Has anybody found a K&N or similar type of air filter for the HCH? Seems like it would be good for a couple more MPG...

 

I think on civics in general bolt ons like air filters and stuff don't do much. I hang around on a 7th gen board and thats rule number one to tell new people before they waste a lot of money.

I suspect honda has it tuned very well and you won't get any extra MPG. It may even decrease it.

Just my opinion though. If you can find one and you realy want to do it I would be very interested in your results.

 

One of the first rules of performance is that better airflow == more HP, and dyno tests prove it. Take the paper out of a paper filter and try breathing through it... You just can't, it's that restrictive. A K&N is proven to give you a few HP. Yes it's only a few HP but why NOT get a few more HP? It's not like the HCH is overpowered or something...

As for decreasing mileage, that's highly doubtful. At any throttle position other than WOT the ECU is going to have no problem maintaining a constant fuel/air ratio even with a less restrictive air filter, since the throttle is inherantly limiting the airflow it's not going to go out of bounds on it's curves. At WOT it's POSSIBLE that it would go out of bounds and MPG might suffer but it's unlikely, most manufacturers put some extra wiggle room at the ends of their curves to account for slight variations in performance.

Why doesn't Honda use one stock? Who knows. Why don't they use LED light bulbs that are more efficient and last longer? It's false to assume there is no room for improvement.

 

I've installed K&N air filters in all our Hondas. I'd wait before I put it into our new HCH. It only has 300 miles on it and I want to get use to it "as is" first. But eventually, if K&N produces an air filter for it, (right now it only has oil filters for this model), I'll be installing it, plus changing over to 0w20 synthetic (if I can find it).

 

Yes I'd like to use synth oil once my breakin period is up also. I'd also like to replace the manual tranny gear oil with a synthetic, for extra super efficiency. I saw dyno charts showing a few HP improvement with synth gear oil in a VW golf.

 

Yes, I'd like to go to a full synthetic manual tranny fluid also. Just not sure what brand/specs to look for. I have used Amsoil engine oil, and I asked them about manual tranny fluid, and they said this to me:
1996 and newer Honda/Acura manual transmissions use a special fluid that is not available from AMSOIL, sorry.

so I am stuck looking for a good product, and cannot find anything that is universally recommended. Any ideas out there?

I did find these mentioned on some of the sites:
GM Synchromesh is made by Penzoil. You can find Penzoil Synchromesh at any AutoZone for $4.99 a bottle, part number 12345349
GM 12345349 'Synchromesh Transmission Fluid' ~$9/qt
GM 12377916 'Synchromesh Transmission Fluid Friction Modified' ~$12/qt
GM 12346190 'Synthetic Manual Transmission Fluid' ~$20/qt (this is probably the Castrol Syntorq LT perhaps?)

That last one looks good, but $20 a quart? Whew !@@!!!!

 

Check out Redline manual transmission oil

I'm not positive that it's suitable for our gear boxes. Better give them a call.

 

even the kn air filter for the regular civic ex 1.7 liter only adds 3.8 hp at near redline rpm .. i wouldn't expect much more for the 1.3 liter in the hch