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Anyone do ANY performance mods to thier Pilot? Share!!

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#21 ·
Re: Performance to the Pilot

Scancord said:
My friend is very good with car mods, especially Honda and Acura.

3--Place thermal spacers between the manifold and engine frame. My friend did this to his Piot, and it gave him better pickup, since it kept the engine running cooler. The make a kit for this mod, he did it in his 04, I have an 08, I will try to do it myself.

4--Take the plastic engine cover off. This cosmetic cover retains heat and once removed, let the engine breathe better.

BF
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Wow... where to begin. Most members on here have been very helpful and gracious with their information (ie MDX subframe braces) and I don't want to flame anyone but sheesh.

Engine frame? What? Engine running cooler? Do you mean a cooler intake charge? Maybe you mean a thicker intake manifold gasket?

Plastic engine cover = letting the engine breathe better? Not related. Not even with seven degrees of separation with Kevin Bacon. Put it back on.

Please dont let that guy take any more of your money.
 
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#22 ·
Re: Re: Performance to the Pilot

Flyimports said:


Wow... where to begin. Most members on here have been very helpful and gracious with their information (ie MDX subframe braces) and I don't want to flame anyone but sheesh.

Engine frame? What? Engine running cooler? Do you mean a cooler intake charge? Maybe you mean a thicker intake manifold gasket?

Plastic engine cover = letting the engine breathe better? Not related. Not even with seven degrees of separation with Kevin Bacon. Put it back on.

Please dont let that guy take any more of your money.
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LOL, I was waiting for a Turbonator thrown in to really make the pilot fly!.:2:
 
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#23 ·
Re: Performance to the Pilot

Scancord said:
1--Insert a K and N air filter. Better throttle response
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K & N Filters are pure marketing cack. It is physically impossible to let more air in AND filter better. Any performance gains are at the expense of letting in more silicon grit or other contaminants, which are bad for the wearing parts of your engine (bearings, rings).

You'd get better throttle response from having no filter, but you wouldn't do that either.

Get a good quality paper element, and if you're that concerned about performance, change it often.

2--Change the rubber vacuum lines( about 3) to silicone tubing. This tubing does not flex as much, once the Pilots computer gets used to it, you get better throttle response. It does work, I did this to my Accord too.
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Huh? Unless your vacuum lines are actually leaking, the only advantage to silicone is durability and heat resistance. Are you implying that under high performance conditions, the vacuum lines actually deform enough to have an effect on performance?

YGTBSM.

3--Place thermal spacers between the manifold and engine frame. My friend did this to his Piot, and it gave him better pickup, since it kept the engine running cooler. The make a kit for this mod, he did it in his 04, I have an 08, I will try to do it myself.
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Excessive temperature in the intake can lead to elevated engine temps and decrease performance (which is why so-called Cold Air Intakes are cack, since they usually take their intake from the hot engine compartment than outside air) . I fail to see where this would have a measurable effect on performance unless there were something already wrong in the first place (such as the cooling system failing to cool effectively to begin with).

As for the thermal spacers, have you considered the ramifications of containing more heat on the exhaust manifolds that would otherwise be radiating out. Would the higher heat being contained there be bad for the manifold castings, the exhaust gaskets, or the head or valve cover gaskets on the side where the heat is being contained?

4--Take the plastic engine cover off. This cosmetic cover retains heat and once removed, let the engine breathe better.
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1/8" of plastic is hardly thermally insulating.

5-Use Mobil 1 5-20 Extended performance Oil--its the best, by far
and a Mobil One Oil filter
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So far, this is the only sensible thing you've said. I don't think Mobil 1 would add any appreciable performance gains, but it does provide some advantages insofar as being viscosity-stable, and additive package-stable over long oil change intervals. A quality filter is good peace of mind- I'd rather spend a buck or two on a better filter than a cheaper one like a Fram, because the better ones (Wix, Purolator, Mobil 1, etc) are simply assembled better, and have better QC.
 
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#24 ·
Re: Re: Performance to the Pilot

ctobio said:

A quality filter is good peace of mind- I'd rather spend a buck or two on a better filter than a cheaper one like a Fram, because the better ones (Wix, Purolator, Mobil 1, etc) are simply assembled better, and have better QC.
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Are none of the Honda filters acceptable?
 
#25 ·
Re: Re: Re: Performance to the Pilot

xGS said:


Are none of the Honda filters acceptable?
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Yes they are, after all they are OEM and recommended by Honda.
 
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#26 ·
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#27 ·
I generally don't like OEM filters from the dealer counter, because they're a real crapshoot, as you saw in Tom's post. Exceptions are at the German dealers, which nearly always use Mann, which produces a high quality filter.

With the brands I mentioned, I generally know what I'm getting. I get my Wix filters from rockauto.com. They have good prices, and I usually buy in bulk to make shipping worthwhile. I get my oil filters 10 at a time (order when stock reaches 2), and I usually like to have an inventory of 2 air filters, 1 fuel filter, 1 cabin air filter on hand in the garage.

I even order my lawn tractor filters from them, and I keep a stock of those as well. Turns out my John Deere uses the same oil filter as a late model Toyota Corolla. :)

Given the oil filter change interval on the Pilot is every other oil change, I don't see how they can, in good conscience, sell relabeled Fram filters.
 
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#28 ·
ctobio said:
I generally don't like OEM filters from the dealer counter, because they're a real crapshoot, as you saw in Tom's post. Exceptions are at the German dealers, which nearly always use Mann, which produces a high quality filter.

Given the oil filter change interval on the Pilot is every other oil change, I don't see how they can, in good conscience, sell relabeled Fram filters.
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However, a relabeled Fram product is not the only choice available in an oil filter from the Honda dealer.
 
#29 ·
xGS said:


However, a relabeled Fram product is not the only choice available in an oil filter from the Honda dealer.
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Right, but what are you going to do? Open up every box and go "Nope, that's a Fram. Can you pull another off the shelf?"

That'll make friends fast with the counterman.
 
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#30 ·
ctobio said:


Right, but what are you going to do? Open up every box and go "Nope, that's a Fram. Can you pull another off the shelf?"

That'll make friends fast with the counterman.
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Nope.

Incidentally, the Honda filters aren't packed individually in boxes.

Guess, again.

Here's a hint:
 

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#31 ·
Ah, well, I wouldn't know. I never buy my filters at the dealership. :)
 
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#33 ·
I believe the OEM oil filters are very good ,if you change oil per owners manual.Honda will not risk it's reputation with a poor quality OEM product that may harm the brand name.
 
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#37 ·
#39 ·
Nickp said:
It would be nice if we could get an improved J Pipe. I did a similar mod a several years ago on a V6 Contour and the improvement was noticeable.
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There is a never ending thread on doing just that over on MDX site. All promise no product for several years afaik
 
#40 ·
It would be nice if we could get an improved J Pipe. [/quote]

I know RV6 Performance makes one (and pre-cat delete pipes), I believe it fits the Pilot with no or small modification. You'd have to email them though.
 
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