How to make a Vigor faster...

[Vig_Ghost]

....is my question. I have a 92 GS with 199,987 miles on it. It runs good and I just did a major tune up which included adjusting the valves(which were all within service limits but I just put them to the looser end of service limits) . It has gotten 30 MPG on the freeway and 24MPG in mixed driving. So I am going to assume that the compression is doing pretty good though I haven't tested it.

Here is my question. How do I make the car peppier? What are some mods to do?

My wife's 92 accord "feels" faster. (Both cars are manual transmissions) Her car seems more torquey and responsive to little blips of the throttle at various driving speeds where as the Vigor seems less responsive. With a 178hp vs. 130hp in the Accord I would expect it to feel more powerful. It seems like when I really get in to the throttle on the Vigor it ignores me....yes it speeds up eventually but compared to the Accord it just seems less responsive. It dose seem to pull longer but the power curve feels really flat.

So I wouldn't mind changing the muffler as long as it isn't one of those loud annoying ugly looking tin cans that you see hanging off the other import cars. And I'm interested in more performance but I REALLY like a quiet car too.

Has anyone heard of a "chip" for this car? Do they make one? Or how about a reprogrammed or remapped computer for better performance?

Thanks,
Vig_ghost

[DarthVigor]

well headers, intake, turbo, adjust your timing if you reaaaaaaally wanted to(not a good idea though), new spark plugs(NGKs) are always an improvement

[93BlackNTan]

The vigor is way faster then an accord... just not off the jump...

once you get past 3rd gear on a vig... there isnt an accord thats stock that can keep up ...

just my opinion

[DarthVigor]

that is very true, i went from an accord to a vigor and i can definitely tell the difference between the two. The vigor has a better sound to it than the accord too.

[Bob01721]

Originally Posted by Vig_Ghost

"... How do I make the car peppier... Has anyone heard of a 'chip' for this car...?"

Yes, there's a chip for the Vig, but it doesn't really do anything. I've known three Vig owners who installed them and all three went back to the stock chip. Haven't heard of a remapped ECU for Vigs. With a total production run of only around 35,000 cars, there were never enough of them around to make that a profitable project.

Headers and an intake won't do much since the valves limit a Vig's breathing -- not the intake or the exhaust. So, unless you're willing to have a custom cam engineered and ground...

Bottom line -- if you want a car to modify for performance, you'd do better with a different platform. There's not much available for Vigs.

BUT... I find that my 5-speed has PLENTY of juice from around 3500rpm on up. And the extra bit of boost when the intake runners switch over is... sweet. The engine isn't very happy below 3,000 rpm. THAT may be why yours doesn't seem very responsive.

[j-spec_cc2]

I did a custom 3" cold air intake for my vigor w/ a write up.

here's the link to my post on honda-tech.

Custom 3" Cold Air Intake

[AcuraVigorOwner]

Here are some things not to do because they will not have an appreciable affect on performance.
1. Air intake- there is little to no advantage of adding an air-intake to a Vigor, especially without a new exhaust, even then, the benefits are minimal at best and you've lost hundreds of $$ on it.
2. Exhaust- once again, an exhaust will not make any real difference in performance because of the Vigor's setup.
3. Chip's- there are no quality mass produced chips for the Vigor because they are so rare, the ones out there are cheap and are mostly ineffective.

In order to increase performance your probably looking at major engine modifications and $$. The Vigor is a luxury vehicle and is meant for smoothness and therefore the Vigor's power comes on as a slower steady rush by design, as opposed to a quick spurt as in an Accord. In the end Vigors are much faster, even though you might not feel it.

[DarthVigor]

Originally Posted by AcuraVigorOwner

In order to increase performance your probably looking at major engine modifications and $$. The Vigor is a luxury vehicle and is meant for smoothness and therefore the Vigor's power comes on as a slower steady rush by design, as opposed to a quick spurt as in an Accord. In the end Vigors are much faster anyway, even though you might not feel it.

i agree with you dude, ive been doing research about the vigor and i found that its basically pointless to try and make the vig a performance car. Its more of a show car than anything. Shit im even thinking about selling my vig and buying a 3g prelude. Now thats a good car for performance and would be alot of fun

[STEEEZ]

Originally Posted by DarthVigor

i agree with you dude, ive been doing research about the vigor and i found that its basically pointless to try and make the vig a performance car. Its more of a show car than anything. Shit im even thinking about selling my vig and buying a 3g prelude. Now thats a good car for performance and would be alot of fun

I used to have 3g lude, and now I have Vigor.
and let me tell you that the 3g lude is not a performance car either...

[DarthVigor]

hmm did you go to the darkside with the lude and turbo it? ive seen a methanol lude beat a supercharged methanol mustang. 3g lude is a pretty good sports car

[STEEEZ]

Originally Posted by DarthVigor

hmm did you go to the darkside with the lude and turbo it? ive seen a methanol lude beat a supercharged methanol mustang. 3g lude is a pretty good sports car

Naa, I was a student then, and it didnt really fit into my budget.
My gf has a 3g now, and hers is tuned and put together very nicely. So I get the best of both worlds

[DarthVigor]

ha nice, i bet that would be a fun race. Ive decided to keep the vig nig untill the wheels far off and make it look nice. I will get it once i sell my accord, i cant wait. Ill take pics of it once i get it

[beep]

I too don't like that my vigor doesn't respond quikly to my right foot. I agree that the car is designed as a luxury vehicle and responds as such.

What I do is shift to 3rd when I want to keep it quick. Use 2nd gear to get into traffic quick. Car has lots of pickup at higher revs.
My first Auto and I miss being able to stir my own. Auto has it's points too.


Brian

PS. How about Auto's shift from first to second under full throttle? With the bridgestone tires I had initially, wow the torque steer moved the car a bit to the left in a straight line. Is this normal?
New goodyear g-force's installed getting ready to try soon.

[DarthVigor]

hmm im not sure i drove my vigor for a day and then the engine blew so ive decided to keep my accord and buy a bike to ride and save money