i was thinking this morning, about how honda does things. they improve slowly. so for our gd3's the future looks good. the first engine in the fit is the L15a1. its nice, but needs improvement in the performance area. also it has little potential for engine internals due to head design. but notice that the 2009 fit has a little more power. i'm not sure of the engine code, but since it is a 1.5 liter, i would assume the motor code would be L15a2. a gradual improvement. my guess is that the future of honda will continue like it did in the early 90's. remember the b16? that's what im hoping for. gradual improvenments that lead to a more powerful and refined engine, but on the same L-series platform. enabling us to swap them. sure you can do a K20/24 swap now. but its horribly cramped and has to be shoe-horned in! plus the cost is outrageous! so what do my fellow board members think? this forum has seemed dead lately, i thought i could get a new conversation started.

 

yeah, i agree with you totally
but i think from the 07-08 fit to the 09 goes like this:
better performance,
yet UGLIER.

but thats just me.
i'm not dissing the people who like the look of the 09

p.s.
i do wish we had real i-vtec though...

 

i agree with that, the 09' is a mini-mini-van. lol. what im looking for in the future is a low cost swap with more power. a straight up swap involving the block or head (or both) only. not the wiring harness B.S. something like a L15ZC or L16 with 130-160hp. something like the next b16. also, a drive-by-throttle-cable conversion would be nice....

 

Honda does that over generations. I think its so funny that my Fit is bigger then most of the Civic I had in the old days (like my CRX's and Civic Hatch). Hell, it even weighs more but people make fun of it because of its size. Civics kind of lost their way.. kept getting bigger and bigger. Hell, they are bigger then the first Accords. I wouldnt buy a fit with a B16a, I kept my gas milage in my del Sol VTEC and I only got 24 mpg in it. The 125 hp del Sol si (sohc VTEC) got me 30. It would be cool to have that motor in the fit.

 

the 125hp SOHC would be a nice addition to the fit.

b16a's have been slightly overrated. It's a die-hard engine and there are TONS of aftermarket parts for them, but it has always been a bit on the inefficient side if you ask me.

as for the speculated L15a2: 9 total hp at the crank is not going to be enough for me to do a head swap. If it is more than that you can absolutely forget it! an engine swap to gain about 5hp at the wheels makes no sense. As far as i can see so far, the bang for the buck remains "turbo". It is the best choice out there for serious inquires about adding power. with the correct parts and some good tuning software like e-manage you will be as safe (if not safer) than the superchargers out there, and you will have more room for tuning -which is ALWAYS a good thing-.

the k20/24swaps are great.....if you have that kind of budget, and can justify taking out a perfectly good motor and setting it aside, but i personally would prefer to stick with the L15.

 

OH, forgot to mention... The most likely cause of the extra 9hp is one of 3 things IMO:
1) PCM/Fuel mapping
2) ported/different manifolds and/or head
3) factory i/e improvements

my bet is on computer mapping and a slightly different intake system/throttle body

 

doesn't every car get bigger and bigger with each generation though? i don't recall ever seeing a new generation come out that was smaller than its predecessor.

 

Pretty true in America ever since the 80's. Before then there were several cars that got smaller.....like all of them. lol




example:

78 Monte Carlo






84 Monte Carlo

 

ah i see, thanks. i actually wasn't thinking about pre 80's-ish cars when i made that statement because i either wasn't alive yet or was way too young to follow cars. so it's true that from the 90's and on, no newer models actually downsized? not even one? because i really can't think of any.

 

I can't think of any.