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How do you make a 7th gen a better daily driver?

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Old Jan 6, 2005
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How do you make a 7th gen a better daily driver?

So, if you can't swap or turbo (costly), and IHE doesn't do much for you, how can you make the 7th gen a better daily driver? I'm pretty sure N2O systems aren't street legal (at least in Texas), so that's out too...is there anything we college students can do?
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Old Jan 6, 2005
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get some aem pulleys, header, upgrade voltage system, get a nice stereo. I wouldn't trade my car for anything even if it's a little slow.
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Old Jan 7, 2005
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weight reduction and a/c compressor and condenser removal, its free. Remove your passenger and rear seats, floor mats, spare tire, stereo system, door panels, hubcaps, cruise system, all the *****, clear your lights, and gas tank at 1/4 should give you a pretty fast civic.
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Old Jan 7, 2005
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^ haha. NO2 is legal to have in your car, however it is not legal to use on the streets
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Old Jan 7, 2005
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after removal of certain components, then your "daily driver" wouldnt be as enjoyable without the ac, power settings, knowing your spare is out and tire may blow, cant carpool, etc etc.

some light weight 15's can help a lot if your still on steelies or heavy aftermarket rims. spark plugs? grounding wires? <--- not sure if those 2 help juice up your civic.

nitrous is hassle and probably gets you nervous about it blowing lol.
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Old Jan 7, 2005
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lol nos
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Old Jan 7, 2005
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lol, the ground system is a good upgrade. i paid 20 for mines and i felt a better throttle response when spraying. Its also supposed to brighten headlights, better sound, and basically more power to whatever your connecting the wires to. theres like 7 different things if im correct.
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Old Jan 7, 2005
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Work on suspension and wheels.
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Old Jan 7, 2005
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yep i agree with ^ do suspension mods and ICE
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Old Jan 7, 2005
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audio all the way. audio upgrades can benefit you 100% of the time you are in your car. not many other mods can do that = )
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Old Jan 7, 2005
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....but, if you're not into audio at all, get a short shifter and/or lighter flywheel (if ya got a 5spd)
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Old Jan 7, 2005
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if you don't have it TINT. cheap, looks good on all cars.
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Old Jan 7, 2005
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best daily driver car is one that is completley stock
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Old Jan 7, 2005
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Don't gut your car...that is whack unless you are going to totally race-out your car. Civics are already light.
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Old Jan 7, 2005
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Start fiddling with the suspension... If you dont have to slow down for the corners, then you dont need alot of power to win.

a good place to start would be to get a good "performance" alignment. pick up a front camber kit and have them set the nose to around -1 to -1.5 deg camber, and then Zero out the toe, front and rear.
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Old Jan 7, 2005
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slap a "powered by honda" sticker.....that should add around 20 donkies to your wheels
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Old Jan 7, 2005
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Originally Posted by ren808
slap a "powered by honda" sticker.....that should add around 20 donkies to your wheels
it's true
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Old Jan 7, 2005
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Originally Posted by HustleLikeM0FO
best daily driver car is one that is completley stock
Hate to say it but I agree - every performance/suspension mod done to my car has affected some other practicality like handling curbs or potholes, idle, gas milage, tire life, etc etc. Even bigger wheels cost you in terms of acceleration. You want a daily driver? Keep it stock. You want blingy bling? Go for it, like so many of us, it's fun. But your car's drivability on a day-to-day basis will be hampered in some way.

All that being said, I still always heartily recommend a good suspension upgrade (not just coilover sleeves on stock struts mind you), some decent rims, and chassis bracing. Makes driving more fun, and you easily forget that you scraped your front coming out that driveway.
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Old Jan 7, 2005
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I definitly agree with suspension mods. Get those and driving your car will be so much more fun! IT feels really tight and sporty with all the right mods. Still slow, but eh how fast can you ACTUALLY go in traffic?
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Old Jan 7, 2005
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If it's a daily driver coilovers might be a too stiff. Go with a good strut/spring setup, swaybars and tiebars if you want. i/h/e won't give you much peak hp, but it will fatten your powerband some. With a set of unortodox racing pulleys, a lighter (but not extreme) flywheel and a grounding kit, you'll have a pretty nice driver.
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Old Jan 7, 2005
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Originally Posted by Zzyzx
Start fiddling with the suspension... If you dont have to slow down for the corners, then you dont need alot of power to win.

a good place to start would be to get a good "performance" alignment. pick up a front camber kit and have them set the nose to around -1 to -1.5 deg camber, and then Zero out the toe, front and rear.
^^^^^^^^^^^

What he said
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Old Jan 7, 2005
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by keeping it stock will make it a better daily driver
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Old Jan 7, 2005
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So are these grounding kits really that good? I thought they wouldnt do much at all, and the wires looks like crap in lots of cars. Seems like it does something though, maybe Ill try it.
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Old Jan 7, 2005
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Agreed. I have upper strut and rear sway soon to get springs. I can turn so much faster now.
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Old Jan 7, 2005
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Can anyone recommend a specific suspension mod (I don't know much about suspension, myself) that he/she feels is the best for the money? Please include brand name, etc.
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Old Jan 7, 2005
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Yeah, I have tokicos, goldline springs, 17"s, upper strut. Some suspension mods, and it will feel like a totally different car. If you have a stick, once you learn the civic really well for shifting, it will feel a little quicker.
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Old Jan 7, 2005
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Originally Posted by mdb_foxmx
Can anyone recommend a specific suspension mod (I don't know much about suspension, myself) that he/she feels is the best for the money? Please include brand name, etc.
I had two suspension mods that made mine feel and handle 10X better and they where about 60 bucks each.

1. RSX rear sway bar
2. Neuspeed front strut bar

The rear sway bar made a huge difference in balance, the car was much more tail happy, but not like Mustang guns it through the corner happy or anything. The front strut bar tightend up the steering and seem to give me a quiker steering reasponse, but took a little of the balance away from the rear strut bar that I liked, but for $120 buck, I couldn't complain.

I wanted a alignment kit, but where I live it would be out of alignment by the time I made it to work.
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Old Jan 7, 2005
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H&R Sport with Tokicos, add a generic front upper strut bar, and 19mm RSX rear sway. You should visit the suspension forum to see what people have and how they like their setups.
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Old Jan 7, 2005
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Oh yeah, light rims (OEM size) will help greatly too, but be carefull not to bend them and certainly don't go any bigger than what's on your car if your looking for decent acceleration.
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Old Jan 7, 2005
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Originally Posted by Jrfish007
I had two suspension mods that made mine feel and handle 10X better and they where about 60 bucks each.

1. RSX rear sway bar
2. Neuspeed front strut bar

The rear sway bar made a huge difference in balance, the car was much more tail happy, but not like Mustang guns it through the corner happy or anything. The front strut bar tightend up the steering and seem to give me a quiker steering reasponse, but took a little of the balance away from the rear strut bar that I liked, but for $120 buck, I couldn't complain.

I wanted a alignment kit, but where I live it would be out of alignment by the time I made it to work.

I agree! Feels like a totally different car in the corners. I can take em no problem even accelerating fast.
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