newb with a honda

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mr.mugato

mr.mugato

new and confused
I recently got a 98 civic ex,this is the first car Im investing in, and not really sure which way to go. First I was planning to get apex i/h/e after seeing the prices and comparing to my budget I decided to go with the apex intake. Now for the h/e part I dont know what to get, should I look for a namebrand or try ebay. And what is the best thing to do after the i/h/e. I know a swap is the best way to go, but I want to get the basics in first before I go that far.
 
When it comes to an intake just get one off ebay, aslong as they are mandral bent they are basicly the same, just throw-out the cheap filter and get a K&N fillter, I have a ebay ram on my integra and am happy with it.

as for header, megan header off ebay is cheap and shouldnt fall apart they go for like 100 bucks. Dont go cheaper, others have crappy welds and might fall apart. Remeber it is just bent piping, dont get hung up on names.

As for a exhuast, with your mods being just a I/H just go to a muffler shop and tell them to make you one, it will cost under 100 dollars for 2 inch piping not including the tip. It wont be manderal bent but dont worry, the perfomance you would get out of a catback name brand would'nt be much on a SOHC motor w/out internal mod (ie camshaft)
The tip you could go for a big fart can or something else, doesnt matter your choice.

Stay cheap, If you plan on doing a swap later on, dont go spending 1,000 bucks on this motor, with the above mods you can learn to work on your car, and give it a nice little pump up in performance.

good luck
 
ok so far i got

apex filter 90 (Im just a big fan of apex)
ram intake 80
megan headers 100
2 inch pipe 100
muffler of ebay 40
________________
total 410

so other then that I should not put on anything else till I get the swap
which will probably be alittle while longer
 
lets not start some one off on the wrong foor here.


Hearers are more than just bent tubing and flanges there is lots of design that goes i to one of these to make power just look at a S2K if you take the stock one off and put on a DC sports it loses power.
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these are not just bent tubing these make power some china man didnt make this with piss pore quality and matrerils and a lack of reverse enginereing

and for a exhaust i qould get probaly a 2.25 or 2.5 in and you can go the muffler shop route but it wont be the same as a good quality enginereed exhaust



im not saying that the headers i showed above are what you need but what you dont need is some ebay racer telling you that your car can go fast on cheep parts power= money
 
now Im just lost, which ones are the stock headers and which are the aftermarket, and the 2 inch pipe thing, I did some searching on ebay and they have the whole cat back system with a 2.5 pipe all for like $200, and for the intake will a cold air pipe with the apex filter be fine
 
get the ebay intake, megan headers, and i have megan exhaust, i didn't buy headers since im turboing it
 
97hatch said:
im not saying that the headers i showed above are what you need but what you dont need is some ebay racer telling you that your car can go fast on cheep parts power= money
Click to expand...

His original post had him preluding to a swap in the future, megan has some quality parts being made, the reason I dont bother suggesting 500 dollar header is a waist of money if he will be swaping out the SOHC motor. I'm just saying dont get caught up on Brand Names, like AEM DC, I have a AEM intake on my civic and a Ebay on my integra they peform the same, same with a header I have ran a DC header on my old SOHC and have driven D16's with a cheaper alternitive header.

Stay cheap, If you plan on doing a swap later on, dont go spending 1,000 bucks on this motor, with the above mods you can learn to work on your car, and give it a nice little pump up in performance- That was in my orignal post and I'll stick to it. He just wants to stay in his budget so I suggested a decient set up.

Besides unless he builds up the motor (pistons, cams, tune), an expenisve exhuast system wont do crap for him.
 
You can find an ebay intake with a K&N filter on ebay for about $70 shipped. I heard an LS Integra throttle body will fit the EX perfect and its a little bigger than stock. If so, that could be a cheap mod to net some ponys. If you were going to go cheapo header I would say go OBX or MEGAN like the" eBay street racer"said ;) . As far as exhaust, I don't know if you plan on getting a decent cat-back when you finally swap or what, but I would find a muffler you like on eBay and get a local muffler shop to weld it up ($75 MAX all together) to your stock piping until you swap. Then go buy or have a nice cat-back fabbed up. I wouldn't go much farther than that until you swap though.

PS> Slap some stickers on that bad boy, I heard they add HP!!:p​
 
well yes the throtle body off of a ls will fit but you have to take the intake manifold offf and have it bored out to the size of the ls one. Waste of time/money on stock motor. Well being a newb and obviously interested in hondas i want to help you not waste your money and get to your goal. If you plan on swaping in the near future i wouldnt buy a header i would get a coldair/short ram intake and a good exhaust. You wont see much performance from one. Your car has a stock tubular header from the factory take the heat sheild off and look at it.
 
Yeah it definitly has a tubular header, but theres 2 layers to that header and the inside of it is pretty small in diameter. The guy wants to ADD performance, not keep what he has. If that was the case he should just not buy anything for it and use the money he saved to get his swap finished that much quicker. You don't have to take the whole damn manifold off to clean it out either if you know what your doing. One good sized shop rag shoved in the opening soaked with a little bit of oil will keep shards from getting inside the manifold. Hell paper towels and a shop vac will work too. "having to get it bored out" ???? Any rotary tool will do just fine for him unless he doesn't have fingers to opperate it.
 
Ok, so far I got

blitz catback exhaust $236
(cant blame me for wanting something with a name)
dc-s headers $55
(does the ceramic thing make a diffrence?)
cold air intake $40
(does a "breather" do anything?)
apex filter $90
_______________________
$421

and does anybody have pics of the throtle body thing is done, cause I have no idea how to do that, much less where the throtle body is at.
 
mr.mugato said:
Ok, so far I got

blitz catback exhaust $236
(cant blame me for wanting something with a name)
dc-s headers $55
(does the ceramic thing make a diffrence?)
cold air intake $40
(does a "breather" do anything?)
apex filter $90
_______________________
$421

and does anybody have pics of the throtle body thing is done, cause I have no idea how to do that, much less where the throtle body is at.
Click to expand...

Oil breather do anything? yeah screws up your motor in the long run

the header might be little too cheap and the welds might be crappy, Lots of guys went with a megan header, but if you get a year use out of the header I guess you got 50 bucks use out of it but it might fall apart on you, so if you go that rought it would be like an extra 100 bucks on top of your current total. If you do swap motors you may be able to resell your header if it is still in good shape and make half of your money back on it.

I say wasit of time and money to do anything with the throttle body, your current TB is not that restrictive to air flow, Your TB is located where your current Air box is hooked up to.

Best thing to do with these bolt on parts is to learn about your car and have fun doing it. Any prolems with the install just do a "search" and someone has already ask that question.
Good luck
 
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thanks, I guess I will just look for some used headers on craigslist, and steer clear of the breathers, other then that Im set, 450 on performance parts, and 520 on just looks.
 
ok, 1st i have a megan header on my car, its been on there for 3 years now and i love it, they really are quality parts and there are making a name for themselves now too. 2nd, it can matter what intake you get, ebay intakes suck ass (no offense to anybody but they do) there is no comparison between them and an AEM, or k&n. they don't make the horsepower and you might take a chance at damaging your shit (look inside one and you can see silver flakes coming off of them). 3rd, ebay mufflers are crappy beyond compare, i bought one and put it on my car, 2 weeks later i throw it into 3rd on the highway and shot the guts of my muffler on the car behind me, all in all you get what you pay for, every now and then you might get lucky but do you really want to risk your $3000 car because you only paid $15 on an intake. the name brands test all of their shit to make sure you get the most out of it and to make sure it will last as long as possible.
 
Tubing is tubing but there is some real science behind a GOOD header. Ebay for the intake, sure. NO WAY for the header!!
 
Turbo&Auto said:
Tubing is tubing but there is some real science behind a GOOD header. Ebay for the intake, sure. NO WAY for the header!!
Click to expand...
wow some one else that is smart



and any one who stuffs a rag in there intake and goes to town with a diegrinder should not be alowed to talk have you ever thought how much you disrupt the flow with your hack job and what happens to the valve seats whn those pieces of aluminum that you couldnt get out get smashed into the intake and maby even the exhaust seats good job on the redneck mechanics lesson
 
I read the article in Turbo a couple months back about header tech. I never realized how much was really going on inside the header, now I know...
 
i agree, my ebay intake does the same as my friend AEM one, its not the V2 so its just a piece of piping like mine with a filter on it, its temporary so i'm not willing to spend $200 for an intake that will get replaced
 
If you don't know where the throttle body is then nevermind that mod. Just stick with the easy bolt on stuff for now. Which ever way you go, post pics and keep us updated. GOOD LUCK:)
97hatch; Ask the guy that still drives my old civic since I made the mod about 4 years ago. About 75,000 miles ago actually. I was showed how to do it by a guy that does it all the time at the performance shop he works at here in town. You don't just " go to town on it " . I've seen it done plenty of times in tech articals, performance TV shows, etc. Oh and the redneck comment, try and keep the personal shots to yourself.
 
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