We get tons of readers writing into our Tech Support section asking which mods they should be doing to their cars in order to make them faster. Rather than answer one guy's questions on what to do, this month we're going to try to help a large segment of the scene: the Honda crowd.
In the very early 1990's Honda engines didn't have too much aftermarket support. Tuners and enthusiasts alike made their cars fast by a lot of trial and error. Nowadays there is a great amount of aftermarket help with tuning being perfected and newer parts developed regularly. Even more, tuners aren't really having to guinea pig products on their Honda engines. The book has been written and we now know what works and what doesn't.
Mild Intake If you want a sleek stealth drop-in filter, K&N makes some of the best in the market. Most people however will go with a cone type filter mounted with a 2.5" pipe. If you want the ultimate performance, a cold-air intake routing the filter down below the engine bay will be your choice. Great choices include AEM, J's Racing and Mugen. Bang: estimated +5hp Bucks: $50+
Exhaust The most important thing when shopping for an exhaust is the diameter of the piping. Unless you're building a monster B series, you should be looking for an exhaust with 2.5" (or 60mm) diameter piping. No, we are not talking about the exhaust tips, (those couldn't matter less). Lately, the popular choices have been A'PEXi N1, Buddy Club Spec 2, HKS Hi-Power and custom setups. A lightweight and straight-through design are also very effective. Bang: estimated +7hp Bucks: $350+
Header Off-the-shelf mass-produced headers like DC Sports or even the JDM ITR piece are great headers. But lately, tuners have been going for custom one-off pieces. The optimum collector size (or opening at the end of the header) should be 2.5" (or 60mm) for a mildly-built B series. For serious all-motor builds popular choices include Hytech, RMF, Six Sigma Racing, SMSP and Toda Racing. Bang: estimated +7hp Bucks: $450+
Medium Intake Manifold If you don't have a Type R engine, a great OEM upgrade is the Type R intake manifold. You can find this at the local dealership for under $300. Blox and Skunk2 both improved on the OEM design just a bit. Edelbrock and AEBS went even further with a larger manifold for high output engines. Bang: estimated +10hp Bucks: $250+
ECU There's one name in the Honda world that dominates in tuning: Hondata. Better than just a reflash, Hondata offers systems that you can have tuned especially to suit your build. Bang: estimated +10hp Bucks: $200+
Camshafts Whether you're doing a naturally-aspirated or forced induction engine Jun, Toda and Skunk2 make great cams for the B series. An inexpensive upgrade to the B series is OEM Type R cams. These are inexpensive and very easy on the valvetrain. Bang: estimated +10hp Bucks: $500+
Pistons If you have stock cylinder walls, you can use inexpensive cast OEM pistons from the dealership. The Integra Type R (P73-A0/00) and Civic Type R (PCT) pistons work great for a high compression B16A. And either of those two pistons or even the B16A pistons (P30/PR3) works great in a B18B/C. Now if you you're building an NA 2.0L, RS Machine has some inexpensive cast 84mm high comp pistons as an alternative to more expensive forged units. Bang: estimated +10hp Bucks: $200+
B Series Wild Head Work A growing trend in head work is CNC porting. For a more accurate and consistent job companies like RLZ Engineering use CNC machines programmed to port heads. Afterwards, ports will be cleaned up and quality checked by hand. Bang: estimated +15hp Bucks: $1000+
Cylinder Block When stock cylinder sleeves aren't strong or wide enough, simply replace them. A rather hardcore upgrade but a necessity when going extreme. Popular sleeves include, Benson, Dart, Darton, Golden Eagle and RS Machine. Bang: N/A Bucks: $1000+
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