Fixed My Power Loss and Gain Problem

[HondaBoy]

i know losing and gaining power for all cars is normal in different atmospheric conditions. like here where i live is most times humid and thats not good for making power. most of today it was foggy and pretty damp. its been like that for a few days, just the dampness part. this evening, it wierdly got dry-ish. the car was doing very well on the power part. being that the engine doesnt make much power to begin with, considering its all stock parts, its power losses and gains are felt more dramaticly than other cars, im guessing. anyone else think so? i find myself worrying about every little thing about my car. like i thought it had metal particals in the oil, but it turns out it was just old slugey oil at the bottom of the pan sticking to the tip of the dip stick. guess its time for a motor flush? i think i will put some B12 stuff in the oil. it works well, but i think i need to be careful on to over do it cuz it can ruin your engine. that stuff disolves gunk in your crank case. anyone got some suggestiongs on the gunk stuff?

[k-roy]

??? Ok.
I would reccomend removing the oil pan and cleaning it out and replacing the gasket. Then flush the engine and change the oil. That will be safer.

[POS carb]

if it's humid you can run more ignition advance without detonation than you would if it was dry.
as for that sludge... I would go with the removing-the-pan idea, it is safer than adding chemicals to your motor but it'll take you about a day depending on your car/mechanical skills. You need to take off the stupid crossbar and tranny dust cover and torque all 20-something bolts right or you screw up the gasket. Also, while you have the pan out, you might want to change out your rod bearings. You need to take one off and show it to a Honda dealer, there were about 4 different ones, indicated by a color on the bearing (what a stupid way to designate parts in the dirtiest part of the motor)
I wouldn't trust auto part repops for that

[Justin86]

Yea having to take off that flywheel cover is a pain in the ass. You look at it and think it should take about 20mins then an hour later when you finally get it you are like what the fuck. :burn:

[HondaBoy]

ok, so i had said something in another thread about losing and gaining power. i thought it was all because of the high humidity that we have and the day time heat. i decided to change my air filter earlier this week. so i went and got on and put it on. i originally had the lid flipped, but with the new filter it didnt fit flipped. so i had to put it back to stock. i noticed that for one, it was quieter, DUH! also i noticed it had more power back to stock. it also runs a lot smoother and doesnt have funky motor vibration. i think it must have had to do something with vacuum pressure or something linked to that. tonight i tried it out on the freeway where it is sloped upward. before it didnt get too quickly up past 65 without going into overdrive or 3rd gear. now, it has a small amount more pull. i guess stock configuration is slightly better. also, my gas mileage has gone up! if you think about it, the flipped lid lets it suck in hot engine air. but stock way it sucks cooler air in through the fender. i dont know if anyone else has experienced this. anyway, i may do a new air box off the s-efi civic engine. my friend has a good one that he too off cuz he just bought a new mpfi mannifold to go with his new fuel system. i can ghetto fab up a cai of some sort if i do that civic air box thing. either that, or make some kind of sheet metal air box or one out of plastic. well, back to stock aint so bad after all.

[shepherd79]

i never had a problem with flipped lid. my car always performed a lot better with lid flipped.

[Elijah]

me too!!!

[k-roy]

Interesting. Good luck with the new intake, be careful with the Dremel. Oh yea, stay away from plastics and pvc for intakes.

[HondaBoy]

why stay away from plastics? it doesnt conduct a bunch of heat as aluminium and other metals do. anyway, it has been running a lot better than it did. im still wanting to do some kind of sheet metal intake of some sort. dont know what kind of filter i will use. probley a flat kind. i would need to make the airbox the same size as the filter. or i could run those cone filters. but with seeing what most people i know with cone filters have gone through, ill probley stick with a cheaper drop in style filter, the flat one. most people i know that have short arm or cai's have trouble finding a good filter. they usually are pretty crappy, like ones you would find at most parts stores. like the APC ones or matrix. guess you get what you pay for. considering they are about $20, thats a waste. i might as well design an intake to make from metal and weld it all nice.

[POS carb]

plastic is a much better heat insulator but the material can burn or become brittle, unlike the metal. As long as you keep the intake away from your exhaust system you should be fine. It's also a lot less expensive

[Dibbs]

Another thing about PVC v/s Metal. The flow characteristics of the intake favor polished or chromed metals. The differences are a bit minimal when compared to the price of materials. You're not building a drag car here. I say go cheap with the plastic and spend some money on a real filter like a K&N.

[modu03]

hey... I wouldn't go with just another flat filter... I built my own short ram out of a piece of polished pipe from my friends integra he crashed:toilet: ... all I had to buy was the filter...

anyway... I noticed a definite power increase from the cold air intake I had on before. go with the short ram, especially if you plan on putting a functional hood scoop in later.

there's a picture of my intake below