DYNO 1
Baseline / 106.1 HP / 94.0 lb-ft
Baseline
Nothing too fancy here. A regular, affordable workhorse Civic. Spacious engine bay. Lots of possibilities if you want to go the swap route. But we wanted to see what the single-cam D16 could do with a little help. It's got VTEC, so that's a start.
The Civic we've chosen to work with has about 92K miles on the odometer-plenty broken in, but dying for a little more go.
Air temperature
67 degrees F
DYNO 2
Weapon-R Secret Weapon Intake
109.3 HP / 95.8 lb-ft
Intake
The Secret Weapon intake is a straightforward install, it's handsomely polished and tastefully designed. The fitment is right on the money and all necessary hardware is included. Weapon-R designed the intake filter frame to also accommodate its optional ram air duct kit, adding versatility and flexibility to the system. We pulled 109.3 hp and 95.8 lb-ft at the wheels and expect more if we'd have gone with the ram air kit. The intake's pipe bracket is a bit hokey. We'd expect Weapon-R to weld the bracket to the piping. Another annoyance: no illustrations accompany the instructions. No big deal if you're experienced, but first-timers will need to feel their way in the dark a bit.
Note: air temp rode 2.5 degrees, which robbed us of a little power. The intake pipe got a little heat soaked, so we waited awhile before making more pulls. We lost some torque in the low-rpm range but made up the difference in the midrange and after VTEC came on. The install is straightforward, but we had to bend the mounting bracket ourselves and find a mounting location. Nice plus: the motor wasn't noticeably louder than with the factory airbox. Bottom line: we gained 3 hp and 2 lb-ft.
Parts
The Weapon R kit lists for $200 and includes filter, intake pipe, hose, hose clamps, silicone hose, bracket, instructions, decals and license plate frame
Tools
8- and 10mm socket, extension, ratchet, pliers and standard screwdriver
Installation Time
45-60 min
Temperature
Air temperature @ 69.5 degrees F
Temperature difference from previous run: +2.5
2000 to 3500 hp range: -3 to 0 / TQ range: -8 to 0
3500 to 5500 hp range: -1 to 3 / TQ range: -1 to 5
5500 to redline hp range: -1 to 4 / TQ range: 0 to 3
Peak hp 109.3 / TQ 95.8