I tightened up my throttle cable--it had quite a bit of slack. I don't think it had too much effect on the "loss of punch" issue, but tightening it did have an unexpected and positive side effect. I've always found it took a lot of concentration to come off the line smoothly from a dead stop. Tightening up the throttle cable has eliminated that issue. The clutch and throttle are now working in harmony and smooth starts happen naturally, without thinking. I'm sure this was the way the car was designed to drive, and the excess play in the cable had altered that balance.

I still want to figure out if there's anything else going on that would be causing or contributing to the punch issue, but I've realized it may also be that my driving style has changed in the 2 years I've had the car. When I first got it, I was always driving at high revs. Now, I'm often in 3rd in situations where I used to be in 2nd, etc. So that could certainly be affecting how responsive it is to the throttle.

 

So you are now driving in an RPM range further from the VTEC engagement?

 

What I'm describing is all happening in the range well below VTEC. For example, in a situation where I used to be in 2nd at like 4000-5000 rpm, now I might be in 3rd around 3000-4000 (these numbers are just approximate, off the top of my head).

 

Well below the VTEC range, this engine is much like many other normally-aspirated 4-cylinder 2-liter engines: peppy but with a modicum of torque.

 

Without some kind of quantitative test (dyno, acceleration, etc.) you still don't even know if the car is down on power.

 

Have someone sit in the drivers seat and push down on the throttle. There's a fair amount of slack needed - you don't want to snap the cable.

 

Thanks for the heads up. I set it to within spec, so should be ok.

 

Yes - mine was set to "spec" and after having someone push the pedal to the floor so the cable could be seen getting tight - I gave it more slack.

 

Good!

In general, most cables need a bit of play. If they have a lot of resistance, look for kinks in the line and lube it with good cable lube. I like PJ1.

Words of every bike dude (motorized or not).