Help my car breathe

[bibby 5,000+ posts]

I am going to redo the intake. lol, my trunk is empty dude. noo box, no subs, no amp, no wood, no carpet, no deadener, nothing, nothin but some wires hanging out waiting for the day.

 

[rick22 10+ year member]

for the motor you have and the fact that you dont want performance, you just need a good tune. with the gas mileage your getting you are probably running a bit rich which is gonna kill your gas mileage. but if you wanna do the i/h/e route what you will need is a cold air intake which will get colder air flowing to your motor rater than the hot air off the motor which is happening right now. for the exhaust the best diameter for your motor is 2" so try to get a catback that is 2" all the way through and a muffler with a perforated core. as for your idea that a cat helps, it doesnt. it is restricting air. if you want you can get rid of it but it is illegal not to have one. as for the header it isnt worth the money.

 

[LoudCrownVic 5,000+ posts]

for the motor you have and the fact that you dont want performance, you just need a good tune. with the gas mileage your getting you are probably running a bit rich which is gonna kill your gas mileage. but if you wanna do the i/h/e route what you will need is a cold air intake which will get colder air flowing to your motor rater than the hot air off the motor which is happening right now. for the exhaust the best diameter for your motor is 2" so try to get a catback that is 2" all the way through and a muffler with a perforated core. as for your idea that a cat helps, it doesnt. it is restricting air. if you want you can get rid of it but it is illegal not to have one. as for the header it isnt worth the money.

Yah I forgot about the exhaust. THis is good advice here, similar to mine a little more artfully put.

Also, changing your oil at the proper intervals, keeping your tires good, balanced and your alignment dead on and driving smart will keep your fuel mileage up. If you put in a system, keep it small with a lower power draw.

Driving around SLOW AS HELL is the new trend- I drive a porsche and when I'm tinkering around town and driving the couple miles back to work I keep it about 900 rpm:naughty:

 

[oudhuis 10+ year member]

his air intake is aem yours looks like some generic intake off of ebay.

 

[marleyskater420 5,000+ posts]

For gas mileage, reduce exhaust restrictions by getting a full catback system. If you do performance mods they will reduce your gas mileage because they are letting your engine breathe more, and that uses more gas.

Pretty much reduce exhaust (headers/hi-flo cat, free flowing exhaust) and leave your intake as it is.

 

[bibby 5,000+ posts]

changing your oil at the proper intervals, keeping your tires good, balanced and your alignment dead on and driving smart will keep your fuel mileage up.

Heh, if you only knew me in person. im always cheking tire pressure, cheking oil, when i had an auto, checking ****** fluid, my car is perfecr at all times on tose things. i forgot to mention earlier, i had put in new plugs and oxygen sensor, and the next thing i want to do is fix the intake, then do headers and exhaustand then /end motor upgrades. and then /begin exterior upgrades.

 

[rick22 10+ year member]

For gas mileage, reduce exhaust restrictions by getting a full catback system. If you do performance mods they will reduce your gas mileage because they are letting your engine breathe more, and that uses more gas.
Pretty much reduce exhaust (headers/hi-flo cat, free flowing exhaust) and leave your intake as it is.

wow you definently just contridicted yourself first you say free up exhaust then say dont let the engine breathe and reduce exhaust. what do you think youre doing when you add a bigger exhaust and intake. you are letting the motor breathe better which in turn gets better gas mileage not worse. if you dont know what your talking about dont post to confuse the guy.

dont leave the intake as it is get a cold intake because right now you are ******* in all the hot air from the motor. dont do a high flo catylitic converter thats been proven to be a waste unless your car is highly modded ie. turboed.

 

[LoudCrownVic 5,000+ posts]

Heh, if you only knew me in person. im always cheking tire pressure, cheking oil, when i had an auto, checking ****** fluid, my car is perfecr at all times on tose things. i forgot to mention earlier, i had put in new plugs and oxygen sensor, and the next thing i want to do is fix the intake, then do headers and exhaustand then /end motor upgrades. and then /begin exterior upgrades.

You are def on track to great mileage //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

A good thing to do is surf the web and find people with cars like yours, and find a car that would be IDEAL that you want. Then outline how much it would take to get your car to be like theirs. This goes for engine mods, accessories etc.

STAY within those guidelines- and try to buy all a certian class of product your mods are balanced. As for the whole car, you are remaining low key yet upgraded intelligently, I like that style. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

As for your exhaust, tell the exhaust guy what you want to achieve, then ask him what he thinks will be best for that application, while having done research of your own. Ask other responsible, level headed Honda owners like yourself what they have modded on their exhaust to do waht you are asking.

You will want a system to improve flow but maintain adequate backpressure to maintain stock or better torque at low RPM- a thing a small engine is already hurting for.

GL man //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[bibby 5,000+ posts]

When i got the car, the intake had another peice of tube that went from where the filter is now down to the ground. the person that owned it b4 me lived down a long dirt road, and there was actually mud on the filter, i knew this couldnt be good, and thought with it being that close to the ground it would be constantly dirty and whatnot, so i removed that peice, and put a new filter on it. I keep the car spotless, and rarely hit a dirt road, so do i need to relocate it back to where it was? it was still coming out of the black stock air box. so if they'd done it right, it prolly wouldnt have been like 1foot above the ground, it wouldve been about half way down right?

I am following meades build b/c i never saw the car untill it got stolen, and he had alot of the same ideas i ahd on my car, except i didnt really want bags, just nice rims sittin a little low. anyways. So im emplementing some of his ideas, and my ideas, and some if the things we shared into my car.

On the exhaust issue, ive decided like you said to just tell the man what i want, and have him do it.

Thanks for the compliment of the intelligence of the way i am upgrading, and the style. if your curious, the only thing i am doing to the exterior of the car is body kit, wheels, re-painting, removing the factory spoiler, and retinting the windows. these are the links to the body kit, and wheels. And honestly, im re-thinking the body kit to just side skirts, and a front lip. and if i do a kit, it is going to be this one, mild.

http://www.body-kits.biz/details/prodid/905.html

http://www.tirerack.com/wheels/DisplayWheel.jsp?wheelMake=Zinik&wheelModel=Z18+Minardi&wheelFinish=Black+w%2FMach+Lip

 

[phantom240 5,000+ posts]

here's my 2 cents on the whole deal.

Lets explore what makes the car run before jumping into change this and that.

It starts with the intake. Your intake is ghettofied and probably does more harm than good. Get an AEM cold air intake and the bypass valve so you dont stand the chance of hydrolocking your motor if the filter gets submerged or excessively wet. Now that the car can inhale some air, it has to get fuel, fire and compression to operate. The best additive to fuel is seafoam, also run a can through the brake booster's vacuum line so it cleans the inside of the intake and other pieces.. trust me, ive used it and seen its wonder. Its good stuff. Now that the fuel system is clean and youre getting all the essentials.. wait, we skipped fire didnt we? replace your plugs, cap, wires, and rotor. If you want to go the extra mile, go ahead and install a msd blaster coil to make sure your getting clean spark. Now that the engine is running, its exhaust has to leave the motor. Headers do wonders, DC sports and HotShot are the best in the business for the price. Catco and Random make high flow cats that are legal, or you can run a resonator in its place if you dont have emissions laws. As far as leaving from the cat, i would recommend piping NO BIGGER THAN 2.5" and dont use a cannon style muffler, theyre rice and ghey. magnaflow makes good mufflers if you want a shop to do it, or buy a good catback. Im running a pacesetter on my 91 240sx, and it sounds beautiful, helps free up power, and helped mileage 1 or 2 MPG.

And remember, always keep your tires inflated and your suspension in check. That makes a world of difference

 

[bibby 5,000+ posts]

Well i've done plugs, and oxygen sensor, and all my other spark plug essentials is good for this second, but i am definately fixing the intake, and then i will do exhaust, then cap wires and rotor. i knew my intake was ghettofied. You and some of the otherguys really have me cleared up on what i need to get my car up in the 30MPG range, and maybe even 40's

To everyone who has replied with an informative response i thank you.

And nothing is wrong with your intake, meade just has something different. You realllylyy do no tneed to go out and buy somethign that "looks" like what someone else has and hope it works out on your car, that is truly ignorant and idiotic.

And for n00blet, **** You.

 

[marleyskater420 5,000+ posts]

wow you definently just contridicted yourself first you say free up exhaust then say dont let the engine breathe and reduce exhaust. what do you think youre doing when you add a bigger exhaust and intake. you are letting the motor breathe better which in turn gets better gas mileage not worse. if you dont know what your talking about dont post to confuse the guy.dont leave the intake as it is get a cold intake because right now you are ******* in all the hot air from the motor. dont do a high flo catylitic converter thats been proven to be a waste unless your car is highly modded ie. turboed.

ughhhhhhh just shut up.

Any. ANY time you let in more air into the engine you burn more fuel, period, end of story, we don't need to argue this.

Realistically, getting a real CAI will bring in more air, and use more fuel. I don't think there is any way to actually get better gas mileage with just a CAI unless you get your ecu retuned. I've yet to hear of anything that lets in more air into the engine and causes more fuel to be burnt, gain gas mileage.

If you think of it, its physically impossible to claim you get better gas mileage when you use up more gas... unless they are saying that because of the slight, SLIGHT increase in power gets you just that much farther down the road....which is irrelevant because the 5hp increase you get w/ a honda isn't going to help you anymore than the extra fuel you are burning to get that 5 extra hp.

Now, I could be wrong, but I think that UNLESS you retune your ECU, you will not gain anymore gas mileage than you already have.

BUT, if you did put on these parts, and then retune your ECU to know the new parts you got, I believe you could gain more gas mileage.

 

[meade916 10+ year member]

even though you ^^^ did contradict yourself in that one post i dont think you meant to, it was just the way you worded it. I know what your saying and its true. You put all this stuff on your motor for performance not gas mileage whether its 1/2 a horse (and the box it came in says 20hp of course ) or if its really 20.......i have mild performance upgrades on my Tahoe and my Civic and the only thing peformance parts do is make you push the gas harder because its more responsive now and well......a little more fun to drive. If you buy all this stuff and feather the gas pedal every day then hey you might get some better mileage but whats the point - its like a no win situation //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

My advice for best mileage is to leave it stock and keep up on the maintenance like mentioned above.

If you want better performance while making the engine compartment look good.....get the other goodies. Who knows if any of this stuff actually makes the car any faster. I mean c'mon, even if that header doesnt do shit you have to admit it looks nicer than that rusty stock manifold //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/tongue.gif.6130eb82179565f6db8d26d6001dcd24.gif

 

[spudracer326 10+ year member]

changinfg intakes will do nothing...dont waiste your time or money

 

[meade916 10+ year member]

changing from stock or changing from what he has? Changing from what he has to a new one probably wont do anything but look better. Like i said before, mine USED to go into a stock air box like yours and it always bugged me too - so i say take that crap off and put the one you want on!