Quote:
Originally posted by Spunkymonkey
I'm already not honest on my insurance  Do you think supercharging is any good? I'm not really prepared to spend that much on the car at this stage...have the new mortgage on the unit remember :silly2:
Any other things I can do temp to up the performance, without going the full way. Car needs a service soon. About to hit 100k, so I'll get the timing belt changed, and all the regular sparks, oil, etc.
Do you think there is much improvement to be had from changing ECU.
Actually car runs a lot smoother now because of the new CAI. Woohoo! VTEC 
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If you are going to hold back on money for the moment I'd recommend not doing too much to the mechanicals and concentrate on looks and sound. For approx 1500 bucks you could do extractors/adjustable cam wheels fitted and then spend another 800 on a properly bent exhaust with free flow cat convertor and muffler. That will give you some HP increase - possibly 10KW. Don't change your ECU unless you go all out on Cams, compression etc. Honda got it very right and it really isn't worth it. The one thing to remember is that real increases only come as a package - not as a one part bolt on.
If you upgrade cams at the same time, then you need to do valve springs as well. To get the very best you'd also need to get the head worked and go better pistons.
Personally - I'd say leave it as stands and save and turbo it. The power path is a lot easier to get more from it that way.
Example with the 1Gs I've built: Using an EB3 (Series 3 1G SBC) block and EN1 (Series 1 2G) crank, rods and flywheel
Engine 1: Using the base 1335cc config I added goldwing 73mm pistons to take it out to 1400cc. Ported RS1200 head taken to Mugen R1 specs with bigger valves. Compression ratio was 10.5:1. Flywheel lightened and balanced, crank lightened. Mugen head gasket, Jackson Racing 4-1 fully tuned bassini headers. 1 3/4 inch exhaust and free flow muffler (plus hot dog muffler to reduce noise). EN1 electronic ignition, twin 35mm Dell Orto carbs (4 pot sidedraft) choked to 32mm. Yoshi high lift cams (alternalted with Mugen R1 spec cams).
Ok - in standard trim, the 1200cc 1G makes 55bhp and the 1200RS makes 70 bhp, both at the flywheel. I dynoed my car and got 78bhp at the front wheels. Changed the JR Bassini headers off (it was making all it's power @ 7000rpm) and put on a set of RS1200 4-2-1s and got 75 @ 6300rpm. Changed the yoshi cam for a Mugen R1 and got a little less power but more torque low down (the R1 is the most streetable of the 3 mugen spec cams).
Compared to that: the huge Rayjay turbo motor which was only a 1335, decompressed using EB2 pistons (these are concave as opposed to the EB3/EN1 domed pistons - therefore reducing compression), water/methonol cooling (sucked through the 45mm Solex carby), EN1 electronic ignition, all with 14lbs boost gave me 98bhp at the front wheels. It also caused me to crash the car - overboosted and detonated after 6 months of hard driving
But bang for buck, I spent 2000 bucks more on a NA setup. Today things have progressed - It's why I'd use the city turbo setup taken out in size and adding a better intercooler (front mounted) and bigger turbo, additional injector etc. My early turbo setup had no EFI so no fuel control and no intercooler - a must with turbocharging.
What did the turbo have that the NA setup didn't? Low down torque (admittedly 4000rpm was low down as there was huge turbo lag under that
)
Anyway - will stop rambling now - it was just an example of how NA setups will blow out in cost and still not get you the power of turbocharging. Face it when you get more power, all you want is more and more