Intake?

I just purchased a 2000 prelude sh with 50k on it. Its in perfect condition, and so far i put an alarm on it tinted the windows and threw a temporary system in it, but its in much need of more power. I figured the first thing would be intake throttle body and spacer. With many brands and types available, whats worth the money, and what sucks. Any feedback on what I should do to this car to start off performance wise would help great. Thanks

First off, nice purchase. Lets see some pics.

Second off, just buy a ebay intake and put a K&N filter on it. A new throttle body is pointless becuase your not using more fuel to compensate. Throttle body spacers are just completely worthless.

don't buy an ebay intake, its crap, just give me the money if ur gonna do that, u bought a real car, give it some real gifts. do the basics, intake system, headers and the rest of the exhaust system

No, e-bay intakes really aren't crap, entirely. The piping itself is not a large factor. Yes AEM and Injen and similair companies do R&D, but the path of the piping is almost all the same. There may be some modification required, but being you can pick one up for $20 as opposed to $220, I'd take the time to modify a bit. The only benefit is the AEM intake is powdercoated. Buying an intake off of e-bay and then putting a good filter from K&N will net the same gains. I kind of wish I had known all this before I bought my AEM intake. I still might have gone with the AEM though, just because of the name brand, because I'm stupid.

Thanks guys, I guess that information leads me to my next set of questions, is the short ram intake or the longer one that fits into the grill better? or is it once again a waste of money? I plan on doing headers and exhaust in spring, but will it help to the the intake manifold as well? I see alot about the skunk 2 intake manifolds but dont know anything about them. Im new to the import scene since ive had a mustang all my life till now, so I can handle doing things to my car, I just dont know what are big power producers for 4cyl. Any information helps.

Search on the intake question.

As for as intake manifolds, keep the stocker. It wont be worth it. If anything, get a good set of cams.

:iagree: ...and unless you're going to upgrade the internals (pistons/rods etc...) don't go higher than a stage 1 cam (not all cam manufacters use "stages" to designate the performance level of the cam, so don't go higher than their 1st level of cam upgrade). Anything higher than the 1st level will completely kill low end torque - that means you'll be revving 4-5000 just to keep up with normal traffic.

The stock H22 is pretty much decked out from the factory, that's how Honda pulled off 200hp from a non-turbo 4 banger. You won't get too much from bolt-ons. An aftermarket intake manifold will do practically nothing, and CAI/header/exhaust will net only around 10-15 hp...maybe slightly more, but that's only if you buy the good (meaning expensive) header like Mugen or SMSP. You can free up some existing hp with underdrive pulleys and a lightweight flywheel, that's probably the cheapest way to go.

You could spend a $2000-4000 on the best bolt ons and you'll end up with only ~20-25 hp over stock. If you want more than that you'll have to upgrade pistons or go forced induction.

Second off, just buy a ebay intake and put a K&N filter on it.

Why go the cheap way out? You get what you pay for... :rolleyes:


First few mods I would do is intake, header, exhaust, high flow cat, underdrive pulley and lightweight flywheel. If thats not enough power, then forced induction is your other option. ;)

Why go the cheap way out? You get what you pay for... :rolleyes:

Oh come on, this has been discussed before. Its a tube and a filter. The better the filter the better the intake. The tube doesnt mean near as much seing as how almost all of them are the same.

As far as headers, the only one I would consider is the RMF piece. 15 hp gain after the car already had intake/exhaust.

Oh come on, this has been discussed before. Its a tube and a filter. The better the filter the better the intake. The tube doesnt mean near as much seing as how almost all of them are the same.

As far as headers, the only one I would consider is the RMF piece. 15 hp gain after the car already had intake/exhaust.

And most of the time the tubing doesnt even fit properly, thats been discussed too. At least if its name brand, you know your shit is guaranteed or whatever. But hey its his decision, I'm just voicing my opinion. :2cents:

And would that RMF header be adding 15 wheel horsepower? Where did you get this info from?

That's all that the RMF adds? I would have thought it would be more because SMSP adds 22 whp and I thought RMF was comparable? Just wondering...

Talk to allmotorbb6 on this site. Or go to pp.com, he's 2.2L or go to superhonda, he's 98vtec. He will tell you all you need to know about the RMF. I beleive It was him that put the egines stock HP with 3 cylenders not holding compression. Im not sure about the SMSP, I didnt think it was quite 22 hp, but also, the SMSP is about 400 dollars more than the RMF.

Back to the intake. So what if it doesnt fit perfectly? Most do, and if they don't, spend a few minutes to make it fit and save yourself over $150.

Thanks for the tips guys. I think we beat the intake question to death but that makes my decision easy I guess. But does it matter if I get a short ram or a longer one to get it away from the engine's heat?

Thanks for the tips guys. I think we beat the intake question to death but that makes my decision easy I guess. But does it matter if I get a short ram or a longer one to get it away from the engine's heat?

in the scheme of things...no. an intake doesnt really give you any horsepower in the first place.

Talk to allmotorbb6 on this site. Or go to pp.com, he's 2.2L or go to superhonda, he's 98vtec. He will tell you all you need to know about the RMF. I beleive It was him that put the egines stock HP with 3 cylenders not holding compression. Im not sure about the SMSP, I didnt think it was quite 22 hp, but also, the SMSP is about 400 dollars more than the RMF.

Back to the intake. So what if it doesnt fit perfectly? Most do, and if they don't, spend a few minutes to make it fit and save yourself over $150.

SMSP and RMF have a great battle. I havent dyno'd my lude yet, but a friend of mine has on HT. He was making 20 more whp than were the preludes with regular bolt ons. My street tune is on Nov 19th and my dyno tune is on dec 2nd. I'll be finalizing the numbers here real soon.

You really cant go wrong with any custom header you decide to buy....whether it be RMF, smsp, hytech, DTR....whatever, you are still going to make a great deal of hp over a manufactured header.

well lets answer his question first.... the longer one draws cooler, denser air from the bumper, or "outside". the short ram usually sits in the same place the stock one sits and if u keep the bottom half of the stock box, the cooler air should be routed up to where the filter is sitting, i for one will not be spending the extra 100 bucks for a cold air intake, im in arizona and its hot here one way or another, also take into consideration that if u live in an area where it rains alot, sometimes the lower intake will get soaked in water and hydrolock ur motor, its not very likley but i have seen it happen, it ain't pretty

So a good header can make that much of a difference? I was told they make the car run pretty hot ? Is that true ? And what do they do to fuel milage ?

Hell yes a header can make a difference. How does 15-20 whp sound? The engine temp wont be any higher, but underhood temperatures will be. Its worth it though. Fuel milage won't be affected too much if at all.

I haven't seen dyno numbers, but I put a (cheap) RACTIVE short ram intake on my 94 prelude si. I noticed no difference. Then I bought a short ram for a civic at autozone, modified(cut a little of at a time) and atached it to the prelude short ram exiting where the stock air box was. You just have to cut the hole a little bigger,making sure sharp edges are covered to keep from damaging intake pipe. Build a box behind fender to protect from water. The reason that a regular cold air intake doesn't make much power is from the underhood heat heating the air intake pipe. With my scanner, I noticed the Air Intake sensor (AIC) was reading about 120 degrees. I insulated the whole pipe with foam tape and then aluminum tape to reflect radiant heat. Now my air intake temperater is reading the same as the outside air temp. The power increase was noticable. It looked good until I insulated it. Now it looks bad under the hood, but so what. Im going faster.
lilwhitelude

would u like to post that scanner data please, i am quite interested in ur discoveries

Find a freind with a scanner, Check your air temp. then do what ever you can to make it cooler. Check it again. Or get an infared laser thermometer(These are a fairly accurate way of checking air pipe temp).
When using a infared thermometer, you can pinpoint where the most heat is getting to you intake pipe. That way you can start there. I wrapped my whole pipe, which Im sure is not completly neccesary.
lilwhitelude((drivem till U wreckem))

Parden my spelling,