mods vs. car life

adding mods such as i/h/e does what to a car's life span?

should i expect a shorter life span due to modding the car?
if so, how much shorter?

my civic is currently at 60k miles and doesnt get out much, barely 100-150 miles a month... until school rolls back around in september, i wont be using my car much, does the fact that my car is barely used affect it's life?

Just things I've been pondering about.

well if u mod a car most likely ur going to abuse it since the reason to mod a car is to go faster.

The way I see it, adding mods extends the life of your car. Because if you're the kind of driver who wants to do the work and spend the money, you're not going to let the ass fall out of it. You don't often see real tuner Civics with rust spots, spewing blue smoke all over the road. (I'm not talking about those pieces of shit with bolt-on tailpipes and crooked bumpers.)
Most of the work I've done on my car has been replacing OEM parts as they wear out with better stuff. I've got 125k and it's running as good or better than the day I bought it seven years ago.

depending on what mods u do will affect the life of the car slightly but more on how u drive it...if u beat it up all the time then the life span will get cut shorter but then again just take of the motor and youll be fine theres some civics out there with 300,000+ miles (god bless there souls)

it all depends on what mods. if you build a motor to be a race motor, guess what they need lots of maintance and have little life. if you build a street car with some minor mods (meaning pistons,i/h/e, resonable cams,a nd other bolt on crap) there is no reason it wont last as long as stock. maintance is key to any motor so change your oil regularly and fix things as they come ie. cv boot splits, replace the boot before the joint is fucked.

true that on the CV boot. Every friggin honda I've owened I've replaced a CV joint because I didn't catch the boot split in time. Now everytime I get an oil change I have them check the boots. $70 for a boot replacement vs. $270 for the joint replacement...hmmmmm

I wish I could drive my civic as lil as yours! I do about 200-300 miles in about 4 days. Sometimes more or less. Yes, I go out alot and constantly use my car. I rarely now use the explorer for one reason, the explorer has about 160,000 miles but the engine in it now has about 80,000 miles on it (I had it swapped out because my old engine's oil pump went bad and the engine siezed to shit) The oil pressure guage jumped back and fourth non-stop. It looked like a guage on a sound equalizer, constantly jumping. My fucking explorer has had the transmission rebuilt 3 times and the 4th time I gave up and bought a used one and everything seems fine with it for now. Fucking fords. No joke, no matter how much you maintain it they still break. Right now my gay fuel guage is stuck in the FULL position and is going to cost me over $300 to replace the lil device with the float that tells how much gas you have. The labor of dropping the tank is what jacked up that price. FUCK FORDS! I love my civic :)

Fix
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Daily

i/h/e does nothing to put more strain on your endgine, it only helps it breathe easier and therefore gives you a bit more power and fuel economy. blowers and nitrous however, put more strain on your engine internals and will therefore shorten your lifespan, that is if you don't upgrade your internals to withstand them.

are there ANY disadvantages to upgrading your car by natural aspiration (I/H/E)?

potentially emissions checks if you go too far or don't use a high flow cat.

plus, and now I may be wrong, but I debate the improved fuel economy idea. A CAI, along with the less restrictive exhaust, means your car can take in, and subsequently-release, more air, which in turn means you will be using more fuel to meet the air intake, thus lowering your fuel economy. Granted, it isn't so significant that it's not worth doing - otherwise, no one would - but I have noticed that with the CAI on my DX I have lost about 4-5 miles/gallon - at regular driving, more when having fun or in a rush - and have definately increased oil consumption as it really tweeks your PCV sensor.

such is my experience

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Found
On
Road
Dead :evillol:

Found
On
Road
Dead :evillol:
Fucked
Over
Rebuilt
Dodge

hahahahaha...this is why hondas are the most hated cars on the road

potentially emissions checks if you go too far or don't use a high flow cat.

plus, and now I may be wrong, but I debate the improved fuel economy idea. A CAI, along with the less restrictive exhaust, means your car can take in, and subsequently-release, more air, which in turn means you will be using more fuel to meet the air intake, thus lowering your fuel economy.

When I put a CAI and HKS cat-back on my mom's 2.2 CL, she lost 3-5 mpg, depending on driving conditions. From a technical standpoint, I've discussed the topic with some automotive engineers at Pitt before, and the consensus is that the loss in fuel economy is normal, since you are, by design, allowing your engine to consume more air & fuel.

the engine will only consume more fuel if you give it a reason to... such as stepping on the gas more/harder etc. i/h/e bolt ons should increase fuel economy because they give more hp. this added hp should allow the car to accelerate better with the same amount of throttle as before (if you guys are understanding this) the problem that most people face is when they do the mods they drive the car harder, maybe without even thinking about it.

When i put on my cat-back exhaust i noticed a little bit more power and about a 4 mpg increase in fuel economy. Thats just me though. Also, to increase power, you do not need to add more fuel along with more air. I agree with miataracer, I might be wrong but a CAI does not add more fuel, just more oxygen to be burned. CivicracerX, an S2000 is a 2.0, but how come a 5.0 mustang won't smoke it? Also, the reason that factory cars don't come with CAI is because a CAI is not good for an engine in the winter time because the air will be too cold and dense, and why would a car company put something on that would do that half the year? 3" exhausts aren't put on because more than 90% of car buyers hate the loud noise they make.

cai makes more sound than air intake sys that cars come with. most stock intakes have resinator boxes to elimitnate sounds

What you are saying is absurd.

Horsepower isn't some magic attribute that you can "give" to an engine. It's a direct product of the combustion process. You know why a 5.0 Mustang will smoke a Civic? It's not because someone cast a horsepower spell on it. It sucks fuel and air at a rate that the Civic's 1.6 could never hope to reach, because it has over 3x the internal displacement (that word means the room inside for fuel and air). More air + more fuel GENERALLY = more power, assuming your system is efficient enough to move the mass in and out at an acceptable rate (this is why some people port and polish, to make the movement more efficient). More horsepower has nothing to do with being able to "accelerate better with the same amount of throttle as before." Since we don't have carbs any more, your foot on the pedal does not have a 100% correlation with the amount of fuel and air that your engine burns. If it was that simple, we wouldn't need computers to manage the ignition.

A CAI is designed to bring colder, denser air into the engine. You know why? That means that you can jam more fuel and air into the combustion chamber, since the whole charge is more dense.

If cold air intakes and 3" exhausts give better fuel economy, you would find them on cars from the factory. The cost difference would be negligible if the factory was using a CAI, because they'd be buying a million, just like the plastic airboxes they buy from Sri Lanka now. Why aren't they on your car? It lowers fuel economy, and the gain in power is not something the majority of consumers give a damn about.

chuckles to self *speaking of absurd*

When i put on my cat-back exhaust i noticed a little bit more power and about a 4 mpg increase in fuel economy. Thats just me though. Also, to increase power, you do not need to add more fuel along with more air. I agree with miataracer, I might be wrong but a CAI does not add more fuel, just more oxygen to be burned. CivicracerX, an S2000 is a 2.0, but how come a 5.0 mustang won't smoke it? Also, the reason that factory cars don't come with CAI is because a CAI is not good for an engine in the winter time because the air will be too cold and dense, and why would a car company put something on that would do that half the year? 3" exhausts aren't put on because more than 90% of car buyers hate the loud noise they make.

Ok, my response was probably hasty. Generally speaking, however, manufacturers strive for maximum fuel economy, unless they're dealing with something they market as a "performance" vehicle.

With the development of catalytic converters (obviously designed to control emissions), we also added oxygen sensors which do what? They monitor the amount of oxygen in your exhaust, and adjust the A:F ratio accordingly.

If you put a CAI on your car, and the ECU didn't add more fuel, don't you think your A:F ratio would be off? Your foot on the pedal doesn't directly impact the amount of fuel in your engine. These days, hitting the accelerator opens a valve in your throttle body, which regulates the amount of air entering your engine, as monitored by the Mass Airflow sensor.

Now, while it's true that your TPS (throttle position sensor) responds with a given amount of fuel immediately based on how far the throttle valve is open, the car is constantly monitoring the amount of oxygen going into and out of your engine, so it can adjust the A:F ratio in real time. More air needs more fuel to maintain the same A:F.

Also, for the record, I believe the Mustang Cobra has a C/R of about 8.5:1, while the S2000 is about 11:1. Worth noting is that the S2000 also weighs nearly 800 pounds less. I'm sorry that I suggested it mattered which car could smoke the other. If you look at power output, a Cobra makes a conservative 390hp. An S2000 makes a very realistic 240hp. I probably shouldn't have introduced this example, as it's a complicated matter with a lot of variables. Still, the basic point is illustrated: you can't make more power without impacting the amount of fuel you use in some way.

A poorly designed engine could certainly experience a gas mileage increase if you changed a factory setup that was inefficient. A CAI and an exhaust together, however, seems like it would almost always lead to a drop in fuel economy.

Your ECU uses a formula and a bunch of lookup tables to determine appropriate pulse width (the amount of time your fuel injector is shooting fuel into the chamber).

Base pulse width is a function of engine speed and load (calculated from manifold absolute pressure). It is called an "absolute" measurement, because it measures in what is considered a true vacuum, so it does have the ability to compensate for altitude and temperature (something that would be different with your CAI), since both can change the density of air.


-------------------------
|.....|.......LOAD.......|
| RPM |------------------|
|.....|1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|------------------------|
|1000 |1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
|2000 |2 | 4 | 6 | 8 |10 |
|3000 |3 | 6 | 9 |12 |15 |
|4000 |4 | 8 |12 |16 |20 |
|5000 |5 |10 |15 |20 |25 |
-------------------------


This table is very simplified, but it is, at the most basic level, what your engine uses to determine pulse width. If you increase the density of the air going into your engine, the ECU knows it (or rather, finds out), and adds fuel as required to put the A:F ratio where it wants it to be.

Miataracer, I'd like to apologize since it seems like I was criticizing you in my first post. My argument here is not absolute, and it is certainly possible that adding a CAI or exhaust would actually enhance your fuel economy. Engine management is incredibly complicated, and there's no way any person, including myself, could ever account for the number of measurements, calculations, and adjustments that an ECU makes every second.

I will revise my final argument by saying that I believe in MOST cases, adding a less restrictive intake & exhaust will lead to an increase in performance, as well as a corresponding decrease in fuel economy.

Miataracer, I'd like to apologize since it seems like I was criticizing you in my first post. My argument here is not absolute, and it is certainly possible that adding a CAI or exhaust would actually enhance your fuel economy.

don't worry about it man, I think we are both more or less on the same page and I didn't take offense to what you said

I have put a DAC, header, and cat-back exhaust on my car, and have not noticed a reasonable drop in mpg when driving normally. When I'm in ahurry tho, I can watch the gas gauge drop. It literally goes to about 6-8 mpg. I try to drive like a granny when I can. Cost too damn much drive like a jackass lol.

something must be wrong there... i can drive the hell out of my car and never get under about 22-25 mpg.

When i put on my cat-back exhaust i noticed a little bit more power and about a 4 mpg increase in fuel economy. Thats just me though. Also, to increase power, you do not need to add more fuel along with more air. I agree with miataracer, I might be wrong but a CAI does not add more fuel, just more oxygen to be burned. CivicracerX, an S2000 is a 2.0, but how come a 5.0 mustang won't smoke it? Also, the reason that factory cars don't come with CAI is because a CAI is not good for an engine in the winter time because the air will be too cold and dense, and why would a car company put something on that would do that half the year? 3" exhausts aren't put on because more than 90% of car buyers hate the loud noise they make.

did i read that right? you said they wont use a CAI cuz they air will be too cold and dense? ummmm, there is no such thing as too cold and dense when it comes to a motor ie. nitrous,turbo,SC, high comp NA. i dont for sure why they dont use a CAI for a stock motor but i can almost bet thats not why.

the reason why they dont use them stock is they are louder and also they could suck up water. most people that want these cars and arent interested in performance wouldnt like that. same with a loud exhaust

what wears out on your engine the most are main bearings, rod bearings, rings, seals and giudes.

93 Civic Engine Siezed, need help.

93 civic w/ 176K, runs great, burns some oil, great on gas, until......

Yeah, I heard about removing gunk from engines, tried it, bought the gunk removal solution, followed directions w/ exception that I may have had only 2 qt of oil in engine, next drained oil, figured if the gunk removed or did what it was supposed to do since car has so much mileage the seals might leak, so I added extra oil, 4 qt, hoping some would leak out, car started actually sounded quieter, pick up nice, drove about 5 miles was about to pat myself on the back, when I heard the noise, tried to pull over. Noise got louder, car starts to vibrate, in an effort to get car back home, engine losses power, no acceleration, and engines shuts off. In an effort to remedy the problem I drained the oil, added new oil, car starts, idles w/ vibrations and smoke, and shuts off, drained oil, added new oil again, car starts and shuts off after about 5 seconds. I now am convinced the egine has siezed,........................................... .........................suggestions, solution, thanks to all in advance...and help!!!

please check the DATE on posts before replying to them!
...almost 5 months old, come on

not to mention it has nothing to do with the previous topic. start a new thread vjciv93, then people will respond and help you with ur problem.

93 Civic Engine Siezed, need help.

93 civic w/ 176K, runs great, burns some oil, great on gas, until......

Yeah, I heard about removing gunk from engines, tried it, bought the gunk removal solution, followed directions w/ exception that I may have had only 2 qt of oil in engine, next drained oil, figured if the gunk removed or did what it was supposed to do since car has so much mileage the seals might leak, so I added extra oil, 4 qt, hoping some would leak out, car started actually sounded quieter, pick up nice, drove about 5 miles was about to pat myself on the back, when I heard the noise, tried to pull over. Noise got louder, car starts to vibrate, in an effort to get car back home, engine losses power, no acceleration, and engines shuts off. In an effort to remedy the problem I drained the oil, added new oil, car starts, idles w/ vibrations and smoke, and shuts off, drained oil, added new oil again, car starts and shuts off after about 5 seconds. I now am convinced the egine has siezed,........................................... .........................suggestions, solution, thanks to all in advance...and help!!!


Vj93Civ, this thread is rather old and your problem really has nothing to do with it. Postng unrelated questions in dead threads isn't a great idea. Instead of posting an unrelated question in a dead thread, you would most likly get a better response if you created your own thread asking this question. Try creating your own thread sayign what has happened and asking your question. You'll find more members will notice it and you'll get more help if you do it that way. If you are new to forums and are unfamiler with how to create a new thread, just click "new thread" at the top of the forum. Give it a relivant title and the post your experiences and questions.