Just like building up street cred can take some time, so does developing a performance intake. Luckily though, we have a plan in place to break the 2.0T Accord out of its shell. Before we can dive into what our new intake is going to look like under the hood, let’s take a look at the master plan.

Big MAF in Charge

One of the biggest challenges when creating a new intake kit for a modern vehicle is avoiding the dreaded check engine light. The main offender for setting off the yellow beacon is the long-term fuel trim, or LTFT, which is measured in a positive or negative percentage. This is a gauge on how rich or lean the engine is running calculated by the signals sent to the ECU from the mass airflow sensor, or MAF. This sensor is calibrated to operate within the specific confines of its housing. Any adjustments to the size of this housing could skyrocket the LTFT and set off that unwanted dash light.

In the case of the 2.0T Accord, Honda used a combination of the Civic Si’s sensor with a housing that was sized somewhere between the sporty Civic and the CTR. With this in mind, our engineer, Ye, is planning on making only slight adjustments to the size of this housing for the sake of flow. Part of the plan is to test out a few different configurations to find the perfect mixture of flow through our new kit and acceptable fuel trim levels to go with it.

RotoBox

Protecting the filter from absorbing the ambient engine bay heat is always something that we have in mind during these projects. There are plenty of ways to do just that, but here at Mishimoto we prefer to give the filter a new shell with a fully enclosed box. The new box will keep the warmer air from seeping in and the fresh air focused and flowing where it needs to go.

Sheet metal has long since been our material of choice when it comes to enclosing the air box. It’s relatively inexpensive, which helps on your end, plus it’s durable and does the job. However, given the space constraints on the 2.0T flavored Accord, and the complexity of the design, even a cheaper metal might not be enough to limit the price tag. That being the case, we decided to venture down another path to create an airbox design that would be produced using rotational molding.

Our engineer, Ye, started the box design by picking a filter size from our catalog already proven to improve the flow through the Accord’s respiratory system. From there, the box expanded to give some room for the fresh air to flow into while keeping it concentrated around the filter. With a keen eye on the surrounding equipment, Ye was able to design and create a tangible representation of the full design with the help of our 3D printers.

With the obvious lack of space available in the engine bay of these new Accords, proper fitment is a cause for concern. Luckily though, in an effort to make sure that we get it right the first time around, we employed the 3D printers again to create a full fitment prototype for a first look at the new kit.

With our plan in place, the Accord 2.0T is well on its way toward the proper attitude adjustment. This might be a major milestone in the process, but there’s still a way to go. Make sure to stay tuned for the first look at the full production sample and testing.

The James Bond films would have likely ended up being a lot less thrilling without the dramatic use of all those gadgets thanks to Q. Since our fresh new 2.0T intake kit’s production sample just arrived, we’d like to assume the role of head gadgeteer in charge and take you on a tour of the updated system. In our last post, we were able to provide you with an in-depth preview of our intake kit design thanks to the magic of our 3D printers. This time, however, we can provide the real deal.

We start with the connecting point—the silicone coupler. Replacing the accordion-style stock coupler, this new connection piece sheds the uneven internal surface in favor of the uniformly slick qualities of silicone. We might not be replacing much on the cross-over pipe, but even improving this small section will yield positive gains in terms of airflow.

The MAF housing is the next piece in this puzzle. From the factory, the home for our 2.0T Accord’s MAF sensor was one with the airbox. In our design, the combination of these two components is more of a “just work friends” relationship. They might look good together, but our engineer, Ye, made sure that they were separated so they could grow independently of each other. We made some adjustments to the MAF housing design in the name of flow and power all the while keeping these changes to a minimum in order to ward off those pesky check engine lights.

Now for the main event, our new airbox design. Typically, we would be looking at a robust production sample made from steel, but this time around we decided to go with a rotational molded design. We were able to give you a high-definition preview of the new design, but now we have the 4k quality airbox, as it will look from the mold. Let’s take a closer look.

Unlike those classic Q scenes from the Bond films, our testing isn’t a scene of chaos during the demonstrations. Rather, we like to test our products one at a time on the dyno for the best results. Make sure you stay tuned to see how this sleeper cell performs with the help of some upgraded gadgets.

In our last post we left you off with the fresh new production sample, ready to go through the ringer on the dyno. However, as we started testing, we found that there was still room to improve, specifically when it comes to the flow of our intake. The tight tolerances of our build envelope meant that our engineer was not seeing the desired results when the testing began, which is not a good look for a performance intake. Naturally, the next course of action was to cut a hole in the box, leaving us with a new window on the final design. Aside from the stylish new porthole, the opening meant a 50% increase in flow over the stock intake design.

Strapping our 2.0T Accord donor vehicle into the Dynapacks is where we see the fruits of our labor. We do monitor the fuel trims to ensure that our adjustments to the MAF housings don’t set off any check engine lights, and so far, so good. The next step is to gauge just how much of an attitude adjustment this intake kit adds to the Accord.

Once we started up the dyno testing, we were on our way to determining just how much attitude we were able to inject into the Accord. Through our series of power pulls on the Dynapack system, we recorded max power gains of 15.6 whp and 12.9 wtq all while maintaining a safe air to fuel ratio on the stock tuning. We expect even more power gains with aftermarket ECU maps or tunes in the mix.

They always say that it’s what’s on the inside that counts, and I supposed you could say that’s correct. However, it’s even better if what’s on the inside can live up to expectations of what’s on the outside. With the added power and less restricted turbo sounds, our intake will surely assist with bringing out the wild side of the domesticated K20 variant. Make sure you give your 10^th generation Accord an attitude adjustment today.