Just bought, what to do?

I just bought an 89 Civic DX hatch, what I was told.. told mind you.. Was that it had an "LS" engine swap. Now, I thought Civic went DX/EX/CRX ... Really, I am still a newbie to the whole tuning/car scene, and really just starting to get into it. This is the first vehicle I have bought to work on, so lets start with my first question..

The engine:

I was told that once it warms up, it begins stuttering violently. The girl who owned it told me warped piston, well, thats pretty much a no, because is there was a problem like that, I'd hear it from the start. I am thinking one of two things, bad ignition system, or a vacum leak... To check a vacum leak, I start where?

The tires:

Stock, and boring, what are some good sites to get something sent to me balanced/mounted and ready to just bolt on, that won't affect my stance too bad, and maintain its driveablity.

The interior:

No real work done, just a new shifter/boot and CD deck, its wired for a sub, which I may just still have sitting around somewhere, but regardless, do Civic DX hatches have problems with racing seats? I know alot of cars they tend to sit on the floor practically, and are the wedge mounts readily available, or do I need to get some custom work made?


Thanks for any help!

dx and ex are models yes but a crx is a completly different think thats a car which came in base,hf,dx and si. ls motors came from yes the acura integra meaning dohc so check it. if it has a sohc then she was wrong. as for your rims well go no bigger then a 16. any bigger and your not tuning your ricing imo. as for the interior section. well the seat mounts are raised off the floor so i would see no reasons as to why the seats would basicly sit on the floor. sparco i believe makes seat brackets that are bolt on items. but there a bit pricey. last but no least engines. well warped piston i doubt a solid piece of metal as big as a piston would ever warp. but if it happens only when its warm then it could be a few things. fuel spark sensors. it jsut depends on if it truly does have a ls motor or not. because if it does im guess it was a bad job gone worse.

ps. tirerack.com, edgeracing.com jsut pick up any honda tuning or import tuner there pasted all over that sob.

first...i would check the FAQ and buy a manual...i and i'm sure many other people have wasted a lot of time and $$$ on these cars...

first thing you need to know is not all 4th gens are made the same...when buying parts, stay in youe year, for you it would be 88-89...a lot of "common" parts do not swap

hes got a good point there. suspension stuff its typicall 89-91 88 was its own little deal. jsut thought id throw that out there.

I was about to mention that on the suspension. I know the main difference on the 88-89 and 90-91 is the interior was smaller in the 88-89s and the wiring is different between the 2. Could be some more differences, just the 2 main things I have ran into.