Drive Accord Honda Forums banner

Best mods to wake up the v6

4K views 18 replies 7 participants last post by  Silent Runner 
#1 ·
Hey everyone! I just bought myself a pre owned 2011 5at coupe about 3 weeks ago. So far I cannot complain about this car and it’s by far the best car I’ve owned. It is also the first v6 but for some reason it feels pretty lacking for a v6 especially on the low end. I’ve been browsing these forums and I found a couple helpful things to wake up v6 a little. Not looking to push this car to its limits I just want something a little peppier so i can actually feel the v6.
so far on the list:
-high flow precats
-Rv6 J pipe
-S-vcm
-Obviously better suspension and stickier tires
-better intake
Is there anything else I’m missing that would be worth doing? Or is this stuff worth doing at all? I know since it’s an automatic my options are very limited but really I’m just looking for some good bolt ons to increase low end power nothing too aggressive i dont want it to be a racecar and I don’t want to compromise the reliability too much.
 
#2 ·
Ktuner. If you want to maximize the performance of all those mods, you'll need to tune the car.
 
#3 ·
You'll have to make up for VTEC. the 5AT V6 coupe doesn't have VTEC, which is why it feels so down on power. The 6-6 is the only 8th gen V6 to have VTEC.
 
#4 · (Edited)
The original poster who made the topic owns a coupe. Not a sedan..

I know you own a sedan, so thats your experience, but hes not asking about the sedan.
The sedan is roughly a whole second slower than the coupe in 0-60 times. V6 AT 8th gen.

I generously test drove a 8th gen 6MT coupe at the dealership (mainly just for entertainment) when I bought my AT. Its not a noticeable difference. Certainly switching gears every shift is going to deliver a different feel for the driver when getting from point A to point B as opposed to simply pressing a pedal...your body is telling you its different but for overall speed I believe its a .2 second difference in 0-60 times for AT vs MT V6 COUPE

....but the V6 coupe has plenty of get up n go with really just a j-pipe 3rd cat delete & the vcm delete. Its quick. Pull you back in your seat. Ain't a Type-R obv..but it deff aint a civic either.
Obviously get yourself an aftermarket muffler (dont need catback, 2.5in is better than 3 for these cars). A decent set of tires & you'll have plenty of low end torque.
The factory double wishbone suspension added to couple basic mods make it like a DART to drive.
Perhaps decent set of coilovers and then upgrade your back n front sway bars...you'll have one of the best handling cars under 100 grand youve ever imagined. Handles like a finely tuned instrument.
Ive worked at a large luxury car dealership...driven many types of cars. Bentleys to BMW to Porsche. This car feels amazing to drive. The coupe. My mother bought a brand new 8th gen sedan shortly after it came out in '08....lets just say, that was totaled. I drove it back then.. and it felt NOTHING like my 8th gen coupes. I'm on my second AT V6 8th gen coupe.



Cold air intake or ram air intake...will help performance as well.
I would stick with 18in wheel size & only buy an aftermarket wheel if they are same weight or lighter.
If you want MAX performace. Otherwise, do what looks best to you.
 
#7 ·
Well he also is on all stock cats. Doesnt have a j-pipe/3rd cat delete and still has VCM activated.... so yea, he needs to take off the factory restrictions, then decide if he wants to turbo it eventually perhaps?

I've simply yet to ever hear anyone say they arent satisfied with their 8th gen V6 coupe AT engine performance after they did the basic bolt ons, unless they're looking for a 3-4 second car. Thats all I was saying.
And also just was saying youre basing your opinion on the sedan model.

Eventually I too will most likely get a Type-R in the coming years but I'll still keep my coupe around.
 
#8 ·
And also just was saying youre basing your opinion on the sedan model.
What opinion? I am stating the fact that the engine does not have VTEC. The opinion I am referencing is OP's opinion that it feels down on power.
 
#9 ·
If you want low end. Get a manifold spacer. That made a huge difference on my car in the low end, but it compromised some top end power for sure. Depends on what you are really after.

J pipe, is probably the best mod. PCD is a stupid mod if you have not really doing a lot of other mods. I did PCD and I have the RE tune my car because it destroyed my low end. PCD will not give you more low end.

I'd go with a ported manifold, use a P2R manifold spacer (anything larger will make the manifold scrape the hood) better intake, send your throttle body to Maxbore and have it made bigger with a bigger throttle plate.

PCD are also no longer available guys, not sure if you are aware but RV6 had the hammer come down on him so the only way you'll find a pair is off a car used. I'd go with the HFPC, those are still for sale IIRC.

And yes a real tune will yield you the most TQ. I gained 30wtq when I did a dyno tune with all my (almost all of my power mods now) mods and it was incredible the difference.
 
#14 ·
What a strange bunch of nonsense I’ve been reading here. I have a 2008 Accord EX-L, V-6, 5at. The engine Honda uses in this application is called a J35Z2 - VCM, and and it definitely has variable valve timing, or v-tech. Actually, iv-tech (intake timing only), and it was Initially rated at 268hp @ 6200rpm, and 254lb/ft of torque @ 5000rpm, but later revised up to 272hp by Honda. The Acura version of this engine was rated at 278hp. Unfortunately, the cars drive by wire throttle management system won’t generally allow full throttle launches of the car below 30 kph, or 18 mph or so. Switching off the traction control seems to help a bit, and I think maybe that premium fuel might keep the cars computers from nannying the engine timing (retarding it), and backing off of your throttle inputs. (Engine has 10.5:1 compression)
 
#15 ·
If your car was an automatic from the factory, it does not have VTec. Vcm replaces what would normally activate VTec. Floor your car, you won't hear VTec kick in. These V6 have enough power that unlike a civic you are going way past the speed limit before you could even get VTEC to kick in long enough to hear it but your car does not have it, it has VCM. Disabling vcm isn't going to make the car faster, it just won't allow VCM to turn on, which I hear with the 8th gen does give a different driving feel unlike my 2012.
 
#16 ·
OK, so lets have a more in depth look at this… From 2008 through 2012, if you had a manual transmission V-6 coupe, you got a J35Z3 engine with full vtech that made exactly the same amount of hp and torque numbers… at the same rpm as the automatic, and J35Z2-VCM sedans had. But your saying that the automatic cars don’t have vtech? That’s quite a trick! So one more time… the J35Z2-VCM engine has i - vtech (intake cam profiles only). The J35Z3 also has a lower compression ratio (10:1), than the J35Z2-VCM (10.5:1). The J35Z3 engined coupes are significantly faster because of the lighter and more efficient 6 speed manual transmissions, and maybe they were conservatively rated. Ang, I can definitely tell when the cam profiles change on my sedan, and my engine pulls like champ right up to redline. My 5spd manual transmission, V-6 Toyota Solara falls flat on its face after 5500rpm.
 
#17 ·
I'm pretty sure the manuals are also j35z2, but either way it's basically the same engine. Like I've said it twice now, if you have a manual transmission you have VTEC, if you have an automatic transmission you have vcm which replaces the parts that would normally control VTEC and then those parts control the cylinder deactivation. If you have vcm, you do not have VTEC. The coupes are I believe about a second faster 0-60, that's due to being 4" shorter though they don't seem to actually be much lighter. That added length probably just gives you empty trunk space and extra room. Unless your car was converted from a manual to an automatic then it should have eco which is what vcm is. Oh and yes I believe the manual is known to make it very slightly faster but it's not actually that huge of a difference I don't think. My automatic Coupe pulls really hard as well without VTEC and I have a roof box on the roof which I'm sure slow is my acceleration a bit. These cars have a lot of low end and high end torque without VTEC.
 
#19 ·
Font Terrestrial plant Screenshot Rectangle Pattern




This is what I referenced for engine information, but more to Nickchyll’s question about waking up power: The j-pipe will enhance high rpm exhaust flow and could definitely add more hp ( I had a custom made j-pipe on my old supercharged Toyota Camry), but as you can see from above, these engines are no slouch’s for output already. For more low end, it’s all about the cars engine manage system, and the drive-by-wire throttle inputs. (after the throttle input system looks at what your asking for and either agrees or intervenes). We can try to keep the engine management system from pulling timing and/or throttle with higher octane fuel. We can try to prevent the traction control system from intervening in our traffic light antics, by turning it off. However, the cars drivetrain management system does not like to allow full throttle application below 15-20mph. (I’m pretty sure that this is a measure designed to preserve this somewhat frail transmission) Try experimenting with different throttle inputs from a stop or very slow roll (just smacking the throttle to the floor, or using a torque loading technique off the line causes the car to instantly cut the throttle back). My experience has been that a quick stab to around 75% throttle (with the traction control off), will give you a small amount of wheel spin, then after the car is rolling you can mash it. Also, the automatic short shifts this engine ridiculously, you have to practice manually shifting the transmission and timing it’s shifts closer to the engines 6800rpm redline. All this is just necessary, to extract maximum performance number, otherwise just enjoy the car, it really does drive very nicely on its own.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top