Embrace the Martian

[DerektheGreat]

What's up everyone! My name is Derek and I'm 16 years old from Central Florida, I've been lurking around on the forums since I bought my Civic about a month ago reading up on various DIY's and completing several petty problem fixes on the car, and I'm hoping to continue improving the car to make it precisely the way I want it

Here's what I've done so far,
1. A few interior components swapped from my friend's old Civic just to refurbish up a little: center console, A/C vents, (Just ordered new OEM floor mats)
2. New hood release cable (it broke when I dropped it from like a foot high; from what I looked up, the hood releases seem to be a bit faulty on the Civic's lol.)
3. Tint - the darkest legal for Florida
4. Painted sideskirts and Grille (Flat black just to freshen the look of it)


Here it is, my 1998 EX; bone stock for now!

Before I fixed the hood release:

After:

Painting the sideskirts:

Very basic projects I know haha. Anyway, I'm planning on putting some time and money into the car to make it comparable to some of the beautiful ones I've seen on here. and I have a few questions that Google was unable to assist me with, so if any of you could help me out I'd really appreciate it.

What's with the Civic Si, EG, etc? Are these all extended models of the EX?

Where the best place would be to buy the front bumper/lip, seats, and grille this guy has:

What category my Civic would fall into on the Passwordjdm website?

Where I could buy rims?


Thanks, Derek!

 

[MistahJuice]

Welcome man, clean base. As for some of your Q's the tim levels for most civics are DX, LX, EX, Si and of course the hatch CX, VX etc. The Chassis codes however are EG EJ EK EM etc all followed by a number. For instance your car (and all 96-00 Civic EX coupes) is an EJ8 I believe but on passwordjdm you'll [probably look in the EK section since thats the JDM chassis code.. Mine is a EG8 etc etc. You can see this from your vin number mine starts with JHMEG8 hence the chassis code.

Lastly if you want recaro seats we can help you find em but prepare to pay $800+ for real recaros. Someone else should know where to get the grill

 

[DerektheGreat]

Welcome man, clean base. As for some of your Q's the tim levels for most civics are DX, LX, EX, Si and of course the hatch CX, VX etc. The Chassis codes however are EG EJ EK EM etc all followed by a number. For instance your car (and all 96-00 Civic EX coupes) is an EJ8 I beleive. Mine is a EG8 etc etc. You can see this from your vin number mine starts with JHMEG8 hence the chassis code.

Lastly if you want recaro seats we can help you find em but prepare to pay $800+ for real recaros. Someone else should know where to get the grill

Thanks!

And yeah, I knew the seats are a little pricey; but that's okay. I'll probably be getting those last anyway. I'm also planning on looking into an engine swap and manual conversion but I'm not exactly sure how much that all costs or what type of engine to get for that matter, so any help there would be appreciated too!

 

[TigBitties]

Welcome to the site

those parts are all very expensive. recaros are around 800, front bumper is just what you have now. that lip im not sure, it looks like two lips combined

i think you have a lot of research to do before you ask questions or make up some decisions. there are many routes you can take


oh and you know you can take your side skirts off to paint them....

 

[MistahJuice]

If you want to do a swap and conversion the only thing I have to ask is what is your budget and how much of the work can you do yourself? Trust me I know, swaps arent too bad, but after spending an entire day installing pedals in the cramped space under the dash and trying to wire up manual stuff, vtec, and iab from a swap you will never want to do another auto to manual conversion lol

 

[DerektheGreat]

Welcome to the site

those parts are all very expensive. recaros are around 800, front bumper is just what you have now. that lip im not sure, it looks like two lips combined

i think you have a lot of research to do before you ask questions or make up some decisions. there are many routes you can take


oh and you know you can take your side skirts off to paint them....

The seats are likely to be something I add later, just kinda wanted to get some info on them early on. But for the lip I decided I'll be getting a Mugen Style Polyurethane lip.

and I've been doing some research as you suggested and I'm having difficulties deciding on a suitable engine to build from. A lot of people seem to argue over b16/b20's in terms of better performance capabilities, but I also saw a few people say b20 with a b16 head. Is this a smart combo?

If you want to do a swap and conversion the only thing I have to ask is what is your budget and how much of the work can you do yourself? Trust me I know, swaps arent too bad, but after spending an entire day installing pedals in the cramped space under the dash and trying to wire up manual stuff, vtec, and iab from a swap you will never want to do another auto to manual conversion lol

I haven't really decided on a budget yet, just saving my pennies and doing the research for now haha.

 

[JohnS.]

those parts are all very expensive. recaros are around 800, front bumper is just what you have now. that lip im not sure, it looks like two lips combined

I personally don't think I've ever seen Recaro's sell for under $1000 for a pair. MAYBE 900 for okay condition ones. But they're usually very pricey.

And yeah, the lip looks like 2 combined. It's hard to tell what the bottom half looks like since it blends in with the road.

You've definitely got a clean base to work from and it looks like you're headed in a good direction .

 

[TigBitties]

The seats are likely to be something I add later, just kinda wanted to get some info on them early on. But for the lip I decided I'll be getting a Mugen Style Polyurethane lip.

and I've been doing some research as you suggested and I'm having difficulties deciding on a suitable engine to build from. A lot of people seem to argue over b16/b20's in terms of better performance capabilities, but I also saw a few people say b20 with a b16 head. Is this a smart combo?



I haven't really decided on a budget yet, just saving my pennies and doing the research for now haha.

I personally wouldnt waste money on a b16. if anything a b18 or b20. b20 with a b16 head can be done, but its going to require a tune and ls/v conversion kit and some machine work. its not as simple as a straight swap

I personally don't think I've ever seen Recaro's sell for under $1000 for a pair. MAYBE 900 for okay condition ones. But they're usually very pricey.

And yeah, the lip looks like 2 combined. It's hard to tell what the bottom half looks like since it blends in with the road.

You've definitely got a clean base to work from and it looks like you're headed in a good direction .

i can get them for 800 in near perfect condition gotta know your importers

 

[Raabe]

 

[crash!]

Clean start! I loveeee white coupes

I personally don't think I've ever seen Recaro's sell for under $1000 for a pair. MAYBE 900 for okay condition ones. But they're usually very pricey.

I'm getting a set of clean ones for $850

 

[Turbo_Freak]

 

[JohnS.]

Clean start! I loveeee white coupes



I'm getting a set of clean ones for $850

Dayum you are startin to go ape s**t on your Honda!

 

[crash!]

Dayum you are startin to go ape s*** on your Honda!

It needs it

 

[MistahJuice]

^agreed, not much else to do to it lol. And where the fck are u guys getting these cheap seats. I saw a pair on craigslist for $800 and they were tore up!

 

[DerektheGreat]

I personally wouldnt waste money on a b16. if anything a b18 or b20. b20 with a b16 head can be done, but its going to require a tune and ls/v conversion kit and some machine work. its not as simple as a straight swap

What would you recommend as an alternative? And are there any reputable vendors I could buy an engine from online?

Also, I would probably be getting a tune anyway after I have the new engine built up and swapped.


Thanks for the warm welcome guys!

 

[JohnS.]

What to swap in depends on your budget and goals. There are countless threads out there asking what engine to swap. We see these kinds of threads probably every other day on here.

 

[DerektheGreat]

What to swap in depends on your budget and goals. There are countless threads out there asking what engine to swap. We see these kinds of threads probably every other day on here.

Oh, okay. I bet that does get annoying lol. I'd have to say my budget would be around $1k for the engine.

 

[cgpEJ6]

If that's your budget you're not going to be able to do a swap. You can get a motor for under $1,000 sure but you're still going to need axles, mounts, possibly a transmission, ecu… If you have that little to spend, either save or just do bolt-ons with the motor you have.

 

[DerektheGreat]

If that's your budget you're not going to be able to do a swap. You can get a motor for under $1,000 sure but you're still going to need axles, mounts, possibly a transmission, ecu… If you have that little to spend, either save or just do bolt-ons with the motor you have.

In all honesty, I'm willing to save up to whatever amount I would need. I'm getting a second job very soon and I have little to no expenses to pay for anything, so this will all be heading towards the car. I really just don't understand what engine's/setups output what amounts of power though. If you could point me towards some information that would help me, like what engines are commonly used in the ej8's for impressive power, I would really be grateful. This won't be for track use, it's my daily driver. I just want something that is reliable as well as powerful, and I understand it can be expensive but that's fine. Sorry for the lack of knowledge on what it is I actually am looking for. I'm just starting to get into Honda's and I find it all very fascinating, I just need somewhere to start haha.

 

[TigBitties]

^agreed, not much else to do to it lol. And where the fck are u guys getting these cheap seats. I saw a pair on craigslist for $800 and they were tore up!

i know importers...a member we banned on here was one. i can get a 400awhp rhd white skyline if i want also lol 15k



OP, i would say just save up a bit more. you can find people parting out swaps for fairly cheap. 1200 and you can find a full ls swap near me