Yuneek

Hello everyone,

I'm looking for advice on adding some aftermarket parts to my car.

Here's the deal, I got my first car about 5 months ago - 1999 Acura Integra 4-door with an automatic tranny.

It may not be the best choice, but I'm happy with it and will do what I can with it.

Alright, I'm not out to make it the fastest car in the world, but I would like to add a little punch to it.

I'm getting 18" rims for christmas, and I would assume that would slow the acceleration, judging from physics, not automotive knowledge, so don't hold me to it.

I have almost no knowledge about cars in any way, really, but I am going to be around these forums trying to learn as much as I can.

Now, as I said, I would assume the acceleration will drop. This leaves me wanting to know about some parts I can have put on to add some acceleration.

I've talked to a few people with a little knowledge, but not professionals by any means - from the 3 people I talked to, I was recommended the 4 following parts:

A "chip"
Stage 2 Turbo and Intercooler
Cold Air Intake
Exhaust

I am sure you guys here know far more than them, so I would like some real recommendations and advice.

Before anyone goes telling me that I made a bad choice buying a automatic, not to mention 4-door, I love the car and it is functional to me as a 4 door and automatic, as I like it - wouldn't want it any other way as I'm not out to be the fastest car, but just a quick car that is simple to drive and functional.

What I'm asking, now that I've breifed on the situation, is what I should do to the car to improve acceleration while staying under $1000. The only thing I will go above $1000 for is a turbo, which I would hope is no more than $1500.

Thanks in advance everybody!

Regards,
Yuneek

Provocateur

You really have a lot to learn.

Those 18" will slow your car down a lot, are way too big for an Integra, and will most likely rub unless you roll the fenders. I highly suggest you reconsider your choice to get rims that big.

A chip on a stock car is worthless, not to mention you cannot chip an OBD2 ECU like you have currently.

The automatic transmission will restrict any sort of good power adders like a turbo or supercharger setup from being added because it is very fragile. Also, a turbo setup will run you a whole lot more than $1500 when all said and done.

You have pretty much screwed yourself with those huge ass wheels, so you can just stick to the basics of CAI and exhaust, but it won't give you much help at all in the acceleration department.

ADRONICUS

I agree. Those big ass wheels will make your feel gay when you step on the gas. If you don't have them yet, STOP!!! You will rub unless you roll your fenders, which will most likely crack the paint and make it look shittier. An intake, header and exhaust is not a bad power adder on an automatic. I rode in one once w/those things and to say the least I was rather surprised on how it picked up. So yeah dude, we're gonna give it to you straight. So don't feel offended. Forget the 18's work on the suspension and throw on the basic 3 I/H/E and you'll get that freeway passing power.

Yuneek

Great advice you guys, thanks.

I'm sure you already know this, but I can shit 1-2-3-4 on my automatic, so I don't know if that means anything.

I currently have 16" rims on there with like 3 or so inch tires - the best I can do is get like 17"s with low pro tires.

So, if I do intake, headers and exhaust - what type of horsepower jump will that give me and how noticable of a difference will it be?

ADRONICUS

Bumping the shifter 1-4 allows to you redline every gear w/o the automatic shifting itself, it works pretty good, but you still feel the delay during the brief bump to the next gear. When I rode in the one I was speaking of he would drop in down into 3 and just punch it there until redline and it wasn't bad. It seemed like we were going pretty fast and the car felt aggressive. Stick w/16's and a 40 or 45 series tire and you'll be good. HP w/I/H/E? Uh...I'm gonna say anywhere from 7-13hp...not certain.

Provocateur

Manually shifting an automatic is a very bad idea. Your transmission will fail prematurely if you do that. Redlining an automatic tranny will cause the fluid in the torque converter to heat up to dangerous levels and eventually distroy the tranny.

You won't get much out of bolt-ons from an automatic LS motor. Mostly, it will just be a psychosomatic increase in power because of the extra noise that is produced. You would be lucky to pick up 5 hp out of all that.

Remember, noise does not equal power.

Yuneek

So, to pretty much clear up everything, there is not too much I can do to make my car fast, right?

If the car isn't going to be "fast" anyway, I might as well just put the 18"s and go with the flow.

Regards,
Yuneek

honura

Yeah I guess your right. But those rims will take a toll on your tranny. Goodluck.

94teggiccord

theres nothing wrong w/ a 4dr!! I love it!! Mine use to be an automatic LS but the motor and tranny got swapped awhile back, LOVIN THE VTEC!!! If you go w/ the 18s...your gonna really screw yourself. stay w/ the 16s or just go w/ stock 15s (rollin on 15" swirlies)

ADRONICUS

I'm thinking the trannies are quite durable. Back in 1998 I was home on leave from the Army and I was checking out my bros. new car, well to him. It was a 97 RS. I think...anyways, that fucker wanted to race me in my 89zc powered Integra and all he had was an intake. Dude put it neutral, pedal to the fl. and dropped it into one. I thought the tranny was dropped out right there. He did it 5 times that night even after I warned him about that. Well 210k miles later he is still driving on that same tranny, so I don't know. Compared to that abuse, bumping may be ok. But yeah, not a lot can happen performance wise w/what he has to work with.