best horsepower gains

what would give me the best hp gian? an intake, Fuel Pressure Regulator, 10mm wires w/bosch platinum +4 plugs, a header, or a highflow cat and muffler?

The best of those choices would be a combination of the headers, cat, and exhaust... It doesn't do any good to have a high-flow cat if your exhaust isn't high-flow as well (or vice versa)...

The plugs and wires would probably only smooth out your idle, and any other gains from them would be barely noticeable...

The intake is good too, but you can modify your stock airbox to give you a simulated cold-air intake by cutting a hole in the resonator and blocking the normal intake hole with duct tape or something...

But, if you don't have the cash to go with the headers/cat/exhaust, I'd probably go with an aftermarket intake.

Are you choosing only one of those, or is that all the stuff you want to do?

Intake is the best out of those I would say. Your not going to get huge power, but it's a good start. You don't really need a Fuel Reg unless your running like a Forced Induction setup or something, wires are always good, I recommend the blue NGKs. I have Bosch Platinum +2s, they are good spark plugs, but in reality copper is better, Platinum and Iridium just last longer. I am going to try NGK Coppers next time I switch plugs. High Flow Cat is good because by now your stock Cat is probably rusted to shit anyway, and Muffler is very overrated, but having a nice sound is always a plus.

how big of a goin would you guys belive i would get if i had forced air and a fuel reg.? it kinda seems like that would be the best mod to me, but i dont know shit so you guys tell me, right now i have a scoop on my hood with a hose ran from it to a selector box so i can switch inbetween forced air or my stock airbox with a knob inside the car, i do feel a little more power from the forced air but it seems like if i had more fuel pressure i would have a considerable boost.........dont know.......whatever

Forced Air? You mean induction or like RAM AIR? RAM AIR is supposed to actually fuck your car up since the air-fuel mixture will get messed up.

But anyway if you are talking about a Turbo then you are talking serious money, plus SOHC engines aren't the best for that anyway.

ok, damn it im lost......yes it is ram air, im not talking about a turbo, how does a turbo work? im sorry im new to this whole tuning thing...lol i guess it shows, im tlking like im a retard!

Originally posted by slammed89civic
ok, damn it im lost......yes it is ram air, im not talking about a turbo, how does a turbo work? im sorry im new to this whole tuning thing...lol i guess it shows, im tlking like im a retard!

A Turbo uses the Exhaust gases to spin a turbine and give the engine a "boost" of power. I'm not to sure about Turbos, but I know some people on here have them so wait for them to show up and they can answer it for you.

Ram Air is sort of hard to make for yourself especially with a Fuel Injection car. Most people go the easier route and do a Cold Air Intake aka CAI. A Cold Air Intake is basically taking the intake tube, extending it to below the car with a cone filter on it. The idea is that the colder the air the more power your car will make since heat is the enemy. I don't know of any Civic or anything with actual RAM AIR.

actually, i dont know if it is ram air or not tell me, i put a scoop on my hood, cut the bottom out under it, placed a tube from the hole to where the air goes in at, i just saw an infomercial that said more air = more power, so i figured that with the air being forced into the engine it would therefore provide a hp gian.....

Don't believe anything you see on infomercials. If it worked everyone would have it.

But yes a scoop on the hood is indicative of RAM AIR. But most scoops are fake. Mustangs have fake scoops. WRXs have hood scoops but the air goes to the intercooler (a sort of radiator for cooling off your turbo), not the intake.

well smack my ass and call me sally, lol im retarded when it comes to doing this stuff, but i want to learn so i hope you people can put up with me......

Ok, basically I'll cut to the chase...

If you want pretty much the best bang for your buck and you don't mind spending some money, get an Engine Swap.

Swaping a more powerful engine into your car will obviously make your car faster. Popular 4G swaps are...

DOHC ZC - about 130hp
SOHC VTEC ZC - about 130hp
SOHC VTEC D16 - about 125hp/127hp
B16A - DOHC VTEC with 160hp
B18 (LS)- 130hp (I THINK) but lots of torque
B20 - 145hp and tons more torque!
H22A - 200hp, tons of torque, good luck using it for anything but pure drag racing

There are also Hybrids like the Mini-Me which is taking a SOHC Engine and putting a SOHC VTEC Head on it. Then there is LS/VTEC which is VTEC Head on LS Engine, then CRVTEC which is the B20 block and B16 VTEC Head.

yea, i know all about the money required...i used to have a crx with b16a1 swap, god imiss that baby,but im glad to me alive after i wrecked it

oh also........how much power does the "mini-me" setup produce? that sounds like it would be the least costly, but wouldnt i have to buy a v-tec controller or could i swap the ecu from like a jdm or something?

Well if a normal SOHC makes like 100hp and SOHC VTECs make 130hp about, I would say Mini-Me could get you about 20-25hp. Only thing is STD has 1.5, the others are 1.6. So you would make less hp. So maybe 15hp is safe to say?

Originally posted by slammed89civic
ok, damn it im lost......yes it is ram air, im not talking about a turbo, how does a turbo work? im sorry im new to this whole tuning thing...lol i guess it shows, im tlking like im a retard!

alright to be sorta vague about a turbo:

ok so the car comes in through a filter like your intake pipe into the inlet turbine of the turbo charger. the turbine is made so it flares the air to the outside and through the piping into a charge pipe, your intercooler is attached to your charge pipe off the intake of the turbo. the blow off valve is also attached to the charge pipe to release any unwanted pressure which then enters the intake manifold.

break of turbo--- the intercooler
the intercooler helps cool the charged air going through the charge pipe into the intake manifold
note: cooler air= denser air and denser air is better
eventhough the intercooler slows down the air it's decrease int hte tempature of the air is more advantagous than faster hot air.

back to turbo-----exhaust

as the air exits the engine it goes through and exhaust manifold which may have a wastegate, releases pressure so you dont over-rev your turbo. as the air goes through the exhaust section of the turbo it spins a turbine which is attached to another turbine

---overall---
the exhaust gas powers the exhaust turbine which is attached to the intkae turbine. so as you go faster mroe exhaust gas is elaving so your exhaust turbine goes faster which in effect turns your intake turbine faster and sucks more air in the intake due to the swirling motion of the turbine sending air outward so the faster you go the more boost ytou get :)

any questions just ask and corrections accepted

Slammed take a tech course on Automobiles, you will learn to gain power there as well as how to work on cars. Im afraid you will get in over your head if you just start jumping in.

thanks you guys, and i might take one of those tech classes, thanx

Originally posted by slammed89civic
what would give me the best hp gian? an intake, Fuel Pressure Regulator, 10mm wires w/bosch platinum +4 plugs, a header, or a highflow cat and muffler?

Just to add to what everyone said, which are all great points i figured i'd add my 2 cents. A intake or catback exhaust is always good to do, sometimes these items can be made to transfer to a new motor if you so desire one down the road. Also they both make your motor breath better, the intake being the very begging of the system, the exhaust being the very end, so uncorking the front and back end at the same time usually helps a great deal. Also i'd stay away from the bosch +4 plugs i've heard some shitty stories about those. Just get NGK's hondas love NGK plugs lol. header is another good choice they always deliver good gains, i'd get one like after the intake and cat back exhaust are done though if possible. Wires yea they just make the motor run a little smoother and better no real power gains. Fuel PSI regulator, eh you need a dyno to get the most power outta one really. Highflow cats don't give a whole lot either maybe 1 hp, but if you need a new cat a guess thats would be a good way to go.

Are the cats from an HF and Si the same? What replacement options do I have?

Ever driven an EX? Well the power from a mini-me head swap is about = to that of the 5th generation EX's. I was going to do a mini-me swap, but $1000 to build a tuned sohc vtec head? It just didn't seem reasonable for the power gain.. + I got a new job so that helped me clear my mind and decide to do things right... You want to know how turbos work? www.howstuffworks.com look up turbos (forced induction).. Well good luck on whatever you decide to do :) good to see you want to learn instead of just seeing and doing without any research or incite from others.

Originally posted by slammed89civic
what would give me the best hp gian? an intake, Fuel Pressure Regulator, 10mm wires w/bosch platinum +4 plugs, a header, or a highflow cat and muffler?
dont use bosch spark plugs on a honda, they suck and arent really meant for jap cars, id use OEM NGK spark plugs.