Which bolt on combo provides the most noticible difference?

 

do the cheaper stuff first.

 

start with all the induction first, then go with the full exhaust, then heads etc...

I voted full exhuast.

 

Go with exhaust first!

 

if your car is stock it will react with an air induction kit better than exhaust so I would say air induction. Good luck

 

haha, simple answer. Just ask Patrick G on here how well the stock exhaust works. Definately intake/heads. I would love to see a LSX 90/90 car w/ some AFR 205's....i wonder...

 

Yes, Pat G made 396 rwhp with the stock manifolds and cats. However, that was an expensive and meticulously done heads and cam car. If you did everything right, matched parts well, got a great tune and went with a little more aggressive cam and longtubes you could make 430-450 rwhp.

I wouldn't do heads before a cam, and I wouldn't do a cam before full exhaust/lid.

Edit: Order should be bolt ons first, then cam, then heads. Unless you are looking at the LSX intake, in which case I might wait until you had a cam or maybe heads and cam before spending money on the intake.

I choose exhaust before intake because it sounds better that way.

 

since when have heads/cam been bolt ons???

And if you are only looking at modding in a 1 dimensional way then it'll probably cost you lots and not always acheive anything.

Which is stupid, as it's really easy:

1. Define goals and expectations. And be realistic, if the car is driven on the road a lot, then it HAS to be streetable.

2. Define a budget and select components within it. No good buying the most expensive intake system and spend all out money when your car needs new brakes or tyres.

3. Research and pick wisley.

And don't just get something because someone say's it's great. It will depend what you want.

For me I want a fast car that can corner well, yet still be comfortable and retain some form of economy. With occasional trips to the strip.

My parts list goes like this:

1. Full service - Why do so many people mod a car when it's in ill health, a good service with full fluid and filter changes and plugs can do wonders for a car. Make sure the car s 100% before messing with it, else you WILL pay for it later.

2. Lid - This is cheap and a sensible mod which will help it breath. Stick with the OEM paper filter, it's good for upto 500bhp. SLP/MTI/TSP all seem to have good reputations. However there are more ut there.

3. Front strut brace - May not do the most. But it's cheap ~$100. And should sharpen up the turn in a little. I live where roads are bumpy and twisty, so you may not get the same benefit. It does look pretty good though. Many to choose from, but I'd go for BMR.

4. Exhaust - This for me is mainly for the sound, the stock setup is far to restrained. Pick a cat back to your budget or tastes. Flow rate is what you're after, 2.2cfm per 1hp. So the mufflers must flow enough to limit exhaust restriction for more power. Personally I'm going to hold off on an exhasut until I can get LT headers too. Pacesetter seem good value, but there are lots to choose. True duals may be an option, but yoo'll need to spend some time designing it, to make it worth while. Else stick with the reputable off the shelf cat backs.

5. Tune - Unless you have plans for more bigg'ish mods very soon. Get it dyno tuned, you'll not only pick up HP but the car will run better and smoother too. Due to where I live I'm going to get HP Tuners software, this will allow full access to tuning, many dyno shops will have this or similar software, so check before you buy.

--For what I want from the car, the above will deliver. And more and it will probably be a handful and not actually any quicker on the road--

6. Transgo shift kit - I have an A4, so I'll probably get the shift kit, as it firms up the shifts and is supposed to prolong the gearbox. It'll probably require another tune, but with HP Tuners I can do this from home. And because it's not engine tuning, just settings I will have no need for a rolling road.

7. Induction - Ported or bigger TB and LS6 intake (mine's a 99 model). If you have big plans look into the FAST 90/90 intake and TB setup. But it'll cost over double and achieve minimal gains on a relatively lightly modded setup.

8. Tune - for the induction mods, unless modding more soon.

9. Cam - I like the sound of the TR224 as it will provide more of everything, everywhere. I'm not after a race car so PEAK power and high revs are of no concern, I want low end grunt too.

Other things to think of:

-Gears, rear end change can certainly wake a car up. I have 2.73 which I will be sticking with though, as I like the ability to cruise at 70mph under 2000rpm. with a loud exhaust this will certainly be a benefit. Also the fuel economy will be a big plus. It the car gets too juicy I just won't be able to afford to run it.

-Stall, many swear this is the best mod. I'm not so certain, for drag strip use it certainly can be. But out on the open road a high stall appears to be a hinderance as it inherantly has more 'slippage'. I'm sticking with the stock for now, but there are a lot to choose from so research it well.

-FTRA, ram air, doesn't really ram, but it can lower intake air temperatures by means of 'cool air ducts'. And can improve 1/4 mile ET's. However there can be issues with water and dirt buid up. So the choice is yours. I'm not after every tenth so I'll not be bothering with it.

-Smooth bellows, probably pretty pointless, as are most of the triveal (sp?) mods. Do them if you must, but don't expect any gains. Even the 'every bit helps' argument won't defeat reality.

-Free mods, same goes for these really. Some may yeild some results, most probably won't and acheive very little in the real world. On a race car it's different.

-M6 cars, obviously there are different mods for this gearbox type.

-Suspension/brakes, as you increase the power you will need to upgrade the suspension and brakes to cope with it accordingly. Again your goals will determine which parts to buy, but do buy them as power is nothing without control.

-Axle, along with suspension, as power increases things will likely brake or wear out quickly. Replace them with suitable substitutes. A 12 bolt rear is common, but other options exist, some more suited for drag work some will hinder road use.

!AIR !EGR !CATS - Personally I say leave them all. AIR/EGR removal will net ZERO gains. It may tidy the engine bay up a little, but come on it's an engine bay not a living room. The same goes for CATS, you can by CATS that will outflow many mufflers and be efficent enough not to dimiish power on a 800bhp motor. and they don't cost the Earth either. This way your car remains pefectly legal emmissions wise.

And remember you may live where this is not currently an issue, but you may move or visit other states that do. And LAWS CAN AND WILL BE CHANGED. What you get away with today may not be tomorrow.

 

do the exhaust then get a lid.

 

Overall, good post. However I would like to point out that you could add a lot more power and still make full use of it on the street. Lid and exhaust only isn't that much power. Being an A4 on stock converter if you went with sticky tires you won't even have to worry about traction yet.

 

true, I should have been clearer. I live in the UK so the roads are quite different. Right now the car is very usable and easy to drive quick on twisty roads. Too much power and it would certainly be a handful and probably slower point to point. In the US the road layout is totally different and more power can still be streetable.

 

While it's certainly true that F bods aren't the most sociable animal through the twistys, there are ways to make that somewhat better. One should never try to make the point to a US muscle car owner that one could ever possibly have too much power.
Cheers,
Gerald

 

I'd say lid and exhaust first. You'll have to do it eventually and unless you have the money, I prefer the cheaper stuff first. You'll have to open up the exhaust anyways in order to make it breath right. It's all personal preference.

 

lol

I mean 'deployable' power.

I could show some roads where a 550bhp Fbody would get totally by a Mini with 120bhp or so.

 

I know this is off topic, but have you ever come up against any of those sick 600-800whp Graham Goode (or whomever) Escort Cossies/WRCs?? Those things must be impossibly quick with the right tires/gearing/setup, no?

 

That's why you must know how to drive and put some money into suspension/chassis mods. You don't have to go WOT, or even close, you know.

 

yep I should think they fly, although with out an ALS (anti-lag system) I should think they can be real pigs.

Saw a Cossie running low 11's a while back, was reputidly making 511bhp, not bad from only 2.0 litres on an engine designed in the early 80's.

 

it's not a case of knowing how to drive, it's just physics. The Fbody's are big and heavy and will never change direction like a small lightweight car.

Cross country a well driven Lotus Elise with 118bhp will easily pace a Ferrari F550, it's been proven many times.

I've run with sports/super bikes on the twisties in my TR7 V8, it only has 230bhp but it's lightweight and handles pretty decent.

 

Procharger.

But Headers.

 

Obviously at those power levels they must be using every trick in the book to avoid lag (methanol injection, high tech "bang-bang" system [anti-lag], intercooler sprayer/chiller and some I've probably never heard of). I would love to own one of these someday, but it is hard/expensive enough to bring a stock one over here, let alone a highly modded monster. Would be fun to scare the crap out of the imports/riceboyz with something they've never seen before and cannot figure out what it is that's running from them at warp speed (and can and will still kill them in the "twisties")!