Help me hookup my car please

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sicbeing

sicbeing

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Cribanox
Hello everyone. I am an 18 year old who lives in Orlando FL, and I'm going to have some money to spend on my car.

I own a 94 Honda Civic LX Sedan Automatic. Some things I'd like to do consist of:

Paint Job
Body Kit
New transmission to model it into a stick shift
Customized Upholstry (Seats and Carpets)
I don't know anything about it but I'd like to do a motor swap
Muffler/Exhaust Kit
Suspension Kit so where i can lower it and put a sway bar in

I work for Autonation and I can get discounts on some of those things (installing them, paint jobs, getting out dents, and putting new door shells on). But where do you guys think I should look to buy these things from? I've been to only one place I think I can trust for some things which is store.summitracing.com

Anyone have any ideas?
 
Well I was thinking that, but I dunno, didnt want to go through to hassle of buying a different car, but If i can find a -decent- one i might try it, one where I woulnd't have to buy new quarterpanels, fenders, door shells, etc for dents.

And I prolly would never do a Hatchback, I hate those things, Id go 2-door EX all the way.

I want it to eventually be like show-car material, decals sexy paint and body kit nice rims etc, it doesnt have to be the stereo typical hatchback with a fart muffler u see everyday on the roads, I want it to look sexy and go fast (im not gonna race it really, just to show off when people would f-with me on the road)
 
sicbeing
I don't know anything about it but I'd like to do a motor swap
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No you don't. You just said you knew nothing about it, that means trouble. Either you'll pay out the ass so a shop installs it for you, or you'll attempt it by yourself and screw things up badly.

First step would be to sell the car, and get something else.
 
I have to agree with PR.
If you want a car with a manual trans, and a hotter engine, start with a car that has a manual trans and a hotter engine.

There are Integras practially falling off trees, if you look. There are also newer Civics, Mitsus, Cavaliers, and even Mustangs that will come cheaper than trying to do an engine and tranny swap.
Trust me, it's way easier to build up a decent engine that you have, than trying to source an engine, and tranny, and intake, fabrication, etc, and get them in a vehilcle, and tuned to run right.

Even if it costs a bit more in cash, what you save in headaches and "sweat equity" will be priceless.

I don't care how easy the shows on the Discovery channel make it look. They have 10-20 people with many years of experience, and virtually bottomless bank accounts. And they still run into HUGE stumbling blocks on every build. You and I cannot build up a hot car in 1-week like on "Overhauled" , "Pimp my Ride" or as quickly as Boyd Coddington and Crew in "American Hot Rod".

The only way that kind of build is "do-able" is if you have another car to drive while you build the show car. But if, as I suspect you inted to drive the car and build as you go, you will be much better served with a better starting platform. And getting your "feet wet" with easy, quick mods such as FIPK's, and exhaust. (Things that will only take the car off the road for several hours or a day at a time).
 
Well the installing im not worried about at all, like i said installing ANYTHING isnt a problem, i work for a line of body shops and dealerships, i can trust my company if needed to install anything i need, i would just need to know good places to buy this stuff.

I can take a look for integras and/other acura models, or etc, but id rather not and keep my civic.
 
sicbeing
Well the installing im not worried about at all, like i said installing ANYTHING isnt a problem, i work for a line of body shops and dealerships, i can trust my company if needed to install anything i need, i would just need to know good places to buy this stuff.

I can take a look for integras and/other acura models, or etc, but id rather not and keep my civic.
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Try this,
Go to MSN and check out the auto section.
Then try to find the parts you need. Factor in $40 per hour for labor on the car.
Compare the prices.

*edit*
I checked in my area, and came up with 18 Integras within 50 miles of me.
They ranged in price from about $4500-$12000.
This is consistent with "blue book"
You're looking at about $6000 to have a hot motor built, including machine work. Then what ever the install would cost.
A tranny will go about $2000 with installation.
Then there's body work, interior, ICE, etc.

I bet you'd come out ahead starting with a "better" car, with a good body and already equipped with a manual.
The '94 Civic is going for $3500 to about $6000. You should be able to find another '94 with a manual. Factoring in the sale of your '94 you could lose very little money swapping the cars.
 
Ah, well, what kind of engines are we talking about with these integras and civic vtecs? I know mine isnt all too hot, not even vtec, prolly 115hp. What are these other integras or civic manuals? Whenever I look up cars online they never say HP or etc so i get frustrated.

And I talked to one of my insurance estimators who used to be a mechanic, told me doing the manual transmission swap would only run me around 700. What kind of Engine where you talking about when you mentioned 6 grand? One of my old car wash buddies (i used to work at a car wash) told me I could find something like 300-400hp engines for 6grand, not including installing costs

-EDIT-

If the motor swap isnt needed I could just put a turbo kit on it, but I dont know whether or not id want to with my little engine.
 
Well, it's your money, your car, and your time, but with your limited knowledge I strongly advise against "just putting a turbo kit on it". Extra power means extra stress, and turbocharging a car is a great way to overstress an engine unless you know what you're doing and know how to maintain it.

[edit]

Any car modification project calls for three things: mechanical skill and facilities, money, and time.

If you're lacking in any one of those three things, expect to double the other two. If you're lacking in any two of those things, just forget the project.
 
sicbeing
Ah, well, what kind of engines are we talking about with these integras and civic vtecs? I know mine isnt all too hot, not even vtec, prolly 115hp.
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A new Civic without VTEC has 115hp.

Yours came from the factory rated at 102hp.



So... I'd probably sell it and buy something else... something more powerful to begin with...
 
Duke
Well, it's your money, your car, and your time, but with your limited knowledge I strongly advise against "just putting a turbo kit on it". Extra power means extra stress, and turbocharging a car is a great way to overstress an engine unless you know what you're doing and know how to maintain it.

[edit]

Any car modification project calls for three things: mechanical skill and facilities, money, and time.

If you're lacking in any one of those three things, expect to double the other two. If you're lacking in any two of those things, just forget the project.
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Well I dont have mechanical skill whatsoever, i mean most of my knowledge is limited to whatever gran turismo has taught me and what I know from working with body men and car parts. If you mean facilities a place to work on it and do what I need to it, I have that, its just I wont be working on it, one of my production managers who is also a mechanic and car customizer will work on it for a bit of cash (hes who i goto whenver i need something for my car, cheap and good for an employeyee).

I have money, or I will anyway soon, and time I have lots of, im only 18 years old, i dont have much to do besides try to improve on my basic car knowledge and my car.

Yes i'll admit it, im no car freak, i dont even barely know what a turbo kit is, i know how it works (basic) and what it will add to my HP at a certain RPMs, but I wouldnt have a clue on how to install it or maintain it. Im realisticly just some loser white boy who wants a nice car w/o having to buy a new car, because I like mine a lot, but I'd like it to be nicer, image and speed wise. Im not saying I wanna bring it to the track every week and race the hell out of it, nor am i going to goto underground race meets and stuff, I just want the speed for myself when I want it and be able to show off my nice car that ive spent time and money on, and not be a regular POS car with rims and a muffler with bass in the back.

I mean I don't even know where to begin under the hood at all... I dunno what a turbo kit would do to my engine. Maybe I can fix up my engine a bit and just add a few different smaller things to maybe get it above 200hp, but I wouldnt even know what those things are.

I'd still like to make it a standard car cuz I like standard feel better and it gets more respect, and I want the turbo kit basically for the sound of it, along with the blowoff valve, id rather have that sound then a big 45$ muffler sound, bc with a v4 they sound like garbage.

I had a friend who knew a lot of stuff about hondas tell me that I could even put a cobra engine in a civic cuz it has enough room, i have no idea how this would even work but stuff like this always had me excited about my car.

Everytime I go on the internet and ask these questions about my car people always either give me info I dont want or tell me to stop being retarded and buy integras hatchbacks or wtv, when I dont really want that. I wanna be different, in a way.

Anyway, sorry for the rant. But could you tell me where I could get a motor built at? Id like to look at prices and specs for them. (you mentioned it being built for 6grand but i dunno what kind of engine ur talking about).
 
sicbeing
I had a friend who knew a lot of stuff about hondas tell me that I could even put a cobra engine in a civic cuz it has enough room, i have no idea how this would even work but stuff like this always had me excited about my car.
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Put the keyboard away, now! Your "friend" knows just about as you do.

I'm trying to be nice, but reading all that... I just can't. You're a ricer, my friend, you have absolutely no clue what you're talking about. I'll tell you what; you want to be different? Keep your car as it is. That way you won't make a fool of yourself like you've already started to do.
 
sicbeing
I wanna be different, in a way.
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Then you definitley shouldn't have a Civic :)

sicbeing
bc with a v4 they sound like garbage.
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A Civic has an inline four cylinder. I'd say start out by buying a shop manual, go change your own oil, do some other maintenance stuff. I got into cars playing Gran Turismo also, but you are going to have to get some experience with real cars before you try to build a 200hp Civic.
 
PunkRock
Put the keyboard away, now! Your "friend" knows just about as you do.

I'm trying to be nice, but reading all that... I just can't. You're a ricer, my friend, you have absolutely no clue what you're talking about. I'll tell you what; you want to be different? Keep your car as it is. That way you won't make a fool of yourself like you've already started to do.
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what is a ricer anyway? Typical azn or rican young guy who puts a fart muffler on his civic , drops it, and runs around the place making as much noise as possible?

as i said I dont want to be a ricer, i want a show-car quality civic, i dunno if i made it clear that looks are more important than whats under the hood really.

-edit-

when i mean looks i mean paint job, body kit, lights, but no neons or stupid crap like that i wouldnt think. Its more tuner than ricer, id think.

and no ****, i already admitted i didnt know what i was talking about, thats why im here asking questions, and not being arrogant thinking i DO know everything.
 
If you want a show car, go for it. Don't listen to what everyone else is saying about buying a different car.

However, if you want a ton of power (Double what the car is making now), with your level of car knowledge, you're going to need a ton of money. We're talking five digits here that you're going to have to slap down with an "I don't give a ****" attitude about that big of a stack of cash. Then on top of that, you want thousands of dollars worth of show parts and modifications. It's not going to happen, at least not any time soon.

I'm not going to tell you to buy another car, but a project like this will not be easy, by any means, and it's going to take you years, and 2/3 of your income. Start off by searching for any and every major project undertaken for your car on the web, buy a Haynes repair manual for it, and one of the new Haynes tuner manuals for it as well.
 
i dont need a manual for repairs, I have a program we use called pathways which shows every single peice of anything in my car.

If I did want to make it faster, what would you suggest doing to it? Doubling its power would be more than enough, but dropping over 10 grand under the hood seems like a bit much for just double its power...

For the show-ee part, I'd just wanna do a body kit (wide if I feel like saving that kind of money), then painting it that good blue ive seen on all the newer cars (electronic blue? i forget), then get decals on it of just differnt manufacturers ive used so far, I also wanna start a part time business for car detailing (i have minor experience in the field) just kinda like a "kid mowing your grass" type job, and then decal the car with the logo and my cell phone number (id get a 2nd one for the business). Itd be something like "like what you see? call xxx-xxxx" or etc. Itd still be a show car, but that would kinda gimme a good excuse to make the civic look as nice as possible.

Im definatly going to tint the windows black. Black as they legally allow them in FL.

As for the "buy a new car" i think the only thing id see me doing is buying a higher 90's civic EX coupe, but not the integras or hatchbacks. integras are too costly and i just dont like hatchbacks. Especially the Si's.

Id prolly wanna get rims but I dont know what size or if Id wanna drop a bajallion dollars on them. whats a decent size you think? 15-16? my current hubcaps are 14.

One of my co workers employees owns a red RX-7 3rd gen , has a body kit and they customized it into a convertable, one of the best RX-7s ive seen. (not saying much). I contumplated doing it to a civic and decided it wouldnt look right.

-edit-

yes, this is a huge project, but I dont really have much else to do or buy except the cost to just live. Id like to make this the best expeience possible
 
sicbeing
and not be a regular POS car with rims and a muffler with bass in the back.
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What are you going to replace rims with? Some sort of belt drive system?
Mufflers are usually essential for street driven cars aswell...

sicbeing
I want the turbo kit basically for the sound of it
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sicbeing
decals sexy paint and body kit nice rims etc
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Bahbo
What are you going to replace rims with? Some sort of belt drive system?
Mufflers are usually essential for street driven cars aswell...



headshake.gif
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lol, yea, i know that turbo remark sounded dumb. but i cant help it. What i really meant wasnt that id pay 1-3 grand for sound, what i meant was if there was any real upgrade id want in speed itd be a turbo because its just so kool. or something to that effect.
 
sicbeing
lol, yea, i know that turbo remark sounded dumb. but i cant help it. What i really meant wasnt that id pay 1-3 grand for sound, what i meant was if there was any real upgrade id want in speed itd be a turbo because its just so kool. or something to that effect.
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Yes, turbochargers can be "kool" but if you were to turbo a stock D15B7 it would need pretty good mechanical maintenance, and a reliable kit would cost about 3 stacks if you pay a shop to install the kit. If your looking for a nice show car it would most likely be less of a headache and easier on the wallet to just get basic engine modifications (intake, header, exhaust, etc.) and do the rest of the car from there. OR if you have alot of money to spend (being you cant build/install the engine yourself) you could just pay a shop to build and install a better dohc motor. (H22A expensive but one of the best IMO)
 
well like i said earlier, and this is prolly the third time ive reminded everyone, installing anything i get, anything, will not be done by random cody shops or where I buy them from, itll be from the company I work for, the mechanic/body man who does all my fixups for me will be doing anything i pay him too (not near as much as anywhere else), a person who would look out for me rather than look to rip me off.
 
Bahbo
Yes, turbochargers can be "kool" but if you were to turbo a stock D15B7 it would need pretty good mechanical maintenance, and a reliable kit would cost about 3 stacks if you pay a shop to install the kit. If your looking for a nice show car it would most likely be less of a headache and easier on the wallet to just get basic engine modifications (intake, header, exhaust, etc.) and do the rest of the car from there. OR if you have alot of money to spend (being you cant build/install the engine yourself) you could just pay a shop to build and install a better dohc motor. (H22A expensive but one of the best IMO)
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sorry for double post but i wanted to quote.

Those numbers u named off (H22A, dohc) i am not familiar with at all. And im not exactly sure what a header is or what it does. Intake and muffler id know though.

How much would it cost to have a shop just build me an engine, not install it? and what else would i need to buy, better drivetrain and other things so the car can handle the new power?
 
Bahbo
If your looking for a nice show car it would most likely be less of a headache and easier on the wallet to just get basic engine modifications (intake, header, exhaust, etc.) and do the rest of the car from there.
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I agree with this.

How much would it cost to have a shop just build me an engine, not install it? and what else would i need to buy, better drivetrain and other things so the car can handle the new power?
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Alot.

As Duke pointed out, a project big enough to double the horsepower of a Civic (Not easy) will require skill, money, and time. You have money and time, but lack the skill to build motors. I recommended the Haynes manual because they have a complete teardown and rebuild of the car's motor in great detail in it, and if you have any prayer of completing your goal, you're going to need to know what you're doing.

You're probably not going to be doubling the horsepower, but you can probably get 50hp out of it. The auto tranny probably won't handle double the power, anyway, and a transmission swap is extremely expensive. If the car has a D15 as someone else said it did, it's a versatile bottom end, you can swap it over to SOHC V-TEC (I think. I could be wrong) or DOHC (With alot of work).

As I said before, I'm not going to tell you not to do the project, but be prepared to spend your life savings and every waking hour devoted to it.
 
If it were me, I wouldn't bother with a base Civic engine, I'd swap it out for an Integra motor. Especially if the goal is 200hp.

I also wouldn't buy a Haynes manual, spend the bit of extra cash for a factory manual. A computer program is great, if you happen to have a computer in your driveway, and don't mind getting grease all over it :)

In any case, you need to do a lot of learning, a single thread at gtplanet is not going to give you the knowledge you need to do any of the stuff you are talking about.
 
sicbeing
How much would it cost to have a shop just build me an engine, not install it? and what else would i need to buy, better drivetrain and other things so the car can handle the new power?
Click to expand...

Actually, a bone stock h22a (dohc vtec engine rated at about 200hp) would be more then enough power for your car...there is a kit here

So you would add
2199.99 (price of kit)
Shipping
And what it would cost for you to have it installed...

If left stock the motor would be about the same to maintain as your car is right now (if installed correctly)
 
Here's a good idea. Take that $10,000 or so you're going to drop on the 'ol civic and put a down payment on a WRX or an EVO.
 
JParker that would be a good idea. Keep in mind people that I aint gonna spend a bit of every payday on this, this prolly is going to be a -save my money for a long time then decide to do it- thing. I was gonna save up 5-15 grand over agreat amount of time and then do something with it, i couldnt see doing it all peice by peice, i just wanted to keep my car and do it if at all possible, but from the sounds of it by the time i have the money i wont want to do it.

If I save up 10 grand putting a down payment on a new car isnt something id do too easily, i dont like 6-7yrs of monthly payments when I can buy used instead and build on it myself instead of paying monthly, but it is a possibility.

I was also thinking of keeping the civic i have as a run around car and then buying something else better to mod (since everyone seems its a better idea to start on something better).
 
Having hardly any mechanical knowledge, I can't tell you what to do, but I can tell you that what I'm doing to my Biscayne this summer with the Help of a family friend, who is a total hot-rodder, will be frustrating, and take time. Lots of it. And all We're really doing is taking out the Stovebolt, putting in a 305, grinding off some of the rust, painting it, and fixing the speedometer. I expect that to take at least 3 to 4 weeks. And, from what I've seen on Ebay for a few thing I'd like to get, It's really Expensive.

A tunnel Ram is 200 ish dollars. without Carburetor(s)
Headers range anywhere from 95-300 dollars.
Glass packs are 40-50 a pair
An auto Catalog had a door popper kit at 199 dollars.
My torq-Thrusts were 300 dollars,
And the windshield and vent windows are going to cost 400 dollars to replace.

that's 1300 or so dollars. And, If in the unlikely event that I get a tunnel Ram, and in the even unlikelier event of running 2 carbs, I've killed my Gas mileage.

On a lighter, more unneeded note, Sell the Civic. Then, take the money to a swap meet. Come home with an old car and some speed parts.
 

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