Why the D17 not gain from bolt ons
 

http://www.civicforums.com/forums/3-...le-gain-4.html

hey all i was just poking around and came across this thread way back from 04. if you have the patience to read the guys finish with stating that there seems to be something holding back the air flow. so i would think that if you were to have a d17 with intake, headers, exhaust, and cams + a tuneable ecu such as the hondata one that was suggested in the stupid turby thread then wouldnt the ecu be able to somewhat overcome the "eye of the needle"? and how, even after 3 years, can the same question be asked over and over.

i know the d17 is supposed to be ment for fuel effeciency so wouldnt the ECU give you a low emission and fuel effecient tune that could be the eye of the needle?

:confused:

bump surly someone could at least look into my theroy. and tell me if it makes sense.

You cant use hondata with 01+. You need a complete standalone. Or run a hack (which wouldnt be able to really bring out any power)

Hondata makes a Kpro for the 01-05 D17 Civic.
http://www.hondata.com/kpro_d17.html

http://www.hondata.com/images/kpro_d17/kpro_d17_l.jpg

D17 is weak ass...I know cause I have one...even worse I have an A1...so no VTEC and about 10 less ponies than the A2...I've read a lot of threads about the 7th gen...lots of suggestions and ideas.

I think ultimately no matter what you do your not going to get amazing power gains out of our engine unless you go forced induction...its expensive but its guaranteed power.

I think the bolt on stuff will definitely improve air flow and make the car pull better...but I think you have to do everything to start seeing results...you need to replace every piece of OEM intake/exhaust to make a difference.

CAI/short ram...swap the intake manifold with one from a Y8 (not a simple bolt on though...a few threads out there on how to do it...you'll need the IM, TB, fuel rail, return fuel system blah, blah, bunch of stuff) the stock mani is crap and even if you bolt on the other stuff you still are getting a lot of airflow restriction here. Add a decent exhaust manifold to replace the joke that Honda gave us...you'll need a cat because once you remove the stock header you'll loose your cat, then your full cat back exhaust. Do a head swap for VTEC and if you've got the cash for electronics you can go with K pro or e-manage.

If you have an LX and you want to stay NA...I think this is your best bet at getting gains through bolt ons without messing with the internals. Those are my 2 cents and that's what I'm planning on doing.

If your really crazy put your car on a weight loss program..the car is already light but there are tons of ways to reduce the weight which is just another way of gaining power.

very true i am going to have to go down that route. once i get the cash i am going to go for the vtec head and full 4-2-1 headers and all that. the intake does sound like a good idea. and i also am going to look into unichips? if thats what it was. it might be a cheaper alternative to the kpro. plus they said they gained 11.5 hp from a civic si with a d17a2.

yeah...I read about unichip as well supposed to give big gains...but from what I saw on their website they only have applications for the si (k-series). Nothing for our engines. I think for electronics its either e-manage, the k-pro, aem's fuel management system and apex'i. Of course the majority of those options are not cheap.

yeah effin k pro is a grand plus you have to get another ecu or wutever. i heard a new one is lik 600? i didnt know that there was a k series si in our years?. i thought the si's had d17a2's?

01 - 05 civics (coupe and sedan) are all d series engines...even the one's that say si-g on the back. Honda decided to only put a k series in 01 - 05 hatchbacks...I think it cranks out 160bhp...but of course its much more expensive than our little 1.7s...I just got my highflow cat, springs and camber kit delivered today from Dezod's in buffalo...you should check out the website...they have tons of stuff for 7th gen civics http://www.dezod.com/

In a couple of more days I should have my koni sports, injen CAI, DC Header and magnaflow cat back...the suspension is gonna be real tight on my car and it will flow better with those bolt ons...plus its gonna look and sound nasty! I got a good deal on most stuff from http://www.ontappmotorsports.com/ The Koni's were expensive but everything else was a really good deal. $300 for the CAI, $410 for the exhaust, $360 for the header. All prices including tax.

how is your exhaust being setup then? like are you doing sort of an aftermarket ex swap?

p.s 300 for a cai is real expensive. why not just make your own? i got a short ram for like 175. and i thot that was kinda a rip.

Yeah...its basically gonna be a full custom exhaust. replace the header, add a cat and then the cat back exhaust...everything is basically bolt as if it were an ex which doesn't have the weird cat in the exhaust issue. I think there has to be some minor work with o2 sensor but nothing a good muffler shop can't do in under an hour. I think some people do an ex swap which doesn't make much sense cause your going to want to replace the oem anyway do just rip out all the oem from your lx and replace it...the only disadvantage is that you have to do it all at once.

very true. i have an axle back on order. and i will do a major exhaust swap next year. but for now im shooting for the vtec head. once i get that swapped then i will look into upgrading the exhaust.

Ractive short-ram $75 from performance improvements. :thumbup:

yeah i know i was ripped but its weapon-R omg its totally dyno tested and engineered for my engine to creative optimal gains!!!!! OMG! :P