treygriffor08

Just recently bought a 2002 Honda Civic Ex Coupe and was wondering if anyone had some cool cheap mods that I could start off doing to my car any ideas are greatly appreciated.

Poopies

iTrader: (4)

A new intake is most people's starting point. Exhaust headers and pipes usually follow. A headlight retrofit is also a pretty good idea.

GolNat

iTrader: (7)

Welcome to the site.

All the things poopies said, plus lowering it with a good wheel and tire package.

treygriffor08

what is an headlight retrofit? and I'm thinking about putting 17" on it with 215/45 tires before I lower it.. will that leave me with any wheel well gap?

Poopies

iTrader: (4)

A retrofit is where you open up your stock headlights and put better ones (projectors) in. GolNat and I have both done it (check my sig) and your car looks cooler while you see farther at night.
As per this handy calculator, you'd only be losing another 3/4 inch or so compared to stock (1/2 diameter=radius)
http://tire-size-conversion.com/tire-size-comparison/

GolNat

iTrader: (7)

Your going to need to lower it in order to reduce the wheel gap by any significant amount. You want to choose a tire size that keeps the rolling diameter of the wheel the same or as close to stock to not throw off your speedometer and odometer.

GolNat

iTrader: (7)

Check out this site for more retrofit info:

www.theretrofitsource.com

treygriffor08

so is retrofitting like making your headlights into halo's?

kinakoes2

@GolNat @Poopies: which retrofit kit did you end up using for your HIDs? Did it require quite a bit of dremelling, or was it basically drop in?

I remember trying to figure out a ballast and HID kit for a Suzuki SV650S bike I had in Seattle... ended up abandoning it as too much work for a weekend (it was my DD in WA 9 mo/yr). I'm sure car HIDs are a lot easier on the enduser these days, hopefully.

GolNat

iTrader: (7)

I have Morimoto H1 Mini projectors. They were direct fit with no cutting required. Simply open the headlights and remove your stock bulb holder and then screw in the projector.

You can add halos if you want but you don't need to. With retrofitting you open up your headlights and instal a projector which looks like this:



You then re-seal your headlights and instal HID bulbs into the projectors and connect your ballasts.

Here is a pic of the headlight open with the projector installed:

drhawkinz

You can find new headlamp assemblies online for like $50. To me it's not a bad investment to buy a new one and then you can take your time to retrofit it and then put the whole thing back in the car.

I think this is what I'm gonna do due to my lack of free time and patience. This way I don't have to drive around with one head light for a week while I work on one.

Poopies

iTrader: (4)

My retrofit only took me less than 12 hours, and that was with suboptimal installation conditions (a parking lot), nighttime approaching, and putting everything back together and running to Lowe's for a tool. I was learning everything as I went, although I definitely DID do research beforehand.
The only dremeling I did was on my shrouds so that I could fit the (optional) halos inside. They were worth every curse word uttered. TRS used to have a really nice research section but I think they removed it with their site update.

GolNat

iTrader: (7)

I did not to do any cutting because I stuck with the standard shroud (mini Gatling). It takes more time but you can do cool things like paint the cut off shields. You can paint them any color and it will make the lens appear as if it was painted that color. I painted mine black:

kinakoes2

That is really, really sharp, fellas... and looks super-drop-in-easy. Too bad back in 2009 there wasn't anything like this for stock Suzuki SV-S housings. Looks like just a couple of hours work, frosty bevs close at hand...

Welp that's ANOTHER mod to save up for...

Poopies

iTrader: (4)

Hell yeah, you won't be disappointed!