Thinking about working on my 98 DX, looking for advice on what to do

kazama

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I was thinking about doing some work on my car this summer since I've got some time and money to spare on it - but I'm 19 and I've never really done any major car stuff at all, so I'm wondering if anyone can help me out with some advice or suggestions.

Last year I didn't really want to do anything to this because it's a DX with a y7 engine that puts out a whopping 106 HP - didn't really seems worth it. However, since it looks like I'm going to have this car for a while, I feel like I might as well just work on it, and since I really want to learn my way around cars, I've got to start somewhere.

This is it now:





There's some irritating damage on the back bumper and in particular there's a dent on the back of the trunk that I can't seem to pop out at all


The only thing I've done to this car so far has been to remove the stock intake and put that cheap short ram on



The muffler cracked yesterday - my mufflers for these cars seem to die pretty regularly (once to twice/year) - would it be worth it to replace with aftermarket?



These rims were what came with the car, but they've got all of that bad deterioration on the chrome, and were kind of rough to ride on with stock shocks and springs - I have a feeling that they were kind of raping the suspension when the previous owner drove it. I was thinking of putting them back on though, just because the car handles WAY better with them - do you think it would work if I sanded off all of the s**t on the chrome and painted the rims some other color, or would that just be too much rice?




So really, it boils down to a few questions:

- Is this car even worth putting any money into, as it's a DX with 88,000 miles on it?

- Are those low profile rims going to be really horrible for the suspension if I put them back on, and would it be super cheesy if I tried to paint them black (or maybe red, haha) or something?

- do you think that I, with my limited mechanical experience, could replace the muffler with an aftermarket one successfully? it looks like it just bolts on to the exhaust manifold, so I can't imagine it'd be super-tough, and if you think I can do it, do you have any reccommendations on a decent looking performance muffler that doesn't cost a shitload of money?

- I'm looking to speed up this car a bit, and I'm willing to spend up to around $2500ish to make that happen - what can I do to increase horsepower and how should I do it to do it right?



Thanks in advance! =)
 

Evan.

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Heres what Id do:

1) Remove the tailights, get some 99/00 red/white ones.
2) Get a new exhaust, megan is cheap, but good brand, or apexi, greddy, etc.
3) Motor swap OR suspension / brakes/ etc.
 


Trey99EK

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Ditch the tails and work on the suspension. A good handling honda is always fun on the roads.
 

X-aCuTiOnA

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New tail lights, rims and lower and a GGOOOOODDD washing. Maybe clean the engine bay. Thats a good start. Maybe a few DIY, like Type R grill, CTR head lights. I would say since your not too proud of your engine, i would say juss focus more on makin your car look clean. Simple things can make a big difference. my $0.02
 


renegadex96

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I would go for suspension for sure, but that's me. I love being able to take tight turns at high speeds. I have the same ride and I had it lowered with some Neuspeed race springs, about 2.25" or so. That thing would corner so tight, plus it looked really good too. How big are those rims??

I got mine with about 74K kms on it, she's got about 180K now, and i'm still doing work on mine, so is it worth it, for sure!

Engine swap is always a good idea too, depending on how much you are willing to spend
 

kazama

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Yeah - I was thinking of getting red/white EX taillights since it would make the car look a lot better.

What I'm really thinking about at the moment is the muffler since I need to replace it immediately - if I just get the megan muffler and not the whole exhaust - will it fit very well onto the stock exhaust manifold?
 

Evan.

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kazama said:
Yeah - I was thinking of getting red/white EX taillights since it would make the car look a lot better.

What I'm really thinking about at the moment is the muffler since I need to replace it immediately - if I just get the megan muffler and not the whole exhaust - will it fit very well onto the stock exhaust manifold?
if you get just the muffler, it doesnt not connect to the exhaust manifold, that would be only if you get a full exhaust, in which case it would fit to the stock exhaust manifold / cat. Im sell a complete megan racing "drift-spec" cat-back exhaust if your interested. Pm me.
 

clover ej6

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From prior experience, definitely get a ful exhauast. I didnt want to spen a lot of money so i just got a muffler and my stock pipes that didn't get replaced with the muffler rusted off. I wound up spending a little more than $500 all togeher for one aftermarket exhaust peice and 2 oem pipes. Since your car is a year older than mine you have a higher risk of that same thing happening. It may not seem like it now, but in the long run, it is a better idea to get the whole exhaust.
 

King Bob

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I would also suggest a full cat back exhaust, also price dc just dont buy an ebay brand it will rust faster thatn you stock one, and you could turbo you d and pick up a good 50+ hp on stock internals
 

ek2_vtec

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1st off loost those ugly tail lights and go with some Si's. ditch those chrome rims, and pick up some 16 rotas. Suspension AGX with GCs ride very nice for such a low price of $600. Since your engine got low milage why not do a mini-me swap to get a little more power outta it? And you could always boost your D and show the 5.0 s**t-stangs what hondas are all about. thats just my opinion..
 

92EH9

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swap the head to a y8
do some suspension work
get an exhaust
a nice lip
black housing headlights
lose those horrible tailights

just a few ideas to get you started,but like always it is your car do what you like with it
 

BlackHopeDC5

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in my opinion i would just leave it as an unmodded daily driver until

1. I could get a good amount of money to fix it up
2. Sell it to get a better base to start modding

Im not saying its bad but what i am saying is it looks like its going to take a reasonable amount of money to bring it back to stock
 

hollywood4689

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hey to tell you the truth thats a way better base thatn what im startin with just stick with it so in the end no matter what, you know you revivied and actually put money and time into something from nothing, i say stick with it, i wish i could have had something to start out iwth like that
 

kazama

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Update - I painted the rims black and put them back on - I don't think they look half bad:




(sorry these are so blurry - it was pouring outside and I had to take these in the garage)


I'm thinking after I put on an exhaust (megan), I'll want to do the headlights and taillights (one of my headlights is cracked anyway, so that comes first. I was thinking those headlights with the dark background might look good, but what are they? I think I recall hearing that they were type R headlights or something. Another option would be those black BMW poser headlights that they sell on ebay - but I'm not sure I like them all that much. As far as taillights go, I was thinking of putting on the 99-00 red/white ones, although I don't know where to look for them and they don't seem to sell many on ebay. What do you guys think about those choices?

Thanks to everyone for being so helpful!
 

Trey99EK

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The wheels look good from the pics. I would still get oem tails. You can find them around. Ebay, here, honda-tech. Look around.
 

JohnS.

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88k miles? holy s**t ur only still breaking the engine in man :lol: ;).

but anyways, if u have the money, id say go for a swap and leave cosmetics until later. its ur car. do what u want to it to make it look like how u want it to be. u dont need our opinions. for some ideas, surf the 6th gen members rides section and see what other ppl do.

if u dont have the money, id see keep it as a daily driver until u get money to either swap, turbo charge, or super charge (but most ppl don't s/c since its so limiting).

for cosmestics, my suggestions:
99-00 front end conversion
99-00 rear tail lights (red/clear)
DIY paint job on side skirts
DIY black housing headlights (after u get 99-00 tails)
99-00 oem foglights (if u do 99-00 front conversion)
96-98 oem foglights (if u dont do 99-00 front conversion)
type r style grill
drop it
front lip
 


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