Nija

I want to do some upgrades to a 1997 Honda Accord EX.

However, I don't want to go overboard. No wings, no exhausts that look like they are/were prison bitches, no undercarriage lights, etc.

I was thinking along the lines of more non-obvious stuff.

It's an automatic, so I'm not going to be racing, but I would like to give it a little *umph*. Maybe change out the gauges, change the intake, but I can't think of anything else to do, that would not be obvious. It has nice (legal) tint on it.

So, I'd appreciate some suggestions on some light to moderate upgrades to this daily driver.

Thanks!

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bachviet

Intake
Header
Plugs
Wires

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InfiniteNothing

Plugs? wires? What benefit do those have?
Header? Yes def. It'll make the car just a bit louder though. See about a 4-2-1 eq length.
Intake's good. How about a UDP? If you want a little handeling gain move your battery to the trunk. Ooooh and get a rear sway bar (forget the front). Get some new breaks, at least make the rear disc breaks if they aren't. Oh and paint your calipers red. Short throw and engine mounts are good. Get a classy looking exaust (Borla?). How about chipping it? LSD? Want more ideas?

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ski

Coupe or Sedan? I4 or V6?

we have a 97 sedan... but there is a TON of stuff you can do to a coupe V6 :eeK:

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Nija

4 door
4 cyclinder
6 windows

The brakes were actually just changed, and the rotors... rotor'd

Red Calipers?

What's a swap bar do? Kept things from jiggling around? (gotta make sure the g/f doesn't get more of those @ Victoria's Secret )

I don't know what a UDP is.

I was looking at ebay and it seems the only thing widely available are intake kits, and some gauges of course I don't know what I'm looking for so that could be hindering my searching abilities

SnowSurfer

there is some nice very very very very like to the point of not even being moped loud exhaust systems that you could use. Apexi ws2 is one i believe

also a front and rear sway bar...

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InfiniteNothing

don't bother with the front unless you run out of mods to do. Actually, what the rear sway bar does is it makes your car swing it's tail end out even more giving you sharper turns.

Don't look on ebay. I almost forgot: Get some light weight 17" don't bother upgrading if they aren't light weight. By new brakes I didn't mean replacing the pads with the oem pads and turning the rotors, I mean buying slotted rotors, SS brakelines, better pads (mintex, ebc greenstuff), better pads, bigger calipers (or just a new brake kit). If you're speeding ...and you have to stop.... you'll thank me. If you can't find a part, search google. Here's a site I found that carried all sorts of honda parts http://performance.speedycarparts.com/

DarkFury

Don't forget the "Type R" stickers... guaranteed for 50+ more horsepower.

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InfiniteNothing

Or go Fury style and put on some big horns, 22"s, and a sunroof.

Tommy Boomfiger

If youre going to get a cold air intake, make sure to get a new exhaust. Theres no way to get more air in than you can get out.

guiseppewv

You can get gains from a CAI without upgrading the exhaust but I agree that you should change the exhaust. Rear sway bar and some polyurethane bushings for the rear sway bar.

A short throw shifter is out since you have an auto.

Also, upgrade the brake pads with performance friction carbon metallic pads. You can get them at autozone for $35. Great pads, I have them installed on my 94 Accord. It is the only mod I did to that car. They greatly improved the braking of the car.


Big brake kits cost a lot of money and do not give you much of an increase in braking. Usually they help alot when you are doing alot of high speed braking . For example if you were going to go 60 to 0, then back to 60 then to 0, etc... Do not waste your money on this mod unless you are going to autocross. Also unless you are just going for that slotted or cross drilled look I would not get slotted or cross drilled rotors. Slotting and cross drilling only reduces the surface area of the brake pads that is in contact with the rotor. If you were doing autocross then you might see some benefits of cross drilled and/or slotted rotors. If you need new rotors and do not want them corss drilled or slotted then buy bendix rotors at advanced auto.

bachviet

Drop your car about 1.75".
Add F&R sway bars

BTW don't make fun of my TypeR stickers alright!

rollhard

In all honesty, if you dont go with a loud exhaust or intake, then you wont "feel" anymore umph. intake, headers, exhaust, plugs, wires, etc might net you 8-0whp. Response will be better but its not going to suprise you or anything. Maybe u can look into swapping motors from a newer accord. Most of the time kids think they got more power because when the car is louder, it sounds like it has more power but the dyno dont lie.

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Nija

So I have to make the car obnoxious to make it go faster, and preform better?

I don't really want to lower the care either, I think it's fine at the stock height, and all lowered cars that i've been in don't have a smooth ride.

Any more suggestions would be appreciated

BrewMaster

headers on a 97 accord seem kind of useless to me. i mean, you get a few more horses, but headers ain't cheap.

forget about the big brake kits. they cost more than the value of your car.

sway bar is a great idea. you will feel the effects if you take a corner fast. there's gotta be some corner in your area that you always take fast. do it before and after the sway bar and you'll see that you can take that same corner faster with the bar installed.

instead of going all out with the intake, you may just want to put in a better air filter. it won't give you the same results, but a K&N filter ain't a bad start.

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DarkFury

Awww yeah... but honestly, I don't think that an 18" air horn OR 22" rims would fit on a Honda Accord.

Maybe one of those 4" "clown horns/cucharacha horns" and a set of 17"s would do nicely. Sunroof optional...

rollhard

I think its safer for me to ask you how much more HP you want out of your car. As far as the loud factor, my point was that the kids with the loud cars think their cars are faster than they really are because of the noise. I car that goes 0-6-mph in 9 seconds with a loud exhaust will seem faster than a car that does the same 0-60mph with a quiet exhaust. You'll get better performance somewhat but not much.

Nija

I want to keep it reasonable. I also want to keep it reliable and quiet. I was hoping to do most of the stuff either by myself or with a friend, so and engine swap is out of my league. I'm not trying to be a street racer or a ricer, but I want more than stock.

And I'd prefer the quiet car that can do 0-60 in 9 seconds in your scenario

bachviet

Nitrous oxide

rollhard

That still doesnt answer my question? What is reasonable for you? You want to gain 5hp, 10hp, 15hp? When you start seeking for more power, ALL hondas will get louder. Changing the exhaust is always a must no matter what you do so its going to be loud and sometimes obnoxious.

SnowSurfer

switch it to manual

Nija

ahhh, I understand now... you are confusing me with someone who knows what they are talking about... that's the problem

All I know is, I don't want it loud OR Obnoxious, but I would like it to go faster.



I can understand it getting louder, I just don't want it too loud, maybe 10-20 db louder, you know, not too loud.

revil

I usually upgrade to a better blinker fluid...

BigBlockCRX

the motor from a honda prelude, models 92-01 bolt right into the accord.

yours being a 1997 model you would probably wanna go with the 1997 or newer prelude. it will give you approx 200hp and 190 tq (rated hp) which equals to about 160/140 WHP THP.. roughly.. find some shops local to your city that deal with the rice rocket hondas or do specialty motor swaps. you can usually find a deal for around 2500-3000 for a motor swap (motor only) into a car like yours. its the best dollar per HP upgrade you can do, and it will last quite a long time after you do this. do the header/exhaust/intake upgrades and you'll really enjoy the power.

Eugene

I think this is still out of range to what Nija wants to do. Though this is probably a relatively simple engine swap, in terms of actual car work, I think it is pretty involved. I understand where Nija is coming from, because I am also playing with the idea of doing something to my '97 civic, but don't want to rice it, want to do it myself and don't want it to be too complicated. so far, what I've gotten from this thread is:

1. intake/exhaust by themselves won't do much for you
2. new performance brake pads would be nice
3. a rear sway bar would help handling a lot
4. go to the store for some elbow grease and headlight fluid
5. stickers give +50hp

rollhard... how much hp improvement do you need in order to feel it? to have a noticably better/more fun drive?

BigBlockCRX

you can also drop a h22 motor into your 97 civic. I have one myself in my 96 civic hatchback.. its a bit more work that an accord swap, but it is well worth it.

nothing like sitting at a red light next to a z06 or ws6, and giving him a run for his money (and even beating them on a short run, since they are usually too surprised to drive normally).

but a swap for your civic would be around 4k if you do it yourself and around 5-6k if you pay someone else to do it.

as for the accord, about 1500 if you do it yourself, and 2500-3000 if you pay someone to do it. thats of course if you can find someone who knows how.


I would concentrate on maybe a camshaft upgrade, thats pretty resonable on pricing and you get a little more perfromance out of your sohc motors (accord and civic), about 350-500 for 10-13 hp upgrade.
as for the h22 motor swap, you would be almost doubling the hp output on your civic, and adding another 60-80hp on your accord, the total output is 210hp (jdm swap). plus you give your car a newer/longer life by installing a newer motor with fewer miles.

rollhard

From my experience anything less than 10hp, you wont notice any any real gains. Response will be better but its nothing to dance about. Fun to drive is not always determined by power. IMO, RWD cars are always more fun to drive than FWD cars, even if they have less power.

Pinkgirl36

And PG is ok with you messing with her car?

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Nija

no