Very interesting...

So I found myself scimming the pages of an Issue of iMPORT TUNER November 2003. If you look at the power pages they do a few adjustments to a 92' Turbo Eclipse (I think a GSX but I'm probably wrong) and they only do 3 modifications which they say took 2 hours and 15 minutes.

Before mods:
Peak HP 183.6
Peak TQ 198.6

The 3 mods and there benefits:
#1. APEXi N1 Downpipe $239.00
Pros: "The downpipe is a complete bolt-on unit. It comes in 70mm and is coated in rustfree heat paint. The downpipe also comes with new gaskets to prevent it from leaking."

Cons: "I don't know if this is actually a con but the A'PEXi downpipe removes the factory catalytic. Keep in mind that when you remove such things, boost is bound to jump up and in our case it shot up to 17psi before fuel cut.

Install time:30 Minutes

After upgrade:
Peak HP 219.9
Peak TQ 228.7

#2. HKS Fuel Cut Defencer $150.00
Pros: "Since the factory ECU is located in the center cousole, wiring the FCD is easy."

Cons: "Technically, we could have fooled the fuel cut on the computer by remving the smaller section of the mass air sensors honeycomb and the fuel cut would not kick in. This also makes the idle a little rougher. We feel that the best way to fix this is by using an FCD. So before all you DSM guys tell me wha's right and wrong about fuel cut, you have to admit the FCD does fix the problem."

Install time:30 Minutes

After upgrade:
Peak HP 267.1
Peak TQ 252.8

#3. Holley 255 LPH Forced Induction Fuel Pump $251.00
Pros: "The pump is a factory replacement that is a little smaller in size but with the fittings that are included with the Holleypump, it comes 100-percent bolt in."

Cons: "The wire is different from the factory wiring. The OEM unit uses ring connectors while the Holley unit uses female quick disonnects. The connectors are not included in the kit.

Install time:30-45 Minutes

After upgrade:
Peak HP 290.3
Peak TQ 278.4

For $640 the Hp gain was 106.7 and the Tq gain was 79.8. That is one hell of a gain for 3 mods that are under a grand and increase the HP that much. This article really caught my eye and I just needed to share with all of my fellow DSMers.

Hmmm... I call bull. Are those the only things done to that car? Just doing those won't create that much hp. He doesn't even up the boost!

Although it sounds cool but I don't really believe you could make that much power with those mods alone...did it have anything else done to it?

They say that all of that was on the Stock Turbo, they didn't say anything else about any other mods, so idk.

well come on guys, you got the cars and the money.. prove it yourself!

I have some old parts from my 92 Talon I had if anybody is interested in some Reverse Glow Gauges, a Top mount strut bar, a coil pack, a used throttle body, Chiltons manuel and a Haynes manuel, a After market clutch and pressure plate along with a slave cylinder (the clutch needs to be cleaned up with some steel wole and the pressure plate can be cleaned up with a grinder, I've seen it done it has some rust on it from sitting in the back of my car in the trunk when the hatch leaked), or a used MAF sensor. Let me know I don't really care what I get for them I just need to free up the space that they are taking up. Even if you only pay the shipping I will probably give it to you. Let me know.

#2. HKS Fuel Cut Defencer $150.00
Pros: "Since the factory ECU is located in the center cousole, wiring the FCD is easy."

Cons: "Technically, we could have fooled the fuel cut on the computer by remving the smaller section of the mass air sensors honeycomb and the fuel cut would not kick in. This also makes the idle a little rougher. We feel that the best way to fix this is by using an FCD. So before all you DSM guys tell me wha's right and wrong about fuel cut, you have to admit the FCD does fix the problem."



How does this make horsepower? Maybe it cures fuel cut but how the fuck does it add any horsepower?

Even turning up the boost on the stock 14b won't create this kind of gain.

Who wrote this piece of journalism garbage?

I agree with defiancy, that dosn't make sense at all.

If you guys look on this site: http://importtuner.com/powerpages/0308it_pptalon/

it'll tell the start, but yeah...100 hp for $640...? thats nice but ummm...thats a little too much for a stock 4g63 motor to handle on stock boost and the 14b. I wonder how many hp it would gain with a evo 16g?

ned you promised those gauges to me!!! get online and IM me and we'll go from there

Hey, I linked to that exact same thing you're talking about in the selling my dsm and buying a honda thread. Basically they're saying $200 gets you 110 hp (they spent more than they could have). I believed it but maybe it isn't true. Think they're just trying to sell stuff?
http://www.importtuner.com/powerpages/0311it_ppeclipse/index.html

It just isn't possible that a fuel pump, fuel cut defencer, and 3" exhaust gets you 110 hp. There are either other mods not mentioned, or those numbers are complete bullshit.

After re-reading the article, I noticed you left out the dyno notes on each part. Here's what they say about the FC Defenser:

"Dyno notes: With the FCD we were able to do a complete run on the dyno. Another thing we noticed when we installed the FCD was that the boost went from spiking at 17psi to leveling off at 15psi."

But before they installed the FCD they installed a dp and removed the cat. The boost spiked to 17 psi and they hit fuel cut at 5k rpm. So they installed the FCD to do a complete dyno run I guess.

If they are lying there is one more way they could do it. Almost every month SCC rants about how dynos are inaccurate and how the results can be scewed in a dozen ways by a crafty operator. Maybe they did that.

Need to get rid of them there EDMUND so send some cash.

I believe it. I've seen 1Gs run mid 12s with the same mods, and I've posted this before. But instead of the FCD, hacked MAS, and a full exhaust as opposed to just the downpipe. These arent major differences, and the HP numbers they got (most likely from a dynojet) are in line with a mid 12 second car (AWD of course). I might be the only one, but I'm not terribly surprised, even if they did fudge the dynojet a little bit, it's close enough. After all, this is the whole reason we waste our lives with these shitboxes... ;) No one buys a turbo DSM because it's a nice reliable car. We buy them because they tear ass for short money.

No one buys a turbo DSM because it's a nice reliable car. We buy them because they tear ass for short money.

Amen to that. Everytime I think of selling mine I just think of the reason I bought it: to tear ass on my poor ass budget.

Thanks Kevin for backing me up a bit I was kind of feeling like an ass for posting this thread.