Honda Horsepower

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Honda Horsepower

Engines 101: A Beginners Guide

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I know there are a lot of people out there wondering exactly how an engine functions, well if so this article is for you. Although not specific for Honda Engines is does have a large amount of information for those who just want a basic idea of how an engine works.

How an Basic Engine works


An engine in its very basic form converts the energy of fuel into kinetic energy (movements) through a mechanical system. Since in most of today’s engines fuel is burned inside the engine, they are called internal combustion or IC engines. There are two types of IC engines: Petrol and Diesel engine. Working of both of these may be slightly different, but the basic principle remains the same; both eventually produce motion as a result of burning of fuel causing a piston to reciprocate.


Intake


A simple petrol or diesel engine has an air tight cylinder with a piston fitted inside. This piston is connected to a crankshaft which in turn rotates the wheel. The functioning of an engine happens in four stages: Intake, compression, Power and exhaust. During the first step, with the piston going down, an ideal 14.7:1 air-fuel mixture enters the cylinder through an intake valve. The valve closes when piston reaches the extreme position.


Compression


In the next step, the piston compresses the air-fuel mixture and squeezes it to extreme pressure. Compression ratio of the engine decides the amount of mixture being compressed. This ratio generally lies between 8:1 to 10:1; meaning that the mixture is compressed to one eighth or one tenth of its original volume.


Power


A spark plug fixed between the intake and exhaust valve ignites this mixture. This ignition produces immense amounts of pressure due to vapor expansion and pushes the piston downwards, eventually turning the crankshaft, which turns the driveshaft and consequently the wheels, moving the vehicle.


Exhaust


When the piston reaches at the bottom during the power stroke, exhaust valve opens and burnt gases are pushed out as piston progresses upwards. These gases are then expelled into the atmosphere through the exhaust system. These four processes keep on repeating and thereby give a constant motion to the vehicle.


Apart from the strokes, an engine needs proper lubrication for effective and durable running life. This is accomplished by an oil pump which is like a human heart pumping blood throughout the body. This oil pump fitted at the bottom of the engine continuously pumps oil to various parts of the engine. This pump is connected to crankshaft and derives the necessary power from it. This way lubrication starts as soon as the engine starts.


The Flywheel happens to be yet another important aspect of an engine. Since there is only one power stroke among the four strokes, pulses are created which produce vibration in the engine. To nullify these combustion pulses, a heavy flywheel around 12 to fifteen inches in diameter is attached at the back of the crankshaft. The inertia of the disc helps in smoothing the motion, thereby reducing vibration.

 

I hope that helps a few people get there heads around things :)

 

Exhaust Basics

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I found this interesting article online which gives a bit on an insight as to the components of a basic exhaust system. It's not specifically for Honda Exhaust Systems but I thought it might interest some of you.

Components of exhaust system and their functions

To understand the workings of an exhaust system, it is important to understand the functions of individual components and their interaction with each other. An exhaust system, in basic terms removes the burnt gases produced in the engine into the atmosphere. But for an efficient working of the engine, the air flow through the engine needs to be smooth. Since pumping the gases out of the system itself consumes some amount of total horsepower, better outward air flow leads to more efficient engine working and better mileage. So an effective exhaust system not only has to serve the purpose of removing gases, but also doing it efficiently to improve engine’s performance.


In a typical exhaust system, gases flow out through the following components in order: exhaust manifold, catalytic convertor, resonator and muffler. The exhaust manifold is pipe arrangement with its ends tightly attached to the exhaust port of cylinder heads. Usually gaskets are used between the attachments to avoid leakage of gas. An exhaust pipe, usually made of stainless steel, connects the exhaust manifold to the catalytic convertor.


The Catalytic convertor plays a vital role in reducing environmental pollution by filtering pollutants like carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen and unburned hydrocarbons, which if left untreated can prove to be dangerous to the environment as well as us. There are many variations in catalytic convertors, but most are available as pellet-type or monolithic-types. A Pellet type convertor has a bed of hundreds of small beads over which exhaust gas passes. In the case of monolithic convertor, gases pass through a ceramic honey comb. In both types, beads and ceramic block are coated with a layer of platinum, palladium or rhodium. In the end, the harmful gases are converted to carbon dioxide and water.


Attached the catalytic convertor is a setup of resonator and muffler connected via exhaust piping. Both resonator and muffler basically perform the same function; reducing the noise produced by the engine’s outgoing gases. The resonator essentially helps the muffler in working much more effectively. Removing a resonator can increase sound by around twenty five percent. The Muffler has an arrangement of perforated tubes and tuning chambers which convert sound energy into heat energy. A tail pipe connected at the end of muffler takes the gases to rear of the vehicle and expels it into the atmosphere.

Remember you can get all the Honda Exhaust Systems and parts you need by searching through our new online shop. Click here to access the shop

 

Honda Wheel Alignment Explained

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One of the most overlooked things when modifying a car is the wheel alignment. A bad alignment has the ability to cause handling losses much greater than any fancy coilovers or swaybars can possible correct. It is therefore vital that a decent wheel alignment be had every time you change something on the suspension. To get your head around it here are the basic terms you need to know

Camber – This refers to the angle of the wheels if are looking straight down at the car from above. If the bottom of the wheel sticks out further than the top then you have negative camber. It is quite common for factory cars to run a small amount of negative camber. Positive camber is where the top of the wheel sticks out further than the bottom, it is unlikely that any factory car will run more than 1 degree of positive camber. It is also unlikely in any application that you will want to gain positive camber.

Toe – If, from the drivers perspective, the front wheels are angled inwards, and if you extended a line from each of them the lines would eventually meet in front of the car, then the car has toe in. Toe out is where the wheels point away from each other. Toe in and out is often used to change the amount of turn in or high stability a car has.

Castor – This refers to the angle the suspension geometry is on. Generally we only see positive castor and not negative. If the front suspension is angled towards the driver then we have positive caster. Positive castor essentially means that the car will gain negative camber when the steering heel is turned. If you don’t understand (it can be tricky) go and turn the front wheels on a car and watch how the camber changes.

In terms of Honda alignments we generally see people add negative camber to the front of the cars. This will generally increase the handling capacity of the car (to a point) as there is a greater tire contact patch when turning. The downside to negative camber is that it promotes camber wear on your tires. Toe is generally only adjusted to suit a driver’s individual style, or corrected to +/- 1 degree when suspension parts are changed. One thing that is often overlooked in a Honda alignment is the castor, most probably as it is not easily adjustable on most Honda models. It can however offer a considerable handling advantage as negative camber is gained through the corners yet in the straights the car can run almost no camber increasing stability and decreasing tire wear.

 

Last Updated on Tuesday, 29 June 2010 19:19
 

Acura RSX Injen Cold Air Intake Review

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I recently installed the Injen cold air intake on my Acura RSX Type-S. Installation probably took around 1 to 1 and a half hours, it was fairly straight forward just time consuming because you have to take the front bumper off. The instructions were also easy to follow and all hardware appeared of good quality. I also purchased the optional hydro-shield and fitted his at the same time. The only slightly challenging part is making sure that the POD filter is on the right angle so that it will sit inside the bumper nicely without being pressed up against it.

Once everything was reconnected I started the car. At idle the car sounds no different at all except for a slight hissing sound (most people wouldn’t notice it). Upon taking it for a good drive the car has seen a huge improvement. Firstly the sound is amazing. Driving around like a granny the car will sound exactly the same as it did with the stock airbox, between 3.5kRPM to the beginning of VTEC you can begin to hear a deep roar. Once VTEC kicks in the sound is one of the most aurally delightful you will ever here. I recommend you Youtube a few videos to get a feel for the sound. Note: It also sounds great through tunnels! In terms of power I could feel a significant increase. It is approximately the difference of having a passenger or not. Independent dyno tests have shown that you will gain about 11-12hp atw just from bolting it on. I would expect another 6-7hp it you tuned the car to take proper advantage of it. I have since been on the racetrack 3 times and have not had any problems with the system. I would highly recommend an Injen Cold Air Intake to anyone, not just if you have an RSX. I have friends with Civics and Integras who have had similar experiences. In fact it was them that convinced me to buy this one, and I’m glad they did. Short of quad throttle bodies there can not be any better modification for delivery air into your engine and sounding completely amazing.

The Injen Cold Air Intake is available for the RSX as well as all other Hondas at our new shop HERE. Just use the search box and you will find it, the hydro-shields are available as well.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 29 June 2010 19:47
 

Top 5 Reasons The Honda Civic is the Best Car to Modify

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Weight

 

Civics are incredibly light, and we all know that when it comes acceleration power to weight ratio is everything. This means you don't need huge power to make the car go fast, and best of you can reduce weight for free.

 

Parts Support

 

Honda Civics have possibly the most aftermarket support of any car in the world. The reason is that they are popular everywhere across the globe. Japan, North America, Europe, Oceania, with possibly the exception of Africa, Civics are modified all across the world. This means that there are virtually unlimited parts available and at great prices as well due to massive competition.

 

Engine Swaps

 

Thanks to aftermarket companies like Hasport you can put almost any Honda motor in any Civic chassis. What this means is that you can take the lightest base model EG civic and put the big torque K24 into it for an amazing power to weight ratio. Sure you could always do this but with the easy availability of aftermarket engine mounts and wiring harnesses some of these engine swaps can be achieved in virtually hours.

 

Motorsports History

 

Believe it or not Civics have a rich motorsport history in all forms. Civics have (and currently are) being used as rally cars across Europe (Look into JAS motorsport), Time attack cars in Australia (World Time Attack Challenge 2010) and race cars in the US (NASA Honda Challenge), not to mention drag cars practically everywhere. This means that all the hard R&D has already be done, and you can buy almost any part imaginable.

 

Price

 

Civics are dirt cheap! You could spend 50k on BMW, or buy an old civic for $500, put 10k into it and smoke that BMW. Imagine the look on his face! The cheap base price means that you can spend more money on modifications, but it also means that stock parts are easy to find and cheap to replace, just hit up the wrecking yard, they are probably dying to give Civic parts away as they have so many.

 

 

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that the Civic is the ultimate car in existence, what I am saying is that the Honda Civic, for the average enthusiast, presents probably the best argument for modification of any affordable car.

 

Last Updated on Sunday, 20 June 2010 14:46
 
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