Newest 89 LX-i coupe on 3geez

[dacantu]

first, nice car. Great, tasteful mods so far. Did you get the 15" or 16" jmags? What color?

As for next mods, yeah, I agree with the CAI. How far forward does that exhaust go? (ie. Is it a cat-back, or just a muffler?) If it's not a cat-back, I'd put that on my short list as well. Then a set of paceshitter headers (but strip the black paint and repaint them with high-temp silver [or whatever color you want]). If you do a CAI, please be sure to do it right and put a bypass valve in it too so you don't suck in a lot of water when it rains.

I like the ride height as is. What suspension work do you have done?

Next step (for me) would be rear disc brake swap after the I/H/E (Intake, Header, Exhaust) are done.

Then think about the 5-spd swap. By the time you've done what's already been mentioned, your confidence levels (mechanically) will be increased greatly. So now this 5-spd conversion won't look so daunting. I personally have worked on 2 swaps (including my own). There is a step-by-step for that so keep it close.

Then, a nice, very easy step you can take after all this is a reground cam. Very inexpensive, and great bang for the buck. ...but then, get yourself an adjustable cam gear (ACG) so you can fiddle with the timing. While you're at that, go with some Magnecore wires, good spark plugs, and an aftermarket coil (Accel, Summit, MSD, etc).

Awesome comments man! They were all very detailed and very helpful.

As for the jmags i got the absolute polished ones in 16" wrapped with toyo 205/40/16s im not sure what the model of toyo they are though...

I do have a 2.5" catback exhaust already and will be swapping out the tip on the exhaust for a brand new carbon fiber one that a buddy gave me. and I've really been wanting a set of headers but because im not as experienced with this i didnt know what brand or model would fit my car. without having to customize them in some way same goes for the CAI ive been wanting one but didnt know which to get so if you guys have links to some thatll fit my ar i would worship you! lol

My suspension are just a set of no name lowering springs that i picked up at a local warehouse place (only part there that would fit my car) go figure

I will be looking a bit more into how to upgrade to disk brakes, just dont know how yet. I have a place here that can get me the disk brakes so hopefully I can do that before I change the performance of my car.

I've also been wanting to rebuild my engine so along with that would come new cams right? if anyone would recommend some brand and model numbers of parts that I would need for a rebuild that would really help also.

I will definitely look into swapping it to a 5 speed real soon but if I cant seem to muster up the confidence then i'll probably ask the closest one of you willing to do it help me out with the task haha

Hope I answered our questions and replied to your comments thoroughly.

[markmdz89hatch]

Awesome comments man! They were all very detailed and very helpful.

As for the jmags i got the absolute polished ones in 16" wrapped with toyo 205/40/16s im not sure what the model of toyo they are though...

I do have a 2.5" catback exhaust already and will be swapping out the tip on the exhaust for a brand new carbon fiber one that a buddy gave me. and I've really been wanting a set of headers but because im not as experienced with this i didnt know what brand or model would fit my car. without having to customize them in some way same goes for the CAI ive been wanting one but didnt know which to get so if you guys have links to some thatll fit my ar i would worship you! lol

My suspension are just a set of no name lowering springs that i picked up at a local warehouse place (only part there that would fit my car) go figure

I will be looking a bit more into how to upgrade to disk brakes, just dont know how yet. I have a place here that can get me the disk brakes so hopefully I can do that before I change the performance of my car.

I've also been wanting to rebuild my engine so along with that would come new cams right? if anyone would recommend some brand and model numbers of parts that I would need for a rebuild that would really help also.

I will definitely look into swapping it to a 5 speed real soon but if I cant seem to muster up the confidence then i'll probably ask the closest one of you willing to do it help me out with the task haha

Hope I answered our questions and replied to your comments thoroughly.

Sweet deal. With that 2.5" you might be losing a little on torque right now, but your top-end (highway fun) should have been helped out a little bit.

As for headers, it's pretty easy for us because we don't have 9 million options like the Civic junkies out there. We have the inexpensive (yet slightly helpful) Pace-Setters. Those are a direct bolt-on. S&S, Paeco, and RUK all make them too, but they're all WAY more expensive than the PaceSetter. DC use to make them, but no longer does. Those are a damn good header for street (and race) use and should give slightly better gains than the PaceSetter. They're also almost always ceramic coated, so they'll save you from the hassle of stripping and repainting them like the PaceSetters. They are available, just check out the market place and you'll see some guys selling theirs.

As for the CAI, there is no direct bolt on available that I've seen. Many members have bought one for a 4G (90-93 Accord) and have modified it to fit, and others have just bought a J-bend from Summit and some silicone couplers and made that to fit. They almost always require you to relocate your battery thought because there's a hole to the left side of (or underneath) it where you would route your piping.

As for the rebuild, if your car is running fine now, I wouldn't worry about doing that. That's a massive job and one that takes a lot of time, money, and effort. For now I'd just do a compression check to see if you're pretty damn close on all 4 cylinders and leave it at that. If you haven't done so already, replace your wires, distributor cap, rotor, and plugs. Then a new air filter (unless you go with a CAI). Also just check your timing and make sure it's where it needs to be. After that you should notice a nice improvement in its idle, and maybe power band too.

As for the disc brakes, look in the marketplace for that too and you'll see a couple guys selling everything needed for that. There's a how-to for this swap too. Basically you'll need to source parts from an '89 3G SE-i to do this.

The 5-speed swap really isn't a very difficult job (in terms of difficulty level or needing special tools, etc), but it's very time-consuming.

If you had the slim chance to score a dead 5-speed SE-i on craigslist or a junkyard, you'll be able to source everything you need for the 5-spd swap and the rear-disc swap.

As for the suspension... ...it looks good. Any chance you know the brand of the springs? Take some time to really read over the sticky'd threads in the Suspension section and you'll get some direction on that too. Or feel free to PM/post any questions about that. Honestly, suspension is a major pet-peeve of mine so I'll leave this alone at the moment.

[Zehv42]

Love the car, looks clean! The rims are pretty sweet also.

[dacantu]

Sweet deal. With that 2.5" you might be losing a little on torque right now, but your top-end (highway fun) should have been helped out a little bit.

As for headers, it's pretty easy for us because we don't have 9 million options like the Civic junkies out there. We have the inexpensive (yet slightly helpful) Pace-Setters. Those are a direct bolt-on. S&S, Paeco, and RUK all make them too, but they're all WAY more expensive than the PaceSetter. DC use to make them, but no longer does. Those are a damn good header for street (and race) use and should give slightly better gains than the PaceSetter. They're also almost always ceramic coated, so they'll save you from the hassle of stripping and repainting them like the PaceSetters. They are available, just check out the market place and you'll see some guys selling theirs.

As for the CAI, there is no direct bolt on available that I've seen. Many members have bought one for a 4G (90-93 Accord) and have modified it to fit, and others have just bought a J-bend from Summit and some silicone couplers and made that to fit. They almost always require you to relocate your battery thought because there's a hole to the left side of (or underneath) it where you would route your piping.

As for the rebuild, if your car is running fine now, I wouldn't worry about doing that. That's a massive job and one that takes a lot of time, money, and effort. For now I'd just do a compression check to see if you're pretty damn close on all 4 cylinders and leave it at that. If you haven't done so already, replace your wires, distributor cap, rotor, and plugs. Then a new air filter (unless you go with a CAI). Also just check your timing and make sure it's where it needs to be. After that you should notice a nice improvement in its idle, and maybe power band too.

As for the disc brakes, look in the marketplace for that too and you'll see a couple guys selling everything needed for that. There's a how-to for this swap too. Basically you'll need to source parts from an '89 3G SE-i to do this.

The 5-speed swap really isn't a very difficult job (in terms of difficulty level or needing special tools, etc), but it's very time-consuming.

If you had the slim chance to score a dead 5-speed SE-i on craigslist or a junkyard, you'll be able to source everything you need for the 5-spd swap and the rear-disc swap.

As for the suspension... ...it looks good. Any chance you know the brand of the springs? Take some time to really read over the sticky'd threads in the Suspension section and you'll get some direction on that too. Or feel free to PM/post any questions about that. Honestly, suspension is a major pet-peeve of mine so I'll leave this alone at the moment.

Would I be losing torque because its such a fat pipe? lol

And I have been wanting some headers for the longest time now so now that you give me some brand names im definitely going to do some browsing around. I'm particularly going to be looking for some used DC's

I'll probably hold off on the CAI until I get my battery relocated because I was planning on doing that too actually then ill find something to fit it. Would you know if a CAI for a 1g teg would fit it though?

And youre probably right ill just hold off on the rebuild until it dies out completely, and I have already replaced all of those parts except for the filter. So i'll probably be picking up a k&n filter pretty soon, too bad it costs so much!

I also went and took a quick look at the junk yard yesterday didnt have a chance to look through all of the imports so not sure if there were any SE-i's but there are always so many new 3gs there. I did manage to find a pre-facelift bumper that im going to swap out for my facelift bumper and a nice bumper for my 1g teg also. I'll be going tomorrow to look around a little bit more and picking up those bumpers on half off wednesdays. haha

I dont know the name of the springs off the top of my head but I will stop by at that place one of these days and check for you. Its not out of my way so it shouldnt be any trouble. Only thing is I wouldnt recommend them so much because its a very rugged ride. and the car gets out of control with them sometimes.

[dacantu]

By the way guys I also found out today that my j-mags wont even be getting in until early october! what a downer! lol but its okay i'm willing to wait because I know its worth it!

Also when I went to the junkyard I saw many complete 3gs so If you guys dont have access to junk yards near you I'm willing to pick up parts and ship them out to you. I saw a like new hatch with brown/maroonish interior. I was actually surprised to see it there in the condition that it was in. Anyone looking for a specific part I can search for you and I'll let you know what it costs + shipping and then you can decide. I live right near many junkyards so it wont be so much trouble.

[dacantu]

Love the car, looks clean! The rims are pretty sweet also.

Thanks man! appreciate the comments.. I try my best to keep it up. She deserves it for how well she treats me.

[Hazwan]

Car is looking pretty I always <3 black 3geez and yours is soooo clean!

[Juggalo88Accord]

wow nice legs.. umm i mean rims. haha nice car man i like it

[dacantu]

Car is looking pretty I always <3 black 3geez and yours is soooo clean!

Thanks HAZWAN i'm actually going to be repainting it really soon. I was going to do a charcoal gray with black hood, black top, and black trunk kind of paint but i've decided im just going to keep it black but spend a little bit more money on high quality paint. lol

I'll be posting pics as soon as I get it painted.

wow nice legs.. umm i mean rims. haha nice car man i like it

Lol thanks JUGGALO i'm glad you like them theyre actually going to be going on my 1g teg nd being swapped out for some new all polished rrota j mags. 16" cant wait!