I don't think his car has plug wires. My gf has an '01 LX and it doesn't. I think both engines went to plug-on-coil in 2000. Also, are you sure that you have the F23A4 engine? This will say "ULEV" on the valve cover. If you want to get power out of that engine, you will need a cat-back, SRI and a new head, potentially from an H22. I wouldn't do the H22 full swap though, just the head. The F engines have cast iron sleves which the FRM sleeves from the H22 can't hold a candle to. Once you have a cat-back and SRI, you can throw a nitrous shot in and that engine can take quite a bit of abuse, but like others have mentioned, you have to do maintenance first. An easy item that is oftem overlooked are the radiator hoses. I changed mine to silicone last week and flushed with vinegar twice and rinsed 5 times afterward and still didn't get all of the crap out!!! Mine is pushing up on 90k, so yours would probably be dirtier unless it was very well maintained before you got it (I've never been so lucky). I try to replace with lifetime parts like the silicone rad and vacuum hoses, Peak Lifetime yellow coolant, Silblade wipers etc.

Check over ALL maintenance items including replacing rubber, maybe the brake lines as well, change all fluids including flushing brake fluid out of the lines with new ...... If I were you, I'd plan that 1200 for maintenance and improvements to the basic systems then start saving for mods. (Rambling, I know .... been a long month! Sorry, but I think you get the point.)

 

Dude, all 6th gen 4cyl engineshave plug wires. Unless your gf's car is a V6 or has an engine swap from an 03 or newer 4cyl

 

I'll double check, but I thought that it has COP like mine.

 

I know both f23a1(in mine) and and f23a4(ulev) have plug wires. I don't know about the f23a5(non-VTEC). Look at 02blueaccord's avatar. The wires are in the picture. His is an 02 model.

 

you prb get a little more power out of the mods with a f23a4 since all the piping is tighter and alot more restricitve. I tink thats the reason for 2horsepower and 2 ft/lbs of tourque.

 

I'll just look under the hood when my gf comes over tonight after work. HR4VTEC, you're probably right about the pipes, however the A4 head is different and I think the redline and VTEC engagement are lower, but I'll have to look ...... I never really looked into modding her car since it's our weekend trip car and I want to keep the MPG up ..... also, she's not the most attentive person on the road and I don't want to encourage her to drive more agressively. With my car, I can turn up the VTEC engagement and disable secondary triggers when she's not looking if she's driving.

 

i have the ulev engine..mine has plug wires and redline is the same as in other cars...mods definately did help it though...much more better accelaration...cant really tell when vtec kicks in but i hear more roaring of the engine when i hit 4.5k +.....i really dont think our heads are different either...

 

The heads arent any different and neither is the redline or vtec engagement. WTF are secondary triggers?

Sometimes I wonder where you guys come up with this stuff, like the guy who said he removed his governor. I'm still wondering what it was he removed and how he removed it to think that it somehow changed something.

 

I chuckled at that one too. He probably just wrote that in his sig. Or the person he bought the car from probably told him they removed the governor or something. Or he's flat out lying like the guy with his "gangsta wifey" over on the 6th gen website. lawl

 

On my V-AFC controller, there are triggers to make the car go into VTEC regardless of rpm. One secondary trigger is an adjustable throttle setting which can be set to the %WOT that I want (65% WOT is where I usually keep it) and the other is for when the intake pressure drops like when you are going up a steep hill.

I'm going to ignore that comment BCK.

If the A1 and A4 heads are the same, why would they have different identifiers? For that matter, why would one be CARB certified ULEV and the other not? The pipes would not reflect on the motor designation.