'96 Honda Accord
#1
10-25-2009, 09:07 AM
Unregistered
Posts: n/a
'96 Honda Accord
I'm getting my license soon, so my parents are going to get me a car. We figured it would be best to get a cheaper car so the insurance is lower. My dad had an old manual Honda accord that he had lying around, so he figured he'd give me that (he has a different car now). I'm happy that I'm getting a car, but I want to see if I can fix it up a little bit. The cars in a different town right now, so I can't post pics and specifics, but I'll try to describe it as best as I can from memory.
So the car is a dark green color, it looks like this car: http://gtcarlot.com/car/9498497
except that the front hood was in a wreck, so we had to replace it with a stock hood. On the inside, I think my dad replaced the original (tape deck, or cd player, or something... I can't remember) with a new CD player.
Thats pretty much all I can remember about it (its been a while since I've seen it). As soon as I can go and take a look at it again, I'll take pictures and figure out its exact model, mileage, etc. (If you haven't figured it out by now, I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to cars...)
I'm probably gonna have this car for a while, so I figure I should fix it up a bit. Do you guys have any ideas? I was thinking of painting it like black, blue, (your idea here). Just to make it less obvious that the car has been in a wreck before (the discolored hood is the only obvious mark). I want to replace the CD player my dad put in too, because I don't really have any music on CDs. Its on an mp3 player, so I would need one with an aux input. Also, I was thinking of replacing the speakers inside, if it didn't cost too much. Could you guys give me some help on these issues? Ideas, and cost estimates would help a lot. My budget is around $200 (I'm only a teen guy), but I could probably go up to 400-500$, which is like, my life savings
. If it really calls for it, I could go over, and sell some of my stuff, but Even the 400$ is a stretch.
So, are there any other good mods I can do to the car for cheap? How much would the stuff written up there cost? Oh, and I'm a new member btw. Hi people
So the car is a dark green color, it looks like this car: http://gtcarlot.com/car/9498497
except that the front hood was in a wreck, so we had to replace it with a stock hood. On the inside, I think my dad replaced the original (tape deck, or cd player, or something... I can't remember) with a new CD player.
Thats pretty much all I can remember about it (its been a while since I've seen it). As soon as I can go and take a look at it again, I'll take pictures and figure out its exact model, mileage, etc. (If you haven't figured it out by now, I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to cars...)
I'm probably gonna have this car for a while, so I figure I should fix it up a bit. Do you guys have any ideas? I was thinking of painting it like black, blue, (your idea here). Just to make it less obvious that the car has been in a wreck before (the discolored hood is the only obvious mark). I want to replace the CD player my dad put in too, because I don't really have any music on CDs. Its on an mp3 player, so I would need one with an aux input. Also, I was thinking of replacing the speakers inside, if it didn't cost too much. Could you guys give me some help on these issues? Ideas, and cost estimates would help a lot. My budget is around $200 (I'm only a teen guy), but I could probably go up to 400-500$, which is like, my life savings
. If it really calls for it, I could go over, and sell some of my stuff, but Even the 400$ is a stretch.So, are there any other good mods I can do to the car for cheap? How much would the stuff written up there cost? Oh, and I'm a new member btw. Hi people
#2
10-25-2009, 10:24 AM
Unregistered
Posts: n/a
Hi Panzer,
I'm new to the Honda experience myself but can tell you from experience (I'm a bit older than you!), that you should hang on to your money for awhile until you know how the mechanicals check out. Nothing worse than having a $300 stereo set up and not being able to drive it around! Change all the fluids, check the belts, tires, brakes etc maybe it needs a tune up - you get the idea, and make sure it runs and stops before you do the cosmetics and sounds. $300 doesn't go very far these days and you can always make more money tomorrow for the "fun" stuff. I had a car that sat for awhile when I was 16 (in 1969) and it was just the worse situation of my life (up to that point). A newly licensed driver and having a car that wouldn't run! It took me about 3 weeks to get some work done to it and I really didn't care about the radio once the car was running. Hope this helps.
George
I'm new to the Honda experience myself but can tell you from experience (I'm a bit older than you!), that you should hang on to your money for awhile until you know how the mechanicals check out. Nothing worse than having a $300 stereo set up and not being able to drive it around! Change all the fluids, check the belts, tires, brakes etc maybe it needs a tune up - you get the idea, and make sure it runs and stops before you do the cosmetics and sounds. $300 doesn't go very far these days and you can always make more money tomorrow for the "fun" stuff. I had a car that sat for awhile when I was 16 (in 1969) and it was just the worse situation of my life (up to that point). A newly licensed driver and having a car that wouldn't run! It took me about 3 weeks to get some work done to it and I really didn't care about the radio once the car was running. Hope this helps.
George
#3
10-25-2009, 11:24 AM
I agree with George, I'd make sure the car is good to go first, espcially since it sounds like its been sitting around for a while.
As for paint, a professional paint job costs thousands of dollars, unless you were talking about painting it yourself.
an mp3 head unit could be had for $1-200 I would think.
As for paint, a professional paint job costs thousands of dollars, unless you were talking about painting it yourself.
an mp3 head unit could be had for $1-200 I would think.
#4
10-25-2009, 04:35 PM
Unregistered
Posts: n/a
Thnx for the replies guys. I'm pretty sure the car still runs fine. It hasn't been tons of years since the car has been used, only 10-11 months. And my dad still drives it every now and then, just so it gets some use. Also, we've gotten together and changed the oil. I think maybe the tires might need changing though. I'm pretty sure I could convince my parents to pay for any features for safety or features to get it running better. My dad is really good friend with a mechanic, and the house where the car is at is literally 400 feet from the mechanic's shop, so we could check the fluids, brakes, change the tires, etc. over there.
haha wow I had no idea that paint jobs were so expensive. I looked it up, and it seems like even the cheapest ones that would chip off in a couple of months cost like $800. Maybe I could paint it myself, but even that would cost like 200-300$, right? And it would probably be uneven and time consuming.
What if instead of getting the entire car painted, I take the hood off and get it painted the same color as the car? That couldn't cost as much, could it?
When you say an mp3 head unit could be 1-200$, that a pretty big range. How can the people afford to sell them for 1$?
thnx, i really appreciate the help
haha wow I had no idea that paint jobs were so expensive. I looked it up, and it seems like even the cheapest ones that would chip off in a couple of months cost like $800. Maybe I could paint it myself, but even that would cost like 200-300$, right? And it would probably be uneven and time consuming.
What if instead of getting the entire car painted, I take the hood off and get it painted the same color as the car? That couldn't cost as much, could it?
When you say an mp3 head unit could be 1-200$, that a pretty big range. How can the people afford to sell them for 1$?
thnx, i really appreciate the help
#5
10-25-2009, 05:12 PM
Yeah I know for my paint job I paid about $1000 just in materials.
If you were to spray paint it it really depends on how much time and quality you want to put into it. could range from $100-500 depending on how much detail but it will never have the quality of professional.
I'd think it'd be a couple hundred to get a hood painted.
I meant $100-200 not 1-200 sorry for the confusion.
If you were to spray paint it it really depends on how much time and quality you want to put into it. could range from $100-500 depending on how much detail but it will never have the quality of professional.
I'd think it'd be a couple hundred to get a hood painted.
I meant $100-200 not 1-200 sorry for the confusion.
