i have a 1989 standard civic hatchback, with a stock D15A engine. the car has about 147k miles, runs well and is overall in decent shape. i have owned my civic for 3 years and 8 months. i have come to like the car, and i have decided to keep it for many more years. i have read about all sorts of modifications available for civics, and i would like to make my civic perform a little better. i was thinking of some of the following improvements: cold air intake, rear disc brakes from a crx si, stainless brake lines, high voltage coil and a few other bolt ons. my hope is to make my civic a little bit sportier and more fun to drive. i am not into all of the bling-bling lights and chrome stuff, nor am i trying to build a drag racer that runs on race fuel. i want to have a civic that is a little faster, but is still a good car for daily driving. i don't want to sacrifice fuel economy and reliability. i don't want to spend a fortune on gadgets that don't do anything and won't add to the resale value of the car (i'm already spending quite a bit to restore a karmann ghia) what i have been planning is to replace older worn out parts with parts that are better than stock. my specific question today is about the drive axles. about 6 weeks ago, i noticed that one of the outer cv joint boots was ripped and pretty much no grease left inside. the other boot looked like it had some wear, cracking, etc. and i figured that it would wear out before too long. yesterday, i noticed dollops of grease on the inside front wheel, and, sure enough, that cv boot had a hole in it. with other cars in the past, i have simply had the axles replaced with a rebuilt unit. this costs only slightly more than just having a new boot installed. i have seen performance axles for civics costing about $400.00 per pair, and i was wondering if it would be worth it for someone in my situation to install expensive axles, or would it be better to just stick with the stock rebuilt axles.

in addition to this question, i would love to hear any advice about what bolt-ons and other improvements would be useful for my civic.