My sister hands off her tsx to me soon and it will be my car for a year or so. I've looked into mods, but sometimes it seems that the $100's people put into bolt ons don't really see huge gains. Im kinda on a budget, but would the following mods fulfill the need for speed in the tsx?
Dc Header ~ $300
RT Highflow Cat ~ $300
Fujita Intake ~ $200
No hondata yet, I have an 05at
Total = $800 for roughly 20whp

 

you will definitely feel a gain from adding those mods.

search please as all this info has been covered.

 

But I'm right there with ya, I would kill for hondata but i have an 05 A/T as well. But i mainly just enjoy the looks and functionality of my car over the speed. If I want to fullfill my need for speed, I hop in my dads new G35 S

 

Well, that's why you do a tranny swap!

 

Is it really worth it? I mean it is your car for now but don't you have to return it back to your sister later on? I would rather use that money on something else. 20whp? not even sure that is correct number but won't do much.

 

Easier and cheaper to drop an 04 AT ECU in there.

 

I doubt that replacing the cat will make much of a difference on a (nearly) stock car. But, yeah, search and see if you can find dynos and such on these mods. The header & intake seem to be the best bang-for-the-buck bolt-on mods, from what I can tell.

And when you quote prices, are you going to install those yourself?

But as to whether or not this satisfies you, you'll have to answer that. Personally, I don't think the speed is bad. (Although, I do have the MT version.) Sometimes it seems that people get a car and that want to just start in with the performance mods. Drive it a while first!

 

The search will be your friend. However, i must say from reading this forum, IMHO i wouldn't really spend too much time modding up an 05 AT unless like Moda suggested, you swap an 04 ECU for yours. I think this because without hondata, you won't fully ultlize the money you have spent on the upgrades but that is just my

When i had my 04, i had only done the intake and debating about doing other engine work due to the fact i wasn't sure if i was going to get the reflash. So instead, i went with suspension, and all exterior stuff first. Now with my 06, with the upgraded OEM CAT size, it wouldn't provide me all that much extra power going to a better CAT or exhaust system. The only engine mods i would really do would be headers, intake (which i have done already), and then hondata to tie it together.


EDIT: HOWEVER, if you are going to be doing the installations yourself because you just enjoy working on your car, then disregard everything i said. Nothing beats working on your own car and feeling the improvement, even if it is slight.

 

you can get a 04 ecu from the salvage yard on ebay for 150 or 200. just looked there is 2 of them.

 

I have thought about doing this, but I think that my engine mods will come later on down the line when I am done with my exterior mods so to speak i.e. Body kit, new head and tailights, Euro R grill, and a drop. I would love to have some more speed, but for right now, I dont see much of an advantage in it.

 

Of course for the youngsters, aesthetic beauty comes first before power.

Hey, I'm right there with ya. I'm satisfied with the way my car runs now, that is, until I drive jmathews' car again :P Then, I'll go sit in a corner and cry.

 

that was my case in point

 

haha

 

Where did you find it? I'm having a hard time to locate 04 ECU for that price. I can't find any in Toronto.

 

Actually if you have the 04-05 TSX the cat is a very worthwhile mod. The 06 TSX will see some gains too but the the cat is very restrictive on the 04-05.

 

you cant get them that cheap new. they are used on ebay. buy there is nothing wrong with a used ecu.

however I just checked ebay and someone must have bought the only 04 ecu cause the 05 AT is the only one left on there.

 

 

Thanks for your info.

I've search on EBAY before, but alot of them is NOT a TSX ECU. They advertised that it can be used on TSX, where as it's just a K-series ECU from Accord I-4, or CR-V, which is not compatible w/ TSX, Hondata confirms.

 

+ 1

 

That is what i mentioned above! I also agree with the used ECU, there probably is nothing wrong with it at all.



EDIT: ^^ Nice info Jan!!

 

Nope, fake titties are horrible!

 

WTF, that was completely random dude.

 

I drive the tsx quite a bit on the weekends and in the summer and Im used to the car. As for appearance mods, I would like to keep it stock. (Nothing beats someone thinking they were beat by a stock car) I played around with the exhaust in the summer running open midpipe and removing one of the mufflers for a day. The stock mufflers and piping do the job, it seems that upgrading to a highflow cat would have bigger gains than upgrading to a $600 catback.

 

BUt the joy of driving MT!! and it opens up to more possiblities of mods!

 

but they are so worth it!

 

Yeah, they make your car go ZOOM!!!

 

went right over your head dude.

 

OK, I did some searches, and found this from rmpage:
I'll take y'all's word for it, that the cat is definitely worth it!

 

Performance wise NO, aftermarket cat-back exhaust is not worth it. What rmpage stated was everything IN FRONT of the cat-back exhaust are restrictive; which includes Air Intake, Exhaust manifold (Header), and Catalyst Convertor. You can change the stock items to Cold Air Intake, Sport Header, and High-flow Cat/test-pipe. As far as the cat-back exhaust, there's no differences on dyno.

For sound and bling factor, I think cat-back exhaust is a must. Vote for Greddy SP2.

 

When vidgamer said "cat" I believe he meant catalytic converter, which agrees with what you said.

As for bling/sound factor, I have my Tanabe MT arriving next week. Can't wait.

 

agreed on the cat back scenario. But for bling and sound you can't lose! Exhaust just adds a nice aggressive look and sound. Love my comptech cat back!!!!!!!!

 

I honestly can't remember what the car felt like stock, so I couldn't tell you if bolt ons are "worth it" from a performance standpoint. Most modifications have a value that is in the eye of the beholder though. It's your car, so if you want it, get it and be happy.

That said, bolt-ons with most modern vehicles show only marginal improvements at best. You can have an intake and exhaust system capable of flowing very well, but a modern SMP-EFI NA engine with a stock cam profile is already very well engineered and there is very little power to be "freed up" from a bigger intake or whatever. Add a bigger set of cams or a supercharger (with proper tuning of course), though, and all of a sudden you can actually use all the extra room the new intake and exhaust give you. Indeed, you need it.

Also remember that after exhaust gas leaves the ports it begins to lose heat rapidly. As heat falls, so does pressure. Therefore a physical restriction in an exhaust system will produce more backpressure the closer it gets to the engine. From a performance standpoint I doubt the TSX's exhaust would start to become restrictive until you install a supercharger and get the engine breathing heavily.

 

go for coilovers.