New to 3rd Gen. Accord Performance-Need Advice..

[BigDaddyJC]

Just bought a 89 Honda Accord 2 Door Hatch-LX-i 5 speed and I am looking for advice on how to make my stock factory A20A3 engine perform at its best.
Any help or advice is greatly appreciated. I'm not looking to do an engine swap right now, just want to get the most out of the factory setup I already have.

Jim C.

[snoopyloopy]

go find rjudgey and talk to him. tell him your budget and he'll tell you how much power you can go with.

[smufguy]

Let me guide you in the right directions.

https://www.3geez.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=4

https://www.3geez.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14843

The above two links are just preliminary threads to give you a start on what you are looking for. I suggest that you 'search' your inquiries and read all the threads carefully. This forum has been around for a long time and you will find anything and everything you are thinking of.

[shepherd79]

Just bought a 89 Honda Accord 2 Door Hatch-LX-i 5 speed and I am looking for advice on how to make my stock factory A20A3 engine perform at its best.
Any help or advice is greatly appreciated. I'm not looking to do an engine swap right now, just want to get the most out of the factory setup I already have.
Jim C.

are you trying to build the engine for the streets or race track?
either way, you will have to spent a lot of money.
start with obvious exhaust, headers, colt air intake. after that you can go to perfromance camshaft, ported head with ported intake manifold and TB. bigger injectors.
that can only do so much. If you want even more power, convert to OBD1. People see huge HP gains after convertion and tunning.

[MessyHonda]

that is a hot car...the 89 lx-i and its a hatchback....man....post some pics when you have a chance

[BigDaddyJC]

This will be my daily driver. I just want to do what I can to the existing A20A3 to help it out. I am sort of looking for bolt on mods to help increase the power but not kill my gas milage. No major overhauls yet. Engine has high miles, but still runs great.

are you trying to build the engine for the streets or race track?
either way, you will have to spent a lot of money.
start with obvious exhaust, headers, colt air intake. after that you can go to perfromance camshaft, ported head with ported intake manifold and TB. bigger injectors.
that can only do so much. If you want even more power, convert to OBD1. People see huge HP gains after convertion and tunning.

Will do. I should have some pics of it to post up after this weekend.
I sort of noticed the 2 door hatches are not that common in the pic sections. I have the one I am going to make my daily driver plus two more I am going to have for parts. All of them are rust free Alabama cars too.
I may end up with a 4th one also if everything goes right.....

that is a hot car...the 89 lx-i and its a hatchback....man....post some pics when you have a chance

[snoopyloopy]

well, no one makes a direct bolt-on cold air intake for our cars. weapon-r makes a short ram, but it's overpriced. most members seem to have good results with a 5g accord cai or making their own. those fit the easiest without any other modding besides opening the hole in the fender. the 2g integ one needs the battery moved a little. as far as exhaust, pacesetter is the only company that still makes a header for our car. if you can find one, there's one by dc sports, but it'll be overpriced and there's no real evidence actually comparing the two. you can also get a pacesetter catback exhaust. only thing some people say is that you have to get a different muffler if you want it to sound good. but it's a nice sized exhaust and for the price really isn't bad. and you can find a high-flow cat from pacesetter, random technologies, etc. most of the time, you really only need the flange to bolt up w/ the downpipe and you can put damn near any cat on it.

[shepherd79]

well since it is your daily driver i would recomend doing this:
Get CAI. you can get 5th gen accord one. they fit nice. all you have to do is make a whole in a fender bigger. I have one that i am trying to sell.

Get headers and full cat back from ebay. Pasessetter makes them. They are affordable and easy to install.
do some tune up. Fuel filter, spark plugs and wires, distributor cap and rotor.
You can also upgrade the Stock coil with aftermarket one for hotter and stronger spark.

That should give you nice power gains without loosing gas mileage. you may actually see some mileage gains from that. I know i did.

[BigDaddyJC]

Thanks. I will look around on Ebay and see what I can come up with from PaceSetter for the header.
Exhaust is no problem, since my best friend runs an Exhaust shop locally.
Converter? Think I'll just do without for now........Alabama, no inspections....
you know.....

well, no one makes a direct bolt-on cold air intake for our cars. weapon-r makes a short ram, but it's overpriced. most members seem to have good results with a 5g accord cai or making their own. those fit the easiest without any other modding besides opening the hole in the fender. the 2g integ one needs the battery moved a little. as far as exhaust, pacesetter is the only company that still makes a header for our car. if you can find one, there's one by dc sports, but it'll be overpriced and there's no real evidence actually comparing the two. you can also get a pacesetter catback exhaust. only thing some people say is that you have to get a different muffler if you want it to sound good. but it's a nice sized exhaust and for the price really isn't bad. and you can find a high-flow cat from pacesetter, random technologies, etc. most of the time, you really only need the flange to bolt up w/ the downpipe and you can put damn near any cat on it.

[MessyHonda]

yeah also you can get a Cam from delta or colt...

[BigDaddyJC]

If you still got the CAI in a week or so, I will PayPal you $40.00 for it. Just spent all my extra this week on a Z28 factory hood scoop and rear 3 piece spoiler for my Drag Car.

well since it is your daily driver i would recomend doing this:
Get CAI. you can get 5th gen accord one. they fit nice. all you have to do is make a whole in a fender bigger. I have one that i am trying to sell.
Get headers and full cat back from ebay. Pasessetter makes them. They are affordable and easy to install.
do some tune up. Fuel filter, spark plugs and wires, distributor cap and rotor.
You can also upgrade the Stock coil with aftermarket one for hotter and stronger spark.
That should give you nice power gains without loosing gas mileage. you may actually see some mileage gains from that. I know i did.

Lets say I install a cold air intake, header and have 2.5" exhaust ran, no CAT and a free flow muffler.
If I did a cam upgrade, what would I want to run with this setup?

yeah also you can get a Cam from delta or colt...

[2oodoor]

Welcome to the Forum Big Daddy JC from north central ALA-Bam-A
you got yourself a pretty cool car there. And you have a drag car as well, several members do that too.
As far as what you asked, Shepherd79 nailed it with the tune up stuff. You should know there is no real big HP gain with any single bolt on mod, a lot of seat of the pants dyno improvements but not a real big difference in how fast how quick. Computer mods to get the most out of what you got is the best advice, obdI conversion. Turbo setups are the best mods. The catback exhaust will make the car a little quicker feeling.

[shepherd79]

Lets say I install a cold air intake, header and have 2.5" exhaust ran, no CAT and a free flow muffler.
If I did a cam upgrade, what would I want to run with this setup?

I recomend 2.25" piping. too big of exhaust can lower the back pressure too much. our engines need some back pressure.

If you want to have same or better gas mileage stay with stock cam. if you want power go with delta 272 cam or bigger.
I have Colt stage 2 cam, that is i am selling. $135 shipped. I also have test pipe 2.25" if you want to remove the cat. it will bolt up to pasessetter header downpipe and cat back system. asking $35 shipped.

[MessyHonda]

Lets say I install a cold air intake, header and have 2.5" exhaust ran, no CAT and a free flow muffler.
If I did a cam upgrade, what would I want to run with this setup?

yeah the cam upgrade would help you alot if you have all thoes mods.

[BigDaddyJC]

Thanks man, I really like the looks of this 89 hatch. Sort of reminds me of the 86 Yota GT-S hatch I sold a guy last year.
The obd 1 conversion is something I have saw on several postings so far. I am interested in this conversion, since, as you said, it will probably give me the most gain for the car. Where can I find all the specifics on this conversion?
Yea, this season I will be running a 79 Camaro for Drag Racing. I have also kept it street legal for playing around too during the week.

Welcome to the Forum Big Daddy JC from north central ALA-Bam-A
you got yourself a pretty cool car there. And you have a drag car as well, several members do that too.
As far as what you asked, Shepherd79 nailed it with the tune up stuff. You should know there is no real big HP gain with any single bolt on mod, a lot of seat of the pants dyno improvements but not a real big difference in how fast how quick. Computer mods to get the most out of what you got is the best advice, obdI conversion. Turbo setups are the best mods. The catback exhaust will make the car a little quicker feeling.

Okay, looks like this is probably what I need to do to my car to start with.
Header.
2.25 exhaust from header back with good flow muffler.
Obd 1 Conversion.
Cold Air Intake.
Stock Cam.
This engine shows over 300,000 miles, so its probably not got much longer on it anyways. I dont plan to use it for a drag car anyways, just my daily driver.
Thanks to all for the info. I really appreciate it guys.
Jim C.

[MessyHonda]

Okay, looks like this is probably what I need to do to my car to start with.
Header.
2.25 exhaust from header back with good flow muffler.
Obd 1 Conversion.
Cold Air Intake.
Stock Cam.
This engine shows over 300,000 miles, so its probably not got much longer on it anyways. I dont plan to use it for a drag car anyways, just my daily driver.
Thanks to all for the info. I really appreciate it guys.
Jim C.

also like Shepard said....do a tune up on it....get some nice spark plugs and wires...change the oil and tranny oil....and best of luck my friend.

[shepherd79]

Okay, looks like this is probably what I need to do to my car to start with.
Header.
2.25 exhaust from header back with good flow muffler.
Obd 1 Conversion.
Cold Air Intake.
Stock Cam.
This engine shows over 300,000 miles, so its probably not got much longer on it anyways. I dont plan to use it for a drag car anyways, just my daily driver.
Thanks to all for the info. I really appreciate it guys.
Jim C.

converting to OBD1 is not that easy. it will be a lot of custom work, about 100% of it.

here is the thread that started https://www.3geez.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18160

[frantik]

Converter? Think I'll just do without for now........Alabama, no inspections....
you know.....

doing your part for global warming eh?

[MessyHonda]

doing your part for global warming eh?

hondas run clean...hehe

[BigDaddyJC]

Well, actually, since I have not heard the car run or driven it yet since purchased, and with it showing about 360,000 miles on the odometer, I am figuring on it being a skeeter sprayer anyways. Raw oil dumped into a $$$ High flow cat would just be a waste of money since it will stop up quite rapidly from excessive oil.....

First off, I got to get a new fuel pump in it so I can see if the motor is good or needs replaced. Bought it depending on the main relay being bad, but we replaced it first thing and it still will not start. Jumped the plug and the fuel pump still wont run, so we are planning on swapping out the tank/pump and trying it again.

I'll probably focus on the exhaust side of things after I get all other upgrades and tune up completed, and all parts worn out replaced like front axles, rotors, etc...

doing your part for global warming eh?

[frantik]

i was just giving ya a hard time i recommend slapping a CAI on there for an easy performance boost

[snoopyloopy]

go w/ a higher flowing aftermarket pump. you probably won't even be maxing out the stock pump, but if you get real heavy into your modding, it's a nice bit of added security.

[2oodoor]

Thanks man, I really like the looks of this 89 hatch. Sort of reminds me of the 86 Yota GT-S hatch I sold a guy last year.
The obd 1 conversion is something I have saw on several postings so far. I am interested in this conversion, since, as you said, it will probably give me the most gain for the car. Where can I find all the specifics on this conversion?
Yea, this season I will be running a 79 Camaro for Drag Racing. I have also kept it street legal for playing around too during the week.

D o o r S l a m m e r s Rule!!!

got slicks



Hey, dont worry about the 360K miles on the Honda, they go and go if they were maintained well. You may not have to replace as much as you think, hopefully.

[Vanilla Sky]

Alabama, no inspections....
you know.....

still a felony, no matter where you're located. if you're in the US and your car was originally equipped with a cat, it must remain intact and in working order.

btw, burning oil won't do the amount of damage you expect. it will still take years to clog up a high-flow cat with a smoking engine.

[Vanilla Sky]

DP. mods, please fix.