Genuine Rolla
Its PETEY PETE, y0!
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Keep the front and rear lip bro. Just get new headlights, tails and wheels. then you'll be all set.
96 JDM look
- Thread starter carboy
- Start date
if you have a 5 lug conversion, find some ITR rims 
Wow!. this one is easy! a no brainer. Little effort needed here to achieve maximum result. Below are MY thoughts on what you should do, starting at the front and working my way back:
It seems you have the 96-98 style ctr front lip; GREAT, good work, keep it. Its painted as well, bonus points for that; google "StarSheild" or get some sort of 3M laminate on top of that lip, to keep the paint fresh. It will crack or chip, and red REALLY shows.
CTR grille, or DIY grille job; good work, keep this.
Headlights.
Go to ebay; search EK9 headlight. Get the knock-off ones made by DEP. good quality, and price. I'll be getting some sooner than later as well. No need to spend $400 on Stanley's here, unless you plan on showing your car. Sell those angel eyes QUICK, before even the ricers quit buying them. Sell them for $30 on your local craigslist, spend the 30 bucks you get on genuine EK9 amber sidemarker lights. Order from passwordjdm.com. Spend the $15 extra for their wiring kit. Don't be a cheapo, as their kit makes the job a lot easier.
Fog lights: NICE! good work hombre. Even got the clear versions. Good job, everyone has yellows, I would have gotten the clears, had I known that Depo made them in clear as well. I did'nt research enough. good work. Get some yellow bulbs in there though. They look great. Consider an HID kit, their cheap off Ebay now, best price ever. Don't go above 8K. 6K seems to be sufficient. DO try to get a good deal on a kit that is a dual-filament, "HI/Low" kit. You don't need the BI-XENON. That means that the hi beams are HID as well. Overkill, and too expensive. You need the one that has a high beam Halogen, low beam HID (xenon). You'll never need the halogen, except when you get the car inspected, and when you are behind someone for several miles, and don't wont to blind them. Car HAS to have hi and low lights in most states to pass inspection. Sorry to rant here, just thought I'd spread some knowledge, as the cheap (low beam only) HID kit's well not pass inspection. MAKE SURE you will have a high beam. Also, if you get pulled, you can show the officer and maybe avoid a ticket.
Tint: Do 35%. Trust me, you'll like it. Cops wont stop you. It's legal. Window's look fresh all the time, like you just washed them. Doesn't look like your 16 years old and trying to be "big ballin". When you valet your car at night for dinner, the valets can see to park your car. This is important, because all true JDM pimps should valet park their car when they go out.
Rims: I like your first two choices. The volks, the integra meshies. Someone mentioned you may or may not have a 5-lug swap. Whatever, your first to choices are great. ITR rims...cool! Just please, DON'T get the GSR blades if you don't have the 5-lug. Just my opinion. Also, stay away from the "carbon fiber" look rims. Don't use the turquise colored lug nuts/bolts, or ANY colored lug bolts for that matter. Silver is just fine. They've worked for years.
Paint those drums and calipers. Let's make them invisible. Autozone stocks BLACK Duplicolor caliper paint. This will work great. Buy a nice ART brush from Michaels to get the job done without having to remove your hardware. The brush the kit comes with is terrible. You wont the 15 buck BRUSH ON kit, not the spray paint. A little extra money here, so what.
Too many antennas. You have sattelite radio it seems. So, do you have a need for local broadcast? If you do, keep the antenna. If you don't really need local broadcast, remove the stock antenna on the a-pillar. Buy the cheap "JDM" radio antenna block off plate on Ebay. OEM honda part, easy job. Keep the antenna in a safe place, so you can put it back on later, in case you sell the car.
I don't mind the rear lip. I think it's OEM styling. Looks good. You have altezzas in one pic, then you had a sprayed OEM version in another. Neither is very fresh looking, though the red oversprayed is the better of the two. Just play it safe and clean: go pic up some EX or Si OEM tail lights. Honda made them right the first time!
Badging, I would remove the civic and DX emblems, if you can, w/o exposing any body holes. As far as the "H" emblem, its up to you. White looks a little out of place though. Consider just the original steel frame one, no color. Let the red of the car show through. I personally think that would look nice, and better than no emblem at all.
I like your lip spoiler on the trunk. I would keep it, even has a nice little LED brake light. cool!
You don't have much work to do to get this thing looking very clean and fresh. One dude straight up went off on you! This was totally uncalled for on his part. Don't mind him. A few nicely placed mods, and the car is gonna look very modern and fresh. Lucky for you, the paint appears in great condition.
Lastly, you may want to consider a side mirror upgrade in the future. Folks are taking two routes here: (1) genuine EK9 mirrors, painted to match the car; or (2) Vision or Spoon-stye mirrors. If you take the second route, ebay plastic knock offs are very affordable. They seem to look best when you leave the baseplate unpainted (black plastic, as they come when you order them), and then only paint the main body of the mirror to match the vehicle. It really sets out the great lines of Visions mirror design that way. Another guy on here has a red coupe, and has done his like this. They look great. Either route will look awesome. This is not a neccesity, as atleast your USDM mirrors are painted. It's just something you might want to consider later on down the road.
Also, is that a real exhaust muffler, or is that just a tip? Tip=no no. Full exhaust or muffler asap. Go with something understated, like an Greddy SP2 or something with a 2.5" tubing and a smaller exhaust tip/exit. Aesthetically speaking, rocking the "Super Ninja Bazooka Mega-Gun" out of the rear is a quick way to NEVER impress the ladies. Also, the bigger exhausts are not optimized for our smaller displacement engines, and are known for increasing backpressure and reducing velocity, which means its actually making you slower. Just something to consider, though the current state of your exhaust is hard to diagnose from the pics. The tip just looked rather big, 3" or so, so I thought I'd comment.
OK, we'll brother, that's my thoughts on the exterior. Now let's do the interior...POST PICS!
I don't mean to seem like a know-it-all, as I'm certainly not. I'm just trying to help the best way I know how to. Hope I was able to help. Good luck on your project
It seems you have the 96-98 style ctr front lip; GREAT, good work, keep it. Its painted as well, bonus points for that; google "StarSheild" or get some sort of 3M laminate on top of that lip, to keep the paint fresh. It will crack or chip, and red REALLY shows.
CTR grille, or DIY grille job; good work, keep this.
Headlights.
Go to ebay; search EK9 headlight. Get the knock-off ones made by DEP. good quality, and price. I'll be getting some sooner than later as well. No need to spend $400 on Stanley's here, unless you plan on showing your car. Sell those angel eyes QUICK, before even the ricers quit buying them. Sell them for $30 on your local craigslist, spend the 30 bucks you get on genuine EK9 amber sidemarker lights. Order from passwordjdm.com. Spend the $15 extra for their wiring kit. Don't be a cheapo, as their kit makes the job a lot easier.Fog lights: NICE! good work hombre. Even got the clear versions. Good job, everyone has yellows, I would have gotten the clears, had I known that Depo made them in clear as well. I did'nt research enough. good work. Get some yellow bulbs in there though. They look great. Consider an HID kit, their cheap off Ebay now, best price ever. Don't go above 8K. 6K seems to be sufficient. DO try to get a good deal on a kit that is a dual-filament, "HI/Low" kit. You don't need the BI-XENON. That means that the hi beams are HID as well. Overkill, and too expensive. You need the one that has a high beam Halogen, low beam HID (xenon). You'll never need the halogen, except when you get the car inspected, and when you are behind someone for several miles, and don't wont to blind them. Car HAS to have hi and low lights in most states to pass inspection. Sorry to rant here, just thought I'd spread some knowledge, as the cheap (low beam only) HID kit's well not pass inspection. MAKE SURE you will have a high beam. Also, if you get pulled, you can show the officer and maybe avoid a ticket.
Tint: Do 35%. Trust me, you'll like it. Cops wont stop you. It's legal. Window's look fresh all the time, like you just washed them. Doesn't look like your 16 years old and trying to be "big ballin". When you valet your car at night for dinner, the valets can see to park your car. This is important, because all true JDM pimps should valet park their car when they go out.
Rims: I like your first two choices. The volks, the integra meshies. Someone mentioned you may or may not have a 5-lug swap. Whatever, your first to choices are great. ITR rims...cool! Just please, DON'T get the GSR blades if you don't have the 5-lug. Just my opinion. Also, stay away from the "carbon fiber" look rims. Don't use the turquise colored lug nuts/bolts, or ANY colored lug bolts for that matter. Silver is just fine. They've worked for years.
Paint those drums and calipers. Let's make them invisible. Autozone stocks BLACK Duplicolor caliper paint. This will work great. Buy a nice ART brush from Michaels to get the job done without having to remove your hardware. The brush the kit comes with is terrible. You wont the 15 buck BRUSH ON kit, not the spray paint. A little extra money here, so what.
Too many antennas. You have sattelite radio it seems. So, do you have a need for local broadcast? If you do, keep the antenna. If you don't really need local broadcast, remove the stock antenna on the a-pillar. Buy the cheap "JDM" radio antenna block off plate on Ebay. OEM honda part, easy job. Keep the antenna in a safe place, so you can put it back on later, in case you sell the car.
I don't mind the rear lip. I think it's OEM styling. Looks good. You have altezzas in one pic, then you had a sprayed OEM version in another. Neither is very fresh looking, though the red oversprayed is the better of the two. Just play it safe and clean: go pic up some EX or Si OEM tail lights. Honda made them right the first time!
Badging, I would remove the civic and DX emblems, if you can, w/o exposing any body holes. As far as the "H" emblem, its up to you. White looks a little out of place though. Consider just the original steel frame one, no color. Let the red of the car show through. I personally think that would look nice, and better than no emblem at all.
I like your lip spoiler on the trunk. I would keep it, even has a nice little LED brake light. cool!
You don't have much work to do to get this thing looking very clean and fresh. One dude straight up went off on you! This was totally uncalled for on his part. Don't mind him. A few nicely placed mods, and the car is gonna look very modern and fresh. Lucky for you, the paint appears in great condition.
Lastly, you may want to consider a side mirror upgrade in the future. Folks are taking two routes here: (1) genuine EK9 mirrors, painted to match the car; or (2) Vision or Spoon-stye mirrors. If you take the second route, ebay plastic knock offs are very affordable. They seem to look best when you leave the baseplate unpainted (black plastic, as they come when you order them), and then only paint the main body of the mirror to match the vehicle. It really sets out the great lines of Visions mirror design that way. Another guy on here has a red coupe, and has done his like this. They look great. Either route will look awesome. This is not a neccesity, as atleast your USDM mirrors are painted. It's just something you might want to consider later on down the road.
Also, is that a real exhaust muffler, or is that just a tip? Tip=no no. Full exhaust or muffler asap. Go with something understated, like an Greddy SP2 or something with a 2.5" tubing and a smaller exhaust tip/exit. Aesthetically speaking, rocking the "Super Ninja Bazooka Mega-Gun" out of the rear is a quick way to NEVER impress the ladies. Also, the bigger exhausts are not optimized for our smaller displacement engines, and are known for increasing backpressure and reducing velocity, which means its actually making you slower. Just something to consider, though the current state of your exhaust is hard to diagnose from the pics. The tip just looked rather big, 3" or so, so I thought I'd comment.
OK, we'll brother, that's my thoughts on the exterior. Now let's do the interior...POST PICS!
I don't mean to seem like a know-it-all, as I'm certainly not. I'm just trying to help the best way I know how to. Hope I was able to help. Good luck on your project
Genuine Rolla
Its PETEY PETE, y0!
Registered VIP
Registered OG
5+ Year Member
10+ Year Member
15+ Year Member
^^
Longest post so far in '08....
Longest post so far in '08....
yo i wanna import my SiR but the people told me its 10,000.. thats alot of money
ha ha ha! Hey man, he asked for advice, so I gave it! (I was at work, and wasting time anyway on a free wifi connection). I got paid like $15 to write that post, so give me a break!!
Dumb.
She always has the best information.^before NOFX comes in here and gives you the long version, ill just tell you "yes" they had coupes in japan....
ill let her tell you the engine specs, badge placement, color code, and propper chasis code though
