25-50 more HP project...
 

Here is your mission, should you choose to accept it:

What is the best way to get 25-50 more HP. The followiing must be adheard to...

CA emissions friendly
Cost effective (Least expensive way to get the extra HP)
Street driveable
Will not cause more reliability problems with car

I know I am asking the impossible, but I would like to see what everyone else has to say. I have never mod my car, and I would love to get some ideas on how to start. The more details the better.

Thanks!

Honestly, you're pissing up a rope. My best suggestion is to remove 175-350 lbs from the car. Do it anyway you like. For every 7 lbs you remove, it is like gaining 1 hp.

As elegant as that quote is....

There is nothing I want to remove from the car. I see all these profiles of guys that advertise they have 300, 350 HP.

330-350 all day long. Not many of them could pass smog though. And it is anything but cost efficient.

What about visual inspection?

There are a lot of things you can do to the car and still pass part of emissions testing there, but if they visual test you then you'll fail.

I've seen CA FD owners will similar setups like mine (Bonez DP and H-Flo Cat) and pass CA emissions testing.

Well I meant to say "most cost efficient". I may someday even put a 20B in the car. I guess what I am asking, what will give me the most gain? Is it an intake, exhaust, etc. Can you give me details, vendors, cost.

Maybe I am asking too much. Thanks

Intake, downpipe, high flow cat, catback, computer, boost controller. That should give you a solid 50hp gain. Vendors include but are not limited to:

www.m2performance.com
www.pettitracing.com
www.srx7.com
www.rx7com
www.rx7fashion.com

www.rx7store.net
www.rxecret7.com

If you are so worried about cost now....I dont think you should be even dreaming about a 20B... :) pipe dream...honestly...

Is you car completely stock or what...I didn't see a list of mods...

As for people fronting 330-350rwhp...I guarantee most of these ppl are pulling numbers out of there arsh...more pipe dreams....highly unlikely you will see those numbers without a midpipe and running 13-14 + lbs of boost...

Well My car is not completely stock, I put a new JVC stereo in it and removed the cig lighter.

You miss quote what I said . I wanted the most cost effective way to get 25-50 HP. Its not like I cant afford it and I am SO worried about cost. For example if you can do it one way and pay 500 or another and pay 1000, what would you do. As far as the 20B , to be honest I can afford it easily, but at this point it is a pipe dream. I don't know whats involved , etc. I know it will cost 20K to do this, I may do it some day, who knows. Anyway this is going beyond the scope of my original question.

Thank you all for your replies. I will research from here.

Everything you do to the FD can "hurt" the reliability even though it might help in some way - doesn't make sense but a dp greatly reduces stress and heat on the turbos and gains you around 15 rwhp but it coupled with a catback can cause too much flow for the stock ecu and can lean out. A dp by itself would be a great mod if staying close to stock. An upgraded IC helps with reliability but if not tuned for can also cause problems. to be honest a lightweight flywheel is probably the best acceleration mod for the buck even thought it doesn't add much hp, it doesn't hurt reliability at all. With the 20B comment and "cost effective" statement - you don't make much sense anyway so just go out and buy some mods and be done with it.:D

Intake is by far the cheapest HP gain. Add DP, CB and high flow cat with a reprogramed ECU will provide about 45-50 rwhp. Lost time is right on the money.

Just make sure your car is perfect before you start any mods.

well damn removing the cig lighter is proven to add +50 hp already! haha, j/k... yes, your car is stock. i'd go with:

1) hks downpipe = $200
2) hks hiper or blitz nurspec exhaust = $350
3) apex intake = $215

your car will probably run a little lean and be at it's limit so u should consider an ecu next. with those mods you'll likely pass the sniffer but not the visuals.

Well then.......just throw your fat girlfriend out of the car. That should do it. :D

besides gettin a K&N filter, i dont think thres anything you can do to your car that will be CA smog legal. (visual and actual)

no if we are talking about the sniffer test only, thats a diff sotry. :)

Hell, just go crazy and pay off a mechanic when the time comes.

Like the other's said, don't worry about the visual emissions checks. The cheapest way to gain horsepower is cat-back, downpipe, or intake. Common wisdom is that you can do two of these before needing an ecu (might not apply to your car though, so be careful). At the lowest cost, get a SS downpipe, a cat-back exhaust and do the poor man's cold air intake (off Robinette's site or similar). Get a Stage II M2 chip or Pettit or similar to be safe. BTW, the emissions' people will not spot the poor man's intake and cat-backs are emissions legal, so the only potential issue is the downpipe.

Djantlive said the most important thing though, make sure the car is 100% before modding. Have you purchased boost and water temp gauges yet? You should have these before modding. I am stock right now except for the downpipe and I am waiting on Omori's line of customized gauges to come out. Once I have those and verify I don't have any boost problems (my boost checked out ok with both Ivan and Rick), I will feel safe to start modifying. (Convincing the wife I NEED that M2 cat-back is another story......)

A FD owner in Germany said he gets around 80 HP by using Water Injection off the Intake elbow. I have no idea what this would cost. You can read more about it in the Euro Forum under "is there anyone who lives in Germany" starts near the end of the thread. Then, you will need to control the boost!

i have been looking for the right boost gauge, but haven't found the right one. I will get one soon. The water gauge is different story, I am not sure I can install that one myself. I am just gathering info right now. I will not jump into anything. My car is running so good, I don't want to mess anything up.

Btw...The problem with antifreeze leak was the plastic container....gasket sealant fixed it (spray on). I will have it replaced soon.

HKS dp and K&N drop in w/ the Rob Robinette poor mans intake. That should be around 25hp and less the $250.

Then you could do a high flow cat, cat back, manual boost controller +1psi, or main underdrive pulley. I would suggest a black main pulley.

Cool, I'm glad that was your problem and not something more serious. Yeah, I was going to get an electronic boost gauge from Omori (reasonably priced at about $150) but then Greg at Omori North America told me about the custom line they're working on for FDs. I know I need to get a gauge, but I'd rather just wait and get one that's a near perfect match for OEM. Rick will be happy to install your water temp gauge for you. If you don't want that, you can also modify your gauge to be accurate.

http://us.share.geocities.com/sdrx7_...structions.pdf

BTW, there's a new 2-gauge pod that fits into the center channel pocket w/o drilling or cutting into your dash. I think I'm going with this one for my boost and temp gauges. http://www.tripower.net/design/produ.../pod-home.html

if he's worried about reliability, shouldn't he be doing the reliability mods before any performance?

dp, catch tank, oil cooler etc...

funny nobody has brought this up yet

We've recommended it to him in his previous posts. BTW, what the hell is the catch tank mod? Never heard of that one. And spending the money on changing the oil cooler is a huge waste. A lot of tuners have discovered that the stock oil cooler is more effective than many aftermarket units. And why the hell does he need additional oil cooling on a nearly stock car anyway? I would put a larger oil cooler pretty far down the upgrade list.

How would a DP,Mid-pipe, Greddy Exhaust, Intake, 2mm apex seals (don't know what kind yet) ecu(also no idea), plus fuel pump & boost controller do on a stock FD3S Touring??
What kind of HP am I looking at and is there anything else I should have if doing these mods?? guages etc?

Thanks in advance

well, a boost gauge should come before all of that, then maybe and a/f, or EGT gauge but thats debateable. Then read lost times post in themiddle of the page.

Any Idea on a vendor that sells the boost gauge and water temp for the rX7? I have gone to the autoparts stores, but it seems like they are wrong color or don't match or needle is wrong. I am kind of picky about that. Also, do they sell a kit to beable to put the gauges in the DIN stereo spot? If they sell a combo kit please give a link I will pick one up.

By the way thank you guys for all your help, I have to say that this forum is great. I think Rotary guys are very hardcore indeed!