Noob asks: What maeks car go vrrooom?

[ctag]

Hi,

So I recently got a friend's civic (1999, D16Y7, LX trim) that had a blown head gasket. It's... a turd. Was rally raced or something for a while. Oh, and it has 330,000 miles on the engine.


As far as I know it's pure stock besides bolt-ons (air intake, coilovers, braces). But even with the pathetic state of it, and with a head gasket I threw on in an evening, the car pulls. Not like "hang on to your pockets" but it wants to go in a way my old red civic (1998, D16y8, EX trim) never does. It's making me look at my car and go "Well.. What's up?"

My question here is, what are some possible reasons for the discrepancies? Where should I begin trying to hunt down the now-obvious lack of power in my daily?

They're both 1.6 liters, within a year of each other, both have 300k+ miles, and my car should have shorter gearing (or at least similar). Could it be the other car's hard suspension not soaking up the acceleration? A bad catalytic converter blocking air flow? At what point would the cylinder compressions make this kind of difference?

 

[ctag]

Answer: Compression and timing. That green civic had compression and the timing was advanced to heck.

 

[nd4sped]

Bumping your old threads?

 

[ctag]

Hey, I gave everyone else a year to beat me to it.

 

[nd4sped]

Rereading this, compression would make a huge effect on this issue. Especially if a cylinder is 20psi or lower than service limit.

 

[ctag]

Rereading this, compression would make a huge effect on this issue. Especially if a cylinder is 20psi or lower than service limit.

That's good to know. I think the last time I checked, the "wimpy" civic had something like 60 or 90psi across the board... Might explain it.

 

[nd4sped]

That's good to know. I think the last time I checked, the "wimpy" civic had something like 60 or 90psi across the board... Might explain it.

ya you should see values around 190-210 across the board. Its within reason to see values +/-10 psi in high milage cars. Also this pressure could read lower on different compression testers. As long as you are close to service limit and within 10 psi, should be good. 60psi would be a real problem.