Improving DC5 performance (Automatic)

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Originally Posted by noobcake

haters gonna hate

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just being frank ! Summing up his situation - before he wastes money on the car with mods that make noise but no power (if not loose power)

LOL @ lazy .. I've got a bike (yep they're manual) - enjoy auto more with cars, haters gonna hate

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Originally Posted by V8KLLR

You've lost alot of power just by it being auto. Ive driven my friends DC5 Luxury. It was very disappointing. With a manual transmission you have alot more control.
Basic things you can do to gain more power are I/H/E.
Intake, headers and exhaust. Purchase a CAI [Cold Air intake] avoid SRI [Short ram intake] because the CAI sucks in colder air as it isnt located within the engine bay. The SRI is basically an esposed pod filter where your airbox would be and is vulnerable to heat soak. Colder air, the particles are more dense and compact, so more air particles. Hot air the air particles move away from eachother, so lesser air particles. Injen is a brand of CAI you can look up. But be wary of hydrolock, thats when alot of water enters your engine through your intake, and damages the internals. Through things suck as flooded roads or large puddles.

Headers or extractors. These extract the exhaust gases from your car. The quicker they can exit the engine the better. 4-2-1 headers were the four exhaust ports merge into two, then one are good for mid range power. 4 to 1 headers are good at top end power, but at the cost of low range grunt. You can have then ceramic coated to trap heat escaping into the engine bay, but its kinda unneccessary if you have a CAI. I wouldnt recommend heat wrapping, I've heard of headers getting warped. This is second hand info.

Last is exhaust. You want a exhaust probably around the 2.25 -2.5 inch mark in diameter the whole way through. Mandrel bent [picture a smooth curvature in the pipe because an exhaust just doesnt go out in a straight line to the canon, you can get an exhaust like that called a straight pipe. But it is REALLY LOUD and cops will get you.] + high flow cat .You need a cat because this neutralises harmful gasses in your exhaust. Not running one of these will get you into trouble. The material should also be taken into consideration. Stainless steel the way to go. With all this your car should rumble and roar at a nice note and your Vtec with the CAI should scream louder. But dont be expecting landslide results. You will get results but you'll be lucky to get 15 kw increase, I think.

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Thanks for that mate, very helpful :D

He was the only one that didn't turn this into a manual vs auto debate. Nice guy.

Myself on the other hand aren't so nice, so fkn sell up and buy yourself a manual car!

I'm not paying $70 a lesson just to get a manual, I'm happy driving an auto for now.

dont need to pay for lessons, just get a cousin or something with a manual car

I get shit for driving an auto as well... my family didn't have a manual to practice in my Ls. I only did about 5 hours (cousins bf) all up in a manual and was not good enough to pass the test so instructor recommended i just do auto for now. STOP HATIN AUTO'ERS

What people should be saying is that, while an auto is a valid choice if you want a nice cruiser, it's never going to produce the power you need when you need it, or be as responsive as you'd like. I'd say just be content to cruise until you get your next car, as there really aren't many ways to wring much extra power out of it without it being a waste of money. A turbo Silvia would have been a nice choice.

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Originally Posted by charliebrown

I get shit for driving an auto as well... my family didn't have a manual to practice in my Ls. I only did about 5 hours (cousins bf) all up in a manual and was not good enough to pass the test so instructor recommended i just do auto for now. STOP HATIN AUTO'ERS

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I dont think anyone here is really hating on "auto'ers". THe posts are actually helping the OP realise that modding the (auto) car for power parts is a complete waste of money.

My auto dc5, i have cheap coilovers to ahve it looking nice and also handle better, i have a audio setupu as its a DD/cruiser, i have HID cos it looks better, and ITR wing, wheels to look better. I just ordered last week some ESMM inserts. I had a cracked engine mount and isntead of forking out $600odd dollars fora set of solid mounts, i opted for Energy suspension motor mount inserts as its a MUCH cheaper option, as well as leess vibrations.

Well some people in the thread are helping him by saying he should be working on suspension and aesthetics rather than performance, but others are just plain taking the piss out of those driving autos even though they had no other choice.

Meh I'm happy with it for now anyway ;) At the end of the day I'm not talking about forking out a heap of $$ to try give every inch of power possible I'm more talking about increasing efficiency in an auto car.
But yes at the end of the day I too focus on looks when it comes to my DC5 but also wondered what could be done to increase the efficiency of it too.

(and I literally know 2 mates that have manuals and I'm not asking to borrow their cars for learning.. I'll live with a cruiser for now)