I've been fooling around with cars for as longs as I can remember. It started with 6 and 8cylinder mopars, MG's, and now I'm into Hondas.

After purchasing several of the big name I/H type pieces for my car I find them to just plain be garbage. The amount of markup on these items is ridculas.

Almost every I/H/E or exhaust part could be fabbed up at home or with the assistance of a local metals shop for at least half the cost. And the quality would be as good as you want or have the skill to make it. Want to get a header that makes power, you'll need to do some research no one header is ideal for all applications. Want the most powerful intake again the same holds true. The best part about researching in books and literature is you won't be a ignorant the next time you read about the so called 30hp intake pipe for your Accord. Guess what V8's may be old school but their head designs and princaples go well with a honda too.

 

My spellling sucks sorry. Igorant?? Ha!

 

Have you looked into parts for newer V8s like LS1 camaros? They are pricey too. On some things I think we have better quality than some of their stuff.

 

I don't know why people spend gobs of money on an intake anyway. I can't wait till the Honda scene veers back to being performance oriented again..

 

Ya newer Stang and Camaro stuff is pricey--its the cost of emissions research I think. But the same holds true for their air box set-ups. Agian a filter you could buy and pipe routing based on convience of packaging-- not performance. Anyone can shove a filter in the wheel well and move on and call it performance. It is worth 175-250 bucks? The filter and clamps were the best part anyway?...hhhmmm
The import aftermarket is really starting to fill up with individuals trying to sell any one some stupid junk. Flip threw any summit catolog and nearly every page it full of stuff claiming huge gains. Big gains are made in component refabrication not tubes and filters. Knowledge is our own best weapon. Has any import mag ever called anything from AEM or DCsports sub-par? Ever wonder why? who pays for the ads keeping these mags in print? Why hasn't anyone done an intake, no-resonator-intake, aftermarket intake comparo?

 

Has it ever been more performance oriented than show?

One nice thing I say at the track Friday night was 3 Audi 1.8Ts and 1 S4. 2 of them where running 12s, one running 13s, and my friend was running 15s with his. None of them had any rice mods. They looked stock except for nice lightweight rims and a drop.

 

You know rice mods aren't even the problem. Someone will always try and sell something cheezy. After all what would the world be without the tornado

It's the issue with every magazine--does either and intake header buildup or Super Combo Civic/Teg super charger build up. Nothing practicle to anyone running anything else. They never show mutltiple head porting schemes or what to look for in a shop that does this. And when they do an engine build up they focus on an aspect and gloss over the details of how to assemble the block? THe dealer service manual is nice but doesn't show you all the tricks. SCC is one of the better publications but if you want to fix up any thing other then a hatch of somekind you screwed. Even the ludes get jipped

I'm tired of the same companies having there cars featured and not one aspect of the car is really about their product. AEM's RSX has a NOS kit for its power. DC's 99 Si runs a race B-series with nearly none of thier parts. I could go on. I own some sapposidly bad ass Racing Hart M5's......what a crappy wheel in over all construction. The market is diluted with more show me parts then go me parts. And its hard to tell the difference between any of them. The technology used to make most of the parts people purchase is next to nothing as well. Again $800.00 bucks for an air intake and header or $1000.00 bucks to have your head custom ported.....the powers is hiding in the head not the filter.......:eh:

 

Yes, back before most of us could even drive.


Chad - I've seen magazines call products sub par. Hell, I rarely even read magazines anymore. I just graze through SCC, but thats it. The other magazines are boring, poorly written, and their demograph is aimed at high school kids. I find it MUCH more useful to get my information from tech web boards and from talking to people who actually have the car. If you're looking for something more tech oriented, please PM me and I'll guide you in the right direction...to a place where quench areas, tdc, compression, porting and valve jobs, and etc. is all discussed in detail. Other than that I really don't understand what your posts are trying to get at..

 

the real performance is in custom work. our motors bone stock are pretty well wrung out. there is only so much performance that really can be got out of them without real r&d and tons of work. Too bad that also compromises streetability and often emissions.

for the average joe, the best bet is learning how to drive well and making the car the best handling ride it can be.....

noel

 

gee...is it a surprise that something when trendy has lots of crap being thrown up and high prices?