Low Cost Engine Modification Improves Performance

So how do I accomplish this? Well you need to improve your Integra’s breathing. The stock intake and exhaust system is chocking the life out of your car’s engine, just think if someone had you by the troth you couldn’t run very fast ether, and your car is no different.

To improve your engines breathing you need to improve how the air gets into the engine and how the exhaust gets out. First let’s look at how to improve how the air gets into the engine.

The existing stock air intake is small, restrictive and located inside the engine compartment where the air is hot. This restricts the engines breathing in two ways, first due to its small size it cannot provide the volume of air for sudden increases in RPM let alone sustained high RPM. Second the air inside of the engine compartment is hot and contains less oxygen per volume than cold air so even if we were getting the proper volume, the oxygen density would not provide optimum combustion. To improve the short comings of the stock air intake we need an intake made with large diameter tubing and bent so not to cause any restrictions or turbulence in the air flow. The air filter of this intake should be located as far away from the engine as possible so that it can take in colder oxygen rich air. The more popular model of this type intake locates the air filter low and inside of the fender well and is known as a cold air intake. There are a number of aftermarket manufactures of these strangely shaped tube and filter. The following is a list of some cold air intake manufactures and their prices:

• AEM Cold Air Intake $159
• Injen Cold Air Intake $250
• AC AutoTechnic Cold Air Intake $119
• Fujita Cold Air Intake $196

Let’s face it the stock exhaust manifold was never designed with performance or fuel economy in mind. It was designed for low cost and noise suppression, while noise suppression is not exactly a bad thing, sacrificing performance and fuel economy is not in our best interest. So what is wrong with this design? The answer to that is back pressure.

Back pressure is a thief that steals not only performance but fuel economy from your engine. It accomplishes this by adding resistance to the piston pushing the exhaust gases out of the cylinder therefore creating a load on the engine. This is due to the inability of the stock exhaust manifold to allow the expended exhaust gases to flow out of the engine without restriction. This obstacle can be overcome by installing aftermarket headers.

The idea behind an exhaust header is to eliminate the back pressure created by the exhaust manifold. Instead of a common manifold that all of the cylinders share, the header provides each cylinder with its own exhaust pipe. These pipes merge into a single larger pipe called the collector. The individual pipes are cut and bent so that each one is the same length. By making them the same length, guarantees that each cylinder's exhaust gases arrive in the collector unrestricted insuring no back pressure is created in the cylinders sharing the collector.

Fortunately, there are number of aftermarket manufacturers producing high quality high performance headers. More competition means a better selection and lower prices. The following is a list of some header manufacturers and their prices:

• DC Headers $212
• Dynomax Headers $250
• Edelbrock Headers $260
• FlowTech Headers $176
• Hedman Headers $159
• Pacesetter Headers $147
• No Name Headers $74

Find great prices on high quality aftermarket performance parts at Modified Integra. Also read more about other ways to improve performance and fuel economy at Modified Import News.

Related Articles - Automotive, Performance, Economy, Cold Air Intake, Exhaust Headers,

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