H22 swap in progress... where to go from here?

[Thirteenth]

my jdm h22 is currently being swapped in... should be done in less then a week.

i'd like some opinions on where to go from here guys. i know its vague as hell so i'll try and be as specific as possible

the rest of the car is virtually stock. with the exception of some cosmetics, sway and tower bars.I've got a f22 tranny in there ( i do a **** load of highway driving), with a NKK clutch kit(unheard of but fairly good) a fidanzda 8 pound fly. i also have some tein basics going in right after the swap

i'm looking at making 200-220 to the wheel, and staying N/A.

where should i start guys? i'm not on a budget but this is all going to be done over time, so what should be mods # 1 and 2?

 

[Thirteenth]

sorry. this should have been included in the original post.

what do i need to watch with when i get my car back, as far as issues in the swap/with the motor go?

 

[F23TypeR]

Just start with your basic bolt ons, intake, exhaust, pulleys, ect. With the intake you should consider what you are trying to accomplish with the car wether it be drag or if you are going to autocross or what ever. With a short ram intake, power is going to be seen in the lower rpm band so it is ideal for autocross where as a cold air intake would be used for drag purposes because you see gains in the higher rpm band. As far as the exhaust system you really should just consider it all as one piece instead of headers, cat and a cat back exhaust as individual system or upgrades. For the h22 2.25"-2.5" piping will be fine for a n/a build. You want to maximize the velocity as much as possible. People that say that you want back pressure in an exhaust sytem dont know what they are talking about. You need to minimize as much back pressure as possible, its all about velocity to move exhaust gas out of the system. A well built and selected exhaust sytem should only have about 2lbs of back pressure. Whether you want to have one custom made or simply buy a pre made cat-back is up to you, personally I prefer to have it made. Now if money is not an issue for you then for the headers Hy Tech Exhaust has some of the best headers for street use imo; like porting, building headers so you get the most efficient velocity out of them is an art form and these guys have definatley mastered it. If you notice there headers also have anti-reversion chambers wich you wont see on anything like dc headers. For the cat do not gut it out, that is just stupid. Gutting a cat creates stagnant air wich then leads to more back pressure, just go with a hi flow cat. The next thing I would get would be pulleys, Unorthodox Racing are realy the only decent pulleys out there that make good power gains. Pulleys like megan or aem are just junk so dont waste your money. Honda pcm's are fairly tolerable with bolt ons and can addjust themselves just about up to 30hp diffrence in compared to stock. After that I would say work on the head with more aggressive cams and a tune.

 

[Tphong]

I say an air intake should be your #1 mod since it's one of the few cheaper upgrades. Then #2 should be headers, the headers are mostly virtually all the same if you get the regular ones if you want more power from the headers then you're looking at racing headers that will most likely be taking out the A/C and power steering. I don't know if this is a problem, but i believe that you have to modify the headers. I'm not entirely sure on that though. When I was comparing the H-series headers on my car I believe I had a length and height problem, but when I was doing this I was building the G23. I think there needs to be some cutting and welding. #3 I say is a high flow cat if you don't have emission testings. #4 This would be the exhaust system you can either just get a straight pipe going from the end of the headers to the end of the car which would delete the cat. This would be one of the pricier buys if you want something really good. Ebay is your best friend sometimes.

 

[Tphong]

Well one of the issues with the H-series is that aluminum block. It can't take as much of a beating as the F-series since they're not made out of aluminum. So if you have a heavy foot and rev really high rpms all the time that could be a problem for the cylinder walls since they're really weak.

 

[Tphong]

I bought an ebay brand intake which was like $30. Now everyone keeps saying "its not the metal intake that matters it's the filter" Do not know if this is true or not, personally they all look the same to me except cold and short. I bought ebay brand headers as well for $80. They all have the same design as a brand one. I read online that buying after market headers doesn't do much for the car since Honda designed the stock headers in a similar way, but it's pretty cool to have. Then the high flow cat was about $30 from megan racing you won't have much back pressure anymore with a stock exhaust. Then I bought a $450 apexi world sport 2 exhaust. Very nice quiet exhaust when cruising and then beastly when racing. I believe it took me about a year to get all this stuff because I was still a noob then.

 

[Drift]

Well one of the issues with the H-series is that aluminum block. It can't take as much of a beating as the F-series since they're not made out of aluminum. So if you have a heavy foot and rev really high rpms all the time that could be a problem for the cylinder walls since they're really weak.

Where are you coming up with this garbage?

 

[F23TypeR]

where are you coming up with this garbage?

+1^

 

[F23TypeR]

I bought an ebay brand intake which was like $30. Now everyone keeps saying "its not the metal intake that matters it's the filter" Do not know if this is true or not, personally they all look the same to me except cold and short. I bought ebay brand headers as well for $80. They all have the same design as a brand one. I read online that buying after market headers doesn't do much for the car since Honda designed the stock headers in a similar way, but it's pretty cool to have. Then the high flow cat was about $30 from megan racing you won't have much back pressure anymore with a stock exhaust. Then I bought a $450 apexi world sport 2 exhaust. Very nice quiet exhaust when cruising and then beastly when racing. I believe it took me about a year to get all this stuff because I was still a noob then.

If you spent all this money and time to drop in an H22, you should build it right and not get junk parts. Ebay headers are fine I guess if you realy just want to slap something on but none the less they are still just a cheaply made imitations of someone elses design. Testing actually went into products like Hy Tech and DC headers were as the ebay version just welded some piping to a flange and thats it, even then its realy crappy welding that will blow in less than a year. I'm not trying to bash, I'm just saying do it right.

 

[jaron001]

get rid of that BS fidanza flywheel they are total junk.