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shakran · 07-04-2003, 06:10 PM

Sure you want 18's? They're gonna be heavy, and even if you find relatively light ones they're gonna have a good deal of rotational mass to overcome. it comes with 15's so even going to 16 or 17 would look a lot better without so much drop in performance.

Performance upgrades I'd recommend:

1) TIRES! Yokohama AVS ES100's are sticky as hell and they have decent tread life (not as good as a michelin, but then michelins won't glue you to the road either). Should be around $60/tire or so but that varies widely depending on what wheel you go with and where you buy.

2) BRAKES! (notice how we're upgrading the turn and the stop stuff before the gofast stuff? Good formula to follow.). Keep your stock rotors, but change the front pads to Porterfield R4S, available from porterfield.com. These are carbon-kevlar pads that have amazing stopping power. Price varies by model.

3) Suspension. This all depends on what your final goal is. Do you want a stoplight drag car or do you want to carve up the twisties. My personal preference is a car with excellent cornering capability. I like bilstein shocks with performance springs. Brand of spring I can't help you too much with 'cause I haven't modded an Accord (yet) but I can say that bilsteins are some of the best performance shocks around.

5) I/H/E. Intake, Header, Exhaust. Don't buy the intake. There's no point in spending $150 on a metal pipe. Go to the hardware store, get some CPVC plumbing pipe that matches or is SLIGHTLY larger in diameter to the throttle body opening and get a rubber hose coupling (also from the hardware store) to attach it. Then get a K&N cone filter and couple it to the other end of the pipe. You will probably want to get an elbow so you can direct the pipe toward the front and side of the engine bay. Now get some plexiglass, also from the hardware store, and cut a piece that will fit vertically between the filter and the rest of the engine bay. Attach that. You've just made yourself a cold air intake for about $10 plus the cost of the K&N.

Header: Not as important until you start getting whacko with the performance (and you very well may. Mods are addictive once you start doing them), but once you do you want to talk to other accord owners who are into non-rice mods and see what they use.

Exhaust. Thermal R&D makes some *awesome* performance stainless exhausts. They're pricey but they're well worth it. You need to decide at this point whether you will be putting a turbo or a supercharger in your car or not. If you do, you want the turbo system. Get the whole thing, cat back.

Catalytic Converter. Catco.com. Get a high-flow cat. $100. Nuff said.

That's the cheap stuff. Here's what to do if you want to really go apeshit.

Jackson Racing Supercharger. I like superchargers better than turbos because when I build a car I'm not going for raw speed, I'm going for fun-to-drive. Turbos have lag and build up slowly. Superchargers are instant-on and deliver a huge kick right away. They're a LOT of fun. When you do this you'll need (PROBABLY - - it varies with each car - consult your local tuner shop):

Larger fuel injectors
Higher capacity fuel pump
GAUGES! I've known a few crazy fools that run boost with no gauges and they always regret it. You need at minimum an air/fuel gauge. I prefer EGT - exhaust gas temperature gauge because it gives you a more accurate reading on what the engine is doing. You probably also want an oil temp and a water temp gauge. A boost gauge is pretty much a must.
ECU - you'll want a programmable ECU so you can control the fuel management curve yourself. Otherwise you'll never reach the full potential of your supercharged engine.

Generally a standard Honda engine can take 9lbs of boost without any building. If you go higher you'll want to build the bottom end so it doesn't blow up on you when you're at high boost.

And of course if you wanna go really insane you can swap an engine (I know of a few that have small block Chevy's in their civics. FAST but the handling is shot) or even put a jet engine on it (hey, it's been done!)

07-04-2003, 06:10 PM	#5 (permalink)
shakran Tone.	Sure you want 18's? They're gonna be heavy, and even if you find relatively light ones they're gonna have a good deal of rotational mass to overcome. it comes with 15's so even going to 16 or 17 would look a lot better without so much drop in performance. Performance upgrades I'd recommend: 1) TIRES! Yokohama AVS ES100's are sticky as hell and they have decent tread life (not as good as a michelin, but then michelins won't glue you to the road either). Should be around $60/tire or so but that varies widely depending on what wheel you go with and where you buy. 2) BRAKES! (notice how we're upgrading the turn and the stop stuff before the gofast stuff? Good formula to follow.). Keep your stock rotors, but change the front pads to Porterfield R4S, available from porterfield.com. These are carbon-kevlar pads that have amazing stopping power. Price varies by model. 3) Suspension. This all depends on what your final goal is. Do you want a stoplight drag car or do you want to carve up the twisties. My personal preference is a car with excellent cornering capability. I like bilstein shocks with performance springs. Brand of spring I can't help you too much with 'cause I haven't modded an Accord (yet) but I can say that bilsteins are some of the best performance shocks around. 5) I/H/E. Intake, Header, Exhaust. Don't buy the intake. There's no point in spending $150 on a metal pipe. Go to the hardware store, get some CPVC plumbing pipe that matches or is SLIGHTLY larger in diameter to the throttle body opening and get a rubber hose coupling (also from the hardware store) to attach it. Then get a K&N cone filter and couple it to the other end of the pipe. You will probably want to get an elbow so you can direct the pipe toward the front and side of the engine bay. Now get some plexiglass, also from the hardware store, and cut a piece that will fit vertically between the filter and the rest of the engine bay. Attach that. You've just made yourself a cold air intake for about $10 plus the cost of the K&N. Header: Not as important until you start getting whacko with the performance (and you very well may. Mods are addictive once you start doing them), but once you do you want to talk to other accord owners who are into non-rice mods and see what they use. Exhaust. Thermal R&D makes some awesome performance stainless exhausts. They're pricey but they're well worth it. You need to decide at this point whether you will be putting a turbo or a supercharger in your car or not. If you do, you want the turbo system. Get the whole thing, cat back. Catalytic Converter. Catco.com. Get a high-flow cat. $100. Nuff said. That's the cheap stuff. Here's what to do if you want to really go apeshit. Jackson Racing Supercharger. I like superchargers better than turbos because when I build a car I'm not going for raw speed, I'm going for fun-to-drive. Turbos have lag and build up slowly. Superchargers are instant-on and deliver a huge kick right away. They're a LOT of fun. When you do this you'll need (PROBABLY - - it varies with each car - consult your local tuner shop): Larger fuel injectors Higher capacity fuel pump GAUGES! I've known a few crazy fools that run boost with no gauges and they always regret it. You need at minimum an air/fuel gauge. I prefer EGT - exhaust gas temperature gauge because it gives you a more accurate reading on what the engine is doing. You probably also want an oil temp and a water temp gauge. A boost gauge is pretty much a must. ECU - you'll want a programmable ECU so you can control the fuel management curve yourself. Otherwise you'll never reach the full potential of your supercharged engine. Generally a standard Honda engine can take 9lbs of boost without any building. If you go higher you'll want to build the bottom end so it doesn't blow up on you when you're at high boost. And of course if you wanna go really insane you can swap an engine (I know of a few that have small block Chevy's in their civics. FAST but the handling is shot) or even put a jet engine on it (hey, it's been done!)