To go, or not to go. - Performance Forum

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To go, or not to go.
Monday, October 03, 2005 9:18 AM
Hey everyone, I have been reading/researching posts on this section before deciding to post. This is more of a personal situation, so the search option is not that beneficial in my case. This spring/summer (when i start up working again) i was planning on going with:

OBX headers, Exhaust system (dunno brand yet, any suggestions?), Groundcontrol Coilovers with Koni Struts.

Was also thinking about future performance mods to do, but at the same time im hesitant as I really wouldnt be able to benefit from them like i would from interior / exterior mods. I cant speed because a ticket would really do a number on my financial situation.

Was also wondering, do most of you do your performance mods stricly for 1/4 mile times?

Just thinking about all these things, so that when spring/summer comes around I'll know what is the most efficient way to go about spending money on my car, and have the results im looking for... which would be a nice clean custom car (inside and out) with a nice deep rumble to it. Any advice, suggestions, and/or insight is much appreciated.





Re: To go, or not to go.
Monday, October 03, 2005 9:21 AM
For the exhaust, you could always get a custom bent one the way you like it and it would save you some money over getting one ready made.

Car Customs has a nice exhaust system (the same one that's on RK sport) and he charges no shipping. I think it's 300?





Re: To go, or not to go.
Monday, October 03, 2005 9:27 AM
Inari (Protected by Pedro) wrote:For the exhaust, you could always get a custom bent one the way you like it and it would save you some money over getting one ready made.

Car Customs has a nice exhaust system (the same one that's on RK sport) and he charges no shipping. I think it's 300?


i bought that exhaust, it just came in the mail on saturday and i'm going to install it tomorrow.
Re: To go, or not to go.
Monday, October 03, 2005 9:30 AM
I mod my car because I use it as a learning experience and to make something different.

As far as "go fast parts" you can add them and not get a speeding ticket! it's called SELF DISICPLINE. Just because you car can go 105mph does not mean you HAVE to do that in a school zone





Re: To go, or not to go.
Monday, October 03, 2005 9:36 AM
looks like we're on opposite sides of the spectrum. i'm more performance oriented than exterior or interior styling, but to each his own. i'm putting on a s/c kit soon but i won't be speeding, i just want to reach a posted speed limit faster . for exhaust, personally i love my dual cat-back from magnaflow. if you're interested, they have sound/vid clips on their site of various cars. a resonator with a slightly larger diameter piping would give you something to work with, as well as a good muffler. from research i can tell you that a resonator of maybe at least 18" will give the sound a smoother and slightly deeper tone. anyway, good luck with your mods.


Blown.
Re: To go, or not to go.
Monday, October 03, 2005 9:44 AM
Thats fair, I could see the desired acceleration, I was thinking more towards the whole engine swap, internal modding, etc. that maybe I should stay away from. Right now the mods im going to do this summer (headers, exhaust, coilovers, struts) seem like the basic things and will hopefully be nice additions. As for exterior, Im not a huge fan of the body kits since alot of them just dont look right and they are an ongoing demand for repairs. I do like the clean look with tints and nice rims (97cavy22) has a very nice car close to what im going for. Again, thanks for all the advice. Guess it might just be something I have to think about.





Re: To go, or not to go.
Monday, October 03, 2005 9:50 AM
No edit button, excuse the double post. After reading Filips post a second time, I really need to clarify myself. I myself am more drawn towards performance as well, this is why Im having such a dilemma otherwise I would just throw everything into my exterior and interior. Im just hesitating right now because I wasnt sure if all things I want to do would be worth it. I went on a few sites and I think for a ROUGH estimate those 4 things would run me 1600-1800 give or take. I should have another $1,000 or so left over to put into my car, I guess I will buy rims/tires. Just curious after Headers, Exhaust, Coilovers and Struts what would be the next good performace mod? Maybe Ill also grab some engine mounts? Thanks again guys~





Re: To go, or not to go.
Monday, October 03, 2005 1:22 PM
sounds like you're just gonna have to sit yourself down and think about it. it took me a long time to finally decide on what i wanted to do with my car. i've seen a good quote on someone's sig, i don't remember who it was, that said 'show cars don't win races and race cars don't win car shows.' so you just have to decide on what you want. and before you even touch your car, get as much information as you can on products, installation, durability, etc. and before you get flamed for it..Fill Out Your Reg. let us know what kind of car you have so everyone on here can try and help you out. and if you have an ecotec motor, def. check out adam's (aka NJHK) full ecotec build guide in the performance forum. but above all - think about what you're trying to achieve with this car, how much money you have, and how much you're willing to spend. it would be a very bad decision on your part to jump into something that you're hesitant about. and never be afraid to ask questions, and remember - use the search button first before posting.

suspension is a good place to start, check out the FAQ on the suspension forum. event wrote it up and it has practically everything you need to get started on suspension mods. and remember, there is no 'best' mod, it all depends on what you want.


Blown.
Re: To go, or not to go.
Monday, October 03, 2005 1:25 PM
i have a brand new set of ground controls here that i am not gonna install cuz i'm getting airride.



Re: To go, or not to go.
Monday, October 03, 2005 4:26 PM
Update...fixed my registry and fixed up my car domain site for now (link is in registry).

Talked with Cavattack2000 for a while, and got some really good advice, most of which Im going to take.

He suggested the first thing I do is suspension. As of now im going to go with the Eibach / Koni setup. As far as performance, going to work towards turbo. He also suggested to not krylon fusion the interior, as it is too clean and i should leave it alone. This Im going to think about, and if i do decide to do it will most likely be in the spring/summer.After that, i might grab some rims/tires to go along with the new suspension. Go for headers, custom made exhaust, and magnaflow high flow cats.

Will see where it goes from there.

None of that will interfere with my goal of installing turbo will it? Perhaps there is a certain order that I need to build up my mods that turbo requires? Any advice appreciated~





Re: To go, or not to go.
Monday, October 03, 2005 5:11 PM
that sounds like a great plan..strangely enough, similar to mine! i plan on putting my s/c kit in first, along with upper/lower motor mounts since i'm already in the engine bay. after that, i plan on putting on the autotrans and eventually either the eibach pro-kit (but with some kyb agx's) or a complete spring/strut package. anyway, just make sure you stick to it. you can start wherever you want, wherever you feel the most comfortable, especially if you're going to be doing alot of the work. since you're decided on turbo, talk to some of the turbo guys on here, they'll know ALOT more than me. but def. redo your exhaust with the turbo. and don't you mean 'cat', not 'cats'? and as with any type of boost, keep in mind you have to do fuel mods/upgrades and possibly internal work as well. but back to the point - start on what you feel most confident in. if you do the work, start slow and simple, then work your way up. if it were me, i'd do the suspension, then have a shop custom bend the exhaust and throw up my cat, piping, and muffler(s). from there, i'd move to the engine. header (our j's only have 1), internal work if needed, etc.

damn, i'm so bored i'm leaving essays for posts!


Blown.

Re: To go, or not to go.
Monday, October 03, 2005 5:31 PM
DGabe24 wrote:As far as performance, going to work towards turbo. He also suggested to not krylon fusion the interior, as it is too clean and i should leave it alone. This Im going to think about, and if i do decide to do it will most likely be in the spring/summer.After that, i might grab some rims/tires to go along with the new suspension. Go for headers, custom made exhaust, and magnaflow high flow cats.

Will see where it goes from there.

None of that will interfere with my goal of installing turbo will it? Perhaps there is a certain order that I need to build up my mods that turbo requires? Any advice appreciated~

Don't touch your exhaust until you have the turbo. Any header you put on now, you won't be able to use with a turbo. And the rest of the exhaust will be undersized. Also, you won't be able to use an aftermaret intake with a turbo.
Until you decide if you can actually afford to go turbo, and want to (read up... a lot), buy things like the upper/lower motor mounts and control arm bushings, as they will help you with performance no matter what route you take, and you can get them all for about $100. It is also a decent project to get started on if you don't have much experience around cars (If you're going to have to pay to have your turbo kit installed, you want to know now...although chances are you can always find some local guys willing to help out for a couple 6-packs).



<img src=http://hometown.aol.com/yogiandbooboo7/images/french.jpg>
Re: To go, or not to go.
Monday, October 03, 2005 5:47 PM
Quote:

Don't touch your exhaust until you have the turbo. Any header you put on now, you won't be able to use with a turbo. And the rest of the exhaust will be undersized. Also, you won't be able to use an aftermaret intake with a turbo.


So basically aside from the Eibach / Koni setup, i should hold off on anything else because it will interefere with turbo?

Can anyone give me a rough estimate it will cost me to get the turbo + essentials? Is there anyway I could get some of it this summer, and finish it next spring/summer?

If not I may have to pass on the turbo Does S/C'ing work the same way? Even though I hear it has less potential, id rather have S/C than nothing.





Re: To go, or not to go.
Monday, October 03, 2005 6:08 PM
I have spent a year and a half piecing together my custom turbo kit. When I finally get it installed, it will all be worth it. If you are into performance, a turbo or a supercharger will give you the most horsepower gains for the money (besides maybe nitrous).

If you plan on going turbo you will want to have some other goodies with it like a wideband oxygen sensor, and maybe an SAFC-2, or Greddy E-manage.

I vote that you go turbo! If you truly want your car to be fast, this is the way!


Re: To go, or not to go.
Monday, October 03, 2005 6:15 PM
Turbo so far sounds like its much more expensive, but gives the most optimum power. Not sure thats what I really need out of my cav. Im looking for some respectable acceleration, with a nice rumble to it Supercharge seems much less demanding as far as pre-requisites. Keep the info coming, Ill do the searching while I wait.


If i decided to S/C could I work on stuff like headers / exhaust this summer and maybe S/C next summer? Or again the aftermarket stuff will interefere when I want to install the s/c?





Re: To go, or not to go.
Monday, October 03, 2005 6:38 PM
I think that a supercharger is usually more expensive than a turbo kit.......

I think most stage 2 turbo kits are around $3600.....


Re: To go, or not to go.
Monday, October 03, 2005 7:05 PM
Unfortunately this spring/summer combined Ill only be making roughly 2600-2900 U.S $ to put into my car. So the turbo / S/C might have to wait until the future. Which means if i want to go that route I have to hold off on all the other engine mods? This is tough ugh.





Re: To go, or not to go.
Monday, October 03, 2005 8:26 PM
turbo is the way to go if you want maximum power out of your engine. i'm going s/c because i'm not looking for the gains of a turbo simply because it is my daily driver and i am not looking for a rocket, i just want good power throughout the rpm range but something that will still let me haul a$$. an s/c will do that for me, although it does take some power from the engine to begin working (on the upside there is no turbo lag!). although i have not done it yet, in my opinion installation of s/c's can be as complicated as turbos (i just hope i don't get flamed for that comment) and s/c systems can be just as expensive, if not more. i must mention, i have heard that certain superchargers, such as roots style, are very reliable and many s/c kits can be considered more reliable than turbos (check out the Boost FAQ in the boost forum). just depends on what kind of power gains you're looking for. and thanks OHV notec for straightening out what he has to do first, i wasn't quite sure.


Blown.
Re: To go, or not to go.
Monday, October 03, 2005 8:49 PM
I've spent countless hours using Excel to create a shopping list complete with vendors, prices, part, etc. I've tweaked this list probably 50 times in the last two months. My goal is to build a great all around daily driver/weekend racer for $5,000. It's very hard fitting everything into a budget, but it's my goal, at least for college. My goal is to do a little to every facet of the car, performance, handling, braking, interior and exterior. Planning is key.

Now if only I would've taken my own advice, I decided when I first got the car I wanted white trim in my interior. I painted the dash, top of the center console, and other trim pieces white. I loved it for awhile, then got tired of it and decided I wanted an all black theme. So i sanded and repainted all of the parts black, and used Vinyl dye on the top dash. The vinyl dash pad came out horrible, completely uneven no matter how careful I was, how good I prepped it, or how many even coats I put on. So now I nixed the whole interior thing and I'm having to go to a junkyard and replace all of the painted parts.
Re: To go, or not to go.
Monday, October 03, 2005 9:10 PM
Going to hold off on the interior spraying for a while, need more time to think about it.

Ive decided to go with s/c myself. Talked with Jon for a while about it (I believe hes ran 14's with his s/c setup) and this will allow me to still get the exhaust / headers that I was plannong in this summer, and then s/c next summer. That is my understand, possibly incorrect? Again, I am exactly in Filip's position what he posted is basically my identical situation. I dont need the fastest car on the road, but id like to know I can pick em up and put em down when necessary So still going with the Eibach Coilover / Koni struts then to Pacesetter Coated Ceramic 4-2-1 Headers with some Exhaust (still not sure yet, custom might be the best, Id love to get my exhaust to exit out the side behind my front wheels, or is that stupid?) Read the boost FAQ again lol learning more and more so when the time comes around to purchase and install the s/c I know what im doing. Its late here, so Im going to turn my /ramble off.

Thanks again for any advice and suggestions you've given!





Re: To go, or not to go.
Monday, October 03, 2005 9:17 PM
Quote:

this will allow me to still get the exhaust / headers that I was plannong in this summer


Yea, you can get a header and exhaust and put the s/c on later.


Quote:

So still going with the Eibach Coilover / Koni struts


Excellent choice! Koni shocks are very high quality.



Re: To go, or not to go.
Monday, October 03, 2005 11:14 PM
DGabe24 wrote:
Quote:

Don't touch your exhaust until you have the turbo. Any header you put on now, you won't be able to use with a turbo. And the rest of the exhaust will be undersized. Also, you won't be able to use an aftermaret intake with a turbo.


So basically aside from the Eibach / Koni setup, i should hold off on anything else because it will interefere with turbo?

Can anyone give me a rough estimate it will cost me to get the turbo + essentials? Is there anyway I could get some of it this summer, and finish it next spring/summer?

If not I may have to pass on the turbo Does S/C'ing work the same way? Even though I hear it has less potential, id rather have S/C than nothing.

I stand by the statement that if you're willing to do a little research, and quite a bit of work and shopping around, you can have a very reliable turbo J for <$1000.

However, seeing as you have a 00+ 2.4L, the GM SC would probably be a better option. You can pick them up almost brand new for <$2000, everything you need, ready to go, with basically no risk. It's a lot less work, and you'll get similar performance to the basic turbo 'kits' out there for our cars. This will also allow you to do any exhaust modifications ahead of time as well (although you should probably go with 2.5" instead of 2.25", but you may not even notice the difference)





<img src=http://hometown.aol.com/yogiandbooboo7/images/french.jpg>
Re: To go, or not to go.
Tuesday, October 04, 2005 12:06 PM
Sounds great, cant wait ! One question, id really love to get some custom exhaust maybe bent behind my front wheels...is this inefficient? How come i dont see more of it on some of these custom cars?

Thanks Brandon and OHV for the feedback~





Re: To go, or not to go.
Tuesday, October 04, 2005 4:29 PM
DGabe24 wrote:Sounds great, cant wait ! One question, id really love to get some custom exhaust maybe bent behind my front wheels...is this inefficient? How come i dont see more of it on some of these custom cars?

Thanks Brandon and OHV for the feedback~

Are you talking about it exiting right behind the front wheels?
It would look odd without a sideskirt and cutout IMO, and I believe it's illegal here in AZ, I think it has to be near the rear wheels.



<img src=http://hometown.aol.com/yogiandbooboo7/images/french.jpg>
Re: To go, or not to go.
Thursday, October 06, 2005 3:46 AM
you might wanna check out Gravanatuing.com They have a Koni yellow strut/spring set for $600



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