engifineer

Sounds about right (although maybe a bit high on the stock car to be honest.. most I have seen are lower than that). Mine on a Karcepts AP1 tune (Greddy Emanage Ult), berk cat and PLM header put down 227 on a Mustang here locally. I think that is getting to be about as much as most bolt ons with tunes will get. Another local at the same dyno day with his Emanage Ult tune (but not Karcepts) hit about 222 I think.

The HFC is going to make the most difference as you have seen. Then probably the header. If you DONT have an HFC and tune it with VTEC set at 4400 you will have a severe dip in power around 3500 rpm.

Also note that you will not feel VTEC engage tuned that way. When it comes in lower in the band, it is very subtle and much more linear than stock, which gives some the impression something is wrong since they do not feel it engage like it did at 6000 rpm.

Car Analogy

130k miles, if you haven't had a VA done already, you're valves are likely burnt. The spec is 100k miles, and Billman has warned to do it MUCH sooner on dbw cars.

I did mine soon as his warning came out, which was around 85k miles for me, still well below the 100k spec, so I thought I still had a ways to go.

But I found several tight exhaust valves, one at .003! A few at like .007 and another at .005. not cool. My compression wasn't too bad. Must have caught it just in time. Still, I'm expecting issues eventually and need to pull head sooner than otherwise .

Do it asap!

zze86

The VA is a legitimate job for the health of the engine but I'm not following the OP's thinking that the car is producing less than it should. Most gains from a tune and HFC seem to be in the mid-range. Maybe it is as @engifineer pointed out, that the lowered VTEC point is making it seem not as strong? I mean, what is the rationale behind the engine has "lost" power exactly? A TV show and an isolated low peak dyno #?

Chuck S

Confirmed. There is no VTEC Yo! with my 3600rpm engagement. The exhaust sound changes noticeably and power increases smoothly. This further convinces me the 6000rpm engagement was deliberate and designed to product a somewhat artificial feeling of VTEC Yo! power. My car's fuel mileage remains unchanged judging that by the fact my 300 miles/tank has not changed.

I believe the 2002 car in my earlier note had a aftermarket exhaust header on it as there was some sort of builder plate visible. May explain 205 rather than 195 whp. (Been 4 years!).

Anyway, I doubt our cars lose measurable power unless the engine is abnormally worn. Also I note Wheeler Dealers is/was heavily scripted so I don't draw any generalities from it. Not seen it in a couple of years as it became pretty non-relevant after the phony S2000 episode confirmed the scripting.

-- Chuck

Zer0ne

How long has the engine been tuned on Flashpro? The running lean issue is only there if stock/modded without a tune. So if the mods/tune were recent with no valve adjustments that you know of, I'd definitely get that done ASAP. I found out the hard way (compression on #2 was 20 PSI lower than the rest). Your header was designed for midrange gains, not top end. What type of dyno did you use?

Car Analogy

She ran calling Wildfire...

rpg51

This.

Definitely do the VA. But don't pull the head on a whim.