Looking to upgrade my exhaust, already have a 2.25'' catback and an AEM V2 intake, so i wanted to complete it with some headers, downpipe, and either a high flow cat or just strait pipe. I'd gladly spend a grand on an SMSP header, but I'm just not sure it would be that great for my set up really. I have a H23 non vtec and i want it basically to just make more torque for daily driving. Besides that, the downpipe got bent or something and makes a horrible rattling sound around 3,600-4,000 rpm. (Put the car on a lift, pried it away....rattling stopped) So my real concern is, if i spend 1k on a "racing header" is it mostly gonna show at peak power, high rpm situations? If so, i'll just go with a dc or something and at least fix my exhaust rattle. But if I'll be seeing the promised 20hp and 15tq gains across the board, then gogo SMSP. Any help in regaurds to this would be great. Also, any comments on just how to make more torque for that low-mid end "pull" besides exhaust, cams or whatnot would also be appreciated. Please keep in mind that I'm pretty much a noob, my mechanical expertise mainly consist of 4 years of auto shop in high school. So be gently on me

 

I don't think SMSP makes a header for the H23 yet. I think they MIGHT be working on one though. Not positive.

Anyway, for your setup you don't need anything aggressive like that. It's like listening to most of the guys on these sites who put larger calipers on their car with Pepboys pads. Doesn't make sense. A nice header is only needed to compliment a modified engine.

Don't expect a header to do that much. You're better off going with a DC Sports style header. You can get them now on Ebay for less than $100 shipped.

Remember, it's not just buying the header and slapping it on. You need to get your car tuned also. It adds up very quickly and the gains will likely not be what you expect. For the $1000+ you're willing to spend on a header, and you're serious about gaining more power, here's the best bang for the buck:
https://honda-tech.com/zerothread/1046336

I would LOVE to do this to a car I drove daily. Cheap, real power increases, and fairly easy to put together. But it all comes down to if you are truely serious about the power gains and wanting to do it right the first time.

Hope this helped a little.

 

Awesome yeah thats what i was looking for. I saw all these dyno's with h22's getting 15-20hp from them, but i guess those were more agressively modded engines with more than just intake and exhaust. DC it is then. 100$ sounds too damn cheap though, most of the ones i saw were 500'ish. And yeah I've looked heavily into the h23vtec frankenstein build. The tuning shop around here actually has a h22 lying around with a broken rod that he said i could pretty much part out from him, so that is an option. Only thing is that it is an 5th gen motor, and i heard there is a problem with the open/closed deck difference between gaskets and whatnot. Dunno if i could pull off anything like his, although that is exactly what im looking for really. Torque monster.

 

Personally, I like the G23 hybrid that Pirate McFred built. You don't need to rev it high and makes GREAT bottomend tq.

I thought about building up my old H23 by putting all kinds of bolt-ons. I then realized that really no matter what I did, it would probably fall short of the gains had I just got a stock H22 swap. I saved my money, got ALL the parts I needed, then swapped it in. NO regrets. It was actually cheaper than modding my H23. Also, I waited until my car needed the water pump, timing belt, seals, etc to be replaced so I could do all of that to my H22 before I swapped it in.

The only downfall of the h22 swap is the bottomend tq. Up until around 50 mph, it's nearly identical to the H23. The major difference is after 50 mph. That's why I prefer the G23 to the H22 if the car is mainly used for daily driving.

I take my car to the track so the H22 is really fun. However, if my car was mainly a daily driver, I would do the G23 NON VTEC hybrid. No question about it. The tq and reliability are VERY impressive. It puts a lot of H22's to shame.

 

How bout a h23 block with an h22 head? Heard so many mixed reviews on that, what do you think, or have you read of any successful projects that posted hp/tq gains?

 

I've had some interest in the H23 header in the last few weeks. I've gotten a H23 head and already had a F23 block so the jig ready. I have not drawn the flanges up yet. The header would be similar to my H22 header but with different tube sizes. However, it would still have a 2-1/2" outlet so I would recommend a 2-1/2" cat and cat back exhaust.

 

is a 2.36 inch exhuast too small for an smsp header? is 2.5 the minimum you should have?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by HottNikkels &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">is a 2.36 inch exhuast too small for an smsp header? is 2.5 the minimum you should have?</TD></TR></TABLE>

I would say 2 1/2 at least into a 2 1/2 high flow cat or test pipe.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Dabrybry &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">How bout a h23 block with an h22 head? Heard so many mixed reviews on that, what do you think, or have you read of any successful projects that posted hp/tq gains?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Read this
https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=510617

 

200 torque is pretty amazing specially making 140 of it at 2k rpms...jeebus