calvinnnnn

Hey I'm looking to lower my vtech sometime in the near future but I've read on here that replacing either the header, hfc, and/or exhaust would definitely be recommended before doing a tune. My question is which do I replace as a necessity or a high recommendation first before I tune it? Also, would I need to retune after I replace other mods?

I currently only have the FIPK in MY06.

Thanks!

liquid_helix136

You won't see any benefit of lowering vtec until you remove the restriction of the catalytic converter. Slap on a test pipe and you will see gains from lowered vtec all the way down to about 4k. If you want to see even bigger midrange gains after a tune, get a single exhaust. You won't see hardly any gains by just bolting a test pipe on, and you will see minimal gains by tuning a stock car, but a combination of the right bolt ons and a tune can really help this car out in the mid range

Use flashpro to tune it all, I recommend getting an e-tune from either Jeff Evans or Gernby afterwards.

Cliff notes: Bare minimum = test pipe + flashpro + tune.
Be an over achiever = pick up a single exhaust as well before you tune.

Leave the header stock.

Gernby

I agree with liquid_helix136, especially about the FlashPro tune (thanks for the referral), but he did leave out the best option.

It is intuitive that a single exhaust could perform better than a dual, but the number of mufflers is really meaningless. The thing that makes an exhnaust provide gains is the diameter expansion. If you get a 3" header back exhaust (single or dual), then you will get a really significant gain in power from the diameter expansion at the end of the header (60mm -> 76mm). However, if you put a stock sized single on there, it won't perform any better than the stock exhaust. Actually, if you got a stock sized single with no resonator, it wouldn't perform even as well as stock. That's because the OEM resonator is itself a diameter expansion.

However, you can do even better than a 3" single! If you get an exhaust that has the optimal diameter expansion in the right location and in the right shape, you can achieve maximum benefit from all that wonderfull scavenging energy across a very wide RPM range. Fortunately for me, there's only one exhaust available that does this ... mine!

Actually, I called it an "exhaust", but really it's just the mid-pipe that creates all the benefit. Even with an integrated HFC, it still out performs a 3" header back single. There are lots of dynos in my threads (see signature), but you can find a really good before / after dyno plot from pmptx here. Aside from an FIPK and FlashPro, his car was stock. He did some dyno pulls, swapped out his OEM exhaust with a custom Gern-Pipe with OEM mufflers and did more dyno pulls all in just a couple hours.

Below is the dyno plot that I think demonstrates the issue best.

pmptx

Gernby is 100% on this. The midpipe and FP make a world of difference in this car, where it needs the most help---mid range TQ.

The area under the curve on my TQ plot with the gernpipe is crazy in comparison to the others. This is where you can feel the difference on track and on the street.

calvinnnnn

Thanks for all the advice! My local bodyshop, Jotech Motorsport gave me an estimate with parts that they carry.

-INVIDIA RACE HEADER: 00-09 S2000
-INVIDIA Q300 CATBACK EXHAUST SYSTEM DUAL 70MM / 102MM TITANIUM TIP:
-RANDOM TECHNOLOGY HIGH FLOW CAT

The Q300 is what I planned on purchasing anyways but I have no knowledge of the Invidia header and the Random Tech HFC. Does anyone have any information on either part? Thanks.

calvinnnnn

I may just purchase the Q300 from the s2ki forum and the Berk HFC from elsewhere while keeping the header stock. Would the stock header affect the 4k RPM vtech?

JayC07

When I was N/A I had.... J's racing exhaust (70mm), Berk 70mm test pipe, FIPK, Ingalls ETD and a FlashPro ( tuned by Gernby). Definitely a noticable difference vs stock and you will be extremely happy with the results. Also my vtec was lowered from 6000 to 3800.

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s2k4life_az

I have a FIPK, Berks 70mm TP, Flash Pro, and a dyno tune by Vit Viper. Didn't do exhaust for several reasons. One being that the CR exhaust is a bit less restricted before the mufflers. The other reasons are the fact I haven't found one that I really like as far sound, aesthetics, and significant performance.

I do notice a significant difference in mid-range power and the VTECH kicks in low at around 3900 only under WOT. So you don't have to kick the crap out of the car all the time. Hey but with the sweet sound of our cars, who can resist.

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vactor

VTEC
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VTEC
VTEC (Variable Valve Timing and Lift Electronic Control) is a valvetrain system developed by Honda to improve the volumetric efficiency of a four-stroke internal combustion engine. The VTEC system uses two camshaft profiles and hydraulically selects between profiles.

Gernby

If you're in the DFW area (like Jotech), come see me in the North Dallas area. You can drive my car, and see what you're missing!

FWIW, the Invidia header is crap, since the collector is way too large. The Q300 with the stock cat is fine, but it's obnoxiously loud and raspy with an HFC or test pipe. That said, I have a Q300 that I plan to sell after I build a bolt-on adapter for it to mate with the Gern-Pipe.