Cheap HP Mods

[MessyHonda]

im a new member of this board....i got about 380 bucks and i want to knoe wut performance i can get out of this engine before blows up on me
My LIL honda
1988 Honda accord dx 4 door(auto)(156,000miles on chasis)
my mods so far:
K&N filter,
platinum 4 plugs,
8mm spark plug wires.
ICE: alpine mp3 deck,
6.5 inch kicker speakers front and back,
900 watt kicker amp,
2 10 inch kicker subs in bandpass box
I want to know what can i do to increse my hp?...its sad i cant burn out unless it just rained and the road is wet
car's history: my mother got it in may 1988 and since then we changed engine and trans so the engine has like 45,000 miles on it and now i got it.
plez help me find some good options.
priorities #1 something is wrong with my carb...#2 exhaust...#3 rims

[89AccordResto]

With an auto, I don't think you're ever going to be fast. Maybe save for a manaul conversion. G'luck dude.

[gfrg88]

id say for 380 bucks, get a cam, header, exhaust, and if you have any money left a weber carb.....oh and for free you can either flip the lid on your carb and take all that ICE of your car

[87AccordLXsdn]

for less than 380 bucks i bought a parts car and paid someone to change my car to five speed, best mod i've ever done

[AccordRacing21]

I'd start with 5 speed swap and FI swap, unless you're hell bent on carb, I know a lot of guys love it.

[MessyHonda]

I'd start with 5 speed swap and FI swap, unless you're hell bent on carb, I know a lot of guys love it.

i hear all of you guys but i did not know i could change it to 5 speed...should of researched b4 i swaped it...but oh well im stuck with it till i mest it up...how about exhuast what are some *QUIET* alternatives to stock....and man the Ice is for the honeys....makes the the back seats vibrate...

-Messy Honda88dx-

[A20A1]

You could get a pacesetter cat-back or a custom built 2.25" with a different muffler.
Some members get a different muffler because they don't like the one that comes with the pacesetter.

I find that some dual outlets mufflers are quieter then the single large outlet mufflers. The tip on the muffler is not set in stone... most places you can buy a muffler from will offer you a variety of tip styles.

Chamberd/baffled mufflers will hinder flow some but should be quieter then the straight through mufflers with the glass or steel packing material.

You'll still end up with a stock look and near stock sound if thats the way you want to go.

Add in a header and high flow cat and your exhaust noise will go up some more.

[shepherd79]

well, $380 is not a lot, but you can get some power for that money.
You can get headers and catback exhaust from ebay. It is pacessetter but it will be better than stock.
That will at up all of the money. You may have a few dollars left.
The other thing you can get is Weber Carb. Again you should see some power gains, but you won't pass emission test or visual inspection test.
Your best best would be to get rid of heavy subs and look for smaller but same power subs. I bet your box is heavy, and that causes a lot of power loss. It is like having a few people sitting on the back of your car all time.
So you may want to think about selling the subs you have and get one nice light one.

[89AccordResto]

Still... any of these mods is still going to be slower than a stock 5 spd, which isn't exactly greased lightning. Save for a 5 spd swap dude.

[88Accord-DX]

Weber carb= $450
Cam= $100 if not more.

Find a good deal on a exhaust on here, or EFI set up.

Need some deeper pockets......

[Lockleaf]

Autozone sells a Holley carb for the 3G for about $335. If you're having carb problems, your best HP bang for your buck will be a rebuilt or a new carb. Fix that and then go from there.

I've got the pacesetter monza catback exhaust on my car. The difference that I felt from it was mostly all mid to upper power band. Around 4500 rpm or so is really where I noticed it.
dirt cheap mod - take out your carb, take it apart and put in an extra spacer in the center. Haven't done this one, but they tell me that it works to help accel. Go to your local pull it yourself junkyard and you can get one out of one of their carbs for dirt cheap or free. Then do the manual tranny swap.

[88Accord-DX]

Edit- I was going to offer a rebuilt carburetor, but don't want to lose my core. I used to be in the buisiness back in the day. Here is my last rebuild.

[MessyHonda]

I'm an Automotive technician. If you need a re-built carb, let me know. They run about a & $100. Here is what my last one looked like.

yeah it would help because i have a werid problem...like when i start my car it goes to like 1500rpm and then gets all the way up to 2200rpm once it warms up and i have to push the gas to lower it and you cant even stand like 20 feet from the exhaust cuz it smells hella bad... my original carb would hessitate and die...so i went to the pick your parts place and i got a carb from a crashed car because they did not get rid of it cuz it had mechanical problems and i got lukcy cuz they only had one left but when i saw the odometer it said 220,000. so yeah i might have to get it tuned well cuz its wasting my gas i put in 20 bucks and its gone by the end of the week and i only drive to school and back(like 20 miles a day)... yeah like you said after that is all set and done i can continue to add other stuff to make it faster... kinda sad when i got taken by a ford ranger

[88Accord-DX]

Edit- I can rebuild your carburetor if you want. I don't want to loose my core. I edited my post before you responded. I didn't think about that. Sorry about that. Send me that junkyard carb, I'll rebuild it for you. Check my ebay for feedback- 100%

[89AccordResto]

dirt cheap mod - take out your carb, take it apart and put in an extra spacer in the center. Haven't done this one, but they tell me that it works to help accel. Go to your local pull it yourself junkyard and you can get one out of one of their carbs for dirt cheap or free.

Neat idea. Hadn't thought of that. Any clearance issues, and would it mess up the lines going to the carb at all?

Edit- I can rebuild your carburetor if you want. I don't want to loose my core. I edited my post before you responded. I didn't think about that. Sorry about that. Send me that junkyard carb, I'll rebuild it for you. Check my ebay for feedback- 100%

I'll keep that in mind this summer.

[snoopyloopy]

get a civic box and you can put an sri or cai on there. or an efi swap. 5 speed swap will help your acceleration a bit. although if u want to burn out, you can't just put it in gear and stomp it. it's not a corvette. put it in neutral, rev it, then put it in gear. the equvalent of dropping the clutch. though i dare say that your transmission won't like too much of that.

[halxi]

i hear all of you guys but i did not know i could change it to 5 speed...should of researched b4 i swaped it...but oh well im stuck with it till i mest it up...how about exhuast what are some *QUIET* alternatives to stock....and man the Ice is for the honeys....makes the the back seats vibrate...
-Messy Honda88dx-

your "ice" would make a whole hell of alot more vibrate if you didnt have that bandpass box.

like all of the others said, 5spd and fi.

I like my exhaust, but its by no means quiet... at all.

I had 2 12's in a custom dual chamber ported box, 1200w's going to them and they would rattle everything throughout my car with the gain set at half. Someone stole my amp, took my subs/box out, and ive had a NOTICABLE difference in not only handling, but accelerating, ride quality, and gas mileage.
I want it back, but at the same time i dont... so we will see where it goes.

[ivanfbi]

i wouldn't even hassle, just took out system, sell the car and buy EFi 5 speed one.

[snoopyloopy]

yeah, carbs aren't bad. i read a couple months ago about a guy who was pushing 200+ hp on a crx with the stock carbed engine. so should be doable to make hp from a carb. but really, you can only go as fast as your wallet will let you. so talk to your wallet and see how fast it wants you to go.

[A20A1]

Neat idea. Hadn't thought of that. Any clearance issues, and would it mess up the lines going to the carb at all?

It doesn't mess anything up, thing is you need to find a second spacer... which mean you need to find a spare carb to pull it from. You can only fit 2 spacers beween the main body of the carb and the lower thorttle plate section, any more then 2 spacers will require longer carb screws.

[A20A1]

Found the thread...
https://www.3geez.com/forum/showthread.php?t=49036
Cheap HP mods

[ivanfbi]

BTW nitrous oxide has best hp per dollar ratio.

[sinisterfuzzy]

id say for 380 bucks, get a cam, header, exhaust, and if you have any money left a weber carb.....oh and for free you can either flip the lid on your carb and take all that ICE of your car

what do you meen by flip the lid of your carb? what is that and what's it do

[speedpenguin]

You just take the lid on the carb airbox and turn it upside down. it's good for about 1HP in engine gain, and about 20HP in self-esteem gain.

[MessyHonda]

You just take the lid on the carb airbox and turn it upside down. it's good for about 1HP in engine gain, and about 20HP in self-esteem gain.

lol well i put in a K&N filter and fliped it and i did notice that the car sounded louder due that more air goes in to the car and that air has to come out making it sound a lil better but in reality its only like 2-4 hp it all depends on the engine