Hey guys! I have a 03 Honda Accord LX Sedan 4-cyl Automatic. I bought it about a month ago with 160K on it. I really love the car and frankly I never thought I would love it that much. Now, I'm thinking about turning it into a project. Now the thing is, I don't really know where to start and I'm looking for ways to upgrade my engine performance. So here I am trying to get some tips from you guys and hopefully, get a definite idea where to start or what I should be doing.
I would really appreciate any advice you guys might have for me....

 

I'm in the same boat i guess. I would say if you aren't going to charge the car way down the line, then go with the norm to start off with. The 3 big "simple" bolt ons i might be doin is a short ram intake, new headers, and maybe a lower exhaust mod. honestly though my budget is tight and im not mechanically inclinded. lets hope the experts chime in!

 

Your two most basic performance upgrades are going to be an air intake(either a cold air or a short ram) or a cat-back exhaust system... Your budget will really be the deciding factor on how you go about your upgrades... If you are on a tight budget, you can buy any cheap ebay intake and just put a good filter on it(this will give you the same results as buying a expensive name brand intake but without the cost)... For your exhaust, you can either purchase a complete cat-back setup, or if you are trying to save money, buy a decent muffler and take your car to a muffler shop and have them either weld it on, or replace your pipes from the catalytic converter back with bigger diameter tubing...

 

To further your performace, you can also add a header, better spark plug wires, ignition upgrade, camshafts, aftermarket throttle body, throttle body spacers, fuel system upgrades(such as fuel injectors, adj fuel pressure regulator, fuel pump, fuel rail), nitrous oxide systems... These are all basic add ons, you have the head "worked"(3 or 5 angle valve job, better valves, springs), or do engine internal upgrades. Or you could look into forced induction, such as a turbo set up, or supercharger...

 

Thanks for the advice. I really appreciate it. Correct me if I am wrong since I am not that mechanically inclined...everything mentioned above are pretty much basic,right? Though, I am not going to turn the car into a complete race car but I would really like to make it perform as one.
One other thing I forgot to mention in the beginning...Would the high mileage on the car pose a problem since it already has 163K on it after I drove it from Kentucky to Orlando? I ask because a friend of mine told me if I really want to turn it into a project I should do something about the mileage as in...buy a newer engine with lower mileage or something.
Once again, I would really appreciate any advice!!!!

 

Almost everything I mentioned is pretty much basic... The head work and engine internals are the only things that would be a bit more difficult... The high milage of the car would not pose a problem as long as it has been taken care of(with the exception of the nitrous)... You can always just get your motor rebuilt... If you are going to put a newer engine in it, you might as well do a motor swap...But that is only if you want to change the motor... I dont see why you should though, as long as it has had regular maintainance done and been taken care of, 163k is not alot of miles... If it is in good mechanical condition than there is no need to swap out motors or have it rebuilt...

 

Well if you put it that way then I guess I can be at ease a little and then go ahead and start looking at the modifications that I can do. I had the car in the shop at a honda dealership the other day, it was because I had a problem with my vtec system...after they had it fixed (replace the whole thing) they told me that the engine is in really good condition and that I shouldn't have any problems with it.
Well, thanks a lot for the advice corvetteking. However, I'd like to ask if you were me or if you were in my shoes, where exactly would you start???

 

That really depends on how much money you have to spend. I would start with the air-intake/full-exhaust. And then msd/mallory plug wires, and msd cap and rotor... Put in some ngk spark plugs as well... You could do an underdrive kit, or lightweight pulley kit... Then you could upgrade your ignition system... And then maybe do some stage 2 cams, and maybe a walbro fuel pump...

 

Just depends on how crazy you wanna go with it...

 

though I am on a tight budget, I do want to go crazy with it. Like I said before, I don't want to build...no let me put it that way, I don't have enough money to build a race car and I'm not really looking to build one either but I'd like to have enough power under my hood to at least feel like one. My Accord right now, has only 160hp and I'd like to really had more to it just so when I push down that accelerator I can feel like I'm driving something cause right now, even though I really love the car it really doesn't have enough power for me especially when I compare it to the 210hp 02 MilleniaS I had previously....