So when browsing diffrent car forums, and you've been around for a while on these. You start to notice that the same problems returns over and over from various people trying to modify their car. Maybe not so much on this one, since the audience here seems a bit more mature from what i've experienced. But it might help someone atleast.
Usually it's the same deal. Some young dudes just watched the F&F movie and went to buy some expensive, shining stuff from some well known retailer with a fancy name. The same kind of problems strike them, more often than not:
Classic #1:
Scotty 22 years, just bought a fancy intake from his local dealer around the corner. Of course he got the one that matches the trim color of his car. As long as the color is right, nothing can go wrong.
Then he notice one or a few of the following problems (if not all):
1. His car runs like a combine harvester.
2. The engine doesnt run higher than 4500 RPM.
3. The engine doesn't feel as strong as it used to on higher RPMs, even though he got the really sweet intake sound.
Well, his super fancy intake he bought from "Steves racing and ice cream" has:
1. Let so much dust through the pores that the engine that were in mint condition before, now needs a complete work over.
2. The oil he sprayed on the intake (and of course a little extra "just to be sure") has clogged the wolframstring in the air flow sensor, wich eventually snapped. The injection box did of course notice this and switched to emergency mode. That's why he cant exceed 4500 RPM, plus there is now steam comming out from his car.
3. Hot air is beeing sucked into the intake from around the engine. This due to poor design/emplacement of the intake, wich makes the engine lose its effect.
4. 1 combined with 3.
Solution:
He should build some kind of heat shield around the intake. Or even better, connect the intake in a way so that it only get cold air from the wheel housing. Possibly by drilling a hole in the engine room wall.
Don't add too much of that oil spray on the intake. Obviously.
Don't buy a cheap random brand from around the corner, of course even the well known brands might be just as bad. But it's usually a safer bet.
Or simply leave it as it is. The ones who once built the car usually did a good job...
Classic #2:
Mike 21, has decided to get himself a new exhaust system. After watching F&F a few hours he realizes that "3 inch is the way to go!". The day after, Mike drives down to his local exhaust dealer. Robert there, draws him a tailor made exhaust for an insane amount of money. When later popping the hood he figure that it's a bit tight around the engine and the outlet manifold, downpipe and whatnot is probably hard to remove and everything will probably become complicated. So 3 inch behind the cat should probably be just as good. It saves him some money too!
So a few weeks later, (the dealer had alot to do) there it is. Shining under his car. Thick... Chromed... 3.5 inch. Everything he ever wanted. (Non-perforated of course. Otherwise it was way too expensive.)
So with light steps he skips into his car, turns the ignition key. And... It sounds... Diffrent... And it sure sounds alot too.
A few days later Mike realizes that, maybe this wasn't the best of ideas after all. First of all his car sounds like a truck in a can. Theres some bang sounds comming out from behind the car when he releases the throttle. And his friends Jeff and Jennifer in the back seat feels a bit nauseous after a while when riding in the car.
Was his exhaust installation such a smart move? --- Nah.. Not so much.
What he failed to take into calculation was:
1. His non-turbo engine.
2. Stock outlet manifold and cat.
3. Randomly positioned transition from his stock 1.7 exhaust to his new 3.5. Robert, the exhaust dealer, just joined the pieces together wherever it was easier for him to weld.
This "upgrade" gave Mike a slightly higher top effect, but maladjusted exhaust pipes will result in all kinds of resonance in the car and some pretty wierd dyno charts too.
So what should our dear Mike have done in the first place?
Well. A well made header, connected trough soft elbows to a high flow cat. Then 2 inch pipes to a freer flowing muffler. If he feels that he needs a shiny end pipe, he should make sure to get a perforated one to get rid of the resonance.
The size of his trunk and the resonance at 3000 RPM at 70 mph happens to be the exact resonance frequency of the craniums of his two friends. That's why they don't feel too good after a while.
Exhaust fumes are hot when they first leave the engine and gets cooler as they travel back trough the system.
The ideal gas law (pV=nRT) tells us that the volume of hot gas is greater than the volume of cold. Wich means that it's the first section of the exhaust system that matters. Header, down pipe, etc. And that's where you want to have your thicker pipes. Not at the end.
(Turbo charged cars have diffrent exhaust rules, but I'll skip that part since the TSX comes without.)
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Please do consider that english isn't my mother tongue. Some of the terms might be wrong.
Either bare with me or point me in the right direction, I'm always keen to learn