Hey guys,

I'm a novice mechanic (at best haha). But I'm working with both a certified mechanic and his apprentice (my best friend who drives a Miata).

I just have some questions when working on my Fit. My goal for hp gains is getting it to about 130-140 hp. I don't have money right now for a Turbo so I'm focusing on reducing weight and adding some bolt on items.

I've recently bought a Megan Racing exhaust header and intend on buying either a Fujita Cold air Intake or a DC motor Sports cold air intake. Coupled with reducing weight, am I reaching for the right goal?

What else needs to be done in order to reach my goal? I've also removed my back seats and I'm going to be reducing more weight by putting in the header and air intake.

Any help is very much appreciated. But before anyone says "Exhaust system", I would be happy to put one in, if it isn't a fart can. I don't want to be a ricer, I want to do this right.

Thanks for any advice guys.

 

If you dont have the money for 130-140whp with a turbo, you definitely dont have the cash to do it NA

And considering that you might as well pitch all those bolt ons in the trash when you do go turbo because none will be compatible, you may as well just save up and stay stock for the time being.

But what do I know..

 

*cough* what DSM is trying to say is...go big the first time or stay home

 

You will spend damn near double what you would trying to get 140whp NA out of this motor as opposed to a bit of boost.

Next to none of those parts would work with the inevitable switch to turbo (if he is truly dedicated to 130+ whp) either. The CAI would be a waste, any filter, exhaust piping, etc.

I will promise you that.

 

I see what you're saying, but I don't want to turbo it.

So, with that in mind, how do I do it best? What are the best parts to use?

 

You are putting more stress on it doing it NA.

If you want more to know more than that, PM me, I offer a discount to FF members.

 

You're not getting 130hp with bolt-ons, I know that is what you're hoping for but it's not going to happen.

You will have to either crack the motor open and do work on the internals or go turbo. If you don't have money for turbo you don't have the money for the kind of work it'll take to make that power NA.

Just drop $3-5K on a turbo and be done with it. That will easily and safely get you to the goal you are looking for. If you have a good mechanic working with you he should have no problem installing it.

 

Ok, so if I can't get to 130, what is a modest goal I CAN reach without adding a Turbo. I do eventually want to turbo it, but I'm building my skills with working on my Fit by starting small, ya see?

But, the Fit already has about 107 hp, so it's IMPOSSIBRRUUU to get 23 hp from bolt ons? I've heard that by combining parts you get more hp, and keep in mind I'll be shedding weight while doing the upgrades. I've already taken out the back seats and plan on installing 2 race seats. It just seems weird to me that I can't get 23 hp from bolt ons without a turbo. see what I'm saying?

 

I was going to come back and say maybe you could get close till I saw you have a GD.

You're looking for almost 20% increase in power from bolt-ons. That's asking alot for a motor that is pretty well optomized from the factory.

I'm not going to pretend like I know what kind of power you will make with EVERY available bolt-on for the L15, someone else with more knowledge about the motor can answer that for you.

Just buy all the bolt-ons and throw a small nitrous shot in. IMO not enough people use the juice these days (not like in the 90s )

 

Have you actually had the car on the dyno to see it say 107hp? I had my car dynoed with a spoon exhaust and Fuji intake and it made 85whp. With supercharger (5psi), T1R header, T1R test pipe, Spoon Exhaust and 195cc injectors my car made 120whp. With out having a program like flashpro to tune the ECU you really will not see that great of a increase from bolt-ons

Your options are NA, boost or spray, NA being the most expensive of the routes. You can do bolt-ons but I would say expect 110whp at best.

I agree with what the others are saying, if your end goal is to turbo save your money now. You will be able to do the swap alot sooner and save your self alot of money from buying parts twice. I had no real direction for when I started my car. I don't regret the money I spent but if I would have had a clear plain I would probable be at 300whp with my current set up.

 

Boost is the only way to go to reach 120whp without extensive motor work going NA. Superchargers have their upsides as they can save you gas and will eventually pay off itself. Especially with the high gas prices these days. That's what I recommend for the mild modded person. I am turbo'd at 150whp@8psi. Cost of everything was 4500. Cheapest route? It was pretty cheap considering if I bought NA stuff and only gained like 15whp. Boost, recommended for noticable power.

 

The basics have seem to have been covered. I will say if you are really trying to get the most NA and "do it right, not be a ricer" I would ditch the Megan header and go with something else.

 

bam.

 

Off topic, but how do you figure a crank driven compressor saves you on gas?

 

I got you PM, but havent had a chance to respond yet.

I'm not sure why you keep mentioning it, but I trust you understand that removing weight has nothing to do with how much power you put down.

For the rest of the points outlined in this post.. first of all the GD Fit only makes 109HP/106TQ SAE Net at the Flywheel on an engine stand in control conditions on spec fuel. The GE comes in at 117/109

I'm not sure what depth of experience you have that would lead you to believe that pushing an extra ~25whp worth of airflow out of an otherwise stock ECU/Long block 1.5L seems weird? You want to add an intake and exhaust, and see a >20% bump in output. That is whats weird.

Without going turbo, if you are serious about making more peak power NA the easiest way to do it is going to be moving more air up. If you notice on various dyno graphs from NA Fits.. our VE starts to tank very quickly after peak torque.

Combining parts doesn't magically add power either, they have to compliment eachother.

You are going to need to set this up to make power on the top end.

Also, consider.. since you mentioned eventually planning to go turbo, save your money and just wait to boost it. Pretty much nothing you do for an NA build will be compatible or useful on a boosted build. So you will literally have thrown that money away.

If you are serious about this, lets carry on via PM and I would happy to design a performance system for you, NA or FI. We can then discuss rates as I stopped giving technical advice out for free because I have a mortgage and family to take care of

But we can certainly work out some sort of discount as you requested. I'll have a PM response this evening for you.

 

It doesn't, but its more of the way the person drives than anything. JDMChris always had good mpg driving daily on his kwsc. Nothing is proven that it saves gas, but it can.

 

Ok, just makin sure.

I'm really not looking to be too pedantic here, but even the Centrifugal Rotrex S/C which wastes a good deal less power than say a Screw type blower mind you, is going to be less efficient than almost any turbine/compressor combination provided the golden ratios have been observed and the turbine housing or wheel is not too small.

Fuel economy with a supercharger or turbocharger depends almost entirely on the drivers operating and maintainence habits, particular commute, environment and fuel type, then the tune and the rest of the system (Cams/Intake/Exhaust/CR, etc.)

 

Boost is the way to go... Anything you buy to go under the hood other than colder heat range spark plugs isn't going to make more power.... The best performance gain I have experienced other than boost was from 15" X7" Enkei RPF1 wheel and lighter weight tires....

 

I actually read a study that used cars from all classes to test fuel economy and hp ratings. When they decreased the weight 5% there was a 1.5% increase in power output and a 2% increase in fuel economy, when 10% was taken out, those numbers go up accordingly and also when they took 20% of the weight out. So, there might not be actual "power" but it looks as if the cars can trasmit the power they do have to the road easier.

Study:How does weight affect a vehicle's efficiency? It's the ricardo Study (its a PDF)


Anywho, thanks guys for your help. The point of this was to see if there were any options to get my car where I wanted it for a bit cheaper than I expected. That doesn't seem to be the case, however hahaha. Again, thanks for your help!

 

I think you may mean decreased powertrain parts weight maybe? Decreasing a vehicule's weight isn't going to increase your power but only improve your Power to Weight Ratio! Ultimately, both increased power and decreased vehicule weight will improve performance but if you want to be quicker in a Fit, you'll want to shed lot's of weight (Removing my rear seats and spare tires gave me a half second improvement on the ¼ mile!), improve engine power (Biggest difference dollar per dollar is nitrous but you'll have to fill up the bottle once in a while and it may end up being costly! Plus a bigger exhaust and header is recommended because nitrous generates extra to lots of extra exhaust gazes volume!) or go with coilovers, bigger sway bars, unibody braces and sticky tires!

What i would do if i were you!
-Lighter wheels and tires!
-Denso IK20\22 or NGK BKR6E-IX plugs!
-Lightweight crank pulley!
-Shed weight!
-Cam and injectors!
-Save cash for Forced induction!

If you really want to do it the N\A way...

https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/fit-...ec-tuning.html
https://www.fitfreak.net/forums/fit-...40-hp-fit.html

Hope this helps!

Marko!