Need more for less.

[litlsquirrel]

Hey guys,

OK, so I got a 99 SI with an AEM short ram, comptech 4-1 headers, and a Matrix rear section exhaust. I have no idea what I am running for HP, I'm guessing around 150 or so. Does anybody have any ideas for some cheap ways to get another 5-10 HP out of my ride, I was thinking about possibly swaping the cat with a test pipe, or just getting a full cat-back system, maybe some plugs/wires, ignition, throttle body, fuel rail? What do ya think? What can I get the most out of for the least amount of $$$ ?

[gurusan]

Originally Posted by litlsquirrel

Hey guys,

OK, so I got a 99 SI with an AEM short ram, comptech 4-1 headers, and a Matrix rear section exhaust. I have no idea what I am running for HP, I'm guessing around 150 or so. Does anybody have any ideas for some cheap ways to get another 5-10 HP out of my ride, I was thinking about possibly swaping the cat with a test pipe, or just getting a full cat-back system, maybe some plugs/wires, ignition, throttle body, fuel rail? What do ya think? What can I get the most out of for the least amount of $$$ ?

Don't bother with ignition. Complete the catback exhaust, get a high flow cat, maybe some cams and give it a tune with a VAFC or something. Fuel rail and ignition is a waste unless you plan on pushing over 400 hp. :P

[sivic02]

If you want a little extra *umph* for the least ammount of money theres a few things you can do for little to no money. First of all an exhaust isnt going to give you a ton of HP, the test pipe and mid pipe might give you 5hp total. Anyway, I would first start off by adjusting the throttle cable, tightening that up along with adjusting your clutch pedal will make your car feel like a brand new machine.
Just take the cable on the throttle body, loosen the nut behind the plate, slide the cable tighter then tighten up the nut. For the clutch Its basicaly the same idea, theres a nut, and a tube running past it, loosen the nut, turn the tube clockwise to tighetn it up so there is almost no play when you push the clutch down with your hand, viola.
After that another "free" mod you can do that wont nesicarily give you hp but will help heat from killing it is the throttle body heater bypass. If its really cold where you live then it might not be the best thing to do since when you first start your car up there is a chance the throttle body could lock open and you would have to close it by hand. Anyway, to do this there is a tube running from your radiator to your throttle body, and one running from your throttle body back to the radiator, disconnect them from the throttle body and loop them together with some copper tubing and your good to go.
Finally what you should do is stiffen up those motor mounts. After youve got your throttle and clutch adjusted for about a week and start driving like more of a jackass than you did before your going to want to get rid of that pesky wheelhop. The way to do this is to fill in your motor mounts with some polyurethane crap (yes crap is a technical term) There is a great DIY in this forum under the DIY section.
Another quick thing you can do to help prevent power loss due to heat is a higher pressure radiator cap, thermostat, fan switch, and water wetter coolant.
Another thing to remember is when you get your oil changed not to use the generic crap that comes out of a huge barrel in the back of the jiffy lube. Put some mobil 1 in there, some people wont agree with me but good oil does make a hell of a difference.

Sorry for the long post I got bored.

[spray004]

Originally Posted by sivic02

If you want a little extra *umph* for the least ammount of money theres a few things you can do for little to no money. First of all an exhaust isnt going to give you a ton of HP, the test pipe and mid pipe might give you 5hp total. Anyway, I would first start off by adjusting the throttle cable, tightening that up along with adjusting your clutch pedal will make your car feel like a brand new machine.
Just take the cable on the throttle body, loosen the nut behind the plate, slide the cable tighter then tighten up the nut. For the clutch Its basicaly the same idea, theres a nut, and a tube running past it, loosen the nut, turn the tube clockwise to tighetn it up so there is almost no play when you push the clutch down with your hand, viola.
After that another "free" mod you can do that wont nesicarily give you hp but will help heat from killing it is the throttle body heater bypass. If its really cold where you live then it might not be the best thing to do since when you first start your car up there is a chance the throttle body could lock open and you would have to close it by hand. Anyway, to do this there is a tube running from your radiator to your throttle body, and one running from your throttle body back to the radiator, disconnect them from the throttle body and loop them together with some copper tubing and your good to go.
Finally what you should do is stiffen up those motor mounts. After youve got your throttle and clutch adjusted for about a week and start driving like more of a jackass than you did before your going to want to get rid of that pesky wheelhop. The way to do this is to fill in your motor mounts with some polyurethane crap (yes crap is a technical term) There is a great DIY in this forum under the DIY section.
Another quick thing you can do to help prevent power loss due to heat is a higher pressure radiator cap, thermostat, fan switch, and water wetter coolant.
Another thing to remember is when you get your oil changed not to use the generic crap that comes out of a huge barrel in the back of the jiffy lube. Put some mobil 1 in there, some people wont agree with me but good oil does make a hell of a difference.

Sorry for the long post I got bored.

Congrats. In that entire long post, the only intelligent thing you mentioned in regards to helping the guy gain hp is synthetic oil & the test pipe. Water wetter is useless in cars that dont have MAJOR mods or in race cars. Higher pressure = more heat dumb ass. The coolant bypass mod is ok unless you live in really cold climates. And the adjusting the throttle cable? WTF? If you have major slack in your throttle cable, you need to worry about more than just adjusting it.

[sivic02]

If the guy is looking for more horsepower I am assuming that it is going to at least be occasionally raced, hopefully at a track. Higher pressure in a radiator increases flow which = more of a chance for the water to cool in the radiator which = less heat "dumb ass". The water wetter is trying to help cool the engine as well which if he is going to be using the car in any sort of racing environment then a cooler engine = better performance. And adjusting the throttle cable will give you better throttle response, you wont have much slack in it but a few mm of extra tension can dramatically improve throttle response.
Oh, and the only intelligent thing you said in your response was when you agreed with me on the oil.

[gurusan]

don't be so hard on him man.

..but sivic02, he's kinda right...those mods are pretty useless.

A cooler engine doesn't mean more power....in fact you want the engine to be as hot as it can get as long as there is no detonation if you want to make more power.

What you want is a cooler intake charge.....but the throttle coolant bypass isn't really useful unless you bypass the coolant to the intake manifold, because that gets heated up pretty well.

And adjusting the throttle cable? That just means his foot has to travel less distance to reach full throttle......i suppose that can have benefits.....but I wouldn't really do it... ?

[sivic02]

Fine, screw it, bash what I have to say and dont listen to it because Ive never done this before. Its not going to hurt my feelings im just trying to help.

[2camvtec]

Also clutches in 99-00 Si's are hydraulic not cable. If you want a more responsive clutch get a stage 1 or 2 exedy organic and a lighter flywheel. I did stage 1 and an Act 8.5lbs flywheel and notice a good difference.

[loon]

Originally Posted by sivic02

Fine, screw it, bash what I have to say and dont listen to it because Ive never done this before. Its not going to hurt my feelings im just trying to help.

dont worry i <3 you, arent your from ephatch.com?

[sivic02]

I post over there occasionally, not too much though

[spray004]

Originally Posted by sivic02

If the guy is looking for more horsepower I am assuming that it is going to at least be occasionally raced, hopefully at a track. Higher pressure in a radiator increases flow which = more of a chance for the water to cool in the radiator which = less heat "dumb ass". The water wetter is trying to help cool the engine as well which if he is going to be using the car in any sort of racing environment then a cooler engine = better performance. And adjusting the throttle cable will give you better throttle response, you wont have much slack in it but a few mm of extra tension can dramatically improve throttle response.
Oh, and the only intelligent thing you said in your response was when you agreed with me on the oil.

Water flow through the cooling system is dependent upon the amount of coolant the water pump can pump. There is a certain point at which the coolant will move through so fast that the heat doesn't have time to transfer through to the water, thus decreasing cooling efficiency. A car can run too cool as I previously said. Fuel injected cars depend on a specific temperature range to operate at. Some cars actually run better hot.

Water wetter- Unless he has a full race built engine and high compression, he won't need water wetter. Water wetter was designed for very high performance engines that produce extreme amounts of heat. They sell that shit at Autozone because its a cheap fix for the dumbass that's too lazy to fix his cooling problem the right way.

A few fuckin mm's??? Jesus son a few friggin mm's is like a billionth of a second.

[NAV]

whats up guys

you can put your car through the weight loss program and shave off extra parts that are not really needed. hp stays the same but power to weight ratio goes up. this may not be a huge gain but it is FREE.

[97CIVICoupe]

Originally Posted by sivic02

Fine, screw it, bash what I have to say and dont listen to it because Ive never done this before. Its not going to hurt my feelings im just trying to help.

It's not bashing.. the idea of pressurizing the cooling system is to increase the boiling point. And cool your engine too much, and the coolant temp sensor never gets a high enough reading, your car never goes into closed-loop and your primary oxygen sensor doesn't do a damn thing.

[NationsMostWanted]

Originally Posted by 97CIVICoupe

It's not bashing.. the idea of pressurizing the cooling system is to increase the boiling point. And cool your engine too much, and the coolant temp sensor never gets a high enough reading, your car never goes into closed-loop and your primary oxygen sensor doesn't do a damn thing.

couldnt have been said better.

as for original poster....if ur looking for easy power....a nitrous kit would easily surpass all ur current mods at a cheaper price

[litlsquirrel]

I dont know anything about nitrous, what are the risks on my stock b16 and how hard is it to install? Could you get more in depth possibly. Me and nitrous is like Nukes and Sadaam, it could be dangerous. :eek