AvalonVash

Hey guys. I'm new to this forum and I am looking for some help. My knowledge is very minimal in cars but I am reading as much as I can to learn. My question is, I have a 1997 Integra GS completely stock with only a home made short ram intake mod. The car currently has 147k miles on it and runs great. I have $1k-$2k to spend on the car and am looking for ideas from you guys on what would be the best way to upgrade for hp gains without turbo, I still have to pass the Cali smog test lol. I appreciate any info you can give me to help me out.

Bloody Arro

There are a few simple ways to get HP gains (but it won't be much) IHE: Intake, Header, Exhaust. You said you have a home made intake, if you're happy with that so be it. Headers help the exhaust gasses flow smoother which means faster leaving the car. You can do this relatively cheap (from one of the forums market sponsors) and will see a little more boost in power than the intake. Then comes the exhaust, you want to get the right amount of back pressure. If you have too little or too much, your car will actually lose power. You can get one from (one again) one of the sponsors here, a local muffler shop, eBay, craigslist, ect.

Also, I'm not sure if our cars have this option, but I would look into chipping the car for higher rev, more MPG, and more power. Once again, I'm not sure if we have that option.

Don't forget about tuning. You can buy turbo kits all day long, but if you don't tune the car properly you will yield not even a fraction of what you could get with a proper tune. Keep in mind that no tune is alike. I have a friend over in the Galant forums that has had his car tuned several times with the same setup and he has gained more HP from the previous tuning, it's all a matter of who does it and how good of a job they do.

AvalonVash

Thanks a lot for the response, i'm going to get started on my research on these things and figure out what are the best brands to go with.

Bloody Arro

Another thing that people may say would be to get performance spark plugs and wires. My car (got it yesterday lol) has NGK wires that the PO put on. I've heard from some people that they noticed a difference when putting performance wires on and I've had some people tell me that they don't notice a difference.

AvalonVash

Ya I just picked up some NGK Spark plugs yesterday from Autozone. I was going to get NGK wires as well but all they had were Bosch so I went with those. I was only instructed to NOT go with duralast lol.

EJ1_CRIS_909

If u have that much $$,u can also do some head work. Cams, valvetrain, Intake and exhaust porting, aftermarket intake manifold, etc... and after all that, taking your car to a shop to get tuned.

AvalonVash

Thanks a lot, some good ideas :D

I have also been reading up on different forums and most people have a GS-R engine. With my engine being of lesser power would any of these upgrades make me lose power as opposed to gaining, even after tuning?

Bloody Arro

No. Everything that has been said here will only gain you HP.

igorka_91

iTrader: (1)

First thing on your list shuld be AN ALARM. stealth install. gps tracking. etc etc.

Now since you live in CALLI. I wouldn't even touch the engine. Id invest in handling and brake system.
GL

1998GsRIntegra

I love how much misinformation floats around on honda tech. I'm not directing that at any one specifically, just in general,and in this thread.

If you have a budget of $2000 you need to make a list of things you want and the things that the car needs. Then another category of things that you would like to have for it, even if they are outlandish; such as a $1000 mugen or spoon gauge cluster.

Start with suspension and brakes, then worry about power. A car that handles is much more fun to drive than a car with a factory suspension setup(excluding the ITR which is one of the few cars setup very well from the factory)

As far as this whole myth about back pressure goes, its exactly that, a myth. Our cars do not need back pressure.

As far as chipping the car to rev higher and make more power and mpg...Reving higher will do you no good at all. The factory rev limit for you car of 7200rpm is there for a reason, thats just past where the car stops making power. You cant chip and obd2 ecu. You would have to convert your car to obd1 via a conversion harness and run an obd1 ecu with some form of engine management such as ectune, neptune, or crome to name a few. To convert your car and have it setup and dyno tuned expect about a $700 price tag. $200 for an ecu, $60 for a harness, and around $500 for a tuner to setup the car and dyno it. Lets be realistic though. Is spending about $2000 to make about 15 whp really worth it. Probably not. Unless your ready to drop serious money on engine parts and tuning I would spend your money on the suspension. Sure you can go on ebay right now and find a no name exhaust for $150 and a no name header for $40, but you wont do anything other than make more noise.

Consider $350 for a decent header and around $500 for an exhaust. Spend another $500 to $700 on parts needed to be able to tune the car and the actual tuning, and your almost at your $2000 budget. You will only pick up about 15 to 20 whp at the most.

Look my point in writing this is not to offend you, but more to guide you and help you not make some of the same mistakes I have made and so many others have made.

There was a thread a while back...a guy had a stock gs like you. He tracked the car at local auto crosses and he picked up around 30 seconds just from doing suspension work. He really did it right though.

Look into a koni ground control setup for suspension. Find a decent sized 21mm or 22mm rear sway bar. Get a sub frame brace. Pick up adjustable control arms and replace the worn out factory bushings in the suspension.

Figure $900 to $1000 for a koni/gc setup. $250 t0 $300 for a sway bar and sub frame brace. Proably another $400 for control arms and bushings. Maybe $300 for strut bars. Providing you do the work your self you should come in under or at your budget.

As far as spark plugs and wires go...oem honda wires and ngk platinum factory replacement plugs. The factory wires last almost forever and make more power than any thing else. Only about 1whp, but you get my point. Ill tell you right now to stay away from msd anything. msd does not get along with our cars.

Honestly leave your engine stock aside from general maintainence.

Try to work round spelling and grammar errrors, because I don't intend to proof read this novel of a post.

igorka_91

iTrader: (1)

^^^^^Whats the whole point of throwing 2k into his car if he has absolutely no security what so ever. Stock oem alarms dont really count since all it does it open and lock the doors for you. My first priority was an properly setup/installed alarm system.

1998GsRIntegra

Honestly a decent criminal can get around a decent alarm and a flat bed takes the alarm out of the equasion. I personally perfer a couple well hidden fuel pump kill switches. Lets face it, its not going to go any where with out fuel or unless its on a flat bed. Just my take on the whole alarm thing. Lets face it if they want it that bad, they'll get it eventually.

igorka_91

iTrader: (1)

flat bed- tilt sensor
broken window- window shatter sensor
towtruck/flat bed- gps tracking alarm

and wont argue with the "if they want it they will get it" comment.

You can bypass all those fuel cut switches. When people do the fuel cut switch they only kill the wire that is going to the fuel pump. I tell/show all mi friends how to kill/hide the (uuummm crap whats the name of it) i want to say main relay but not shure. Yes the main relay. Heres the link to how to do it. http://www.clubintegra.com/board/showthread.php?t=42679. OP i strongly recommend that you do this. And i am shure that others will to. And DO NOT POST PICS OF YOUR CAR were you can see the licence plates. Alot of thieves chill on these forums. Block youre plates. Edit the pics. ETC.
GL
Sorry for the shitie grammar butt you get the idea.

One more thing. DO NOT tell no one were your kill switches are at. Ive made that mistake.

EJ1_CRIS_909

1998GsRIntegra:::
He was asking how to get more power so we gave him suggestions. And he can do alot for cheaper than the prices you stated. WITHOUT having to go to a cheaper alternative. Such as the koni yellows and GC, 900-1000 is too much. A shop i go to sells em for 800 complete. My point is, if he shops around, he can get ALOT done to his car for cheap, he just has to know where to look. And as for chipping and tuning, it is possible to chip AND tune a obd2 ecu, your talking about misinformation floating around, when you throwing around false information yourself.

So to AvalonVash::::

The best thing you can do is just do research and reasearch of things because you can never belive what everyone says. Everyone has different opinions, so you have to keep looking around to find your right answer. Also shop around and you can find some amazing deals with looking. What area are you in? I can give you suggestions to places in the Los Angeles county area that have great prices for any parts you want or need.

igorka_91

iTrader: (1)

Or he can get the progress cs2s for 650ish. Loving mines so far. Its just sad to se how folks dump countless paychecks into mods and skimp out on security.

EJ1_CRIS_909

Ive heard good things about those coilovers, i got function and form type1 because they were more convinient to me and alot cheaper, and i admit, theyre nice for the price.

And your right about alarms, that was good information to post because car theives are on the rise nowadays. I wouldnt want to spend so much money on a car, then wake up the next morning and its gone. Its getting ridiculous.

1998GsRIntegra

Kindly link me to a factory obd2 honda ecu that has been chipped and is tuneable.

My understanding is that you are basically replacing the mcu with one with a tuned map. I don't know of a way to re-write a new map with out de soldering and using another mcu because its bacically a one shot deal. So if thats what your referring to then I'd hardly call that a chipped ecu. I'd call it a modified stock ecu thats a huge pain in the *** to try to get any tuning done with.

EJ1_CRIS_909

Ya my tuner said its not really worth it because of limitations, but my point is, that it IS possible. Research is key.

1998GsRIntegra

So with an obd2 ecu technically speaking your not chipping it, your installing a new mcu with a map just like a 28 pin chip that an obd1 ecu would have, but yor not modifying the ecu to accept a chip, your simply replacing the stock mcu with a modified one.

We're splitting hairs here. Lets agree that you can put a modified map on an obd2 ecu, but its not really effective because of what you have to go through to do it, and its a pain in the *** to work with because unlike a chip for an obd1 ecu you can not re-burn mutiple maps to the same chip or mcu in the case of odb2; you literally have to use an entirely new mcu.

The only way I know of to have a useable tuning system on an obd2 ecu would be to have some kind of piggy back system, but your still limited. One because with a piggy back system in an obd2 ecu your basically tricking the sensors on the engine where as with an obd1 flash based or chip based system your sending a signal directly from the ecu to the engine, no sensors are being tricked. Two when you weigh the cost of a piggy back system vs an obd1 setup its a no brainer, especially because of the amount of different tuning systems that can be used on an obd1 setup.

AvalonVash

Thanks guys for the helpful info, and I do appreciate the suggestions for a security system.

EJ1_CRIS_909: I am in L.A. county so some good shopping suggestions would be greatly appreciated (909) :D

Thank you everyone again for the ideas this info has been very helpful!

igorka_91

iTrader: (1)

For alarm, since your in LA area, hit up Dess "wrx-killer-Sti-eater". I would recommend his stealth GPS alarm install with tilt sensor and window shatter sensor. I drove down to LA from mid CA to get an alarm done by him. So far. The best investment/mod that i did to the car.
GL

Jason Gunsolus

i have a 97 integra gsr. Im getting ready to install a skunk 2 exhaust full system with a racing straight pipe and no headers yet. I will also be installing a cold air intake and will let you know how my hp gains. should be ok but not significant. i had the same exhaust on my 93 del sol which is the same chassis for the 93-97 model of the del sol. also this is my first reply. good alarm system is viper and online they are super cheap and most places will install from 60-150 depending on which model you get.

B serious

iTrader: (1)

For $2000, I would buy wheels/tires suspension. I think you should be able to pick up something budget friendly like Enkei RPF1's and some Koni/GC's for under/right around $2k.

If you want power, buy a GSR longblock and B16 trans. Sell your B18B non-Hp making motor. Or an ITR swap if you can stand adding in a bit more $$ for a MUCH better starting point.

I figure with those swaps, your net expenses would be $1000-2000. Your HP gain would be 45-60hp. No other combination of mods can give you that much HP for the money with absolute reliability.

B serious

iTrader: (1)

All that is worth about 5-7WHP.

Mod smart, not hard.

A good header is a big part to power gains on a B series. You could have coupled it with a stock ITR exhaust or made up some piping to join a stock ITR muffler. That skunk2 exhaust is LOUD and it will likely sound awful with that test pipe.