Just wondering if I Should buy the tuner from AM (3$$) or should I buy some other mod that will help out more right now? All I have is the K&N FIPK (CAI) right now... (97 GT)

 

Do you plan on doing any larger upgrades to the car?

If not then get a handheld from am with free tunes

 

I will also be buying a whole new throttle body and plenum, and a completely new exhaust from headers down... So just wondering if right now If will feel any difference with just the CAI? Or should I wait till I get all the mods in?

 

With a cai and a tune for premium fuel you will notice a difference. Nothing crazy but more throttle response a little more fun to drive. The tuner will be worth it for your mods down the road with the headers and exhaust

 

Yea um running on 91... Ok well then I will go with the tuner first and work my way up with more mods... Thanks for the opinions

 

Have you increased your compression ratio?

 

Any particular reason for doing this on stock internals? Just curious because I'm reading up on volumetric efficiency and one is easily able to throw this off by increasing the compression ratio without accounting for what kind of volume and pressure the stock internals are capable of handling.

Is a CAI and tuner worth it? Absolutely! It will be a noticeable bump if you're keyed into the minute details of the car but more power lies in boring .020 over and stroking the car out. That would give you up to 20% more rwhp but it's costly. A good port and polish to the heads will give you additional gains with the stroker but again, all requires funding.

A suggestion I would give you is to map out a game plan! Is this SN95 going to be your weekend drag racing warrior and then a daily driver for your 9 to 5 during the week? You need to really figure out your end result, otherwise you could blow TONS of cash on upgrades and bolt-one only to go back and replace certain items you've already purchased once.

Way bigger of an answer but I hope before everything and anything else, you make a plan and stick to it!

 

My car is a DD... My only goal is to upgrade from the lame stock form, I want to reach at minimum 250-280 healthy HP and some nice Torque... I just hate driving and having all these new v6 thinking they are better than me lol :-P

 

Well, those v6's do come with a 4v motor and a dohc. As technology gets better, so does performance in some instances. IMO the best bang for your buck would be to get a cobra motor swap and build the heck out of it. 30% more HP is your overall goal, you "could" go forced induction with a turbo at 6-7psi which will land your torque curve within that prospect. I'm not certain on what the compressor maps are like for the old SN95's but I thought the 2v's were rated bone stock at 200hp to the crank, right?

 

.


Think gears. If you are running the stock gears the taller ratio is great for "the real world" and production but a set of gears will really improve off the line grunt and get the weight moving and moves the engine into the power band much better. then head towards some headers and a much better exhaust along with the other mods you are planning. you can use the tuner to get the speedo recalibrated after a gear swap and you will have a nice little DD street car. you have other areas you can go later, cams, heads to wake her up. but yopu would be suprised what a set of gears, longtubes and a tune would do. boost is nice but the internals are on the weaker side so your looking at a higher $$ build going that route. also a set of sub frame connectors lot only help with added handling ( these cars do like to twist) but the y also aid in getting the traction down also.


and pete stop reading so much

 

Yea once my engine dies I plan to swap it with a Cobra... But for now I want bolt ons and just simple stuff that will wake my car from its dumb stock (215hp)... Thanks for all the info everyone it's super helpful

 

Hooked on phonics worked for me.

 

 

One of the first things I read about is boring increasing overall "power" by 20% which intrigues me because in "theory" you can make the same gain with a well designed turbo at 3psi.:strange:

 

Meh. I like testing my brain making power N/A even though I find myself leaning towards boost even on my future build ( although still on the fence) researching larger heads, bowl work, etc, etc.

 

Pete is right and that's what I was referring to him running 91 octane the only reason you would run a higher octane than 87 is when you run a higher compression ratio and that can only be achieved by changing the pistons from stock to neutral or wedge or domed type piston boring your motor out will improve volumetric efficiency yes but not your comp ratio boring is just making your cylinders walls wider

 

I would wait until you got more stuff that requires a tuner. Otherwise you will have to get a retune everytime you add parts.

 

you can also change compression by milling the heads, head gaskets ,etc.