Josh13B

Hey,
Could anyone suggest some mods that will give me more power.

I have a 1987 N/A auto.

I've already decided on:
Pod Filter
Exhaust system

What else???

speed_monkey

Before anybody else says it... Manual swap! lol

A filter just on the end of the AFM will actually lose you power, search for cold air intake this forum and read up alittle.

For exhaust look at RB, kind of pricey but very well built and worth the money. Get a header, not just a downpipe. The stock exhaust manifold sucks so a header will net some good gains. Collected or dual is up to you. Collected is cheaper, and sounds better (opinion) but the true duals will get you more power.

How many miles on the engine? You check the compression?

Tuning is everything
look into a megasquirt stand alone, they are far superior to the SAFC but without the big price of a haltech or microtech. If you go to the megasquirt section there will be some prebuilt plug and play ones for sale soon!

DerangedHermit

QFT

sectachrome

Eh, Id suggest just putting your money into handling mods if you have no intention of a manual swap. Besides an intake and exhaust, theres really no cheap or easy way to get any decent power. The money spent on the power stuff wont be worth it IMO.

speed_monkey

Its been demonstrated you can get 200 hp from a n/a if you know what your doing, mabey even alittle more, and thats streetable power no PP or full bridge. I wouldnt call that worthless.

sectachrome

I didnt say it was worthless, just not worth all the money it would cost. Especially because its an auto. The fact that he has one and not a MT leads me to believe hes not that serious about it or willing to spend all that money. I could be wrong.

speed_monkey

You have a point, but mabey he got a killer deal? Even then it would probably be alot easier to sell it and get a MT car.

To the thread starter..
How much experience do you have working on cars?

Josh13B

The engine has 250,000km on it. But most of it has been rebuilt. I've only had it for a month. It cost me $4000AUS

I've thought about a manual conversion and a whole lot of other things. Most of my friends first mods are the exhaust or air intake. So I was gonna follow on that advice.

I dont have much money or experience, but I know my way around the rotary engine. The exhaust has a hole in it im pretty sure so that is the first thing i will look at. Everything else i want to do will be cosmetic.

Ill attach a picture of the engine bay, for you to take a look. (I think the air box is very restricted)

mnturbo

How could putting a better flowing intake hurt horespower? I think an air intake would help out some.

sTaLa

If you put only the filter in the engine bay, without any kind of insulation, it will actually suck the hot air of your engine bay, therefore you will lose power.

royaltrex7

how about the tb mod and also port the intake manifolds you can do that stuff your self save alot of money and my understanding is it is about 30 hp

classicauto

iTrader: (3)

you've read too many cai ad's for honduh's...

show me DYNO PROOF!!!

actually I'd like to see proo of exactly how much power is added by any simple intake mod.....my guess? 2-4....

classicauto

iTrader: (3)

the engine will only breathe as well as the smallest hole along the etinre path of intake to exhaust...

so how will JUST making the intake manifolds have larger inner diameter add 30hp?

BTW the TB mod only really sees gains on a turbo motor...

speed_monkey

You probably wont get anything from that... If you have other restrictions, namely AFM then how is opening the TB up going to help any? Keep velocity high, changing the size of the intake back and forth kills velocity and creats turbulence. Just put on S5 intake manifolds, get a megasquirt so you can ditch the AFM, then run a TRUE CAI.

stevenx788

i need a mega squirt how do you go apon finding one for cheap

classicauto

iTrader: (3)

there's one in the canadian for sale section - 200bucks

stevenx788

and do you have to have the s5 intake man to do this and if so where would i get one of those and do you have to rewire anything

sTaLa

Actually almost all my sources are from this forum.

Dyno proof... I don't have any. But that makes sense: cold air is denser than hot air, so there will be more O2 molecules in the combustion chamber if the air is colder.

And I never said that it would give a huge a amount of hp... but it for sure will help the engine to breath.

FC3S Kidd88

hey guys i was thnkn about gettn a k&n intake from racingbeat.com for like $215, u dont thnk its worth it?

classicauto

iTrader: (3)

no no...you said that putting on just an intake that isn't true cold air would cause you to LOSE power when compared to the stock setup......no way

the stock setup has more bends the a room full of crappy scuba divers....runing nearly anything else vs. the stock air box will make the motor breathe better.

Your point about cold air is obviously true, duh, science.....but in this case its the retrictiveness that is more of a factor.

However this whole discussion is pointless anyways - the stock intake doesn't restrict so much so that it is holding back any worthwhile amount of power anyways....(3-4hp tops)....which is not even enough to measure with a butt dyno

speed_monkey

no, just go buy a K&N from autozone. Then get the prelude intake kit off of ebay and route it into your fender well. there is a thread about the prelude intake kit on ebay around here somewhere, a quick search should bring it up.

Actually, the AFM is the main restriction. The intake will outflow the AFM plus it pulls in cooler air from infront of the radiator. Go try it, while you may think you gain power with just a cone on the end of the AFM you are fooling yourself. More noise does not equal more power, you WILL lose power.

classicauto

iTrader: (3)

I dunno, is 4hp worth nearly half of my weekly wage?hehe

eidt: its your car man.......but you can engineer one that is just as effective for less than half that price.....

speed_monkey

now that I agree with lol DIY stuff is great

fcdrifter13

I will be testing alot of elcheapo mods as soon as my breaking procedure is complete, and I have the time to hit the dyno.

And didnt someone hit 200hp without porting.

I am working on a air box that has insulated walls and that will draw cold air from the outside. I mentioned the idea in another thread so I though I might as well make one and see what it does.

Chimeron

If you're getting a better flowing exhaust and don't want to spend money on an intake you could do what I did, and I'm sure I'll get yelled at for this, but I just cut the top off my box.

I know it's pulling in some warmer air, but I did actually feel a slight difference after doing it. With the stock exhaust it didn't make a difference, but with just the RB cat replacement pipe I could feel a difference between the cut and non-cut box top.