2Slow

Hi everyone, Ive been looking through your site and looks like there is alot of good infromation here. But what Im looking for is some opinons on where to start to give my car some more pep. I dont want to add a turbo. Money wise under $2000 would be good. Ive talked to a few people and have gotten different opions. So where I stand I was thinking k&n cold air intake, DC header and a cat back exhaust. Do I need to change out the catalytic converter aswell or can i keep the stock one.
With the exhaust I dont want it to be loud but from what i read they do grrr nicely. I priced out the exhust/filter for about $900, havent looked at other prices yet. Come sumer new rims and and tires.
Anything else that i should be looking at now or is this a good start? Also from what a read the intake and cat back should give me about 10-12hp this seem about right. Havent read anything about increse from header.
Let me know what you think. Thanks Chris

Clarkee

Best place to start is exactly what your doing. Intakes, headers and Cat. It should bolt right up to your catalytic converter.

D.T.P

Slap a huge fartcan, drop the car about 3 inches and put few stickers on. done.

PurpleStuff

^ hahahahahahaha

Adair

MPR

Hi, welcome to the club.

Unfortunately, bolt ons like what you have decribed, will not give you much of a noticable gain in performance with the stock engine in your car. It will make more noise, but thats about it.

May I suggest to you a better use (imo) of that $2000 on your car to go into suspension and tires & brakes upgrades. You're car won't be any faster in a straight line, but it will handle, stop, look, and go around corners way better than it does now. To me, thats worth my money then making maybe an extra 5whp at peak.

All in all, it's your car to do what you want with. Enjoy.

Let us know what you decide.

Silver_EM

for 2000 dollars your best bet to make a d17a2 go fast without boost is:

stage 1/2 cam

k pro

tune.

also you can do header and intake and exhaust if you feel frisky. With a tune you will take advantage of ALL of your increased flow and your d17 will make more power. How much more power? well i did hear of guys running low 15's high 14's with their d17's NA with a setup like i described. Will you get that power? probably not, will you notice some pep, yes of course.

Make sure if you do get a header that it is a 4-2-1 header. 4-1 kills your low-midrange torque and will make your car less peppy at low rpm.

spike

Welcome to TCC

D.T.P

Out of a header/catback you really won't feel a difference. Might aswell just put a muffler on. Won't cost any more than 200$.
All catback is, is a pipe from catalytic converter to the muffler with an aftermarket muffler and resonator.
My suggestion is, get a cheap ebay intake for 30$, get a muffler, and invest all the left over money in suspension. Some nice coilovers, not ebay sleeves, will cost over 1000$ but you get what you pay for.

Silver_EM

he has a d17a2. I dont think you will feel a huge difference with an intake and exhaust. it may feel faster because it sounds faster. But it wont be faster.

the best way i think is a cam and tune. i still stand by it because its proven time and time again that everything works better with tuning. Even if you got the intake and exhaust and tuned it the car would have a noticible increase in performance.

If you dont want to tune then dont waste your money on engine mods, they will get you nowhere.

spend on suspension upgrades.

i had the non vtec version of your car in a coupe and i wasted tons of money and time into a header cat delete headerback exhaust intake the works and it got me nowhere. trust me. suspension is the best fun factor for a honda.

D.T.P

Nice of you to quote me and pretend to argue. Only reason I said muffler and intake, is you get a nice sound out of it. I didn't say nor would I recommend buying 250$ intake. Just buy a cheap ebay one, and if you are **** about it just get a k&n filter. In the end the whole intake is a pipe with a filter. Same thing with muffler, just to get some sound out of it. Because catback is exactly that, piping with a muffler. So just save some money and do the "requirements" as some people may call it. Then the rest of the money, as mpr and I suggested, put towards suspension. Some coilovers, sway bars. Maybe brake upgrade.

Silver_EM

any time

2Slow

Thanks for the opions everyone. Im thinking I might be better off buying a 2nd car. That engine is preaty wussy to start with anyway. I'll let you know what I do. Thanks again.

D.T.P

K-swap. call it a day.
or even a B series.