[AROWHED]

Got a bone stock 97 Honda Passport 4WD 5-speed manual with the Isuzu 3.2 V6. With factory 4.30 gears it runs about 3300 rpm at 75 mph but gets a dismal 13.5 - 14mpg, and has trouble maintaining that speed climbing hills in 5th. Wondering how to up the mileage and power some without blowing out head gaskets or otherwise. I would bet the stock exhaust system is kinda restrictive with its Y pipe, single cat, small diameter pipe and huge can muffler. Saw these tuners on the net but I'm betting their claims are highly dubious.
https://www.performancechiptuning.com/honda/passport/

[AROWHED]

Surely somebody knows some ricer hot rod secrets! I did order some new fuel injectors, since 150K miles on engine.

[b-man]

One of the best features of a Honda is a Honda engine.

Never figured they’d build one with an Isuzu engine. My brother has a 2004 or so Saturn wagon with a Honda V6, I’m sure that’s the only reason it’s still running.

Good luck with it, sounds like it’s just terribly underpowered and I’m at a loss at what you could do for it without flushing money down the toilet.

[hgerhardt]

Originally Posted by b-man

One of the best features of a Honda is a Honda engine.

Never figured they’d build one with an Isuzu engine. My brother has a 2004 or so Saturn wagon with a Honda V6, I’m sure that’s the only reason it’s still running.

Good luck with it, sounds like it’s just terribly underpowered and I’m at a loss at what you could do for it without flushing money down the toilet.

Well, this is the opposite of what you think: the entire car is simply an Isuzu Rodeo with Honda badges. Literally badge engineering.

As a completely unrelated aside, I had a buddy at Honda in the 90's who gave me two complete throttlebodies from prototype Passports. I used both (62mm) throttle blades in my homemade EFI manifold + throttlebody.

[AROWHED]

I bought the Passport with a stick becasue I liked the 2001 Rodeo I had before it, but its lame 4L30 auto failed (as usual) around 120K miles. But the 2001 3.2 V6 sure had more power than the 97.

[AROWHED]

Just an update, new Bosch fuel injectors and a 2" x 27" cherry bomb muffler helped a little, it is more throttle responsive yet does not takes as much pedal to get moving or maintain constant speed as before. Getting 15.5mpg as long as I keep it under 3100rpm in 5th (about 70mph). Running 80, the mileage still falls off bad, 13mpg again, just nature of the beast I suppose. The estimated highway of 17mpg must be at 55mph.