$1750 for 6.5 HP, a story of rice....
 

I was in training for a new job and this required me to be away from home Monday through Friday. Since the hotel only got 20 channels I was forced to watch some guy do a "build up" of a Honda on the Learning Channel (I think that is what channel it was). He spent $1750 in total (parts only) for a new computer, cold air kit, and "throaty" exhaust system. The car dyno tested at 106 HP before modifications and 111.5 HP after modifications. He actually said that you could "feel the pull" of the extra ponies. I laughed and thought about how many HP you could get from a V8 for $1750. What are these people thinking?

Re: $1750 for 6.5 HP, a story of rice....
 

they aired that on tv? thats just wrong

Re: $1750 for 6.5 HP, a story of rice....
 

Ha!

I watched spike tv one day and they spent 5 or 6 hundred on a honda exhaust system. I'll admit it was a nice system that id like to have had on my car.

Seems like they lightened up the wheels and added big brakes too. Forgot how much that was. They said the whole time doing this that the less rotating weight would free up some HP, especially with the bad a$$ exhaust. OOPS!

The kicker was it LOST HORSPOWER! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Re: $1750 for 6.5 HP, a story of rice....
 

I love it when they air those reults on those shows, just goes to reinforce what we have said all along.....
Ryan

Re: $1750 for 6.5 HP, a story of rice....
 

but it gets 40 highway miles and sounds annoying... 1700 well spent!

Re: $1750 for 6.5 HP, a story of rice....
 

I was actually amazed that they aired it as well. Right before the dyno test I made a guess that the car would make 15-20 more HP. I laughed when it only made 6.5 HP. The guy who was hosting the show demonstrated the exhaust by revving the thing to the rev limiter several times. I'm no expert but that can't be good for your engine, especially if it isn't warmed up. It did confirm what I had suspected, small engine CID, small HP gains when you start adding bolt-on equipment. (unless it is NOS or a turbo or supercharger).

Re: $1750 for 6.5 HP, a story of rice....
 

I saw the episode where the car actually lost hp too. As far as gaining a measly 6.5whp, that's a gain of about 6%. To do that on say a 2002GT, that would take about 13whp. Something you might expect to see from the modifications they made to the import. Thing is, the 2002GT's modifications probably would have set you back far less money, I'd guess less than 50%.

Re: $1750 for 6.5 HP, a story of rice....
 

it only made 6.5 more hp that before??? Oh I know what the problem is.... it's a RICE!!! they must of not put the 10hp each stickers on the car before they made the dyno pull


Stickers..getting rice over the 100hp mark for years =P

Re: $1750 for 6.5 HP, a story of rice....
 

Okay, so the Civic weighs in at 2700lbs.

Stock = 105whp or 25.71 lbs/hp
Modded = 111.5whp or 24.22lbs/hp

Those modifications probably cut between 2-3 tenths off the quarter mile time of the car. Though ridiculously expensive for the mods that were made, it's every bit as effective as the same mods on the Mustang.

The base model Civic was never really made to be a performance vehicle, but I wouldn't doubt that an additional 6.5whp is "noticable" on a car like that. Keep in mind, that's 6.5whp peak, not average. The modifications may have made a much larger difference over the entire power band of the engine.

People often point out that a catback system on a 5.0 Mustang is maybe worth 5 to 10hp, tops, it helps out a great deal ABOVE where the peak power of the engine is made. After all, most of us don't shift a 5.0 at 4200rpm the last time I checked.

The modifications made the car were legitimate. It's not like they added a tornado to it or something. Yeesh.

Re: $1750 for 6.5 HP, a story of rice....
 

Lets dont forget the 96GT project car on HP TV. Every bolt on ever made and an aftercooled supercharger and only put down 308 to the wheels. :rolleyes:

I put down more than that on motor.

For real ricer performance the DSM's are were it is at. My Talon traps 109mph @4000ft with modest mods. :cool: and can pull a 1.7 60ft on street tires. Yeah it breaks alot but it is a fun little car.

Re: $1750 for 6.5 HP, a story of rice....
 

I'd like to see that one. Not that I don't believe you, but that was also the first year of the 4.6 in the stang too. Somewhere I read that the 96-98 stangs were among the slowest mustangs in stock trim.

Re: $1750 for 6.5 HP, a story of rice....
 

300rwhp for a 96-98 blown gt is pretty good.

Re: $1750 for 6.5 HP, a story of rice....
 

This car has every bolt on imaginable and an aftercooled supercharger.

Hammers old car put down over 400RWHP with similar mods.

Re: $1750 for 6.5 HP, a story of rice....
 

Well, assuming its a stock car, (and hell even if its not) :D Scaling that to a v8 would be near 4 grand for 13 hp :rolleyes:Buy a K&N for $40 and you've got a pull you can feel.
Give me 4k, and a stock motor, and I'll be making a bit more than 13hp over stock :D
Hell, give me 17 hundred....
Trying to make a NA 4 cyl perform without serious mods is a joke. I give respect to true "tuner" cars, but for the $, its all displacement :D (And getting it to the ground :o )

Re: $1750 for 6.5 HP, a story of rice....
 

Yeah a guy at my work has a Talon that will run 13's......i think he's driven it a couple times. (1 turbo, 1 engine, numerous half-shafts, etc.)

Launching an all-wheel drive car i imagine can get expensive.

Re: $1750 for 6.5 HP, a story of rice....
 

Hammer also had motorsport heads and intake(baiscally a Bullit). ;)

Re: $1750 for 6.5 HP, a story of rice....
 

I've got a better one for you guys.....I forget what the mag is (import tuner or one of the other import mags) but I was looking at it at work and in the back they have a section called power pages, they take a stock civic hatch, dyno it then do a performance tune up, dyno it, headders and dyno it, cat back system and dyno it, etc...
At the end they do about $1500 worth of parts alone and gain only about 10hp

Give me $150 and I could get 10hp on the dyno alone

Re: $1750 for 6.5 HP, a story of rice....
 

Yes. Hammers car made 392 RWHP on the day it was dynoed.

He had the ATI procharger with intercooler (@8 psi), the motorsport heads, the motorsport intake, and most of all the other bolt ons you'd expect.

That car was quick. It was a great cruising car because everone thought that is was a slow-ass 96-98 GT. We started a couple cameros and he even roasted vette at the track. His problem was getting traction. He's sit still until 3rd gear and then shoot off like a rocket. LOL, those were fun days...