Engine Power

[rolla99oshit]

Do the 1zzfe engines come underpowered? Cause my friends stock honda accord's engine got chipped it and it gained roughly 25-30
more horsepower, and he told me because his car comes underpowered from the factory, and it was a good ecu,

[fishexpo101]

I wouldn't say this is a case of an engine coming under- or over-rated from the factory - just a case of applying the right mods to see tangible power gains. All cars come from the manufacturer with a set target for fuel economy, durability, emissions compliance, and drivability. You can modify those to your liking to gain better fuel economy, more power, or somewhere in between.

Also depends on what you are willing to do to "unlock" that power in the engine. The 1ZZ-FE comes pretty optimized from the manufacturer - its primary design specs were smaller package than previous engine, good fuel economy, reduced friction and wear, and emissions compliance. Power was a secondary target - so once they hit their design goal - they stopped looking for power and started tweaking other aspects to maximize their primary targets.

Not directly applicable to compare the Honda engine to the 1ZZ-FE - especially in cases of VTEC or i-VTEC, there you are talking about different tech that will respond differently to certain modifications. Just like chipping turbocharged cars tend to make significant power gains compared to naturally aspirated engines. Honda has historically had ECMs that could be "flashed" or chipped, not the case with Toyota. You can add a piggyback EMS or standalone on the Toyota to accomplish some aspects if "chipping" in other makes.

In some makes "chipping" involves either replacing a ROM or EPROM in the original ECM or reprogram (flash) the ECM. With Toyota, since they lock the ECM, you have to intercept the signals and modify them before they get to the ECM (piggyback) or just replace the ECM (standalone) - in a sense, you are "chipping" the Toyota external to the factory ECM. Gains will vary depending on what mods you currently have and if you are investing in a tune or not.

The 1ZZ-FE has shown OK gains with I/H/E bolt-ons (Intake / Header / Exhaust) - couple that with at least some engine management (piggyback or standalone) and a good tune - you can potentially see 10-15 WHP. Spend more money, time, appropriate modifications - possible to see 50+ WHP on a naturally aspirated engine.