been a while since I had a 4 banger but it started with wanting to make the car have a little more oomph for shooting down the offramp and merging onto the interstate. unfortunately short a dropping in a turbo motor or 5 liter there was really no gains to show for all my efforts.
started with a 55mm tb, then a homebrew fenderwell CAI, tubular header, cat delete, 19lb injectors.
throttle response got better, especially at higher speeds where the car was struggling but as far as HP I probably netted 10 or 15.
Pretty. My 1st car was an 87 crx back in 99. I tried to do sum go fast stuff to er but there weren't a whole lot of aftermarket parts offered for that model so there wasn't much gain for me either
are we talking anything with a 4 popper?
If so here is the one I currently dd. so far only a few of the mods are to the engine. Honestly I dont mind it being slow
pacesetter header, 19lb injectors, e-fan
For me, the choice to flog a 4 cylinder is purely because it's not as common. Unfortunately, "being different" alone is not always the best path to justify spending money on this engine. Given the fact that the engine is less than half the displacement of the vastly popular 5.0,....you really have to decide what you want out of it to justify dumping any real money into modding it.
Naturally aspirated,..you have to really step up to get it to make enough power to even compare to stock 5.0 specs,...and if you go that route in the end, you'll have a temperamental, pis sy little brat that will only make power in a narrow little band, really up high,..and for a very short time before you gotta shift.
Left alone to the same standard beginning 5.0 mods ( C.A.I.; header(s); exhaust) you'll barely net a noticeable gain in power.
But.....Put a turbo on it and all that changes however.
There are examples on the internet, and youtube of the same little engine making obscene power on a stock block ( like 500 or more WHP obscene) Granted, it's the same benefit on any engine,....but once there is a hair dryer blowing air into the intake of a 2.3,...... as long as you take care of the rotating assy,.....the block itself will never be the weak link.
I remember the days out on the town, hair blowing in wind with the T-tops out..... Busting bad all over town behind the 88hp 2.3L with more spark knock than you could imagine! Those days are gone, just reminiscing I guess.