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How to get to 180 / 190 hp without a turbo

5280 Views 45 Replies 24 Participants Last post by  friedputty
Just thinking about how to get an extra 20/30 hp without compromising the warranty ( is it possible ?). I don't want a turbo so what would be the less to be done to achieve it? and how much more or less? This is to wait for the Mazdaspeed version :twisted:
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180 or possibly 190 should be doable with bolt-ons, the powertrain part of your warranty would be pretty nullified by that point though.
As long as parts dont break by adding your mod.

More extensive bolt ons will be necessary to get up to 180whp. Typical bolt ons are intake header and exhaust. Extensive is cams, gears, ignition and fuel upgrades.
I think 180 or even more could be done with an Intake, Exhaust, Header & a Chip, unfortunately none of this stuff exists today and the chip may take years to come to market if at all
bluntman said:
Nitrous Oxide ;)
:D but it would last some seconds only :( I'm looking for something a little more stable and usable as 20hp should not be that hard to get with a good header, pistons (11:1?) and exaust system.... too bad none available as of yet.

Cheers all :twisted:
Well apparently we should get good gains from just a CAI on this car. There are other cheap ways of getting a little power as well, you can get DIY grounding kits (1-5HP gain), lightweight pulleys/underdrive pulleys can get you a little bit of power as well. I think with these 3 mods you could expect close to another 20 horsepower.
If you are looking for crank horsepower: intake, exhaust and a header should do just fine getting you 180-190 hp :D
newblu3 said:
If you are looking for crank horsepower: intake, exhaust and a header should do just fine getting you 180-190 hp :D
Actually I'd expect more like 15 total from I/H/E.

I wouldn't expect even the best intake to put out even 10Hp, let's go for a generous estimate of 8Hp for the intake.

The Header & Exhaust are already a pretty good design, probably can eek out 3-4Hp each.

That still only brings you to 375Hp, you need something else to put you over the top, a chip would probably do that, don't think that a pulley will, don't think we can make use of Cam gears due to the variable valve timing, your pretty much out of "bolt-ons" at that point.
Dun forget the Mazda3Forums sticker. 5 hp right there :D
That still only brings you to 375Hp, you need something else to put you over the top, a chip would probably do that, don't think that a pulley will, don't think we can make use of Cam gears due to the variable valve timing, your pretty much out of "bolt-ons" at that point.
You mean 175 Hp right?
I was actually in at my local muffler shop and they told me that it would be near impossible if not impossible to replace the header...anyone else look into it yet?
Actually I'd expect more like 15 total from I/H/E.
I would almost expect this at the wheels. Most CAI's show anywhere between 6-13 hp at the wheels, a catback when teamed up with the CAI will yield about 2-3 more hp at the wheels. I was saying intake, header and exhaust would give you your desired 20-30 at the crank.
Because the stock system rusted out, I put a DC Sports header and Apexi Word Sport cat-back system on my old '92 Accord EX. There was a rather significant difference between before/after. Might have had something to do with the stock system being rusted out, but I never remembered the car having that much power before.

Anyway, my butt-dyno told me there was a solid 10 to 15HP gain in there on an 140HP car. I never did the intake because, well, I wasn't modifying the car for better performance, just replacing broken parts with aftermarket ones.

Some engines respond well to bolt-on modifications and some do not. Based on what I've seen of our 2.3L, I am hopeful that there is some room for improvement.
the 2.3 should respond to mods very good
20hp should not be that hard to get
someone has already said that the exhaust is very restrictive and draxas got good gains with the CAI and then mess with the fuel and you should be good to go
and then later on down the road when your warranty runs out, you can get a turbo kit and have about 270 :) hell if the 2.0 without vvt in the p5 can get 210whp when it had 104whp stock then you could get 260-270 on the 2.3
but i dont know if turbo kits are a good thing on vvt engines
Jebus said:
hell if the 2.0 without vvt in the p5 can get 210whp when it had 104whp stock then you could get 260-270 on the 2.3
Is the 2.0L in the Protige5 the same block as the 2.0 in the Mazda3?

If so, are any performance parts interchangable?
Cleeve said:
Jebus said:
hell if the 2.0 without vvt in the p5 can get 210whp when it had 104whp stock then you could get 260-270 on the 2.3
Is the 2.0L in the Protige5 the same block as the 2.0 in the Mazda3?

If so, are any performance parts interchangable?
NO. The engine in the 3i is similar to the 3s but has nothing in common with the P5 from what I understand. The 3's engine block is the same in both the 2.0 and 2.3L versions. The differences in displacement are from a longer stroke in the 2.3L.
hey so if you buy an i and later on want to make it a 2.3 its doable??
Doable, yes, cost effective, no.
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