DRR98

We've had our '11 RDX for 10 months or so now, my wife had come to really personalize it starting early on, if you know what I mean.

We had always mixed it up on cars and who drove what before this.

Recently I was able to talk my wife out of the RDX in our mad dash to work at 05:30.

And then again the next day, verbal (may I?) hip check, and boom I'm in.

And then over dinner I sprung my plan...Can I get you another margarita?...nice Kings win last nite...I'd like to have the Acura on Thursday and Fridays.

Schwing! So after 2 weeks of my 2 days in the car, one thing I notice is how quick it warms up.

It is 125 deg f by the time I get out of the garage and far enough away from the house for the gauges to connect to the car network as opposed to the home network.

In Winter our AU V8 takes ~ 5 min, and the fe one ~ 10 min.

I began to think about this, but nothing happened.

Then I looked it up in an online parts catalog.

Oh, so you mean the exhaust manifold is water jacketed.

Gosh, Thats Amazing! (Say it like Huel)



Has anyone ported/smoothed the exhaust manifold ^? Any gains to be had? The stock manifold costs ~ $250, and I already have a dremmel.

Also wondering if anyone has deleted the resonator from the b pipe? Any gains? Is it any/much noisier?



Being as we are in Cali I would have to get a new mandrel bent s/s b pipe made with no resonator so I could bolt the stock one back in for smog. I'm guessing ~ $100?

Last, has anyone ported/smoothed the inlet and outlet on an oe i/c?

A previous response re this ^ pointed out the material in both areas is plastic.

- I think plastic can also be ported. Has anyone done this?

Cheap mods for a slow person?

Or a waste of time, power, or both?

Anyone been there already? TIA

Mr Marco

Talk her out of the RDX? My old lady stuck me with it. I keep asking "Where is that S2000 I was going to have by 2012???"

ALTP deletes the resonator (#7).
You might check into having the exhaust port modded, but there might not be enough material to remove to make it worth taking off the car.

DRR98

Hey Marco,


I once dreamed of an S2000, and then finally went for a test drive.


Yeah not gonna work, I'm 6'2".


Ha, I found I needed a taller vert.


I asked about the resonator in the ATLP g/b thread and wspy said it has a resonator? What gives?


Either way that cat back is sweet but too much money for me.


I can spend ~$100 for a new b pipe though, but only if it won't sound bad, or cause performance loss.

As far as the exhaust manifold porting, yeah that looks hard to get to. You'd want to plan it out right.

But it looks like the most restrictive thing on the exhaust is the precat inlet - a 180 deg turn in a very short distance.

Back to dreaming again...

Start with a new manifold/ported, do a TMIC upgrade and a cp-e intake at the same time.

Mr Marco

I think he was mistaken. You can clearly see in this pic that the one behind the cat has been eliminated:


I wish I had the cash...but there is no way I could find another $1,000 for unnecessary parts right now.

wspy

My appologies, yeah its removed

InfamousJamous

One of my first mods was replacing the resonator with a straight 2 1/4" pipe. It was a quick chop and weld job that your local exhaust shop can do for cheap. It was not much louder but the drone was noticeable. I'm not a fan of drone so I regretted doing that. I did not notice any performance gains either. Your best bet would be to get a downpipe, midpipe and/or upgrade the muffler with a better flowing one first.

I thought about porting and polishing the exhaust manifold too since the OEM part looked cheap, but it looks like a pain to disassemble with all the coolant jackets and tight work area. It seems worth it as you can expect power gains for sure.

Personally, I'm going to dream on and hold off for a turbo upgrade with uppipe and tuning solution. Triple-spool setup.

Kaze66218

You won't lose power from the resonator, and it will remove drone, like ij posted. Wonder what a n1 muff would be like on the rdx?

Former ATLP owner said that power gains with 3" vs 2.5" weren't much. Drone was introduced with 3" which is why ATLP exhausts were plumbed with 2.5" ss

Getting to the exhaust manifold off is gonna be a bitch. You figured that out. My prelude intake mani was in the same position with way more space and I'm still pissed about trying to take that off with the engine still in the car.

Well this isn't a golden rule. Go ahead if you want. Porting and polishing is typically done on the intake side. Mine was done with both intake and exhaust (Prelude). For yours: Smooth out the IM runners, the intake ports, and port match. Head p&p not really a dremel task for the inexperienced. I've ported an OEM Honda IM and it turned out ok, but a p&p'd head was worth sending out, it look and flows better than I would have done.

In the end the efficiency of the intake will increase and may not add substantial horsepower that your looking for without a tune, to include head p&p.

BigHatch

It would be really easy to set up a single exit axle back

08FLrdxSH-AWD

any word if replacing the muffler and cutting out the resonator will void a certified preowned waruntee

BigHatch

if there's any warranty on your exhaust system maybe...

08FLrdxSH-AWD

no warranty on that. its a certified preowned and i have no idea what i could do that would void it

wifes whip

I would not try to port the intercooler if i was you. Its plastic and will not hold up. And what happens when you put it back on and try to clamp it down and it brakes. I would just buy a new one from EST. And for the turbo manifold I think its a good idea to try an port it out. I know for sure that you will make more power out of it because i did it on my 300zx twin turbo and it spools fast now.
And for the exhaust part look up alper motorsport i think Jason the ower there is going to start making a new an improve down pipe and test pipe for our car. I notice a big different when i install the new down pipe and test pipe. The exhaust note did get a little louder and its a good sound i like it. I did not do a full exhaust but i do have an exhaust cut out so when i want it louder i just open it up. no need to spend alot of money on and exhaust system and be stuck with the loud noise all the time.