Best horsepower gain for the buck ???
 

In all your experianced opinions , what would the best bang for the buck horsepower wise be ?? A bigger throttle body or short tube headers , I do one big mod a year and this year it will be one of these . Just throwing this out there to get a feeling for what others have done or are doing . The only engine Mod done to the car is a WMS intake system with air tray , and a functioning ram air hood . (this mod can be seen in a previous thread of mine ) . Or instead of either the headers or throttle body , would a tune be better ?

Karl :metal:

Cold Air Intake and a performance tune from Brenspeed or Tillmans or BamaChips is the best bang for your buck you will have around 25-30 extra hp its well worth it.

I agree with the tune, but a good HP increase after that is a LT set up. A non HP increase but quicker response is a gear swap. 3.73 or 4.10

You don't post what mods you have but a 1 piece aluminum driveshaft and 4:10 gears will make a big difference without increasing your horsepower at all.

A Tune absolutly

Or get another 150hp for just $3800 with the Brenspeed Vortech V3 supercharger kit... :metal:

Add a good custom tune to the WMS and it will be well worth it.

I did post what engine mods I have ( WMS intake system ) Gears are stock 331s , my suspention is a all out Ingalls engineering package . I let them you my car as a test mule , and they set me up with their full suspention package . Well worth it to , she handles very , very well . Karman , after further sudy I am really leaning toward the tune , it does look like the best route to go . And Bama is looking like the direction I might go in that respect .

Shorty headers and a TB are horrible HP/$ investments.

My answer may surprise you. I have every mod on my 05 GT listed above and still am naturally aspirated. I see you have 3:31 gears. You don't say what year your car is but I am guessing you have an automatic trans car like mine. You may consider a upgraded torque converter. I installed a 3000rpm stall Precision Industries torque converter this past fall and at least from a seat of the pants feeling it rates at the top of my mods done. In addition get a good trans tune to go with it. Mine is from Brenspeed and it kicks butt. My next choice would be the CAI and tune.:nice:

thanks
 

Thanks for all the input , I am really leaning towards the tune at this point . Best bang for the buck I am thinking , with the WMS intake it should do the trick . I have thought about gears , but the wife drives the car more than I do , and I want to keep it comfortable for her to enjoy . She tells everyone it her car , I am just the oil changer . (lol) :heh:

Well if you are going with a cold air kit and a tune check out brenspeed for a package deal. Brenspeed tune and with C&L cold air kit would be a nice choice. JMO~

So you're running an intake without a tune?...?...?

The WMS intake is advertised as it can be run w/out a tune... still, you're right that a tune is his next step.

Doesn't mean it's correct though. If the MAF housing is increased than it needs a tune. No way around it.

Tune will yield much better results. 25-30 rwhp over stock, while shorty headers will yield 2-3 rwhp tops on a stock engine. Throttle body will yield basically nothing on a stock engine, as it is not a restriction at that power level.

Can't believe no one said nitrous.

I'd recommend not using Bama right now. Doug is one of the best tuners in the country but he's going through some personal problems and he's letting it effect his work. There have been quite a few posts about people having to dispute charges with their credit card companies because Doug took the money and never shipped them their product. Also, no one is able to get any tune updates right now. There are many other reputable tuners who are just as good if not better out there. I use VMP Tuning and have had great results.

Nasty

Thanks for the heads up , that kind of info is always good to know . I think my mind is set , I am gonna go with a good tune . And as many have asked Yes I run the WMS intake without the tune , and it made a very noticeable differance . I can on ly think it will get much better with a proper tune . I liked the idea of the headers , but just cause they are such a noticable mod .

Here's a good read. I didn't have the link at the time I posted..

http://www.s197forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23647