Top 10 hp robbing things

What are the Top ten hp robbing problems or components on a engine just looking for every bit of power i can find

anything that draws power from your engine.. like air conditioning... power steering.. etc.

one slo pretty much covered it. Larger diameter rims also rob HP, people run 13's on the front for a reason.

PASSENGERS :D

think of your motor as an air pump. Anything that henders airflow will restrict HP. Think air intake, exhaust manifold, puny size exhaust. Slocivic stated the obvious when saying that a/c and power steering rob HP. They are parasitic meaning, they take from the motor to perform their operations. Things that may not "rob" HP buy may hinder it may be your ignition system. But, honda ignitions are pretty sufficient to begin with so start somewhere else first. An aftermarket cam is always a nice place to find another 5-15 HP. Just think "more air=more fuel to burn=more power"

Faulty electricals, bad grounds, bad plugs, fuel delivery issues, and so on.

Dont forget the cat, and the resinators... they dont add power. Also, weight. That is the only handicap that our cars have comparied to most other Hondas. Losing weight, it helps. :)

contrary to what you say, the cat and resonators are there for a reason. True, they don't add power. but, the do add VALUABLE backpressure (new word I guess) and do greatly affect drivability. If you are drag racing ONLY, sure, hack them. If you plan to drive this car daily, DO NOT, hack them. Backpressure is something the motor NEEDS to be drivable in the lower to mid RPM range. It's called "scavenging". If you do the exhaust, step up to 2.25" piping w/ cat and a resonator. It won't be loud and it will give you a good midrange (where most driving occurs for normal people).

I have heard plenty of arguement for and against back pressure, if you are running 2 in or 2.25 exhaust system, taking out the cat for a test pipe or switching to a high flow muffler will only take away a little power down low, but the mid and high range will greatly improve.

so is having a fat girl as your passenger, and a dead body in the trunk......I dont know where that came from, but I typed it so it doesnt mean shito

The diameter of the wheel has nothing to do with it...its the wieght. You can get 16's that wiegh less than 13's...their pricey but out their.

well i beg to differ because the bigger the wheel the more power it needs to spin it and get momentum sp??

Originally posted by Dx18704
well i beg to differ because the bigger the wheel the more power it needs to spin it and get momentum sp??

also known as the rotational mass of the wheel...

The thing I don't understand is my Rota weighs 12lbs and the tire weighs 20 lbs. So even if you had a light rim or a small rim the tire is heavier and farther away from the center so why does a small rim really matter as the tire will be heavier.

set something straight here

when people say a bigger exhaust will take away torque or horsepower at low rpm, this is simply not true at all.

The Torque/horsepower simply moves upwards in teh powerband.

Originally posted by FourthGenHatch
The thing I don't understand is my Rota weighs 12lbs and the tire weighs 20 lbs. So even if you had a light rim or a small rim the tire is heavier and farther away from the center so why does a small rim really matter as the tire will be heavier.

ur tire weighs 20lbs :eek: are u sure it's 20 lbs cause that's a heavy tire

the reason the overall diameter also hurts you is because it changes you gear ratio's as well....for example I'm running a DX tranny on an Si motor....(old redline was 6,800) new motor is (7,200) with 17's on my shift point from 3rd gear to 4th gear was about 90-92 mph normal for a honda well now with the new motor 400 more RPM's now I shift at like 105 from 3rd to 4th....but at the track with my 13's on and at about 22PSI I shift at about 98 or so....

it's kinda like changing gears on your old ten speed! going from the big gear to the little gear....you want to go faster you go to the smaller gear...you want to drive easy....the big one...

Weight is a huge robber of power on our cars....I picked up .2 by gutting my car. that's about a car length to car length and half at the track!

The exhaust statement is completely wrong. I have my cat gutted out and I can tell a power increase. My motor has more pull because it is able to breathe better.

My friend with his 91 Civic 4 door got the cat, resinators off, and had the pipping upgraded to 2 1/4 all the way form the stock manifold back. His car is a LX, wich is the 90 hp dual point 1.5. He said (and it is true, cuz I rode with him) that he could chirp 2nd gear pretty good, as where he never could before. He said he noticed a BIG difference in power. His car sounded like pure ass with no cat, but that is just a sacrifice you will have to make to have a fast car... well if your motor is stock anyways. Eventually he got tired of the sound that his car made, and had 1 resinator put in... looks like a catilitic converter if you look under his car. Anything bigger than 2 1/4 pipping you will be losing backpressure, as you were saying in the last posts.

dood some people needa read that large ass explanation of exhaust they have floating around AF somewhere. backpressure is bad no matter what. its delta pressure you want, which technically measures the absence of pressure between exhaust pulses, AKA scavanging. i say gut your cat, weld a pipe inside it (making it look like a cat but function like a straight pipe) then get straight 2-1/4" or 2- 1/2" stainless from your new "cat" to the back, but dont let them make the "bend of death" around the gas tank. instead of running it like the stock exhaust, run it without so many 90 degree bends, just go around the gas tank and come straight out the back on the passenger side, or go the other way around the gas tank and come out on the drivers side (although with this you are gonna needa do a lot of heat shielding cause your gas lines run on that side too)

i tried running my exhuast striaght out the drivers side, but there were too many complications on that side, so i just run mine straight out the pass side.

whether a cat is good or bad for your engine doesn't F*CKING matter. it is there for a reason and that reason is to keep harmful sh*t from going into the air. don't be another dickhead polluting the world. seriously, is it worth that extra little HP. NO.