Hey everyone, BRAND new fit owner here. 2010 Automatic fit sport. Obviously I didn't buy it for the power, but if I can cheaply add a few more HPs, I will definitely do it.

I am coming form a v6 3.0L engine on the car I had before, so it is quite a jump.

After doing some searching, I have found the most common way to increase HP/Acceleration seems to be these four things (ranking from best to worst)

1. Racing tires -- Cost around 800 - 1200 bucks for a set.
2. Cold Air Intake -- 175 - 500 bucks
3. Remove back seats entirely -- FREE
4. Exhaust -- $150 - $400 bucks
5. Lightweight pulley (?) not even sure where this would go, but I have heard it can mess up the engine. $125 - $200 bucks

Looking to spend around a thousand dollars to get some more acceleration and power. Looks like the best way to do that, based on my searches, would be #2, #3, and #4. Or, #1 (cheaper tires) and # 2.

Any insights or suggestions would be appreciated -- never modded a car before.

Thanks!

 

Buy a different car...

 

light weight forged wheels no bigger than 16"

remove rear seat, spare tire, jack, tools.

 

1. Depending on the tires, no. Extra grip only helps acceleration if you have torque... which the Fit does not.
2. It will SOUND faster, but faster it will not be.
3. Technically, yes, the car will be slightly quicker from having less weight to move, but then why get a 4-door?
4. It will SOUND faster, but faster it will not be.
5. Throttle response may improve, and unless you install the pulley's incorrectly they will not mess up the engine.

As was stated before, your best bet is to just get a light weight wheel/tire set-up. The only other way it's going to get noticeably quicker is if you go forced-induction or swap out the motor.

 

Light weight wheels and tires and removing the rear seats help a lot.. Using 0W20 weight oil, a colder heat range spark plugs and premium fuel are all things I have done and do... I need more so I ordered a KrafWerks supercharger kit and installed it and a year later the high boost upgrade... It accelerates very well now but my fuel mileage isn't as good as it was when stock .

 

What benefits did you notice from using premium? The L15 (at least in the GE, not sure about the GD) is 10.4:1 but it seems the timing is set-up for 87. Wouldn't running premium cause you to run the risk of pre-ignition?

 

Premium resists detonation better than regular... are you familiar with fuels at all? Not snarky or looking to be a dick genuinely curious. Because I would be happy to go through the how's and whys and point you to a few links if you care.

93oct [(RON+MON)/2] is far more stable (due to its higher octane content) than 87 oct.

10.4:1CR is still 10.4:1CR no matter how you look at it, and 87 is the lowest suggested fuel rating allowed.

The timing logic and tables are set up to take advantage of what conditions allow for. Basically whatever the ECU dictates is the most the ECT's and IAT's will allow for in closed loop and then in open loop it comes down to TPS/Load and the knock sensor. Even in OL, ECT/IAT can pull timing without knock, load and the ECU's arbitrary octane values (independent of actual fuel octane) determine which tables you use.

We have upwards of 50* of spark advance to take advantage of as well as dozens on dozens of fuel tables from pig rich to ~13:1AFR.

87 is merely the bare absolute minimum and I picked up 9* advance making the switch from 87 to 93 and running 7 range plugs vs. the 6 range that came stock.

To OP:
Light weight stock diameter wheels and light grippy tires in a 55mm or shorter profile are your best bet for a significant mod on a budget. Then get a throttle controller.

Do not bother with intake and exhaust unless you are planning on boost or a serious N/A build and that is only if you intend on buying a tunable ECM/Piggyback.

Otherwise you are absolutely wasting your money on exhausts/intakes.

 

The ECU advances or retards the ignition timing for which ever grade or octane rating you put in the tank and the way you drive... If you generally drive with a light throttle foot and regular fuel you will not get much advance. I If you do the opposite you will get more advance.... Anyone with a scangauge can substantiate that this occurs... My maximum ignition advance can vary as much as 6 or 8 degrees by using a different brand of the same grade of fuel and sometimes there is a difference between tank fulls at the same exact station.... If you use 87 the ecu will adjust to run on it but nothing with an octane rating any lower.. The ECU will advance ignition timing to run as much ignition advance as it can safely use without pinging with fuel grades over 100 octane but no lower than 87 which is the lowest grade of fuel Honda says can be safely used it the Fit. The lower the octane rating of the fuel the greater the chance is of having a condition of pre ignition in cars that don't have the ability to detect pinging and pull back some of the ignition advance . Most people that use higher octane fuel can feel more midrange pulling power and some experience better fuel mileage but to many people there isn't enough of a difference to justify the difference in price.

 

Well put!

Before going boosted I will be attaching the AEM FIC to get my baseline down, and I will be doing my octane test like I do on other cars.

1. 87 E10 pump gas
2. 93 E0 pump gas
3. 10% 118oct Toluene/90% 93oct E0 pump gas
4. 20% Toluene/80% 93oct
5. 30% Toluene/70% 93oct

Then if I have the chance I would like to try a few more when I install the meth kit.

Including:

1. 87 E10 pump + 100% Water
2. 87 E10 pump + Water/Meth
3. 93 E0 pump + 100% Water
4. 93 E0 pump + Water/Meth

And then various blends of Toluene/93 + Water/Meth That whole process can be a real pain in the ass though. Takes a while too.

 

Either everything I knew 10 years ago has changed, or this thread is full of missinformation.

Do an intake and Full exhaust, not just a muffler, add HP - Yes, These would be especially helpful during the larger cam profile, as they will allow the engine to breath easier. (It is true that these gains will be minimal on an NA engine. Maybe 5-10 hp).

You can adjust the tire sizes to gain gearing, which in turn will give you quicker acceleration. If you go with a slightly smaller diameter tire, but wider, you will gain some acceleration and grip, but loose economy and top speed. Its a tradeoff.

Removing weight always helps. Especially during acceleration. As for the question "Why buy a 4 door car if you taking out the back seats?" Last time I checked, all Fits have 4 doors...

Lightweight pulleys reduce the strain of accessories on the engine, but you must be carefull with these. Usually they are also underdrive pulleys, meaning they also underdrive your accessories. This can damage the accessories. For example, your alternator may not be charging properly at idle, and your batter will drain. This would cause damage to the alternator and the battery over an extended period of time.

The best price for HP is always to boost, but if your looking for some cheap upgrades that help, start with intake and exhaust IMO.

 

One of the best things I did for my Fit was an electronic throttle controller. Doesn't add any power, but it definitely makes a hell of a difference in the way the car feels.

 

You can make yourself an intake and an exhaust delete for very cheap! you don't have to spend a whole lot and you will see small gains... as it was mentioned, light wheels and good tires will make the biggest difference... i'll be changing soon to colder spark plugs, can't wait to see what everyone's talking about!

as for the pulleys, i don't think there are underdriven pulleys for the Fit... but i would'nt mess with this as stock are dampened....

 

Hmm, I haven't heard of this, I Will have to read up on it. Care to elaborate on what you mean by changing how the car feels?


Cold spark plugs? What do these do? Haven't heard of this before either.

 

the throttle controller opens the throttle a lot faster on sport mode, it opens it so fast that it's almost like having a on/off switch!!! this is really an amazing mod!

as for the plugs, check out Oscar Jackson jr's article on kraftwerks web site... it seems that the stock plugs sacrifice some HP in the sake of fuel economy...

 

So, it looks like my realistic goals for $1000 could include:

Cold Spark Plugs (cheap, $50)
Cold Air Intake ($350)
Aftermarket Exhaust (300)
Electronic Throttle Controller ($170 - 300)

That's a pretty decent amount of upgrades for $1000, and if I take out the extra weight, could make a significant difference.

I was looking at the Enkei RPF1s, but those are close to $1400, and while I'm sure they are worth it, that is more than I want to spend. Maybe down the road if I add those to those prospective realistic upgrades, I could have a nice(er) little fit on my hands.

As for why I would take out the rear seats, and why I got a 4 door -- I got it for the SPACE. I don't often carry around more than 1 extra passenger. I need the space not for people, but for STUFF.

I camp, hike, backpack, mountainbike, snowboard, and do photography. I need room to carry all my junk!

 

for the wheels, if you go with könig you should get decent weight (lighter than OEM) good looking wheels...

as for the cold air intake, you should really consider a short ram instead, and that's pretty easy to do (either buy tubing or a cheap, used CAI for any brand of car and chop tubes to customize) i think you could easily get away with 100$

as for the exhaust, that's more bling, if you want power delete the exhaust instead, the fit as a resonator, so the sound ain't that bad!

and for the ETC, you don't have to spend 300$... contact TWPanson he's a member on here and gives top notch service!

oh and welcome to the forum BTW!

 

You can get the Injen CAI for ~$240 shipped from e-bay.

 

Wow, that did sound like you were being a dick. ... Or maybe I just read in dick's voice.

I understand what you're trying to say, and I agree that my statement seemed misinformed. Maybe I should stop trying to be technical after a long day in week of little sleep.

What I was curious about was what kind of effects running premium was having, because as is true the higher up in octane you go, it does resist detonation. My thought was that the engine wouldn't be getting maximum burn from the fuel. I'm assuming that Honda stated 87 as the "required" octane was because they had designed fast-burn chambers. Again, I'm thinking in terms of the L15 in the GE, and don't know enough about the GD to determine how different the motors are. I do know that Honda is not one to recommend 87 on a 10.4:1 motor unless the motor was designed for 87.

 

ive foudn athat as a nice rule of thumb...youre only gonan gain about 1hp for every $100 you spend on engien bolt on parts.
obviously this isnt exact science, but when your talking 1-15hp max from bolt ons, its a good estimate.

lightweight rism is the best bang for your buck and somthign you will feel when excelerating, braking and your wallet will be heavier cause it might even improve your gas mileage.

unless goign turbo or supercharger, actually feeling gains in this car from bolt ons is almost worthless. it might "feel" faster, but the minimal NA gains you do get, actually cant be felt and its a placebo effect.


edit: jsut noticed this is in the 2nd gen section. i was referring to the 1st gen, but the same pretty much still applies.

 

Lots of things have changed in the last decade. Something you disagree with is not automatically misinformation.

Our ECU's, particularly the GE's, do try to dial back any gains you make in airflow by cutting timing or keeping the throttle from opening all the way, or changing the rate at which the throttle plate opens, or enriching the mixture to slow the burn.

You can see all this in real time with a datalogger or a scan tool.

This is why you need something like a piggyback (AEM FIC) or a user flashable ECM before you can expect even 5HP from $1000 worth of I/H/E.

And you even stand to lose torque from a bigger exhaust if you ruin the scavenging effect by decreasing back pressure to drastically.

You are right on the money regarding the underdrive pulleys and removing weight though.