Getting the Dad's 1998 Honda Accord EX 4-DR: Help With 1st Mods
 

I'm getting my dad's white 1998 Honda Accord EX 4-door. Good car, leather interior, automatic, from what he tells me all the maintenance is done, etc.

I'm going to mod it a bit (strictly appearance/handling) so I have some questions about the first couple of things.

1. I want to do the black window tint/black housing headlight look right away. So I was looking into some DIY black housing write-ups but then I came across some Euro JDM black housing headlights (not the ghetto looking projectors) on Ebay, would these be a bad buy? They're direct OEM replacement and look just like the stock headlights except of course they're black housing.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/98-99...QQcmdZViewItem

2. I'm probably going to do a basic HID conversion kit (McCullough) with the black housing headlights. I'm thinking maybe 5000K something simple thats easy to install with zip ties under the hood. I know I know I know the HID conversion kits produce a lot of glare, and I'm willing to live with it. The low-beam for the '98 Accord is what, 9006?

3. A basic SRI/CAI for a little increased throttle response would be nice. Can anyone recommend one that saves the most low-end torque? I just want a bit more of a growl at WOT.

1. if you do it yourself, you can save $130. Seriously, all it takes is $10 in materials and patience.

2. 9006 low, 9005 high

3. depending where you live, your intake needs to be CARB exempt. AEM is king around here. If you have the V6, Comptech is excellent ... but the price is a killer.

I would advise against an HID kit without custom projectors. They glare like crazy and the output isn't much better than stock, certainly not $350 better.

SRI will keep the most torque, CAI (esp AEM V2) will give the most top end HP on a 4 cylinder. Neither will really make a noticeable difference anyway on the 4 banger.

Thanks for the quick responses guys, appreciate it. I'll looking into the custom projectors even though it can be a real pain in the ass since I've done it before. I'm probably going to end up with a SRI since I know it sounds pretty good on my friends 3.0 CL.

And by the way I do have the I4, which I'm hoping is a lot better on gas than my previous car (5-speed IS300 that only took premium fuel).

It'll sound totally different than on the J30A1, which has a very economical cam profile on the low end and a relatively agressive cam profile for above 3500RPMs that absolutely wails with an SRI.

Why did you go from an IS to an Accord?

No car payment on the Accord. :)

So are you saying the SRI on the I4 will be louder? Because I really just want something that growls at WOT, not in daily driving.

SRI's are always louder. I'm not sure if I would consider the sound it makes on the F23 'growling', but it's louder.

An SRI made my KA24(240SX) growl at WOT. Has anyone had any experience with the Weapon-R Secret Weapon Intake? Sorry, dont mean to jack a thread but since we are on the topic.