nose

Hi,

I own a 99 EL (similar engine to 99 Civic Si), and I've decided to keep it for at least another 5 years. I love the car, my only complaint is the acceleration. At 127 horses, it's not too bad, but it can't touch my old 92 Accord EXR, which had around 145-150 hp.

What's the quickest way to more power? I'm more into under-the-cover mods, so it looks like a stock EL, but if there was a magical way to add 10 or 15 horses that would be great.

Thanks,
Paul

llxzxll

127 horses would be similar to a civic ex, not the si

Slipjack

Not much of a magical way to do it that I know of. Then again, I haven't done any magic tricks since my second grade open-house act back in 1989.

You may consider I/H/E as a start. How much of a power increase are you looking for? People say that a short-ram intake helps for low-end over a cold-air, if that helps at all.

nose

Slipjack,

Thanks for the reply. I'm looking to increase it to, say, 145 horses (increase of 15-20). Don't know the current torque, so I can't put a number on that.

Forgive my ignorance, what's I/H/E? I'm gonna search the forums now....

nose

Intake/Header/Exhaust - Three separate upgrades ($$$!), any opinion on what gives the biggest bang for the buck?

oldskoolcivic

yes.. with the I/H/E upgrade you can gein 15 horses. only drawback is that you will waste more gas and the car will sound ricey.

Slipjack

You could save a little money if you don't buy the big brands (such as AEM intake and DC header) Injen makes pretty good intakes. I usually get my parts from andysautosport.com -- wide selection and it's pretty cheap compared to some places. I've never been ripped off from that site. Mods that don't involve a lot of moving parts could be purchased from ebay, such as I/H/E.

If you want to go really cheap, you could do what I've heard some people do and build a cold-air intake out of pvc pipes. You won't get as much HP gain from that over, say, AEM. But it'll work.

Also, I/H/E is a good place to start because it's easy to do it yourself. They're just bolt-ons.

nose

Slipjack,

I'll probably start by shopping canadian sites to avoid border issues, and because EL is made in Canada only.

After a brief search(www.streetracingshop.com), cold-air intakes seem to be the cheapest mod(50-150$), and I'm guessing they are the easiest to install. In your opinion, would just that change make a noticeable difference? I'm guessing you'd need to combine a few things for it to really matter.

Thanks.

CivicRacr

only thing you'll notice is the increased sound from the intake, and maybe a bit better gas milage

lv01109

I'd recommend reputable brands with proven performance. I have a Comptech Icebox, Comptech header, and Mugen twin-loop exhaust on my Si. This combination yields 14-15hp at the wheels (measured on dyno). The Mugen exhaust is the quietest there is but it is very aggressive sounding also (like Porsche Boxster). The sound of this combination is second to none.