Waaah they beat me to it (my car was "played with")
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Waaah they beat me to it (my car was "played with")
Looks like my recently purchased (2 months ago) Civic (just a 1.6 SOHC EK1 D16Y4, the US equivalent is probably EJ6 D16Y7) has already had stuff done to it! GRrrr
Not knowing a whole lot about cars, I got it checked by my dad and also the motoring association in Australia (NRMA), to make sure it wasn't a bomb, but here's the scoop.
So far, I've had the car to Honda service (for the 130 thousand km service) and also a coupla muffler places because of some noises I was getting. The upshot from all these ppl is:
All places say it looks like the car used to have a turbo in it.
They're reasons are:
1. The oil sump has some kind of ( non-standard I gather) return at the front. My mate, and the shops all say the only reason they can think it would be there is for a turbo of some sort.
2. The exhaust system was solid front to back. This was causing the noise I got fixed at the exhaust places, because when i pushed the engine, it opened the seals at the cat slightly and sounded terrible. I've been told solid exhausts are also common for suped up cars.
3. I'm pretty sure the air inlet resonator has been removed. Last night I was reading into cheap/easy performance tweaks and thought this sounded like a good idea. There is NO piping under my air box, you can see straight down to the front of the car/ground and the front bumper on the passenger side feels pretty hollow. Haven't confirmed this, but I'd bet the resonator is gone.
4. The guy (2nd owner) sold it to me with a spare exhaust. He said he took of the original one cos it was too loud. Upon inspecting the spare, I could see that the inlet pipe was actually larger than the inlet hole (DODGY....) Obviously would create eddies and turbulence in the exhaust system.. Not good. This makes me think they were doing mods, but that they were slightly STUPID.
5. It already had a buggered/broken aftermarket security system installed (this is not proof of any sort, just adds to my suspicions).
6. When I got my sound system installed, the guy told me it used to have an amp in there, but it was removed. Again, not proof at all, but wouldn't surprise me after the other things I've learnt about the car.
If it was turbo'ed and some fool took it all out again, they did a DAMN good job of hiding the fact. A professional car inspector didn't pick it up, and neither (initially) did my friend who has swapped a twin turbo Soarer/Chaser engine into a Toyota Cressida (did all the work himself!) After a few looks, he's starting to notice non-stock pipes and wrong colour cables and small stuff.
*Sigh* I don't mind that it's had a coupla things done to it, but I'm a bit worried about two things:
A. Has the car been given a hard life before me (that's MY job thankyou very much!)
B. What else has this to55er done dodgy and left there, like the bodgy muffler inlet.
(Unrelated) Doesn't help that I have bad luck, and that Honda Service didn't tighten my oil sump plug properly, so I was leaking for a few weeks! aaaargh
Anyway, I'm going to take it to a mechanic and make sure they haven't done anything else dodgy. I don't want to find out I've been running rich or innocently screwing up my engine because of someone else's half assed "mods."
It's still a fun car to drive, and so far as I know, it's not gonna blow up. It DOES sound nice
) ....After I had to replace the cat converter 2 hours before heading down the coast, 300AU bucks, thanks for coming! (
While I'm making this thread, I guess I might as well ask:
What other dodgy/cheap mods should I check for to see what else has been screwed up? Or any other suggestions you guys can make to me? (PS I realise it's a low power car, but I used to drive an unmentionable which weighed 1.4tons and had an engine similar size to this hatch!)
</end bitching>
Not knowing a whole lot about cars, I got it checked by my dad and also the motoring association in Australia (NRMA), to make sure it wasn't a bomb, but here's the scoop.
So far, I've had the car to Honda service (for the 130 thousand km service) and also a coupla muffler places because of some noises I was getting. The upshot from all these ppl is:
All places say it looks like the car used to have a turbo in it.
They're reasons are:
1. The oil sump has some kind of ( non-standard I gather) return at the front. My mate, and the shops all say the only reason they can think it would be there is for a turbo of some sort.
2. The exhaust system was solid front to back. This was causing the noise I got fixed at the exhaust places, because when i pushed the engine, it opened the seals at the cat slightly and sounded terrible. I've been told solid exhausts are also common for suped up cars.
3. I'm pretty sure the air inlet resonator has been removed. Last night I was reading into cheap/easy performance tweaks and thought this sounded like a good idea. There is NO piping under my air box, you can see straight down to the front of the car/ground and the front bumper on the passenger side feels pretty hollow. Haven't confirmed this, but I'd bet the resonator is gone.
4. The guy (2nd owner) sold it to me with a spare exhaust. He said he took of the original one cos it was too loud. Upon inspecting the spare, I could see that the inlet pipe was actually larger than the inlet hole (DODGY....) Obviously would create eddies and turbulence in the exhaust system.. Not good. This makes me think they were doing mods, but that they were slightly STUPID.
5. It already had a buggered/broken aftermarket security system installed (this is not proof of any sort, just adds to my suspicions).
6. When I got my sound system installed, the guy told me it used to have an amp in there, but it was removed. Again, not proof at all, but wouldn't surprise me after the other things I've learnt about the car.
If it was turbo'ed and some fool took it all out again, they did a DAMN good job of hiding the fact. A professional car inspector didn't pick it up, and neither (initially) did my friend who has swapped a twin turbo Soarer/Chaser engine into a Toyota Cressida (did all the work himself!) After a few looks, he's starting to notice non-stock pipes and wrong colour cables and small stuff.
*Sigh* I don't mind that it's had a coupla things done to it, but I'm a bit worried about two things:
A. Has the car been given a hard life before me (that's MY job thankyou very much!)
B. What else has this to55er done dodgy and left there, like the bodgy muffler inlet.
(Unrelated) Doesn't help that I have bad luck, and that Honda Service didn't tighten my oil sump plug properly, so I was leaking for a few weeks! aaaargh
Anyway, I'm going to take it to a mechanic and make sure they haven't done anything else dodgy. I don't want to find out I've been running rich or innocently screwing up my engine because of someone else's half assed "mods."
It's still a fun car to drive, and so far as I know, it's not gonna blow up. It DOES sound nice
) ....After I had to replace the cat converter 2 hours before heading down the coast, 300AU bucks, thanks for coming! ( While I'm making this thread, I guess I might as well ask:
What other dodgy/cheap mods should I check for to see what else has been screwed up? Or any other suggestions you guys can make to me? (PS I realise it's a low power car, but I used to drive an unmentionable which weighed 1.4tons and had an engine similar size to this hatch!)
</end bitching>
my bum is on the swedish!
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 10,133
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From: San Antonio, Texas
australians kick ass :thumbup:
you could always confront the guy who sold you the car :chuckles:
that would piss me off if the guy sold it to me without telling me the history. I'm surprised he didn't do a better job of putting it back togeather, but then again, I'm not surprised at all...
you could always confront the guy who sold you the car :chuckles:
that would piss me off if the guy sold it to me without telling me the history. I'm surprised he didn't do a better job of putting it back togeather, but then again, I'm not surprised at all...
Seni
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 3,401
Likes: 0
From: N.Y. Queens
Originally Posted by 18secFerio
australians kick ass :thumbup:
you could always confront the guy who sold you the car :chuckles:
that would piss me off if the guy sold it to me without telling me the history. I'm surprised he didn't do a better job of putting it back togeather, but then again, I'm not surprised at all...
you could always confront the guy who sold you the car :chuckles:
that would piss me off if the guy sold it to me without telling me the history. I'm surprised he didn't do a better job of putting it back togeather, but then again, I'm not surprised at all...
true!
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Joined: Aug 2004
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true.. but I'm 99% sure it wasn't him that did it. He was an old fogey and he was talking about how it had the loud exhaust and stuff when he got it. I suspect the previous (first) owner, and no idea about them. I'll just get it checked out, make sure everything's ok. Then work with what I've got. Wish I knew about EX's (VTi-R in Australia) etc when I bought my car.. Mine's only base model \
I'd like a little bit more go that what I currently have, but from reading this forum, it's pretty clear the only way to make any noticeable difference is an entire swap (which I'm not gonna do, cos then I'd probably need to change the transmission and clutch and a whole slew of things such as suspension and brakes just to make it meet standards / keep it insurable).
However, thins I am still considering are:
1. A new exhaust. I read somewhere that you make mods towards the engine, starting from furthest away. Current exhaust sounds good but it has the standard S shape baffling.. Can get a straight through for 150AU. It's an aussie brand.. that's the trouble here.. We have lots of parts but they aren't the makes or models you guys talk about like AEM or A'Pexi. The only make I've seen lots of that is talked about on here is K&N filters.
2. A K&N pod filter.
3. Possibly a header, depending how much they cost here in Australia. Also running into the problem of unknown Aussie brands and not knowing which is best. I'm not gonna bother importing/ordering big name brands for this sort of stuff, considering the slowass engine it'd go on :P
What would come after that? I'm interested in making the car go faster and / or more efficiently (secondary aim), but keeping it looking like the humble CXi it really is :P
Thanks for your suggestions in advance.
\I'd like a little bit more go that what I currently have, but from reading this forum, it's pretty clear the only way to make any noticeable difference is an entire swap (which I'm not gonna do, cos then I'd probably need to change the transmission and clutch and a whole slew of things such as suspension and brakes just to make it meet standards / keep it insurable).
However, thins I am still considering are:
1. A new exhaust. I read somewhere that you make mods towards the engine, starting from furthest away. Current exhaust sounds good but it has the standard S shape baffling.. Can get a straight through for 150AU. It's an aussie brand.. that's the trouble here.. We have lots of parts but they aren't the makes or models you guys talk about like AEM or A'Pexi. The only make I've seen lots of that is talked about on here is K&N filters.
2. A K&N pod filter.
3. Possibly a header, depending how much they cost here in Australia. Also running into the problem of unknown Aussie brands and not knowing which is best. I'm not gonna bother importing/ordering big name brands for this sort of stuff, considering the slowass engine it'd go on :P
What would come after that? I'm interested in making the car go faster and / or more efficiently (secondary aim), but keeping it looking like the humble CXi it really is :P
Thanks for your suggestions in advance.
my bum is on the swedish!
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 10,133
Likes: 0
From: San Antonio, Texas
I'd suggest finding a group of people more local... The aussie brands is whats gonna cause the problems (since we obviously don't get them), but if you make some import friends, they'll sometimes kinda know whats up... find someone with a really nice car 
How much worse is international shipping? there's always buying from the net :dunno:
How much worse is international shipping? there's always buying from the net :dunno:
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Joined: Aug 2004
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Yeah.. sounds like I'm gonna have to do some leg work. But I just know their gonna laugh at me considering what the car is (it's all 180SX's and Supras here.. or failing that big V8s). Oh well, if they laugh me out the door, they won't get my business!
As for the header, what's best for my CX? 4 to 1, or 4-2-1? If I can't shop by brand, I can at least go by design. My car doesn't have much strength in top or low end :P If that info helps. Takes 12 second 0 - 60mph. Might be able to do better but no tacho... Wish I had a tacho, dunno where redline is and don't my car to shit itself finding out!
Anyway,
I've posted an idea on something I wanna do to my intake, curious to see what you think!
https://www.honda-acura.net/forums/s...d.php?t=158224
As for the header, what's best for my CX? 4 to 1, or 4-2-1? If I can't shop by brand, I can at least go by design. My car doesn't have much strength in top or low end :P If that info helps. Takes 12 second 0 - 60mph. Might be able to do better but no tacho... Wish I had a tacho, dunno where redline is and don't my car to shit itself finding out!
Anyway,
I've posted an idea on something I wanna do to my intake, curious to see what you think!
https://www.honda-acura.net/forums/s...d.php?t=158224
Driving a Turbo 2L Terror
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 4,212
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From: Stafford, VA
really ur not gonna to get much power out of the CX motor. Ur best bet would be to look around for someone selling a D16Z6 motor. BUt go with the basics I H E ur best best would be looking at the internet. Of see if u have any local tuning shops that might be able to help u. HIH