92 Accord EX performance boost

[tdhess]

Hey there,
I'm new to the forum here.

I've got a 92 Accord EX with roughly 300K KM on it. I know stock HP for the F22A6 is 126 HP or so.

What's the cheapest way to give it a boost of....say....50 HP? I'm not wanting to make a tire-burner, just something that'll get better acceleration and middle/top end performance.

Any reccomendations?

[ExplodingCake]

A6 is 140HP out of the hot oven. There is no cheapest way of getting atleast 50HP.
You'll have to go N/A build or Forced Induction.

[5spd92]

a a6 is 140 HP. as for cheap, all i can think of is either a short ram intake or cold air intake. cold air, helps more with the top end, while short ram helps with acceleration, as going off others responses since i only used the short ram intake. bisi makes a heat shielding intake manifold gasket gives you 7-10 whp which the cost is 48 bucks. then its maintenance like, changing your air filter, oil change, spark plugs, etc. and if you want to spend some money. a h23 intake mani swap, is possibly the next thing for more air. then cam, and the list can go on forever. but 50 hp isnt going to happen on a tight budget. and welcome.

[tdhess]

a a6 is 140 HP. as for cheap, all i can think of is either a short ram intake or cold air intake. cold air, helps more with the top end, while short ram helps with acceleration, as going off others responses since i only used the short ram intake. bisi makes a heat shielding intake manifold gasket gives you 7-10 whp which the cost is 48 bucks. then its maintenance like, changing your air filter, oil change, spark plugs, etc. and if you want to spend some money. a h23 intake mani swap, is possibly the next thing for more air. then cam, and the list can go on forever. but 50 hp isnt going to happen on a tight budget. and welcome.

Lol didn't think so....I'm a bit of a performance noob.

So you're saying to swap the intake manifold from an h23. Does this involve any modding? I presume the throttle body would have to go with it as well.

I was planning on using a short ram intake later down the road. I have a few dents in the body panels to fix as well...

[The-Gr8-Ox]

the best you can hope for is a few HP when i comes to bolt ons.
do the basics, I/H/E and see how you like it, if you still want more, then go with the h23 im, if more you desire, then you'll have to dive internally and change the cam shaft, cam.
if you don't mind spending the dough, rebuild the motor.

but since your new to Accords, just start with the basics, that will suit you just fine for a DD.

[5spd92]

Yes the H23 intake manifold, its direct bolt up, but many recommend the H22 TB since it is bigger than the h23 one but the h23 one will do fine. 50 hp doesnt come cheap bisi is a great source for parts including there 27whp f22 N/A header, the price would make you croak. as said above hp doesnt come from bolt-ons, most of the power is made from inside the engine.

[deevergote]

Nitrous oxide will add 50hp very easily.

[visualpoet]

Nitrous oxide will add 50hp very easily.

Damn it, Mike. You beat me to it. But it's true, the best bang for the buck comes in the bottle. You can usually pick up a used kit for about $250 on craigslist, but check the manufactured date stamped into the bottle. Most places won't fill a bottle over 5 years old, although you might be able to have it re-certified at a scuba shop, or possibly a gas supply house (the place where you can get the big tanks of argon, oxygen, acetylene, etc.).

Most states have outlawed n2o on the street though.

For the a6, your best bet is to swap to the H22 throttle body and plenum on the existing a6 manifold. Spend the $48 on bisi's heat sheilding IM spacer (they claim a temperature difference of about 50 degrees, which means about 7 hp and bisi knows his stuff), a short ram intake with a quality filter on it (the tubing itself doesn't matter much, 2.75" or 3" should be fine, it's the filter that makes the difference. Try to get one that has the same number of vacuum ports as your stock one does, then you won't have to ask how to hook up that extra line that's left over.), and I'd advise a catback, between 2.25 and 2.5 inches. Don't worry about a new header and downpipe, you're not going to see more than a pony or two out of those compared to the a6 setup,but the catback will help free things up.


You won't get 50 hp out of this, but I could see maybe 15-20 with these parts.

[tdhess]

the best you can hope for is a few HP when i comes to bolt ons.
do the basics, I/H/E and see how you like it, if you still want more, then go with the h23 im, if more you desire, then you'll have to dive internally and change the cam shaft, cam.
if you don't mind spending the dough, rebuild the motor.

but since your new to Accords, just start with the basics, that will suit you just fine for a DD.

Lol, I'm new to Accords but not to the mechanical side of cars. Rebuilding isn't an issue for me, and I was planning on doing a rebuild sometime in the next 2-3 years. The vehicle has been kept immaculate for the 18 years before I bought it. Only run with synthetic and garage kept 80+% of the time. There's only 1 tiny bit of body rust and 1 or 2 dents that are easily accessible (and I have repair kits for that...just need the time to dolly them out)

Yes the H23 intake manifold, its direct bolt up, but many recommend the H22 TB since it is bigger than the h23 one but the h23 one will do fine. 50 hp doesnt come cheap bisi is a great source for parts including there 27whp f22 N/A header, the price would make you croak. as said above hp doesnt come from bolt-ons, most of the power is made from inside the engine.

Alrighty, I was looking at the local junker's today and they've got tons of H23 intakes....and I'll look into bisi.

Nitrous oxide will add 50hp very easily.

lool....I think a rebuild would be in order before I try something like that.... :P

All told I'm not wanting to dump a whole lot of money into the car (under $1000 at the moment). I want to be able to gradually upgrade parts as money/time permits. This is a great car, I love the interior, the way it drives, and the fact that parts are so accessible (and cheap!) I'd rather rebuild this thing a few times than purchase a new car (unless it was something from JDM or an RX-8 :P)
So we'll see what happens in the next couple years!

Thanks for your input! I'll let you know how things progress!

[deevergote]

If the engine is healthy, and you don't abuse it, a 50 shot of nitrous won't hurt. It may actually be safer than revving it higher to make power, as you would with NA mods.

[tdhess]

If the engine is healthy, and you don't abuse it, a 50 shot of nitrous won't hurt. It may actually be safer than revving it higher to make power, as you would with NA mods.

True. I just looked back in the service records the previous owner compiled (these should be complete).....all that's been done to the engine other than oil and filters has been CV Boots, Distributor Rotor, Ignition Harness and Plugs....nothing else.

You wanna know what the most replaced item other than oil filters was? The rear antenna mast..(4 times and they didn't bother fixing the 5th time )...Is that a common problem? :P

[The-Gr8-Ox]

[QUOTE=tdhess;2434326]Lol, I'm new to Accords but not to the mechanical side of cars. Rebuilding isn't an issue for me, and I was planning on doing a rebuild sometime in the next 2-3 years. The vehicle has been kept immaculate for the 18 years before I bought it. Only run with synthetic and garage kept 80+% of the time. There's only 1 tiny bit of body rust and 1 or 2 dents that are easily accessible (and I have repair kits for that...just need the time to dolly them out)


sorry, wasn't implying that you weren't mechanically minded, just there's always some new about another honda, especially an accord, i was a civic man for awhile and this car has many new challenges, thats all im saying. performance parts vary from one motor to another. GL

[deevergote]

True. I just looked back in the service records the previous owner compiled (these should be complete).....all that's been done to the engine other than oil and filters has been CV Boots, Distributor Rotor, Ignition Harness and Plugs....nothing else.

You wanna know what the most replaced item other than oil filters was? The rear antenna mast..(4 times and they didn't bother fixing the 5th time )...Is that a common problem? :P

Most of the originals have failed by now... but 4 times is excessive.

[tdhess]

Most of the originals have failed by now... but 4 times is excessive.

Lol....let me explain. The reason of repair on all of the transcripts is "hit by trunk" The last one was bent so bad the owner pulled it off, cut it down and then stuck it back in. I found a good aftermarket mast and motor and it works fine

[CB7 Sleeper]

Start with basic bolt-ons. A short ram intake or cold air, it doesn't really matter. They both have their pros and cons and are pretty equal when it comes to HP gains through the powerband. A nice header, and less restrictive exhaust will also give you a little more power, not much, but something to say the least. With bolt-ons you will definitely feel a difference in throttle response. Simple modifications such as these will help your engine breath better.

Now, to the topic of the H23 IM. You have a 92 EX so you have the F22A6 IM with IABs. The H23 IM really isn't too big of an upgrade from the F22A6 IM in my opinion, so I'd recommend spending your money to have your F22A6 IM and throttle body machined. If you have the money for it, the gains are going to be well worth it. Or you could even spend your money on a BlackTrax IM I've seen in a few threads around here.

Ok, so if you really want 50 more WHP, then nitrous is the answer. A 50 shot properly tuned for your application would be very satisfying for someone looking for extra power like yourself. There are some great kits out there that are very safe, such as the ZEX single fogger kit sold on TASauto.com. You could even look into the NOS sniper kit. It's a great kit for beginners from what I've read.

My .02