iMatt :: The Blog of Matt Clare

I’ve been looking for a modification for my new-to-me car to help make it my own. I searched around the forums that deal with the Acura CSX and the Honda Civic and quickly realized that the simple “bolt-on” modifications available for the Honda Civic don’t work with the CSX as it has a slightly larger engine that was borrowed from the Acura RSX.

I started to home in on the engine’s air intake as a good place to focus my efforts. An air intake that allows more air to pass into the engine can increase the power (a little bit), this is done by decreasing the amount of effort to draw air into the engine and ensure there’s always enough. Less restricted air intakes also tend to improve the sound of the engine by allowing more induction noise to be heard.

Some Acura CSX owners had tried applying other Honda Civic-intended air intakes, but they would tend to trip the Check Engine light. The solution a lot of owners were coming to was modifying the airbox top cover to fit a generic cone-type air filter. The modifications involved trimming away most of the cover’s plastic and attaching a standard 3′ flange cone-type air filter to the now exposed tube. This not only involves a better filter but allows air to be drawn from more locations than the restrictive tube that leads to the front of the car – this could be the cause of the cars not-so-great throttle response.

Many Acura/CSX forums detail this DIY process, CSX DRIVER (login required – probably the best how-to), Acura Forum and this YouTube video of an obnoxious kid.

I ordered a new airbox cover from Acura and when it arrived I sat in the backyard with my Dremel rotary tool and my jig saw and trimmed away the majority of the cover. I retained the collar that clips to the lower part of the old air box, with the exception of about most of the collar directly across from where the filter attaches to the intake tube. This was to give the filter enough space so as not to rub the plastic collar.

After all the little plastic bits had been cleaned up and I was happy with the work I installed it on the car. The original intake cover was unclipped and old filter removed – and saved. The new intake added was slipped down with the remnants of its collar and the actual intake tube attached. The air sensor had to be removed from the original and installed on the new one, which only involved two screws and transferring one wire clip.

Once the new intake was installed I made sure to rev the engine a few times. Here’s the video, you’ll notice that the engine note is a lot raspier and louder on wide open throttle. A quick drive rewarded me with way better sound on wide open throttle (sorry if that was your country home I went by at 70Km in 2nd gear) and whats more is the improved throttle response. This is what I really appreciate, as it helps when I’m matching revs on a downshifts.

That’s my upgrade. I’d recommend it to anyone with the interest and knowhow.

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 29th, 2010 at 23:44 and is filed under cars, howto, Pictures, review. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.