Sorry for the inconvinience...I'm sure this question has been answered several time... All attemps to search have faile.

My question is..... In terms of CHASIS. What is the diffrence between 99-00 Civic EX EJ chasis vs 99-00 Civic Si EM Chasis? I am looking at purchasing an inexpensive Civic as my first rebuild car, and I was going to get an EX and do an engine swap...until I found out there is a chasi8s diffrence.

Any help would be EXTREMELY grateful?

 

well there's the obvious engine and drivetrain components (including exhaust, brake cylinder, etc) that are different. the SI adds a rear sway bar and rear disk brakes, cosmetic changes for the front bumper and available colors, different seats and amber dash lighting. otherwise you're looking at the same car.

if you want an EJ project car, why not use the DX? you can get them without power windows, power steering, moonroof, a/c, etc so you'll start with a more basic and lighter car.

 

The only thing that I can think of that's different on the chassis is the swaybar setup... the EX has a 22mm front swaybar an no rear swaybar, while the SI has a 26mm front swaybar (CTR size) and a 13 mm rear swaybar. Depending on how much money you'd want to spend on that... a combo of the 22mm front and 22mm rear (CTR size) handles with less understeer than the 26mm up front and 22mm rear. Now if you got the SI, and did a 32 mm rear hollowbar, that's a different story. Oh yeah, the SI also comes stock with a front upper strut bar.

If you were going to do a straight rebuild, swapping the engine and all that stuff, you'd be better off with the EX (minus the bragging rights, status, and interior). Oh yeah, the EX and the SI share the same front brakes setup, but the EX has drums vs the discs on the SI.

It's really a matter of how much money you're willing to spend (as always).

 

He's right... if you're going to do a swap, that means you're going for speed, and you need as light as a car as possible as your building block. You could just get a 96 DX (keeping the exterior cosmetic differences aside) instead of a 99-00 SI and use the difference in money spent for a motor, springs, etc, and get a way faster car to begin with.