Wanting more... cheap ba$tard, willing to work hard.

[[email protected]]

I have an 87 dx and have done vac removal (4th stg), ram air, and use advaced timing. That prob sounds pretty lame, but it's helped a lot actually. I plan to keep the carb and do N/A spending as little as possible. Is there anything else I can do at this point w/o forking out hundreds of dollars? I refuse to spend as much on one part as the car is worth or go FI. Handling (shocks, tires, brakes, bushings) is important and that's where my money has gone so far. I can experiment since this is a second car so please give me ideas.
Thoughts:
Lightened flywheel? Can a shop do this for little$$ on a lathe?
Regrind CAM? (mild Delta?)
P&P?
Used exhaust parts? (no emissions laws)
Remove PS, AC?
Weight?
I'm trying to learn with what I've got. There may be no way to avoid doing exhaust, so I might spend $$ there. I just won't do legit stuff except for the headers. Please don't suggest I'm rice-ing or recommend a fart muffler. I'd rather be low key, sleeper, with some power than noisey and looking for attention.

[Vanilla Sky]

gather parts little by little to do DCOE. that swap absolutely KILLS EFI.

you can get in contact with phrenology about the flywheels.

a cam regrind is something that's good and on your list.

weight reduction is a good thing on ANY car.

if you can come across someone that's getting rid of one of the pacesetter exhaust parts, go for that. the headers tend to rust and the muffler on the catback is crap, but both of those things can be easily fixed. just make sure you are buying a solid header, not one that's been rusted through.

[gfrg88]

removing the AC and PS should help out some, i think.

[[email protected]]

I've thought about Webers, but I figured they're beyond what I'd want to spend. What is the actual gain in hp? Wouldn't that be like $400 just for carbs & custom intake?

Has anyone here been successful at redrilling the stock carb/jets, etc?

Headers + exhaust will probably be next if I can find the parts, then a cam. The exhaust I can probably have a friend weld, so I just need headers and a high flow muffler.

I've driven w/o the PS and didn't mind too much. AC may have to stay though since this is Alabama and it is humid as f$%k in the summer.

FWIW, I cooked my computer/etc a long time ago; wired the battery backwards (...in the dark, in the rain). So I don't plan on many electronic mods. I've looked at the circuit but haven't taken the time to figure out what part(s) need replacing. Car runs pretty good though!

[shepherd79]

Stock carb is very restrictive. you can go only so far with it.
You can always get used 2bbr carb and adapt it to the stock intake manifold.
I had Holley 2bbr carb mounted on my old accord. it made huge diff at high RPM.
If you are on tight budget, start saving.
Horsepower aren't cheap.

if you want, i have stock carbed intake manifold that i have been working on. I ported out to fit 2bbr Holley carb. I can sell you cheap since i have no use for it anymore.

[[email protected]]

I noticed the intake for sale. Why did you cut down the plenum, for Holley butterfly clearance? How much do the Holleys/Webers go for? What diameter is the holley 2bbr? I don't only want top end.

Those bottom intake bolts are fun getting to, huh? : ) Found a leak in the gasket last summer.

[Vanilla Sky]

well, this would b for a highly tuned motor of a different series, but N/A d-series guys sometimes see 40+ WHP when switching from thier EFI systems to DCOEs.

and yeah, $400 is a somewhat conservative estimate for a proper setup.

[snoopyloopy]

i read awhile ago about a guy who had 200+ hp in the stock carbed crx engine. so it's definitely doable on the a20, since it's bigger. sounds like you have a good plan, though. cams, exhaust, suspension, weight reduction, etc. just make sure you have a plan. without it, you'll end up spending more than you necessarily have to.

[lostforawhile]

well it sounds like rice,but on these older cars,the intake and exaust mods make a lot more difference then on newer FI cars. if you don't care about emissions laws,get rid of the cat,or if you want to keep it,get a high flow one. the old style cats are bad enough when they are new,but when they have a lot of miles on them they are horrible. run a reasonable size exaust,and get rid of that horrific factory muffler. if you don't want it loud,get a nice flowmaster muffler or something like it. basically anything you can do to help the engine breathe better.

[[email protected]]

Thanks for the feedback from everyone. I need to do more research and get prices on parts. Still undecided how far I want to go w/ it, which is why I want to do what I can at minimal cost. I'm going to focus on free stuff, exhaust, cam, and carbs for now. At least someone here (or ebay) would buy the carbs if I got em and decided to sell em later. Anyway, it's inspiring to see some major gains w/o gutting the engine, like AccordEpicenter's turbo, etc. It's nice to be part of a board with so much knowlegde!