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restoring lost horsepower?

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Old 05-09-2005, 11:12 AM
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Default restoring lost horsepower?

Knowledgable People help me on this 1, my car seems to be running slower than usual, need tips/suggestion on tweaking the engine.
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Old 05-09-2005, 11:15 AM
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Change your oil
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Old 05-09-2005, 11:23 AM
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examine the air filter. if it's been more than 20k kms it needs to be replaced. when was the last time you got a tuneup? change the sparks, spark wires, distributor cap. use some fuel injection cleaner (does that stuff even work?). change the fuel filter if it needs to be changed.

that's about all i can think of. how are you for doing regular maintenance on your car? do you perform regular maintenance?
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Old 05-09-2005, 11:35 AM
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your stickers are wearing off... replace.
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Old 05-09-2005, 11:45 AM
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Originally Posted by Juka
your stickers are wearing off... replace.
Definitely the stickers causin the horsepower loss

I'd also say oil and air filter change
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Old 05-09-2005, 11:59 AM
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Hey Simon... did you even come out on Saturday? H-T?
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Old 05-09-2005, 12:24 PM
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i perform regular maintenace on my car, though i use regular engine oil maybe i should switch to synthetic (how much difference on performance does synthetic oil makes?)
i have short cam intake , should I clean/replace the air filter? i'll do a tune up tomorrow i'll buy a better spark plugs this time.
....and i'm not peeling off my stickers it looks mean on my car, if this causes HP loss, it's well worthed..... 'tang-Ina!
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Old 05-09-2005, 04:02 PM
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Originally Posted by Juka
Hey Simon... did you even come out on Saturday? H-T?
I was out there but just real quick glance around the place and that's about it .. I wasn't driving, my buddy was and he had to get to his cousin's b-day get together so couldn't stay longer My Teg isn't on the road right now *thumbs down*
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Old 05-09-2005, 04:20 PM
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If you're using a cloth air filter believe it or not, the dirty they are the cleaner the air that passes through. There is a greater power loss of course but less dirt goes through. Most power losses are due to dirty fluids, soiled plugs, arching wires, and bad dizzy and rotor. A simple tune-up generally does the trick. I prefer all Honda parts because they're of the best quality and work best on our motors. I've had some bad luck with aftermarket wires, plugs etc. Stick OE. If you're not running OE, run OE. Other things you can do is a wet/dry compression test to test the health of your rings. A leakdown will tell you the health of your head. Get someone else to start your car first thing in the morning and see if there's any puffs of smoke. Blue is oil, white is coolant and black is fuel. Depending on your mileage, you might want to switch to higher octaine fuel. If you notice a power improvement then switch for good - power loss might be due to knocking. If you don't an improvement than it's overkill - new motors don't need it. Syn vs. dino is a personal thing. I've used both. For track, the syn seems to cope better with the stresses of higher temps and makes slightly more power. That said, at temperature some people, including myself, find it finds it's way past the rings faster and burns up. Running low on oil isn't a way lube your motor. I prefer running dino oil and changing it more often - though I am experimenting with Motul at the moment. Could also be a clogged cat. Good luck.
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Old 05-09-2005, 04:27 PM
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Isn't motol that oil that susposed to restore engine and tranny or somehitng ,ive heard stories of this oil making more power... wierd. My friends trying it out on his vdub because some of his dub friends actually gained power from just changing to motul, I said ill believe it when i see the dyno before and after sheets.
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Old 05-09-2005, 04:59 PM
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Yeah, there are all sorts of claims going around. It is proven in high temperature racing situations it does perform better. Thermal photography has shown lower temperatures in the motor after switching to a Syn. Though, I'm sceptical it makes a large enough difference on a street driven car to warrant the cost difference. I got a good price on it from one of the HADA sponsors so I'm giving it a go. I put the car on the dyno after switching and did lose some power but there were other factors at play so it's not fair to say it was the oil that caused the loss. More oil does make its way past the rings though, so not impressed with that. But it could also mean that it gets into more places than regular oil would so I'm getting better oil coverage. It's hard to say. My last lapping day, the water temperature was lower than I had with my previous oil. I'll want to do a few more lapping days and see what happens.
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Old 05-09-2005, 05:50 PM
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If you get some throttle body/carb cleaner and spray it into your throttle body, revving when necessary to stop the car from bogging, that should help a good bit. Worked in my case. When I installed an intake on my car, I noticed my car started to run like ---- shortly after.. dunno what was going on there, but I've since converted back to the stock intake.

I wouldn't bother with synthetic at all. You MAY gain a slight bit of power, but the overall cost for synthetic doesn't seem worth it save for race applications.
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Old 05-10-2005, 09:53 PM
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Maybe check your grounds, vacuum hoses, and compression, any codes being thrown?
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Old 05-14-2005, 12:11 AM
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My cars always slow Need to change the spark plugs though doubt it will make a diff lol
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