Tuesday, August 25, 2009

1st Gen 1.6L 4G92 DOHC MIVEC. Can be modified but with limited choices. It is a FACT.

I have decided to do this simple write-up as i still see the dilemmas in online forums where newbies and car enthusiasts seek the ultimate parts to make more horsepower from their natural aspirated car. 1 wheel hp on a natural aspirated car can bring a smile to the car owner but making more wheel hp is not easy which plenty of people has resorted to the ultimate fix, forced induction turbocharged engines.

It is a fact if you have a 4G9X that :-

  • By the time you reach more than 180whp, its gonna be noisy that your neighbours prolly gonna hate you if you stay in a terrace housing area.
  • By the time you reach 200whp or more, you might have some barrels of racing fuel at home to suit your 2XXwhp.
  • People start to lighten their car weight since they cant squeeze power from the engine.
  • People appreciate traction and they have to spend more on tyres and sometimes semi-slicks to go to work.
  • Getting whooped by a slight modified B16A which is a common sight since Honda made better gearings from the factory.
  • Aftermarket parts starts to appear on the shelves when people has sold and has plans to sell their 4G9x engined cars.
  • Those that are still keen to mod their cars might resort to buying Hondas either B or K-series.
  • Plenty of Honda parts available for your street and racing requirements.
  • Your trusty mechanic made so many human errors that made you want to sell your 4G9x cars.

So in reality, there is no BEST parts until you combine them with the rest of the parts. Without buying and personally trying them, you wouldnt know. It is just at the back of your head that someone told you its good or not good. Usually, it is all based on someone else's feedback.

If your car is street reliable, uses street tyres, uses normal fuel, with an airconditioned, power steering and a stock sound system i think you're doing alright. If you start using your family car and blame that your car is unrealiable or due to the fact the car had bad histories, i suggest you sell the car. It should be in good hands of a daily driven driver. Not being kept and blame for many reasons like being overpowered or your girlfriends doesnt like it.

Bolt-on : Bolt-on parts would be best with the assistance from a piggyback system to calibrate the fuel and ignition maps in your stock or chipped ECU.
All-out : When parts are being used from other brands, oversized parts and other parts which require fine tuning, standalone EMS would be an important requirement.

Intake Manifold
Bolt-on : 4G93T has slightly bigger intake manifold.
All-out : Custom aluminium intake or quad throttle.

Throttlebody
Bolt-on : Bore the throttlebody to 63MM.
All-out : Aftermarket throttlebodies may be larger but some customisation maybe needed on the intake base mount to fit it.

Cylinder Head
Bolt-on : Port and polish or using the 4G93T head for better airflow.
All-out : Sending the head to overseas for a custom port and polish to suit your building requirements.

Camshafts
Bolt-on : Higher profile aftermarket camshafts.
All-out : Custom duration and lifts for racing use only.

Pistons
Bolt-on : Slight oversized pistons.
All-out : Aftermarket forged pistons if you plan to use racing fuel.

Block
Bolt-on : Bolt-on a 4G93/4G93T block for larger displacement.
All-out : Fitting custom size pistons, conrods and crank into the 4G93/4G93T block.

Exhaust Manifold
Bolt-on : Typical 4-2-1 or 4-1 with 2, 2.3 and 2.5 inches collector
All-out : Custom manifold with large and long primaries. Radiator clearance might be an issue.

Air Filter
Bolt-on : Any common brand like K&N, HKS, Blitz and etc.
All-out : Open system with no filteration. For track/drag use.

Clutch
Bolt-on : Original Mitsubishi or commonly Exedy brand.
All-out : Custom clutch from racing clutch companies to suit your requirements.

Gearbox
Bolt-on : Changing to better custom individual gearings and final drives.
All-out : Changing to dog box and custom gearboxes to suit your racing requirements.

ECU
Bolt-on : Rechipping with custom ecu socket and variant type of "tuner" chips that contains certain fuel and ignition maps.
All-out : Standalone EMS

Plug Cables
Bolt-on : Typical NGK or Ultra brands.
All-out : Coil on plug together with a standalone EMS.

Spark Plugs
Bolt-on : Typical Iriway and Iridium.
All-out : Racing spark plugs.

Racing is healthy. Being unhappy is definitely unhealthy. It increases your blood pressure. Choose your parts wisely is you plan to drive it legally on the road.

If you like your 4G92 MIVEC or your hybrid version, keep it. Nobody is forcing you to get rid of it. Like any other modders and collectors those whom understood the interest, will use it and keep it for a long time. Appreciation doesnt last it seems these days.

But if you want to start all over again with the mods and prolly towards unrealiability, by all means just choose any car brands.

Dont buy something that makes the car unrealiable and makes you want to sell it which is the COMMON reason nowadays.