I have an 07 GD3 and I'm constantly trying to find a way to increase power with out ripping the engine apart, dropping in a K series, or adding boost. I recently read on this site that the 06-11 civic dx/lx/ex throttle body is direct bolt on with the GD3. The purpose of this being that the civic throttle body is 55mm instead of our stock 50mm throttle body. It may not seem like much, but it is noticeable.. especially in the higher RPM range. They can be found on ebay for around $40-$50, and are direct bolt on. The only thing you will need is some longer hoses (the unit is direct bolt on, but the hose nozzles are facing the wrong direction and causes the stock hoses to bend too much). I have also ordered a throttle body spacer to go with the civic throttle body ($65-$85 on ebay) and that is supposed to increase HP in the lower RPM range, so we will see. I'm currently running a DC CAI, civic throttle body, weapon r intake manifold, DC headers, megan cat delete, DC B-pipe, tanabe concept G exhaust, ralco pulleys, exedy stage 1 clutch and fidenza flywheel all tuned by a flashpro tuned by vit tune.

 

The general theory of selecting a throttle body is similar to considering a straw. You want the smallest hole that will still flow enough volume of air, that way the velocity stays high. A stock 50mm throttle body will support something like 180hp. What will likely happen with the 55mm TB is a loss of low end, and a gain in high end only.The throttle body spacer... I just am not certain. They effectively add volume to the plenum. Meaning you can get more air into it, to put into the engine.

I would really like to see a before and after dyno plot of these mods to see what they will actually do...

And a Weapon R Race header might give you a solid bump. Also, more firm engine mounts will make the power feel more direct.

Gotta keep in mind, that this is a VERY WELL optimized engine from Honda. It's well documented that I started around 89whp and am now at around 112whp with I/H/E due to my racing class. Asking for more than a 25+% increase in power without doing forced induction or internal mods.... is not gonna happen.

That being said... Might as well announce it here, I will be doing an E85 conversion this year, soon. I am doing it to lay ground work for boost, but it might be worth something.

 

Yeah, I hear ya there. To be honest I didn't notice any low end loss, but I did notice the high end gains. It's nothing crazy, but not a bad upgrade for $40 lol. I should have my spacer in a few days, and I'll post what ever differences I feel. I'm getting a dyno done in a few weeks, I'm really curious what I'm putting down right now..


Good luck with your E85 conversion, I'm sure it will be a beast!

 

We will see lol

It is roughly equivalent to 105 octane, so that will let me hopefully fix some of the timing issues our motors run into.

If you go back to the original FlashPro threads, you can see in some of DSM's logs that even at 100% Stock, on "low" quality 93 octane he could induce knock in the car.

The engine really is a relatively high compression motor, so I am hoping we will see the benefits of the bump.

 

i am a big fan of lightweight wheel & tire combo.
i know this wont add hp, but reducing the rotational mass will make the car feel faster.
i had konig daylites 15" on my gd3 and it made a HUGE difference.
once the snow melts, im throwing a set of konig heliums on my gk i cant wait.

 

While E85 is roughly 105, it does not behave like 105, the Ethanol cools the cylinder head much more than regular gasoline or even E10. (I've seen cyl head temps on race cars drop 200 degrees..) So its effective octane behavior makes it act like 114.

Run 100% ethanol or methanol and you'll have trouble even getting the engine to warm up..


Re throttle bodies, if you go bigger, the spacer helps bring the low end torque back. Longer runners for torque shorter for HP.. (more or less... )

 

I'm with ya on that one, I actually have a set of konig feathers to throw on once we are out of snow season ;-)

 

So the throttle body spacer went on this weekend, now while I'm not going to claim massive gains, I do notice a more constant jump in power through the whole power band and not in just the higher RPMs like I was getting with just the throttle body. Now I know results will vary depending on mods, and having a flashpro definitely helps, but I would be hard to find another mod with noticeable gains for around $100 ;-)

 

On my jeep 4cyll the bigger TB opened up the motor and gave me more pull, the spacer moved the power band lower.. So sounds like the same results..

 

Exactly!! From what I can tell so far It's definitely worth the $110 I spent.. less then any other performance parts I can think of lol

 

Yep I'd say plus 1 its worked on many cars for me.. Nice performance bump without pissing off the ECU usually and really helps me pull hills.

 

1) Larger diameter maf (Same size as throttle body. Get it tuned with Flashpro),

2) Cams (Custom grind, get tuned for cams with Flashpro)

3) Lighter wheels/tires (as was mentioned),

4) Also, increase your CAI piping diameter the further away it gets from maf sensor (Preferably any bends make it wider). You'll gain some topend with little to no loss of low end.

Also, did you get a e-dyno from Vit with before and after tune? If so, what were your results?