Ok, my girl friend owns a 1998 Pontiac Sunfire Convertible. It has the 2.5 liter 4cyl engine and an auto transmission. The car is entirely stock. She came to me the other day telling me that she wanted her car to go faster. She does not want it to be able to sustain faster speeds, but instead wants it to be able to accelerate faster. She does not want to change the exterior of the car, like lowering or putting body kits on it. Her thought is to keep it stock so it looks harmless.
I do not know much about these cars (being a GMC Jimmy owner myself) so I do not know what I can do to it to make it faster. The only thing I have done to it to maybe improve performance, was to install some expensive NGK platinum spark plugs in it. Other than that, the only thing I can think of doing next would be to install a K&N cold air intake kit.
What else can I do to it? Exhaust? Turbo? Valves? Ignition? I also want to know if replacing the shocks would make any difference in handling while accerating fast, or if the stock ones will do just fine.
Moreover, I am only familiar with the general parts stores we have around here. Therefore, I have no idea where to get any performance parts. So along with your suggestions, please let me know where I might be able to find parts you suggest for it. THANKS IN ADVANCE!
you sure about the 2.5? cuz we didnt get those stock, maybe u meant 2.4
if its an auto 2.4 should be a 4 speed and you could get an auto trans interceptor for it
exhaust would be nice, but the turbo would be pretty pricy.
i suggest going to the performance section a nd reading the faq, helps quite a bit
Tony Atkins wrote:Ok, my girl friend owns a 1998 Pontiac Sunfire Convertible. It has the 2.5 liter 4cyl engine and an auto transmission. The car is entirely stock. She came to me the other day telling me that she wanted her car to go faster. She does not want it to be able to sustain faster speeds, but instead wants it to be able to accelerate faster. She does not want to change the exterior of the car, like lowering or putting body kits on it. Her thought is to keep it stock so it looks harmless.
I do not know much about these cars (being a GMC Jimmy owner myself) so I do not know what I can do to it to make it faster. The only thing I have done to it to maybe improve performance, was to install some expensive NGK platinum spark plugs in it. Other than that, the only thing I can think of doing next would be to install a K&N cold air intake kit.
What else can I do to it? Exhaust? Turbo? Valves? Ignition? I also want to know if replacing the shocks would make any difference in handling while accerating fast, or if the stock ones will do just fine.
Moreover, I am only familiar with the general parts stores we have around here. Therefore, I have no idea where to get any performance parts. So along with your suggestions, please let me know where I might be able to find parts you suggest for it. THANKS IN ADVANCE!
bullsh*t it's your sunfire
Yeah, sorry, it is the 2.4liter.
And no, it's not my sunfire. It's my girl friends sunfire. Your point?
oh but to answer your question...Cold air intake, bigger throttle body, header, high flow cat, exhaust, motor mounts, nitrous(hehe), turbo, lightened pulleys
Quote:
Your point?
he was just saying since most guys on here start to work on the "girl friends/wifes ride"(who MOST , but not all, of the time the girl could care less) and moreless turns into their project, that she drives. it wasnt meant in a bad way. this happens all the time and a couple in our j club are in the same boat.
Hah! I see.. Well, my girl friend actually asked me. Otherwise, i'd ve happier if she kept it stock and out of trouble!
It appears that K&N does not make a cold air intake kit for her Sunfire. Only a drop in filter. So, what other brands asside from K&N are good?
don't rush this, bro. last thing you want is her trying to race a stang, blowing her engine, and possibly hurting herself or someone else. start by reading up on stuff. and don't start buying stuff until you're completely informed! but if she wants max power, turbo that baby. if you've got the money, port and polish, oversize valves, tb, turbo (with necessary fuel mods), motor mounts, WOOO!!! the list goes on. check out the performance forum and get info on where a good starting point would be. and if you decide on turbo, don't do exhaust yet. although i'm going s/c'd, i heard a certain exhaust setup may have to be changed after going turbo. but all that in due time. also, although a suspension setup is not completely necessary, don't think that its not important. power is only as good as what can hold it to the ground!
Blown.
Tony Atkins wrote:It appears that K&N does not make a cold air intake kit for her Sunfire. Only a drop in filter. So, what other brands asside from K&N are good?
an intake is just a tube with a filter at the end. no big deal what you get. you can get a name brand one or a cheap one off ebay. in the end it's still just a tube with a filter at the end.
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^^^Yes I would get one from ebay.
Here is a list of some good sites for stuff. Look into it and make sure you take your time in whatever you do.
Car Customs
A Plus Performance
Gravana
J Body Performance
Jtuners
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Madjack wrote:Like I said before, building an engine like ours (2.2 or 2200) is a painstaking chore , since there is so few custom made parts. It's frustrating to me too, but that's what I like about doing this engine, it's the challenge.
Tony Atkins wrote:What else can I do to it? Exhaust? Turbo? Valves? Ignition?
Well you have to ask your girlfriend some questions...
How much do you want to invest into your car?
Can you afford the loss of your vehicle for a short term (down time)?
How much power are you looking for?
Who will be doing the work to the vehicle?
I mean it's simple to say "Throw on a turbo" but it's not easy to do. It's extensive work, alot of tuning is involved and it's defenitley not cheap...if you try to do it the cheap way, it will come out to be more expensive because you'll end up with more problems. Now a turbo is a big modification...what if she doesn't want that much power and can't afford the down time? Minor bolt ons will do. Upgrading her exhaust system, changing the throttle body and possibly even opening up the motor for a camshaft swap would be probably suitable for her "speed needs".
But like said, ask your girlfriend more indepth questions...I mean...not everyone wants to invest $4000 into a car that is 7 years old, see my point?
Let us know what she says and good luck.
www.kronosperformance.com / 732-742-8837
I forgot you asked another questions...
Tony Atkins wrote:I also want to know if replacing the shocks would make any difference in handling while accerating fast, or if the stock ones will do just fine.
If you have stock springs, replacing your shocks won't do a thing. Your real handling upgrades deal with your springs and spring ratings. If you drop your vehicle the right way with good springs, that will improve your handling (I suggest Eibachs).
Now your shocks/struts are only there are as an supporting factor. If you're still stock, your stock shocks/struts are there designed to handle the stock springs height...if you go aftermarket and get springs that are lower than you NEED to replace your shocks/struts because they aren't designed for that ride height and this will result in bottoming out and can become dangerous. Depending on how low you go will depend on what company/brand shocks/struts you want to get.
www.kronosperformance.com / 732-742-8837
aah...let me correct myslef
NJHK wrote:Your real handling upgrades deal with your springs and spring ratings.
I meant as far as between either your springs or your shocks.
You can improve your handling by adding on sway bars or strut bars.
www.kronosperformance.com / 732-742-8837
NJHK (Sexual Chocolate) wrote:If you have stock springs, replacing your shocks won't do a thing. Your real handling upgrades deal with your springs and spring ratings. If you drop your vehicle the right way with good springs, that will improve your handling (I suggest Eibachs).
Not true. You can stiffen up the ride on stock springs using some higher performance shocks. They'll slow down the rebound a bit and help the car hug the road better at the expense of a little seat comfort.
NJHK (Sexual Chocolate) wrote:Tony Atkins wrote:What else can I do to it? Exhaust? Turbo? Valves? Ignition?
How much do you want to invest into your car?
Can you afford the loss of your vehicle for a short term (down time)?
How much power are you looking for?
Who will be doing the work to the vehicle?
THANK YOU ALL for your suggestions, especially in helping me understand that this needs to be a well planned venture.
1) How much do you want to invest into your car?
- This will be my investment for her. I don't want to spend more than $1,500. However, I am willing to bend it if it involves something that will really make a difference.
2) Can you afford the loss of your vehicle for a short term (down time)?
- No, she needs this car to drive herself between work and school.
3) How much power are you looking for?
- She wants to be able to accelerate enough to pass someone a lot faster than how she can right now with it being stock. Also, since it's a red sunfire, a lot of people want to race her so she at least wants to be able to give it a shot. She has no interest in going to street races, or joining any club. In fact, she thinks people who rice out their cars are annoying.
4) Who will be doing the work to the vehicle?
- I will be doing the work on this vehicle. I own a GMC Jimmy, but used to own a 94 Pontiac Sunbird for some time and have done a lot of work on it, including head gasket and transmission repair. I don't have that much experience with performance modifications other than changing the air intake on my Jimmy, and improving the ignition system.
Bottom line, is that she is not interested in dropping the car and making it looked "riced out" as she calls it. She mearly wants to improve the performance of the car in a way that will give it more of an edge on the stock performance. I don't think installing a turbo would be worth it, for she probably won't drive it in a way that it would make it worth while. It's a light car, so honestly its stock 150hp is fairly good. However, I would mind finding a way to increase that to 180HP+. What can I do to specifically achieve that goal without installing a turbo?
I think that what I will do to it for starters, is get a cold air intake. Then I will evaluate what I can do to the headers and exhaust system. I want to avoid getting a turbo, since that would be very expensive and would require a lot of fine tuning (from what all you have said). I am interested in getting better springs for it, and possibly imroving the ignition system, hoever it looks a lot more integrated than what I am used to (no coil or wires). Is there anything I can do to the ignition system, or since it is so integrated is there really nothing to do to it?
THANKS AGAIN EVERYONE!
smart move on your part in thinking and talking this out. CAI is the mod that most people do because it seems like the easiest. its a good place to start. after that..check out exhaust systems. you can buy a muffler (and a resonator too, if you prefer) and have a custom shop bend your pipes for you or you can either go with borla or magnaflow for a quality cat-back setup (single exit setup is plenty good). you can go a step further and then get a high-flow catalytic converter (personally, i'll be going with magnaflow for that one (i already have a dual exit setup from magnaflow)). from there you can work your way to the header (not headers, our cars only have 1).
from there you can put in a new throttle body (pick one with the best volumetric efficiency..do a search on event's post about this). from there you may want to go with upper/lower motor mounts.
don't know if she has a 3 or 4 speed tranny (not well-versed in that year) but if its a 4 speed 4t40e then you may think about getting either the autotrans interceptor or the b&m shifter.
after that you can go to suspension mods..shocks and struts (go the the suspension forum and read the FAQ that event wrote up...check out what you want (i.e. drop height)). ..i'm pressed for time right now but maybe that can help you out a bit.
Blown.
Filip (The Polish Kid) wrote:from there you can put in a new throttle body (pick one with the best volumetric efficiency..do a search on event's post about this). from there you may want to go with upper/lower motor mounts.
Do a search on event's post? Where is that post? I tried doing a search in the entire forum but couldnt find anything specific to that.
Also, after doing the following:
1) Cold air intake.
2) Larger throttle body for higher air volume.
3) Custom exhaust with higher volume.
..how much horsepower would you say could be added to the stock 150hp 2.4l?
i just did a quick search and couldn't find event's thread (event is a member of jbo). since i can't find it, i won't try and explain volumetric efficiency because it was a new topic for me. for simplicity's sake (and to save me a few words) just get a larger throttle body for the car so more air can be pulled into the engine. i apologize for the rant - i was in a rush (it'll teach me to be more patient next time).
a custom exhaust will be cheaper for you but if you don't want or can't have the custom work done then you can go with a ready-to-go setup from a company. the cat-back will help relieve back pressure from escaping gases so the engine doesn't have to waste power in pushing out the exhaust gases (but too large of a pipe is not always good because then you could start to lose power (i.e. torque)..i think 2.25" diameter pipes should be good for you since you have an N/A engine).
i can't tell you exactly what numbers you're going to get because they will not be the same for all cars. for your (or your g/f's) sunfire you could be looking at maybe 5-8 more horses (maybe more) with these bolt-ons, but i'm not completely positive. if you add some motor mounts then 10 may seem a bit more realistic.
but remember - it all takes time, even the smallest mods should be done with thought. (i didn't think of this earlier but look into lighter crank pullies as well).
Blown.
Tony Atkins wrote:
Also, after doing the following:
1) Cold air intake.
2) Larger throttle body for higher air volume.
3) Custom exhaust with higher volume.
..how much horsepower would you say could be added to the stock 150hp 2.4l?
the only REAL way of telling is to have the car dyno'd before and after those are added
Im a Xbox 360 fanboy...and damn proud of it!!
If I had to guess I would say 15 more ponies.
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Madjack wrote:Like I said before, building an engine like ours (2.2 or 2200) is a painstaking chore , since there is so few custom made parts. It's frustrating to me too, but that's what I like about doing this engine, it's the challenge.
put a 50 shot of nitrous on it, best bang for your buck.
thanks adam, you are the man!! you're always there for everyone, bro. tony, if you take a read through that link you'll understand what i mean by volumetric efficiency. i'm not even going to attempt to restate and/or explain what was said in that thread. i understand what it means but i can't say i'll be able to sum it up for you. hopefully you'll get an idea of what i was talking about; talk/listen to the people on here about what they have for tb's, and then make a decision.
and since we're on the subject i just have to get this off my chest and let anyone who'll listen know, rsm told me that their 62mm tb wasn't included with their stage I kit but i received the kit last week and to my surprise there lay embedded in the packing popcorn a 62mm tb. it felt like christmas time! sorry - back to the point.
i should clarify, tony, that if you have any questions about buying or installing any of these or other mods don't be afraid to ask. but before you do, try and search for an answer, you might find one. and check out the links that jbody2nr profided, they're a good starting point.
Blown.
Filip wrote:thanks adam, you are the man!! you're always there for everyone, bro.
It's no problem, bro. You know me...always here to help. You're also lucky I'm pretty good at searching and remembered the post itself.
Also, you're doing a good job at helping the new people. Hit me up on AIM sometime, I like chatting with positive people. Later.
www.kronosperformance.com / 732-742-8837
