bang for the buck

nate-00neon · Post by **nate-00neon** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 10:47 am

what do u guys think would give me the best bang for the $$. i have just a cold air and my cars a 5spd.
i dont wanna spend huge anounts of money but i could spend a little.
im just trying to plan ahead and will prolly not do this till summer but i wanted to see what you guys thought was then best!

thanks in advance

Danteneon · Post by **Danteneon** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 11:15 am

Well, imo I would look to opening the exhaust. The factory muffler is pretty restrictive. Since you have a 5sp you wont suffer off the line as much, but your mid to high rpm power will increase, as well as improving your gas mileage a bit (under normal driving). Depending on what you go with, the price doesn't have to be high, and it is pretty easy to do.

What are you looking to do with this car? Improved street driving? 1/4 mile? Road racing? That info will help you pick some products as well.

Post by **racer12306** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 12:20 pm

An underdrive pulley would be money well spent.

nate-00neon · Post by **nate-00neon** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 1:32 pm

i just want a fun DD that handles good and sounds like a mini muscle car!, which also accerates better than it currently does.

for exhaust i do like how the srt4 rear section looks...would there be a way for me to make that work and still have the back pressure needed or do u think there is a better way?

and how hard is a underdrive pulley to do? what besides the pulley will i need if i have some what of a system?

kc2005ptgt · Post by **kc2005ptgt** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 6:05 pm

grrrrr.... let's not turn this into a back pressure debate, ok? back pressure = bad, velocity = good

UDP is easy to do, need some good air tools, and there are several if not dozens of how too's on here on how to do it - use search

The srt4 rear section will not improve your exhaust flow, in fact there are so many bends and turns it would do nothing and maybe hinder performance. Only proof of the above would be a dyno though. Get a nice magnum header, free flow cat, and 2.5" exhaust with a free flowing straight through or cannister style muffler (also called a fart can). Cold Air intake is good start, 60mm tb may help, a log style intake manifold or even the magnum intake is better for intake side. If you want better handling, do some sway bars and prothane bushings everywhere around the car. Wider, shorter tires would help, even some lowering springs like a set of 1gn rt would help, but you may want to upgrade your struts as well. Change your plugwires to either 8 or 8.5 mm after market plugwires. You can also upgrade to some NGK V-power spark plugs and perhaps if you can find used, an MSD or screaming demon coil pack. The coil pack is not an upgrade, since some say that the stock does just fine, and the MSD is just like a stocker.

nate-00neon · Post by **nate-00neon** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 6:46 pm

ok fart can is a no go lol
if i did a srt rear section with a cherry bomb before it just to muffle the noise a lil u still think that would be more restrictive then what i have on here now?

and one of the reasons that i dont wanna do too much for the exhaust is cuz i burn about 2 qts of oil every 3000miles and i would think that wouldnt be good for a new exhaust...and i dont really have the $$$.

but if u think it would be ok and not get recked i might save up for a good cat back.

kc2005ptgt · Post by **kc2005ptgt** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 7:10 pm

I bet most of that oil is not burned, but rather sloshed into the intake out the PCV valve... check your PCV valve, or change it.

I personally would not use the SRT4 rear section with a cherry bomb because of noise, and there would be no gain and maybe a loss and personally, unless you are going for looks, will do nothing over stock.

nate-00neon · Post by **nate-00neon** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 7:50 pm

i have really been meaning to check my intake...but the pcv valve is new in fact i knew that the car burned 2 qrts so i tryed changing it but it didnt really do anything for me...i do know that my #4 cyl has low compression
so u would say i should maybe get a dynomax system or something?

and do u think that oil being burned would be bad for a new exhaust system?

thanks for all your help

ragek23 · Post by **ragek23** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 11:14 pm

If you want the sound of a muscle car as in lopping and such. Get a comp 400 and valve springs. If you find a deal on the 2 it will be a good investment and will get you some hp gains and sorta a V8 lope.

nate-00neon · Post by **nate-00neon** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 11:17 pm

ragek23 wrote:If you want the sound of a muscle car as in lopping and such. Get a comp 400 and valve springs. If you find a deal on the 2 it will be a good investment and will get you some hp gains and sorta a V8 lope.

oh really?
thanks ill keep that in mind!!!

Post by **occasional demons** » Tue Feb 05, 2008 11:43 pm

nate-00neon wrote:i do know that my #4 cyl has low compression

Until you get that taken care of, you will be wasting a good percentage of your gains from any mods, and anything that makes more power vs freeing it up will only make for a faster death. If it is low on compression, the best bang for the buck, would be a can of Restore. if you can get the compression to within 10%, depending on why it is low, that alone will give you the most power, and better MPG.

nate-00neon · Post by **nate-00neon** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 11:09 am

occasional demons wrote:
nate-00neon wrote:i do know that my #4 cyl has low compression
Until you get that taken care of, you will be wasting a good percentage of your gains from any mods, and anything that makes more power vs freeing it up will only make for a faster death. If it is low on compression, the best bang for the buck, would be a can of Restore. if you can get the compression to within 10%, depending on why it is low, that alone will give you the most power, and better MPG.

tried that stuff for like 3 or so oil changes...didnt seem to help at all for how much oil i was burning

once this engine takes a major shit on me i think im going to buy a used engine and put that in there maybe with a cam and other stuff...and a new clutch lol (mine sucks)
i really need to buy a compression testor tho...i got it tested once but idk what i have now..

Knoxville_R/T · Post by **Knoxville_R/T** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 4:26 pm

Diablo Dyno'd his SRT swap with the R/T muffler and it hardly made a difference. That is with a turbo car that could stand to not have the muffler.

What I am saying it that the stock R/T muffler is one of the best mufflers for you car. Exhaust on these cars especially the R/T or ACR is for sound only as you would only gain 3-5 hp if that from one.

MXer · Post by **MXer** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 10:08 pm

Looks like you want to build a DD that is still streetable, but fun to drive. I've been working on that myself for the past year. Of course, I did take advantage of a great deal on a stroker bottom end, but strokers are not for everyone.
When I was moding my stock based neon, the AFX PCM was the biggest bang for the buck in my opinion. The UDP made a noticeable differance at low rpm's so, I'd rank that as second. The CAI just because of the cost followed by the Borla Header/Cat back exhaust which was pretty pricey. I never changed cam's in the stock based neon, but if you look at my sig - You'll see what I'm in the process of putting together.

nate-00neon · Post by **nate-00neon** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 10:13 pm

AFX PCM

whats that? lol

Adionik · Post by **Adionik** » Wed Feb 06, 2008 10:40 pm

My car sounds noticeably quieter without the SRT rear section on.

I'm just running it open pipe after the glasspack.

It feels like i've lost a little power but it might just be the sound...we all know sound equates to horsepower!

nate-00neon · Post by **nate-00neon** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 11:54 am

if i am getting what people said earlier then if i mod my engine more that will just make moy low compression worse and make the engine life shorter?

Adionik · Post by **Adionik** » Thu Feb 07, 2008 12:54 pm

I would get a UDP now that ODP's are freely available

Jerome Adams · Post by **Jerome Adams** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 7:31 pm

Fix your engine first. From the sounds of it you are on a budget just like the rest of us. If you spend your available $$$ on an exhaust and a UDP (both good choices by the way) and then your engine takes a dump, you are S-O-L. Now if you have unlimited funds, then you still need to fix your engine first and then go hog wild and make us proud.

Nutmeg · Post by **Nutmeg** » Sat Feb 16, 2008 9:24 pm

racer12306 wrote:An underdrive pulley would be money well spent.

nate-00neon · Post by **nate-00neon** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 12:04 am

Jerome Adams wrote:Fix your engine first. From the sounds of it you are on a budget just like the rest of us. If you spend your available $$$ on an exhaust and a UDP (both good choices by the way) and then your engine takes a dump, you are S-O-L. Now if you have unlimited funds, then you still need to fix your engine first and then go hog wild and make us proud.

im hoping that i have untill next summer b4 my engine takes a shit on me....we will see. i push it kinda hard sometimes lol

Wenuden · Post by **Wenuden** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 3:06 pm

no one has mentioned the real best bang per buck product.

75 shot of nitrous.

03blackrt · Post by **03blackrt** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 3:14 pm

http://store.summitracing.com/partdetai ... toview=sku

^ 70hp for $400!

The only bad thing is it costs $$ to fill the tank.

INVUJerry · Post by **INVUJerry** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 3:42 pm

Although thats cheap, I'd go with a ZEX kit. It comes with the little control box, which shoots juice bases on TPS, and if fuel pressure goes to low, it cuts it off.

Here's a comparison from the 2 kits

Jerome Adams · Post by **Jerome Adams** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 6:07 pm

linky no worky

nate-00neon · Post by **nate-00neon** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 8:30 pm

thats a great way to kill my motor tho lol

pyro · Post by **pyro** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 10:54 pm

. . . and that is a great excuse to build it with forged rods/pistons!

Wenuden · Post by **Wenuden** » Sun Feb 17, 2008 11:00 pm

Only if you're retarded. You don't have to spray all the time, and the stock motor is capable of over 200 hp, a 70 shot won't kill you. Just dyno it to check afr's after install.

Nitrous is motor friendly. No constant wear and tear like full time performance parts, horsepower on demand, and the zex setup has failsafes to protect your motor.

Jerome Adams · Post by **Jerome Adams** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 9:46 am

I think he is referring to his already weak motor (low compression in #4 cylinder). A 70 shot is on a healthy motor is one thing...but on one that is having "issues"...not so good.