Looking for ideas on my parts list

TheRandom1 · Post by **TheRandom1** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 2:06 pm

OK guys, I'm looking at buying some "go a little faster" mods and could use your opinions.

04 ATX 2.slow.

I'm looking at getting another head and doing a p&p gasket match deal to it, and adding a cam.
Also adding an UDP and probably Magnum intake, and LTH.

Now, I was looking to bump the compression up a bit too, and hope that I can get more power without blowing the computers brains out... how high can I raise compression and safely run 87 octane? 10:1? And what is the best way of doing this? Shave the head? Install DOHC pistions?

I'm planning on doing this stuff with the engine in the car, so I'm not planning on going hog wild here. Any other ideas?

And yes, I know... it's a 2.0 ATX, blah blah blah. I'm looking to make the car a bit more fun to drive for a while until I can save the cash for an SRT swap, so if that's your suggestion please don't even bother posting lol.

Danteneon · Post by **Danteneon** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 2:15 pm

If it were me (and it would be if I could afford it) I would look at the head being sold here...

viewtopic.php?t=35263

and in the same vain look into the magnum manifold being sold here as well. Those two upgrades will give you more bang for the buck than anything else, plus make any additional mods that much better. So that's 2K spent.

TheRandom1 · Post by **TheRandom1** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 2:25 pm

That would be great, but I don't have almost 2K to spend lol...

Danteneon · Post by **Danteneon** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 2:32 pm

Ah, so a limited budget is a factor. The biggest problem in getting good power with N/A is it gets pricey. Bolt ons will only get you so far. You need to focus on making the engine breathe, so your idea of head, cam, intake, and header are good ones. But it won't be cheap. Hence the heads up on the Magnum head. For the amount of work done, it's a good buy.

TheRandom1 · Post by **TheRandom1** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 2:46 pm

Well, if I can get 10-15 HP or so I would be pretty happy...

Danteneon · Post by **Danteneon** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 2:50 pm

What are you running for exhaust? I also noticed that you are leaving the engine in the car, so doing internal engine work will be that much harder because of that. With full bolt-ons, you could expect close to 10hp me thinks.

slow2.0ts13 · Post by **slow2.0ts13** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 2:51 pm

im in the same boat random i have a stock 03 sxt auto with srt-4 exhaust, Ive been thinking about udp and the mag intake would be the best starts.

TheRandom1 · Post by **TheRandom1** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 2:52 pm

Exhaust will stay stock as I’ve heard it’s more than enough for what I need, and I’ll have the SRT exhaust when I do that swap… And I’m thinking that with the engine in the car, just doing the top end won’t be too difficult… buy a head on here or ebay for 50 bucks, do the p&p work on it in the garage, bolt in the cam, and do the timing/waterpump at the same time, that way I know my motor is good to go as long as I need it to.

slow2.0ts13 · Post by **slow2.0ts13** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 2:55 pm

yeah rebuilding maybe a good idea for me as well, I have 88xxx miles on the car and its my daily driver so nothing crazy is going down on it right now

Danteneon · Post by **Danteneon** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 2:56 pm

Yeah, you'll be fine if you are sticking to the head work. It was the DOHC pistons that got me thinking

TheRandom1 · Post by **TheRandom1** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 3:07 pm

Well if that is what is needed to raise the compression easily then that's what I'll do, I suppose... would that be the best way to raise it?

Danteneon · Post by **Danteneon** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 3:12 pm

To be honest, I wouldn't bother messing with the compression, especially if a swap is in your future. I don't feel the gains would be worth the effort IMO. It may be a different story if you had the means to have the engine out and do the piston swap correctly. There is a lot to doing it the right way and much that can go wrong if done incorrectly.

Other than shaving the head, that is your best bet to raise compression. You could go with a thinner head gasket if you are looking for easy though.

slow2.0ts13 · Post by **slow2.0ts13** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 3:27 pm

even mention raising compression makes my cpu start spitting codes.

TheRandom1 · Post by **TheRandom1** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 3:28 pm

What kind of change could I get? 9.5:1 instead of 9.3 which is stock, I think?

Danteneon · Post by **Danteneon** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 3:54 pm

On just the gasket? Yeah, that sounds about right. It isn't a huge change which should keep your computer happy. This isn't really my area of expertise though.

slow2.0ts13 · Post by **slow2.0ts13** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 3:56 pm

i think im gonna go with a head/cam combo first and then the mag intake.

TheRandom1 · Post by **TheRandom1** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 4:22 pm

So it seems making the engine breathe better is what I’m gonna look into doing with these parts, and I like that manifold, so I may very well pick that up. The UDP is just to get it to rev a bit faster as currently I seem to have a small hesitation (bogging?) from a stop going WOT, so I hope that’ll help a little bit. I won’t worry much about the compression for now then, since I really don’t think I want to shave the head (sounds expensive) and that would create some timing belt issues if I’m not mistaken…

Danteneon · Post by **Danteneon** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 4:47 pm

Sounds like a plan. Do the bolt-ons and see what that does for you. You can always dig into the engine at a later point if you want to.

TheRandom1 · Post by **TheRandom1** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 4:48 pm

Now to find the how-to on the switches to make the Magnum intake work on my car...

03blackrt · Post by **03blackrt** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 4:50 pm

What I'd do...

1) Magnum intake manifold ($250)
2) Ported cylinder head ($$$)
3) Cometic 0.027” head gasket ($85)
4) Comp 400 camshaft w/ Magnum valve springs ($260, $70)
5) OBX long tube header ($220)
6) UDP ($100)

Depending on milage I'd do timing belt and water pump too.

TheRandom1 · Post by **TheRandom1** » Wed Oct 15, 2008 4:52 pm

If I'm pulling the head off, I may as well do the water pump and timing so I don't have to worry about it later...

Plus, I'll be using used parts so my list will be cheaper than what you have there (I hope!)

But that sounds about what I'm looking at... thoughts on what kind of HP I'd be looking at with it? I'm hoping for 120 whp or so.