nissan broke this agreement with the 350z/g35 305 hp engine