hey, i recently picked up a 5th gen and i was looking to put an intake, cams, exhaust, and maybe headers as of now. i was just wondering what your guys opinion on the types i should get. i was pretty positive on getting an aem v2 intake, but what about exhaust, cams and headers. i want to get a pretty good preformance gain with these pieces so i was looking for which types can have significant gains. any information would help. and sorry for the noob question
-nico

 

I'm curious, where are you planning on putting the second HEADER?

Anyway, all sarcasm aside. Here's my recommendation for some mild gains:

-Intake: AEM SRI (Assuming you drive daily)
-Header: SMS-P Header ($1,000+, but WELL worth it)
-Exhaust: Comes down to personal preference... Just know, that you get what you pay for. SMS-P makes great exhaust, and their price on the full system is pretty good. If you're looking for quiet, and mean sounding. APEXi World Sport 2 is a great exhaust, I'm going with that system when the time comes.
-Head: Once gain, comes down to personal preference... I'd go with Skunk2 Valvetrain (Springs, Retainers), with Skunk2 Pro-IIs, with mild porting and polishing.

Don't forget to get some kind of fuel management, because doing all that work without tuning for it, is pretty pointless.

My advice would be, go with an intake, header, and exhaust first. Then work into the internals of the engine. You'll be preparing the engine for better gains if you let it breath better first.

After you do the bolt-ons and a nice head package, 200whp should be easily had with some good tuning.

 

Thanks for the information. Do you know of any good management system or any you would suggest?

 

Is your Prelude a Type-SH? If not, that opens up quite a few options. Most fuel management systems cause a loss of ATTS in the Type-SH models. But, there are still ways to tune if you have an SH.

GReddy E-Manage Ultimate allows ATTS to work, and that management system would be fine for a mild naturally aspirated setup like you're thinking of going with.

Also, you won't neccesarily need any fuel management with basic bolt-ons. Intake, header, exhaust won't NEED any type of management, but you'll see a bit more power if you're engine is tuned for your modifications. However, once you go with a head package, it would definately be time for some management of some kind.

 

I own a 99 basic Prelude (not sh), and my goal for it is to build a n/a set up but nothing too wild. I want to have it quick, but not like a track car or anything, just a daily driver. I also look on building a show type car. The first step I want to take is to get the basic bolt-ons for better air flow. After that, then internals and what not. So the GReddy system is pretty good?

 

Well since you don't have a Type-SH, that opens up a lot more/cheaper/better options. I'd recommend finding a good tuner in your area, and see what system they use to tune with. It's always best to go with what your tuner's most comfortable with.

But this is what I'd do:

-Convert to OBDI. You'll need a conversion harness to convert from OBDIIa-OBDI. Boomslang, is a great company to buy from.
-Get an P28. This is the most popular OBDI ECU to tune with ('92-'95 Civic EX/Si ECU), and have it chipped.
-Get the car tuned. I'd recommend CROME, but Hondata, Uberdata, NepTUNE, any of those programs are good. I'm just used to dealing with CROME, so I'm a bit partial to it.

Any shop will charge you around $500 for a dyno tune with a new ECU. The conversion harness would be on you, as well.

But it's well worth it.

 

Cool thanks, I have found a few tuners around my area so i'll talk to them. Have you had any experience with the APEXi N1 exhaust, or hear of any reviews for that product. As of now im considering the N1 exhaust, and the V2 intake. Any ups or downs with those products?

 

he wont pass smog.....hes a CA resident if he converts to OBDI

 

It's not hard to convert back for testing. That's what I do.

Unclip the harness, clip stock ECU back in... Problem solved.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by hobodo5 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Cool thanks, I have found a few tuners around my area so i'll talk to them. Have you had any experience with the APEXi N1 exhaust, or hear of any reviews for that product. As of now im considering the N1 exhaust, and the V2 intake. Any ups or downs with those products?</TD></TR></TABLE>

APEXi N1 is LOOOOUUUUDD... V2 Intake is good, in the sense that it's AEM's latest product. But there hasn't been enough power gain over the normal SRI (Short Ram Intake) to make me jump at it, for the price. I honestly think the SRI is more bang for the buck.

But both products are high quality, and will last forever. Like I said, it's about personal preference. If you like loud, get the N1.