Mods for Reedy's Blue Budgie!

[Reedy]

Ok Here's the situation;

I am starting to put together a bit of a budget for some upgrades to my car to suit a couple of purposes;
1) Improved day to day driveability
2) Faster lap times around the track (Front end grip is the biggest problem here)

I want to start off with mods that apply in both situations, for that reason I am leaving out buying a set of track wheels/tyres for now as that only helps the couple of times a year that I will be tracking the car. I want 2 birds with one stone and value for money here. With preference to mods I can do at home myself.

Ill use this thread as a bit of a diary on the matter.
Here are a few that I am considering and need a bit more information on;
Can those in the know please fill in the blanks for me!

Who has done these mods, how much did it cost and what benefit did it bring?

Common Mods/comments:

Downpipe
Cost: $1000 + Installation
Benefit: 10-15whp?
Pro: Replace rubbish stock DP, remove flow restriction, faster turbo spool time
Con: a little pricey, needs to go to the shop

SRI Intake
Cost: $400
Benefit: 10-15whp?
Pro: Cheap, easy installation, base power increase
Con: not many, i'll almost certainly do this one. Tips/ installation instructions appreciated.

Intercooler upgrade
Cost: $1000
Benefit: ?? Does this give any notable power from stock or does it need to be complemented by other mods?
Pro: Can be fitted at home
Con:

ECUTEK Tune
Cost: ?? (Did I hear about a special for OZMPS members somewhere??)
Benefit: 20Whp, fatter torque curve
Pro: Driveability, removed limiters, better top end. Its ALL good
Con: None, will do this once other mods are sorted.

Track Tyres
On the backburner for now but want to gather info.

Struts/Rollbars/Braces
Will a front brace improve front end grip? Sharpening up the steering is one thing but unless the front wheels start gripping better it might be pointless.

At this stage I will almost certainly get a CS SRI and install that, then after that there is a big question about wether I am prepared to spend the money for a Downpipe installation before finishing it off with a Tune.

Sequencing of events;
Best advice is always to do your physical mods and finish it off with an electronic tune, if in my case I keep my budget down and all I do is get an SRI then a Tune. Then installing a DP or intercooler thereafter would require another tune to get maximum effect, OR can those upgrades be bolted in and still maintain the benefits of the initial tune?
My reason for going a little bit backwards with the order of things is I want the electronic tune the most, but removing flow restrictions get the most out of it and that ends up immediately doubling ones budget. What I want to do is quantify all mods and the benefits they give, with bang for buck to determine wether they are in or out.

[Oldhead]

Hey Reedy heres my two bobs worth for consideration.

IMO these DISI engines need to have there breathing improved (Major advantages ) No 1 First and foremost would be to install DP ,get rid of the conveluted and highly restrictive OEM,this will allow the turbo to operate more effieciently ,spool quicker and remove gasses effectively. Keep the original exhaust system from cat back as the gains from replacing full exhaust are minimum at this point.

CPE is a good dump pipe IMO ,but do your research as there are several good products on market . You will be pleased with sound and HP gains.Dont do this replacement yourself ,unless u are very competent .4 to 5 hrs and need hoist as well as plenty bandaids. OUCH.

2nd Item IMO would be to improve Air intake ,again this benefits the turbo effeciency , combustion and Fuel economy. There are many options and this item can be very subjective. All manufacturers claim varied and diff HP gains ????.Use a good quality filter as this is paramount. Make sure the MAF housing size is identical to OEM. Many members have varied results ,try 2XS ,CPE, they both have excellent record ,but there are others.
Fit time is quick, u can do yourself , are relatively inexpensive .

3 item IMO would be to replace the severely restricted turbo inlet pipe, the OEM is pathetic both in design and construction, it allows heat transfer way to quickly and has no thermal qualities at all . It is So important to try and keep your IAT,s as low as possible so as to benefit the Turbo and intercooler. Hotter air is way to dense and effeicency of engine is compromised .
Remembering that the turbo will heat the incoming air as well ,so the lower the initial charge the better.Where possible use Silicone pipes as they have a much larger thermal restriction than metal.
quick to fit ,cost is reasonable , you wont feel any gain ,but the combination with SRI,or Cai will be a much better flow and volume of intake ,thus improving you HP and effeciency of turbo.

4Th item IMO would be to change the rear engine mount as the OEM is shocking, the oem allows the engine to move way to much ,both forward and up and down. By changing this item you will effectively be allowing more torque to be transfered to ground .Also your braking should be improved ,No more rapid nose dive or lift when applying full brake or throttle .
Relatively cheap and very easy to replace. approx half hour in total. CPE has my recommendation,but there are many ??????

5th item IMO would be IC ,easy installation if using TMIC approx 1hr in total and cost is reasonable for HP gains ,the std Denso IC is quiet small and the volume and dimensions lead to quick heat soak .Also by replacing with a larger volume both front mount or Top mount the turbo effeciency also benefits .Cost approx $1000.00 Hyperflow Australia have just produced a direct fit TMIC and ETS from USA have a direct fit. Both have similar dimensions and costs ,once you add freight from USA.
U can do install yourself .
My rec would be to do the above mods first b4 the tune otherwise you are sacrificing money for tune and not getting the full benefits if u install Dump and intercooler later.
Do some searches on this forum as there are many and varied solutions to mods ,also many competent members .Good luck.
I currently have all above Mods and more ,Santa is bringing my TMIC .

[SarcasticOne]

that's pretty much the list of mods that jase (littleredmps) has, so you can look at his result from tunehouse ($2000 for tune, get a $500 discount if you mention you're from ozmps )

[Reedy]

I did my engine mount a while ago, that one was a no brainer and made a big difference.

I want to limit my budget to perhaps about $3000 max so that means I definitely wont be able to do all of the available mods, I would probably be pretty happy with nothing but a tune but the cheaper mods make a lot of sense to get done as well when you look at their cost/benefit.

For example, if a downpipe costs $1000 to buy then another $400 to have fitted, and a TMIC costs $1000, if they give the same gain then ill get the TMIC cause I can do that myself.

In that case a SRI ($400) + DP ($1400) + Tune ($1500) = $3300
What does a turbo inlet pipe cose to replace? if i can replace that all myself at home along with a new intake then I could send the car to the shop to get a DP fitted and Tune done all in one go, that would get everything knocked over in one fell swoop. I don't want to go totally overboard but those mods should give some fairly considerable gains for not a lot of money and thats what I want.

Thanks for the reply, some great info to take home there.

[RedDjinn]

you could go- sri $300,corksports dp $490 (use the standard 2 cat), BNR turbo stage1/2 $1500, cpe flash $850,$55 corksports e/mount inserts, JB short shift plates $100 or troys .. still be at the target u want buut with more power ( and a turbo that will flow 20psi without problem, if later u wanted a but more poke later on)

[Reedy]

Yea going to 20psi is out of the question, I might go +1 over stock just for the heck of it but no more than that, reliability is not worth sacrificing. Mods for me needs to be minimal fuss, unlikely to cause failures and not bring up any bogus CEL warnings or the like. There's a point at which it turns from a few performance tweaks to a proper hobby, I don't want a high maintenance hobby or for my car to turn into an epic project, nor am I obsessed with getting the biggest numbers.

[RadiantKnackers]

Hmmm.

If your limiting your budget to $3k, then it will probably stack up like this.

SRI - Plenty of good brands, I went with the 2XS. Gen 2 doesnt seem to be a fan of the CAI for some reason.
DP - The combination of DP and SRI is all good.

Then tune off the back of these mods.

TIP and TMIC would be high on my list too, but outside of your budget.

[Oldhead]

OK Reedy ,heres a quick summation to get your head around. Streetunit USA, i have used heaps of times, on the ball ,freight usually takes 5 to 8 days ,Aust dollar is almost parity, Just have to add freight costs,also dont buy all goods on one consignment if over AU$1000.00 u will pay GST.
Sure Motorsport SRI AERO $189.00 us
Cobb Tunning Sil TI $165.00 us
Street Unit Sil Rec Hose $29.000 us
CPE SS D/Pipe $555.75 us
ETS TMIC $565.00 us
Total $1503.75 Plus add lets say 5% for dollar diff and Credit card charges $1580.00 thereabouts. Then speak to Mark at streetunit re freight ,dont use there generic calculator . Lets say $300.00
We now have $1880.00 from your budget , Looking Good so far. U do all R&R except DP , Lets say 4 hrs @$100.00 for fitting DP. Now Approx $2280.00 still leaving u with balance , and add for Tune .
U now have Poss 210to 220 Kw at wheel or roughly 280to 290HP ,not pushing the upper limits of motor, beaut daily drive ,and a huge grin fom ear to ear. Now hows them apples!!!!!!! Homework Done. Best of Luck.
Remember though ,no warranty in Aus for USA parts.

[Reedy]

Damn those US prices are plenty cheap!

Warranty is one reason why I would avoid doing a TMIC and some other more complicated parts. There is basically nothing that can go wrong with a DP and the intake is fairly safe too. More mods on top of that start introducing a few too many un-supported failure modes for my mind.

[Oldhead]

Damn those US prices are plenty cheap!

Warranty is one reason why I would avoid doing a TMIC and some other more complicated parts. There is basically nothing that can go wrong with a DP and the intake is fairly safe too. More mods on top of that start introducing a few too many un-supported failure modes for my mind.

Understood,just giving options. I watched and waited for TMIC from Hypertech due to warranty and local trialing (alla Jason) Have had many discusions with Hyper b4 purchasing . Jasons Dyno no,s just reinforced decision.

[RadiantKnackers]

Too true Paul, the HF tmic craps all over the ETS one anyway.

ETS uses welded end tanks, HF uses a single piece CNC machined billet tank.

The HF one also looks so hot you want to wet yourself when you look at it lol.

[Reedy]

Ok i've got a Corksport SRI + TIP on order now. Once that's installed Ill pick up a DP and then see if Tunehouse can install that and do a tune for me in one go.

POWAH!

[Yeldarb]

Ok i've got a Corksport SRI + TIP on order now. Once that's installed Ill pick up a DP and then see if Tunehouse can install that and do a tune for me in one go.

POWAH!

What a great bunch of guys. This forum is awesome!

[SarcasticOne]

What a great bunch of guys. This forum is awesome!

not for my wallet it isnt

[Reedy]

Heh thats why I want to pick my upgrades and do them quickly so it doesnt turn into a long expensive project.

[Reedy]

Ok so engine upgrades and tuning are in the process of getting sorted.

Now other tweaks that people don't talk about much because they don't give you a bigger penis (hp): Struts, braces and rollbars.

I want to make the car understeer less, Slamming on the brakes and loading up the front tyres works just fine on turn ins at the track, but the single biggest weakness of this car is the fact you can't get on the power until you are well through the corner or else its chronic power understeer will ruin you.

Do any rigidity improvements help this? From what I know this problem needs to be dealt with by either a set of track tyres or suspension modifications, but if a front strut brace will help then i'd consider it.

Thats a question for the guys that race the MPS, I wonder what they do about it......

[RedDjinn]

harder spring on the rear,sway bars, + camber on the rear ( + camber it will over steer so in turn will understeer less ) you can also do underbody bracing will help with this.

[Reedy]

Yea the internet is telling me I want a rear sway bar and negative camber on the front.

Can you get the camber adjusted with the stock suspension? Tyre wear will shit itself with that tho, tightening rear suspension might be a simple way to get some gains.

---------- Post added at 10:50 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:40 AM ----------

http://www.mpsgarage.com.au/shop/pro...e-swaybar.html

My MPSG shopping list gets bigger every time I look at their web site. I might end up with a LOT more than I bargained for when I go and get my DP installed.......

[RedDjinn]

U can get camber adjusters. If u go coilovers some have front camber adjusters, or u can buy them for the standard struts. The rear buy 'rear adjustable camber arms' u can get them for around the $200 mark.

[Reedy]

Any idea as to which of these mods will affect turn-in/neutral point/exit through turns?

Power understeer is my problem, turn in and neutral balance are both good as stock, it is getting on the power earlier that I want to get out of this.

The rear sway bar looks like by far the easiest mod, looks as easy to install as an engine mount. Looks like my $3000 budget is about to get blown out of the water..... Shit.