Just got an '88 accord. I wanna mod it, but I'm a total car newbie.

[frankiebonez]

This is a repost that I've put on a couple other Honda forums, but have yet to get a reply. I found you guys and figured I'd have theb est chance getting some info. I'm not sure where I should post this, so I'll just do General for now. It kinda fits into all the mod sections.

Hi guys. I just bought my grandmother's gold '88 Honda Accord LX today. It's in great shape with only 38000 actual miles on it. She's had it since I was a kid and I always thought it was a cool car. Before this I had a Buick Century (yes, laugh it up). Anyway, considering I've saved a crapload of money over buying a newer car, and this thing is in awesome shape...I'm wondering what kinda mods and upgrades I can do to pimp this sucker out.

I'm a computer guy so I know next to nothing about cars. I've never been the type to pop my hood and show off my engine or pop others' and check out theirs (that sounded perved). I've always wanted a nice car and wanted something sportier and fast, yet cheap and reliable. From the mods I've seen and what I've read, there's definately some juice in these cars that has yet to be tapped. First of all, I plan on getting a nice stereo system of course. I really want to know what I can do to the engine and eventually the exterior of the car to make it perform like a champ without breaking the bank.

I'll have about $3000 to spend on it once I get this Buick sold, but I don't plan on splurging at one time. I want to make the upgrades gradual because I gotta have cash for other stuff (poor college kid).

Like I said earlier, I'm pretty clueless when it comes to car specs, but I'm wanting to learn. I don't want to end up being a ricer and having my car called a ricemobile. I just need your pro help to avoid that and I want to know what I should do first

Anyway, pointers, tips, suggestions, comments, prices and anything else is appreciated. I can't seem to find much on the net about car mod tips for retards, so I'm asking you guys. I'll continue to frequent these forums to check out the replies. Also my email is [email protected] if you guys want to just shoot me a line and we can chat easily that way.

Thanks.

[87accordlxi]

why are you ashamed of the Century? A-bodies kick ass

<------- Ciera owner

anyways, welcome to the board. look around the site, especially in the Accord Pics, Appearance, and Performance sections. you'll get alot of insight about whats available for our cars

[Maydnaella]

Hey! Welcome to the board! You and I are pretty much in the same boat, I know hardly a thing about cars. Fortunately this is a great place for knowlegde and a bunch of awesome people frequent the board.

I say the first thing you gotta figure out is what you want to modify (appearance or performance) and go from there. Our cars have a lot of potential that's why I like them so much. Happy hunting!

[frankiebonez]

Heh, I just can't stand cars like that. It'd be different if it was a newer Century, but its a 92. I just don't dig that style.

It was a present from my mom when I got my driver's license, so it was a good car for the time when I was broke, but I got more money now and I'm wanting to soup up something that is attractive to me. Centurys are like rhinos, an Accord is a fox.

...or something... heh

[frankiebonez]

I'd like to improve the performance first, and add on exterior mods later to reflect the performance inside. No point in having a car that looks good that can't match the looks with speed and capability.

Still though, I don't know where to start. Any suggestions according to the way you guys modded yours? What kinda mods did you guys perform when you first got the car? What mods have given the best results? The best bang for the buck? The things you wish you never did?

That's the type of stuff I'm wondering.

[88WhiteLX-i]

HOLY SHIT!!!?!?! I can't believe your 3g onl y has 38,000 miles on it!!!!!!!! I bet the fucking tires are still from the factory!! Damn the engine isn't even broken in yet... lol.. ANways, I say you start off by a complete tune up, throw in some NGK plugs, performance wires, rotor, cap, and if you want to add an intake. preferably cold air, but just slap a regular intake on there. Other than that you can regrind your cam, take off your ac/pw, put on high flow headers, a catback exhaust, if you really want alot of power swap your engine to something better. B16 or even the beautiful h22...

[frankiebonez]

Heh, my granny drove it like once a month for the past 14 years.

Anyway, English? Heh, I have no clue what half that stuff is/does. Can you give me some links so I can see what the stuff is and where I might be able to get it?

I'm a computer hardware guy, I feel like a total retard hanging out here...but I want a pimp car soooo bad Thanks for the help, it is appreciated! I just need to know where I can check this stuff out.

Keep the info rollin', I'm taking notes!

Can I get a pic of yours 88White? I went through the pic thread awhile ago, and don't feel like sifting through that 11 page post again! Heh, I'd like to see what you did.

I know one thing, I'm gonna paint this thing a smooth ass black as soon as I get some performance upgrades done...and as soon as I have $2-3k lying around for paint

[88WhiteLX-i]

Sorry, I'll try to explain, You probably wanna start off slow so I say you just do a tune up. If you wanna get some real nice spark plugs, buy some NGk brand, but you can go with Bosch Platinum they work good too. You can buy them at almost any auto parts store. The same with the spark plug wires, get some premium ones, spend a little more money now and it'll pay off in the long run. I bought Bosch Premium wires, they work awesome. And agian you can get these where you got the spark plugs. The rotor and cap are always good to change when you change your wires and stuff. (can also buy these were you got the plugs and wires, unless you want to buy everything off the internet) Now the intake. If you want you can just buy a K&N air filter which uses the same setup you have now, and all you do is change the air filter with the K&N,(looks the same). but an intake will eliminate all the stock air box and the need for the that filter. An intake runs right off of your throttle body and sucks the air in from a large cone like filter. A regular intake sucks air in from your engine bay(warm air), and a cold-air intake sucks air in from either the front of your car, or from inside of the fender. The cold air intake is harder to make, but it gets cooler more dense air to your engine. Iam not really sure about the performance gains from intake VS. Cold intake. But other than this stuff you can do right off the bat, there's a shit load of other stuff you can do like drop your car if want or just buy some really nice struts that'll beef your suspension up, put on rear disk brakes from an 89 SE-i, buy some rims and performance tires.....and it goes on and on from there, what ever you wanna keep doing. Either make it go faster or make it look better.....

[ACCORD EX]

welcome man !
anyway don't worry about not knowing nothing ! when i first joined the board i didn't know what spak plugs were ! ???

any way to lern more about cars (in general ) you can also check www.howstuffworks.com it's a great site with coold flash animation describes all teh technical stuff about the car ! ( CLutch , transmission , engines and more ! )

MIKE

[offthahook]

Take a pic of the car, esp. the odometer. :hitit:

[88LXi68]

Weber Carb = $300
Pacesetter header = $150
Custom 2.25" Exhaust = $150
Openloop Mild Cam = $150

You would have a nice power increase.

[8ate8]

Originally posted by frankiebonez
I've always wanted a nice car and wanted something sportier and fast, yet cheap and reliable.

as a wise man once said:

"Fast. Reliable. Cheap.
Choose two."

[frankiebonez]

Heh, I'll settle for Fast and reliable. It is worth it to me to pay extra for performance.


Besides, the car was cheap. I can invest the money I didn't spend buying the car, into the car

Also, I was checking quite a few sites last night that had custom performance parts and 90% of the parts were only for models that were 90+. There were some 3rd gen parts, but even then several of them were only for the LXi edition.

Can any these LXi parts be used on the LX? Can any of the 90 model or higher parts be used on the 88's? It seems to be extremely hard to find performance parts for the 3rd gen Accords, but maybe I'm just not looking in the right places.

[1989 DX R]

Is yours a stick or an auto? Definetly go with what 88Lxi68 said, those are the main things that give a nice boost to hp from the start. Also, the electrics like 88WhiteLX-i explained will help you get some more juice from your A20a1. Then, you can think about either a Port job, an aluminum flywheel, and a wider cam grind to help you get lots more power. The port job essentially gives you a nice, smooth intake and exhaust flow in your cylinder head and intake runners. The aluminum flywheel gives you a wonderful throttle response for faster revving. The cam grind makes your engine flow in more air, and let out more exhaust which equals more hp. Also, get at least a Stage 2 Clutch if you have a manual tranny, the stock one cannot handle the new power. After all this work, you should be sitting pretty with about 150 whp (power on the ground) and only about $1700 poorer.

From there, go from some nice 16" or 17" wheels and some nice performance tires, to get the grip you need on the road. This will run you about $1000, but much less if you shop around. Then, get some rear discs from an SE-i from a junkyard, and some coil-over springs and new struts. Try and get the larger sway bars from the Se-i too. If you have any money left, snag a strut bar from 88TurboAccord (Justin).

If you do that, you will have a screamin 3Gee, quite possibly running 15's or even 14's on the 1/4.

Welcome aboard! :super:

[frankiebonez]

Awesome 1989 DX R. That's exactly what I wanted to know. Sounds like I'll be able to do quite a bit with about $3000 and still have some left over to save for a black paint job in a couple years, or just supe it up more.

What exactly are 15's or 14's on 1/4? Size of the wheels and how low the car is? I'm a newbie.

EDIT: Crap, hit the enter button to soon.

BTW, my car is an automatic transmission. How does that limit me and/or what does that give me? I know I won't have as much control, but will I be able to add stuff just easily?

I've had a lot of people mention Cold Air Intake systems, but I can't seem to find one on the net for an 88 LX, just LXi. I've read that a good intake system can boost performance by 15 horsies and they're only like $200, so I figured that'd be a great boost for not a whole lot of dough.

And thanks for the warm welcome guys

[TeKKnoTeKK]

hey man is your username based on the DJ Frankie Bones? Just wonderin man, BTW welcome to the board

[frankiebonez]

Originally posted by TeKKnoTeKK
hey man is your username based on the DJ Frankie Bones? Just wonderin man, BTW welcome to the board

Ha, you aren't the first to ask me that.

I have actually used the name for awhile in the FPS gaming scene. I hadn't even heard of Frankie Bones except for a Lords of Acid song he remixed. I get people asking me all the time though. Hehe.

[TeKKnoTeKK]

Originally posted by frankiebonez


Ha, you aren't the first to ask me that.

Goes with the territory :super: