Ok have a few basic noob questions.. My father's looking for a little bit more out of his basically stock 86 c4 coupe and he doesn't have a clue since he's used to cars older then me

He's not looking for anything wild like cam or head swaps just yet just some free mods and what we should start out modifiying and why the hell these things run so hot.

We were thinking long tube headers since these motors love to breath but they seem to be really expensive for these cars.. is there anything that isn't ss or ceramic coated out there with less of a price tag that'll bolt up?

Also what are the basic modifications that you would perform to a otherwise stock car?

Oh here's a list of what the car has so far:

zr1 rims with 275/40/17's
borla catback
2800 stall converter
cut air lid
kn filter
ported upper/lower intake (haven't had that apart to confirm it yet)
cross drilled rotors (forgot to add this to this post originally)

Thanks alot in advance for your time

Ryan

 

The headers are a good place to start. The stock exhaust is pretty restrictive. Freeing it up is good, expecially if you plan to do more later.

Other than power mods he can look into better brakes (or at least better pads,) tires, shocks, sway bars, etc...

 

Cool thanks for the help man

 

You can also de-screen the MAF. Some people say it's worth a little power, some disagree, but it's free.

 

Maf has a screen?? what the hell.. I don't think ours has one but i'll double check it's possible the previous owner ditched that already and forgot to pass that info along never the less thanks man

 

Yeah, there's one on each end of it. Just don't try to modify the fins inside the MAF.

 

You didn't mention the CATS. What do you have?

 

read my website

 

crossbar and that x-frame bar that attaches to the under carriage, reduces your body role, stress cracks, and all the shaking when you got the top off

 

for L98?

as a minimum: headers & exhaust, cam, aftermarket heads, and either superram or miniram intake (depending). plus custom chip tune. plus a bunch of other items like timing chain, lifters, water pump, etc.

get your wallet out for at least $3.5-4k....up to $6-7k.

 

Headers, delete CATS, and full roller rockers will get you maybe another 30-35 HP. After that, cheap mods are over. Good luck!

 

This is a GREAT starting place. It's where I started and ALL the FREE mods are there.

 

staying on the cheap route (and alot less power), thats a good list, and i would add an accel superram intake base manifold in with that.

 

ive read that that screen is not a spark arester, but a device that striaghtens the air that passes over the wire for the MAF and if you cut it you will shorten the life of the MAF and consiquently cuase the car to run improperly

as far as cheap mods i cant believe no one has mentioned throtle body air foil or larger throtle body. i read someware that the stock plenum runners are good with a 52 MM throtle body.

 

Self aligning?

 

yes

 

The screen isn't "deep" enough to have a real straightening effect on air flow. Anyways, the air is pretty much all going the same direction already.

 

Guys thanks alot for the great info here.. sounds like our options are very limited until he decides to break the bank haha and I thought building up my syclone was expensive

Alright Vader86 that site of yours is killer thanks alot for sharing that.. we will be working off of that for sure

As far as cats.. We don't know what they are.. they look stock sized to me so I doubt there high flow or anything but we'd like to possibly delete them depending on if this car will see much road use or not we're not sure yet but if we do decide to delete them how do we go about it? I mean the o2 sensors are obviously tied into the ecm somehow.. is there mil eliminators avalible for these cars or no?

Looks like the maf is brand new so im not going to jerk with the screen just yet haha.

the 1.6 self alligning roller rockers sound good and do-able but what are people using in terms of headers? what fits?

What kind of chip should I be looking to run with these minor mods?

keep the good info coming guys

 

Here's what I did to my '85: cut the air intake lid, K&N airfliter, MSD Super Conducter Plug Wires, Mobile 1, Flowmasters, Comp Cams Air Foil(much cheaper than just about anyone else's), removed the screens from the MAF, ported the plenum's entrance(very easy),Hyper Tech Stage 3 Chip, 180 degree themostat, Jeg's cap & rotor, Accel's HEI Distributor Module, Accel's High Voltage Coil, Dynomax/Walker rear Y-pipe, Catco High Flow Catalytic Converter, re-located the MAT sensor...that's about all I can remember right now but it was inexpensive, easy to do and worth about 35hp & 25ft.lbs. of torque. Now I know that the '86 is a bit different but nearly all of these mods can be performed on it as well. I didn't do the mods all at the same time but they're all in place now & I have no regrets about the money I spent or the performance gains. Oh yeah, one last thing: it passes the smog test EVERY year and it actually runs CLEANER than when it was new. Taking anyone's advice about headers and their opinions about changing to the 1.6 roller rockers on both the intake & exhaust.

 

Does his '86 have the iron heads (early) or Al heads (late)?? If the Al heads he can install 1.6:1 RRs, springs, etc for a little better breathing. Here the cost will run around $400 and yield about 15chp gain.

When doing LT headers go with ceramic coated, they will flow better, last longer, look better keep the engine compartment cooler; well worth the extra $$. Try Summit for some headers. Consider that headers & cats may cost $600 with a gain of say 20chp or more; that comes to $30/chp, not too shabby is it.

Does he need to run cats? If so I would consider having two hi-flow bullet cats welded into the front Y-pipe (of the new headers) and go to true duals.

Install an AFPR (buy or make one) to tune fuel flow to match increased air flow at WOT.

Install: a 160deg T-stat & fan switch; cut-back spark plugs. These two mods are nearly free and should add maybe 10-15chp.

Since he has a 2,800rpm TC he might consider doing the siamese intake mod. It's free and, though won't add peak HP, it will extend the upper RPM range with a little loss of low end torque. If you shoot me an email (jgkov@msn.com) I will return pics of my modified stock TPI intake base; there are before/after dyno pulls on my site.

Delete the spare & jack; the weight reduction is equal to about 5chp gain. If he runs about 1/2 tank of fuel that weight reduction is worth another 5chp.