2010: Official Post Your Ride Topic

[sdy284]

ya but is going catless really necessary.

 

catless downpipes adds like 30 horsepower, and it's not like the whole exhaust is catless. The car comes with 4 cats, so 2 are still in place (for now muhahhahaha)

Catless downpipes != catless. Most cars with both pre-cats and cats will pass emissions just fine without the pre-cats and will gain horsepower and gas mileage by having them removed.

 

We swapped the stock manifolds on my dad's car for a pair of long tubes that didn't have pre-cats and he gained quite a bit of mid-range through top-end torque (which makes sense considering the upgrade) and 2-3 MPG on the highway. It still passes emissions with flying colors.

 

[Waco]

I love it.

[IVIYTH0S]

catless downpipes adds like 30 horsepower, and it's not like the whole exhaust is catless. The car comes with 4 cats, so 2 are still in place (for now muhahhahaha)

ah, carry on then. (I did find it odd that a down pipe had a cat, since my car has it's only cat directly after the downpipe)

[kingdingeling]

Catless downpipes != catless. Most cars with both pre-cats and cats will pass emissions just fine without the pre-cats and will gain horsepower and gas mileage by having them removed.

 

We swapped the stock manifolds on my dad's car for a pair of long tubes that didn't have pre-cats and he gained quite a bit of mid-range through top-end torque (which makes sense considering the upgrade) and 2-3 MPG on the highway. It still passes emissions with flying colors.

Not to mention the awesome sound you get afterwards

[bp9801]

I have a question. Would getting a cold air intake be worth it for my Civic? I've been debating it for a while, just heard both good and bad on whether it'd be a sound investment. I wouldn't mind a small horsepower boost, but would it increase my mileage any to make it worth it?

[IVIYTH0S]

I have a question. Would getting a cold air intake be worth it for my Civic? I've been debating it for a while, just heard both good and bad on whether it'd be a sound investment. I wouldn't mind a small horsepower boost, but would it increase my mileage any to make it worth it?

what model, LX/HX/EX??

[cirro]

I have a question. Would getting a cold air intake be worth it for my Civic? I've been debating it for a while, just heard both good and bad on whether it'd be a sound investment. I wouldn't mind a small horsepower boost, but would it increase my mileage any to make it worth it?

 

There was a thread i saw in a forum about a $10 (in addition to just the basic filter which isnt expensive)

do-it yourself that i did with my integra before i swapped it's engine.

 

man i wish i could find it. was done with step by step pictures and well written.

 

grr, ill search for it and post it if i find it

 

(Btw it worked perfect and looked sweet)

[Psywar]

I have a question. Would getting a cold air intake be worth it for my Civic? I've been debating it for a while, just heard both good and bad on whether it'd be a sound investment. I wouldn't mind a small horsepower boost, but would it increase my mileage any to make it worth it?

 

CAI will make your car sound more "Throttly" if you actually buy a real CAI and not an ebay cheapie it will prolly make your car sound a bit more "bad butt" deeper growl.

 

The CAI for most 4cyc. car you usually will not noticed a power differ in them until around 4-5k RPMS thats were the power will usually peak at anyways.

 

Will it increase your mpg? yeah..

will it be noticeable? prolly not..

 

Most people get a CAI because it makes the car sound better on a hard acceleration.

 

The Racers get it because it pushes cooler air in to your engine allowing a better combustion or burn between your fuel and spark. Which will increase your HP.

 

Its really not worth doing for the Power gain though unless your going with a complete Naturally Aspirated setup.

Which means in your case a Header/Bigger Downpipe combo.

 

Maybe porting and polishing the head. It is pretty pointless to add any kind of mass intake mods if you don't have the bigger exhaust to push everything out.

 

This is why you see most people run a 2.5-3" exhaust when they add any kind of Supercharger or Turbo to there application.

[bp9801]

My Civic is an EX.

 

Thanks for the info Psy. Is there anything I could do to increase the mileage a bit more? I probably need to look at the exhaust system, see if anything is bent or rusted through. I got into an accident a few years back, slid off a corner that had fresh gravel laid on it right after it rained. Lost control and went into a barbed wire fence.. mostly body damage, though I had to get a new exhaust system. They took it off an Accord EX, so I have a slightly bigger exhaust pipe than a normal Civic but thats about it really. My mileage has dropped a bit after that accident, so I most likely need to crawl under it and see if anything is amiss.

 

I can't stand the guys with giant fart cans on their cars so I'd rather avoid that if I can. I could just get a new air filter..

[Nasha]

There are performance mufflers that aren't fart cans.

As for intakes, look up your car K&N

You could also get one of the adjustable chips that lets you choose greater fuel economy or greater performance.

Edited March 26, 2010 by Nasha

[Psywar]

to be honest other then driving your car like grandma, there really is not much you can do to improve your fuel economy. (other then programing your air-fuel ratio yourself: using a megasquirt or SAFC)

If you drive a manual transmission you have a better chance of reducing the gas consumption because you can control the gear/throttle better.

 

If you have a standard transmission then you will want to stay a bit under 3k rpm's while accelerating or getting up to the speed you need to be at.

While cruising or staying at the speed you want, you want to make sure the car sits at around 2k rpms (if possible) on the highway you will be looking at 2.5-3k rpms.

 

When you rev up and over 4k rpms you are opening the injectors to the 80% mark (I think) and you are using the most fuel.

 

Most stock cars run really really rich for safety reasons (for the engine).

 

When I modded my saturn I used a Megasquirt. Its basicly a box you can either buy assembled or you can put it together yourself.

you hook it up to your injectors, throttle sensor, ignition, etc. and you can plug it in to your laptop.

 

This will allow you to make adjustments to your fuel - but in order to do this you need to install a Wideband gauge in your car. This will allow you to monitor your air to fuel ratio.

But to do something like this you would really want to read up.

 

There is also an older thing some of the guys used to use called a SAFC - I think Apexi makes it.

Its a fuel controller as well. Easier to use. Easier to hook up.

You will still want a Wideband in your car. Its easy to hook up, you just want to install it about 16inches from the manifold. You would just put an 02 bung somewhere on the downpipe, and install the new wideband 02 sensor, then run the wire to the wideband gauge.

 

Don't use Narrowband some people say it works, but I say there being cheap, its very inaccurate IMO. I would not trust my engines health to a narrowband gauge.

 

Sorry if my post does not make sense, I am very tired oddly enough and I am struggling to make complete sentences haha!

[bp9801]

It makes sense.

 

Thats just more than I want to get into on my car. I may look into the Wideband and Megasquirt but I dunno, it seems like a bit of a hassle for a small gain. I get roughly 30 miles to the gallon now, depending on how hard I drive it. The worst I've gotten was 21mpg while the best I've gotten was nearly 32mpg.

 

As far as getting a K&N filter... I live in a desert. A filter that has oil in it or needs to be re-oiled will not work for me. It'd get clogged so fast to make it not worth it. A regular paper filter would be preferred.. something I can remove and knock all the dust off and have it be good as new. There is dust in the rain even.. my car looks worse after a rain storm because of all of the dust that comes with it.