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I just bought a 97 civic lx and I want to upgrade it but don't know where to start. Looking to spend around 2 for everything and want it to turn into a beast. Please let me know where I should start and the best places to buy from online. Thanks

 
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Only 2k on everything to turn it into a beast? I wish you luck.

2k would be a good budget for a starting point on one aspect of performance.

What are your overall goals? Straight line? AutoX? Mostly cosmetic?

 
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My goal is to have a great fast performance car that is also nice to look at. So cosmetically gorgeous too. It doesn't have to have everything ya know. Just enough so that it isn't stock and slow.

 
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So, just a heads up.. My car was to be the same kinda deal. Faster than stock (though, still pretty slow. lol), looks to my liking, and a bunch of fun toys on the inside for me. As it sits right now, based on what I paid for everything, probably has about $10k dumped into it, parts alone. Labor was probably about 95% done by yours truly.

Research what you wanna do, give us a "vision" of your goals, and we can help you out. I can probably name one upgrade that will do you well, but will take a hefty part of that $2k budget of yours

 
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Basically i want my car to be a head turner but not too many performance parts. Just full exhaust with headers, coilovers, sway and strut bars. And then just a new paint job. I want my car to have a little more power to I can fly around people on the highway when I have to lol

 
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Paint alone would probably be well over $2k. If you have a D16y7 you can do a y8 head swap which is probably the most economical upgrade for HP but will only yield about an extra 20... not really what you would call a 'beast'. Next step would be either engine swap or turbo which again $2k probably won't cover either one.

 
Rep Power: 512

2k might suffice for a basic boost build, if you shop extremely frugally (don't cheap out, but find good prices on good parts), and you set aside a good $250 for tuning costs..