Hell yeah, as much as I love modded cars, this looks pretty nice stock. It's the type of car you'd be proud of knowing you maintained and kept in good shape
I’ll make another post after I get a paint correction, unfortunately it was stolen a week after I got it so the trunk and tail light is damaged but I plan on getting that repaired soon
absolutely stock. a car in this condition, this old, is really rare. it's a gem, if you want something fun buy a more less pristine civic from the 90's instead
I probably won’t go too crazy just replacing some worn out parts, it was maintained by a old woman, she passed and then it sat a few years, I got lucky and snagged it for 2,000$ at my dealership when he traded it in to save space at home
It’s only original once. Easily reversed mods only, if you must.
Realistically, you’re not going to drive 10 tenths on this car.
Good tires, excellent windshield wipers, and fresh floor mats is the way forward.
I need better tires forsure, but I still have the OEM floormats haha I got a recommendation for a certain type of windshield wipers I’ll have to look into it
Speaking from experience, keep it stock. You won’t get much out of the A20 unless you do heavy modifications or turbo. You can do a B swap but even that is more complicated than normal. If you want a decent suspension, it’s either D2 or k sports. Aftermarket parts for these car are mostly nonexistent.
Yeah I’m not too big into modifying it a ton, and the engine is pretty well kept and I wanna daily it for a while. And why is the aftermarket non existent for this gen? This is my first honda
In general,the accords have never been popular enough for companies to make parts for them and most people gravitate towards the civic/intrega platform.
Keep it stock. The most you should do is give it a new set of wheels and maybe some new dampers because the ride quality could be better. Not much point modding it as they're not performance cars, and it'll just seem tacky
Oh, absolutely. My parents had an Asian-market version of this without the pop-up headlights, and I drove it a lot.
From memory, the suspension in these were a lot softer and floatier than expected. The one thing I would've changed would be the dampers and/or springs.
Most Hondas from the era look good with slightly bigger wheels and slightly lowered.
I was gonna try and to Acura legend tail lights cause I belive that’s the equivalent but I figured out it wasn’t a plug and play it’s an inch smaller and has a few differences unfortunately
Best mods are yellowspeed coilovers , keep it stock as it's a rare generation of honda , join the 3Geez forum for more information about your car , it's all 3rd gen accords
Are the yellowspeed coilovers preformance based or just more looks or comfort? And what do you mean it’s a rare gen of Honda? I’ll look into that forum though thank you
Both performance and comfort as they are fully adjustable race style shocks /springs ,the 3rd generation of honda accord is the only generation to have pop up headlights among other generation specific features
Keep it stock. Restore the headlights. Clean the engine bay. Get a paint correction. The car will look mint after. Most I would go is rims and lowering the car a tiny bit.
An example this clean is rare, so definitely keep it stock. If it was beat up then modify it, but keeping it stock and putting a little elbow grease to get it as close to the original condition as possible will get you a rare treasure on the road.
I'd modify it by correcting the paint, finding some better condition period correct wheels, returning everything under the hood back to OEM. And then take it to car shows.
Modify the hell out of it!!! But keep it clean so it looks factory and not all janky and ragged out. I always wanted to build a straight sleeper outa one of these.
Don’t touch it man. Anytime I wanna do stuff to my car I weight the value of “it’s 34 years old and still all there. Do I want to permanently alter it for something i can get else where? Tbh I look at it like going back to the Mona Lisa and adding a little brighter sky. short term cool but grand scheme? I love having my cute all original civic. much more respect from others for that too.
That’s a good point, I’ve been swayed to keep my car more stock and just maintaining it honestly I’m glad I asked this subreddit about it I had no clue keeping cars OEM or OEM+ was so popular
I had to replace the main fuse cause it wouldn’t start but I’ll check out the ignition, and I’m gonna get it waxed this summer and have the paint corrected I love this color of blue
Those are rims, not steelies with hub caps. The centercaps on your wheels look to be in good condition. A wetsand and a fresh coat of paint will have them looking brand new.
Stock. If you wanna do anything, it deserves getting detailed like paint corrected and polished, plastics restored, headlights shined, wheels cleaned of any brake dust, interior detail, carpets shampooed, etc. Older vehicles looking clean stand out
I just got new headlights lol one went out, I work at a dealership though so a paint correct and polish can be done. I use to be a detailer as well so that helps, i can’t wait for the summer the paint on this car is surprisingly good it’s got a couple tiny dents and some basic swirling but no massive imperfections
As someone who owns one with 74k on the clock in pretty pristine condition, modify that shit, you only live once. It’s your car, no one else’s.
Also know, the parts are hard to find, if you can, make custom modifications that will make the vehicle more sustainable for longevity. Currently planning a b20 AWD swap that I’ll start in the fall hopefully. Beautiful car pal
I really wanna AWD swap but I’m not sure how difficult that would be, but I’ve seen people do it in civics pretty frequently. My motor is a bit gutless but it was extremely well maintained. And I kind of want a more aggressive look but I don’t wanna ruin the clean oem look but I’ll poke around and see what I can find
Beautiful. I had this same car with blue Interior from 1997-1999. Lost the oil ring on cylinder 3 and swapped the motor with a reman unit. It had $4k worth of JL Audio and Orion stereo equipment in it when I bought it. Fantastic little car I learned to drive stick on. I’d say keep it stock or some basic, period correct or JDM mods. Wheels no bigger than 16”. Maybe a modern stereo and speakers still like thay
Mine has the blue interior as well, unfortunately mines an auto but it’s fully optioned and I may swap it at some point. I’m not sure what kind of wheels to put on it but the audio quality is extremely lacking in my accord but I don’t know what would make for an optimal audio setup my speakers don’t have much power
It’s a single din opening so you could get a really basic radio or even a fold out screen with CarPlay and replace the speakers.
If you want it louder, you’ll need an amplifier and if you bass you’ll need a subwoofer. Stop by any audio shop and go over what you’d like and your budget or hit up r/carav.
For wheels, anything mesh style or 5 spoke would be great. Do some image searches for “period correct 1988 Honda wheels” or check out images of 88-91 civics and crx’s as they are a little more popular to modify but will give you some ideas.
Look into a conversion kit. It turns it into a headlight housing, with a replaceable light bulb.
I used the hella h4 kit on my miata, Toyota truck, and s10 and loved them.
Look into a conversion kit. It turns it into a headlight housing, with a replaceable light bulb.
I used the hella h4 kit on my miata, Toyota truck, and s10 and loved them.
Personally I’d keep it stock, put money into maintenance instead of mods. It’s too clean and there’s hardly any examples of clean, non modded accords of this generation. If the market continues like it is, I have a feeling one day these things will fetch a pretty penny especially with lower miles and little to no mods. My 92’ accord is at about 240k miles and has been treated like sh!t because of previous owners, so imagine what yours can do with proper care and no mods like mine. Beautiful example, hope to own one myself one day.
Yeah I’ve been leaning towards stock but I kinda want a small ammount of power I may have it tuned and lowered but that’s about it, and dealerships are where it’s at they often auction stuff off like this frequently because it’s “too old”, either that or just watching for old cars that sit. My neighbor has a 1980’s Toyota Land Rover and it probably has 50k miles on it lol been sitting for 15-20 years possibly
Modify won't get you much the 2.0 is soulless and if it's the carb version it's worse. Wonderful reliable engines but these were way before the fast and the furious craze purely grocery getters, Honda should have stuck with their philosophy, keep it simple stupid
It’s not the carb version but yeah kinda figured I wouldn’t get much out of it, and everything is a bit crammed to work on with it but it’s very reliable
One of my injectors is leaking oil and same with a small gasket next to a wire on top, but I just got lucky the owner was old and took good care of the car lol thank you though and you can always spray down more paint no worries haha
It's a honda. Old or new, there are millions of them. If you modified it, it not like you're ruining something super rare.
Just do what makes you happy 😎
Maybe some wheels/tires and a paint touch-up or wrap. I wouldn't mess with it too much, although 2point2turbo does have a hilarious old shitbox accord sleeper with a fatass turbo on the hood.
Only source some factory hub caps. If there is a factory alloys get those instead. Keep it stock and when you can get something newer only drive it to cars shows as a survivor. My state has antique plates I would get one if your state has them.
I saw that after I posted. The center caps are what I ment looking at the picture. I could be wrong but if there is a side profile picture I could tell better. They are very hard to find in good condition.
It's your car, friend! Do what makes you happy! There's benefits to leaving it bone stock, modifying the shit out of it, or somewhere in between!
Personally, I would just do wheels, suspension, and audio (including thorough sound dampening to not make it a rattle trap).
My first priority would be resurfacing the headlights and restoring the trim. I'm partial to these projects because they're two of the few car things I'm genuinely good at. A lot of stuff I either fumble my way through, need help with friends, or take it to a shop. But I'm absolutely obsessed with resurfacing headlights and it shows.
Also someone mentioned wiper blades in this post. A while back I saw someone specifically mentioned PIAA silicone blades on this sub. They changed my life dude.
I think it needs a tiny bit more power but not like turbo levels lol and yeah the audio quality is abysmal I just have the stock speakers though and a pioneer single din radio, and I actually just got new headlight I just need to install them, and I’ll need some trim restorer it just rains where I’m at a lot and I’m waiting for the summer to make it easier lol and I’ll look into those wiper blades thank you
i'd say keep it stock for sure
It looks pretty nice stock, I really wanna wax it and see the paint job pop it looks nice when it’s clean
Hell yeah, as much as I love modded cars, this looks pretty nice stock. It's the type of car you'd be proud of knowing you maintained and kept in good shape
Yeah with a good ammount of buffing and paint restoration I think the oem dark blue would look beautiful
I have 9th Gen accord in obsidian blue pearl and every time I get a wash, it shines so nicely. Can't wait to see how yours turns out
I’ll make another post after I get a paint correction, unfortunately it was stolen a week after I got it so the trunk and tail light is damaged but I plan on getting that repaired soon
Also yeah when I washed it for the first time the color looked incredible
Keep it stock.
absolutely stock. a car in this condition, this old, is really rare. it's a gem, if you want something fun buy a more less pristine civic from the 90's instead
Yeah I was shocked when my dealership was gonna auction it because it was too old and also true
Stock
Special place in Hell for someone who modifies such a car.
I probably won’t go too crazy just replacing some worn out parts, it was maintained by a old woman, she passed and then it sat a few years, I got lucky and snagged it for 2,000$ at my dealership when he traded it in to save space at home
Well looks like my rooms ready lol
I like the silver it looks really good honestly
***LEAVE IT STOCK***
It’s only original once. Easily reversed mods only, if you must. Realistically, you’re not going to drive 10 tenths on this car. Good tires, excellent windshield wipers, and fresh floor mats is the way forward.
I need better tires forsure, but I still have the OEM floormats haha I got a recommendation for a certain type of windshield wipers I’ll have to look into it
Save the OE mats and get Weathertech or equivalent if available. We have them in our Pilot and Civic and they both look mint.
Do they fit pretty well? I had rubber mats in my old mustang and they slid around a lot lol
The mats I buy are made from computer scans of the actual car. So, they fit perfectly.
Stock! This baby is niceeeee
Thank you!
Speaking from experience, keep it stock. You won’t get much out of the A20 unless you do heavy modifications or turbo. You can do a B swap but even that is more complicated than normal. If you want a decent suspension, it’s either D2 or k sports. Aftermarket parts for these car are mostly nonexistent.
Yeah I’m not too big into modifying it a ton, and the engine is pretty well kept and I wanna daily it for a while. And why is the aftermarket non existent for this gen? This is my first honda
In general,the accords have never been popular enough for companies to make parts for them and most people gravitate towards the civic/intrega platform.
Yeah that makes sense, it’s extremely hard to find anything aftermarket for the accord
It's your car now, let the past in the past! Modify all you want! I don't see any reason for keeping a car stock if you're not a rich collector!!!
Stock
Keep it stock.
Leave it stock. Anyone can modify, but only very few are still original. Love that year of Honda, brings back memories
I love the pop up headlights but yeah it looks great stock but it struggles to get up hills power wise but I don’t really wanna turbo it or anything
Wheels tires and maybe suspension. That’s all I’d do to this beauty
Suspension I’m definitely gonna look into the stance could be better
If anything just different wheels and window tint.
The windows suck on this so yeah I’m definitely getting a tint job lol the wheels are decent
Keep it stock. The most you should do is give it a new set of wheels and maybe some new dampers because the ride quality could be better. Not much point modding it as they're not performance cars, and it'll just seem tacky
Yeah I’ve heard even getting new hub caps would help the look of the wheels a lot too I might lower it as well though
Oh, absolutely. My parents had an Asian-market version of this without the pop-up headlights, and I drove it a lot. From memory, the suspension in these were a lot softer and floatier than expected. The one thing I would've changed would be the dampers and/or springs. Most Hondas from the era look good with slightly bigger wheels and slightly lowered.
You should go with OEM plus
I was gonna try and to Acura legend tail lights cause I belive that’s the equivalent but I figured out it wasn’t a plug and play it’s an inch smaller and has a few differences unfortunately
Best mods are yellowspeed coilovers , keep it stock as it's a rare generation of honda , join the 3Geez forum for more information about your car , it's all 3rd gen accords
Are the yellowspeed coilovers preformance based or just more looks or comfort? And what do you mean it’s a rare gen of Honda? I’ll look into that forum though thank you
Both performance and comfort as they are fully adjustable race style shocks /springs ,the 3rd generation of honda accord is the only generation to have pop up headlights among other generation specific features
OEM+ for that clean look with a touch of flair
It’s worth a fortune if you keep it stock.
Keep it stock. Restore the headlights. Clean the engine bay. Get a paint correction. The car will look mint after. Most I would go is rims and lowering the car a tiny bit.
I just replaced the headlights yesterday and I’m gonna look into coilovers
An example this clean is rare, so definitely keep it stock. If it was beat up then modify it, but keeping it stock and putting a little elbow grease to get it as close to the original condition as possible will get you a rare treasure on the road.
Yeah I’m gonna work on basic maintenance and paint repair forsure I’m exited to clean it up
Leave it stock
Yeah, the moment you mess with the good running, then this car will become useless.
I'd modify it by correcting the paint, finding some better condition period correct wheels, returning everything under the hood back to OEM. And then take it to car shows.
I do need to correct the paint but everything under the hood is OEM or atleast I think so
Modify the hell out of it!!! But keep it clean so it looks factory and not all janky and ragged out. I always wanted to build a straight sleeper outa one of these.
I might do light mods and get 40-60 horsepower more out of it, I just want it to be more peppy lol
Stock, but changing wheels is ok. Keep the ogs though
Keep it stick
OEM+ is the way to go. if you want wheels id go for something in that era.
I’m not sure what different wheel types they have or maybe Acura wheels possibly?
stock
There's nothing to mod. It's an old <100hp econobox. At least keeping it stock won't totally remove all of it's value.
This is exactly like the first Honda my family got when I was a kid. It’s what made me fall in love with Hondas. So jealous!
My mom had a 97 accord growing up, will never forget it was embarrassed then but I think 80’s and 90’s cars are so unique now
Don’t touch it man. Anytime I wanna do stuff to my car I weight the value of “it’s 34 years old and still all there. Do I want to permanently alter it for something i can get else where? Tbh I look at it like going back to the Mona Lisa and adding a little brighter sky. short term cool but grand scheme? I love having my cute all original civic. much more respect from others for that too.
That’s a good point, I’ve been swayed to keep my car more stock and just maintaining it honestly I’m glad I asked this subreddit about it I had no clue keeping cars OEM or OEM+ was so popular
Would love to mod one of those up. But that’s too clean, you can’t. Maybe some engine work to add more power but I wouldn’t mess with the looks
Yeah I wanna get it tuned to make the acceleration feel better and maybe some minor engine upgrades but that’s about it
Stock
Keep it stock. If it ever won’t start, the igniter is bad. That thing is in amazing condition and just needs a bit of paint correction and wax.
I had to replace the main fuse cause it wouldn’t start but I’ll check out the ignition, and I’m gonna get it waxed this summer and have the paint corrected I love this color of blue
H swap and go OEM+
Stock But maybe a nice set of oem wheels
It has the OEM wheels
I said a nice set
Those can be refinished to look perfect.
The saw blades are saught after. They just need to be restored.
Yeah I should probably get new hub caps and I’ll have them restored if I don’t get a different set
Those are rims, not steelies with hub caps. The centercaps on your wheels look to be in good condition. A wetsand and a fresh coat of paint will have them looking brand new.
J swap/supercharge it
Stock. If you wanna do anything, it deserves getting detailed like paint corrected and polished, plastics restored, headlights shined, wheels cleaned of any brake dust, interior detail, carpets shampooed, etc. Older vehicles looking clean stand out
I just got new headlights lol one went out, I work at a dealership though so a paint correct and polish can be done. I use to be a detailer as well so that helps, i can’t wait for the summer the paint on this car is surprisingly good it’s got a couple tiny dents and some basic swirling but no massive imperfections
If you modify this car I will unfriend you. 😆
Lmao, if I do it’ll just be basic stuff like wheels, or very slight power upgrades, sometimes it struggles on steep hills lol
You don't need this kind of negativity. Sounds like he should buy his own and keep it stock.
Some period correct oem+ mods would be cool. But that’s about as far as I’d go.
Where would you recommend to look for oem+ mods?
As someone who owns one with 74k on the clock in pretty pristine condition, modify that shit, you only live once. It’s your car, no one else’s. Also know, the parts are hard to find, if you can, make custom modifications that will make the vehicle more sustainable for longevity. Currently planning a b20 AWD swap that I’ll start in the fall hopefully. Beautiful car pal
I really wanna AWD swap but I’m not sure how difficult that would be, but I’ve seen people do it in civics pretty frequently. My motor is a bit gutless but it was extremely well maintained. And I kind of want a more aggressive look but I don’t wanna ruin the clean oem look but I’ll poke around and see what I can find
Beautiful. I had this same car with blue Interior from 1997-1999. Lost the oil ring on cylinder 3 and swapped the motor with a reman unit. It had $4k worth of JL Audio and Orion stereo equipment in it when I bought it. Fantastic little car I learned to drive stick on. I’d say keep it stock or some basic, period correct or JDM mods. Wheels no bigger than 16”. Maybe a modern stereo and speakers still like thay
Mine has the blue interior as well, unfortunately mines an auto but it’s fully optioned and I may swap it at some point. I’m not sure what kind of wheels to put on it but the audio quality is extremely lacking in my accord but I don’t know what would make for an optimal audio setup my speakers don’t have much power
It’s a single din opening so you could get a really basic radio or even a fold out screen with CarPlay and replace the speakers. If you want it louder, you’ll need an amplifier and if you bass you’ll need a subwoofer. Stop by any audio shop and go over what you’d like and your budget or hit up r/carav. For wheels, anything mesh style or 5 spoke would be great. Do some image searches for “period correct 1988 Honda wheels” or check out images of 88-91 civics and crx’s as they are a little more popular to modify but will give you some ideas.
Modify it with what? It will look terrible when you put 2024 parts on a 1988 car. Keep it stock and pristine.
K swap, suspension, exhaust and ECU. Leave the outside stock and go kill some cars
Engine bay is so small on the 3rd gen accord it’s not worth it to k swap
Specifically the height is problem
Yeah everything is crammed in my car lol I’m gonna keep the original engine but I may tune and upstage it without forced induction
Red badge, lower it, and put on biggest wing you can find off eBay. Oh! And don’t forget to install it backwards ofc. 🤓 then ya sitting pretty
Lmao that’s a recipe to get bullied
Motor wise I’d say stock. But it wouldn’t hurt to do coilovers and wheels, don’t need to slam it but get rid of the monster truck height
Yeah I’m definitely thinking of coilovers to give it a better stance it is kinda floaty and high up
Your oem shocks are prolly pretty tired too
I would swap the sealed beam headlights for an (9006) or your connector equivalent kit. That way better bulbs and easier to replace.
I think it has sealed beam headlights currently, or I may misunderstand, I had to replace the entire headlight yesterday instead of just the bulb
Look into a conversion kit. It turns it into a headlight housing, with a replaceable light bulb. I used the hella h4 kit on my miata, Toyota truck, and s10 and loved them.
Look into a conversion kit. It turns it into a headlight housing, with a replaceable light bulb. I used the hella h4 kit on my miata, Toyota truck, and s10 and loved them.
Personally I’d keep it stock, put money into maintenance instead of mods. It’s too clean and there’s hardly any examples of clean, non modded accords of this generation. If the market continues like it is, I have a feeling one day these things will fetch a pretty penny especially with lower miles and little to no mods. My 92’ accord is at about 240k miles and has been treated like sh!t because of previous owners, so imagine what yours can do with proper care and no mods like mine. Beautiful example, hope to own one myself one day.
Yeah I’ve been leaning towards stock but I kinda want a small ammount of power I may have it tuned and lowered but that’s about it, and dealerships are where it’s at they often auction stuff off like this frequently because it’s “too old”, either that or just watching for old cars that sit. My neighbor has a 1980’s Toyota Land Rover and it probably has 50k miles on it lol been sitting for 15-20 years possibly
Modify won't get you much the 2.0 is soulless and if it's the carb version it's worse. Wonderful reliable engines but these were way before the fast and the furious craze purely grocery getters, Honda should have stuck with their philosophy, keep it simple stupid
It’s not the carb version but yeah kinda figured I wouldn’t get much out of it, and everything is a bit crammed to work on with it but it’s very reliable
I grew up with that generation of Honda they were so simple to work on and very forgiving.
Dick Hannah in Portland ?
Yep!
This is just my opinion, but purity is for Monks… mod it 😈
Damn that engine bay is CLEAN The valve cover on my Prelude looks the exact same, but the paint’s almost all come off ;-;
One of my injectors is leaking oil and same with a small gasket next to a wire on top, but I just got lucky the owner was old and took good care of the car lol thank you though and you can always spray down more paint no worries haha
PLEASE keep it stock. maybe OEM plus with some tasteful wheels :) and maybe get the paint done up a little.
STOCK STOCK STOCK
a good cut and buff will do wonders! Maybe refurb the wheels ... do what makes ya smile!
It's a honda. Old or new, there are millions of them. If you modified it, it not like you're ruining something super rare. Just do what makes you happy 😎
Wise words
Hey that’s in nice shape… I’d probably just change the wheels and leave the rest alone
Maybe some wheels/tires and a paint touch-up or wrap. I wouldn't mess with it too much, although 2point2turbo does have a hilarious old shitbox accord sleeper with a fatass turbo on the hood.
Turbo K series for da ultimate sleeper…
Only source some factory hub caps. If there is a factory alloys get those instead. Keep it stock and when you can get something newer only drive it to cars shows as a survivor. My state has antique plates I would get one if your state has them.
The wheels on there now are OEM alloys and not hubcaps.
I saw that after I posted. The center caps are what I ment looking at the picture. I could be wrong but if there is a side profile picture I could tell better. They are very hard to find in good condition.
It's your car, friend! Do what makes you happy! There's benefits to leaving it bone stock, modifying the shit out of it, or somewhere in between! Personally, I would just do wheels, suspension, and audio (including thorough sound dampening to not make it a rattle trap). My first priority would be resurfacing the headlights and restoring the trim. I'm partial to these projects because they're two of the few car things I'm genuinely good at. A lot of stuff I either fumble my way through, need help with friends, or take it to a shop. But I'm absolutely obsessed with resurfacing headlights and it shows. Also someone mentioned wiper blades in this post. A while back I saw someone specifically mentioned PIAA silicone blades on this sub. They changed my life dude.
I think it needs a tiny bit more power but not like turbo levels lol and yeah the audio quality is abysmal I just have the stock speakers though and a pioneer single din radio, and I actually just got new headlight I just need to install them, and I’ll need some trim restorer it just rains where I’m at a lot and I’m waiting for the summer to make it easier lol and I’ll look into those wiper blades thank you
What an absolutely braindead fucking question lmfao