Hey everybody,
I bought my '02 Honda Civic LX a little over 3 years ago and it has always bogged down whenever I'm accelerating, especially when taking off from a start. This is because the previous owner installed a "cold air" intake without ever mounting a shield around it, therefore it gets loads of warm air from the engine, especially when the car has been at rest, such as at a stop light. I'd really like to fix this problem. My question is, should I go ahead and have a heat shield installed properly, or should I revert back to and OEM air intake system? Keep in mind, my goal with this vehicle has never been performance driven, so I'm not looking for more horsepower necessarily, just smoother acceleration.

 

Thank you.

 

i have a AEM intake megan header to a full exhaust and i gained maybe 5 hp not even a noticeable gain. its a civic there economy cars there slow as hell and thats the bottom line. also i did have a heat shield and it made absolutely no difference. if want to make some extra hp swap in the ex head with a stage 1 cam but even then i believe you only gain 30hp even with full exhaust.

 

Thanks for the reply, but as I said in the original post horsepower has never been my focus. You're right they're most definitely economy cars, and that is why I bought it; however, I cannot help but notice, from having driven other similar civics, that mine is exceededingly lackluster as far as acceleration is concerned. I wish the guy before me had never put anything aftermarket on it to begin with. I think it's foolish. Ultimately, from what every has said (heat shields ultimately doing nothing), I think that I'm going to just put an original air intake back in.

 

acceleration is lacking on these cars but with the rite suspension upgrades you can make them ride on rails which i think is an aspect your strongly underestimating acceleration don't mean jack in the corners just food for thought. by other cars do you mean the older 6th gen civic because those were ligher with more hp not to mention way better double wishbone suspension otherwise if your talking about the 7th gen then like i said before the ex had more hp then the base models maybe thats what your referring to not to mention vtec ???

 

I would do the oem air intake system will be the right thing to do as horse power is not a concern you will notice your car will run more quieter I am myself a big fan of OEM parts and accessories and since it is only 1.7 litre you can not make a Ferrari out it anyway. Hope this help.

 

If your not concerned about horsepower I would just go to the oem air intake system

 

Umm, hp isn't the issue. You won't gain any from an aftermarket intake.