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IMO the absolute best value for gaining performance is.... Take your engines ECU off, mail it to ECS, have them put a tune on it, ship back to you, and reinstall. Cost is less than $200 total and you'll definitely notice the difference. (I dropped 0.4et and gained 4mph in the 1/4)
The only free mods are opening up the air filter and removing mass.
Last edited by wydopnthrtl; Jul 11, 2021 at 09:17 AM.
how much should a decent nitrous setup cost? And would I be safe running a 150 shot or will I blow my engine?
I was a nitrous design engineer 10+ yrs ago.. over time its not as cheap as people think it is and the risk is high as compared to other power adders. It is an excellent way to add power.. but it takes diligence and a lot of attention to keep things in balance. For example.. I'd never run nitrous w/o a wideband. So.. have folks considered the cost of that?
IMO since you want to go cheap... and assuming this is a street car... stay away from nitrous.
Cheap, fast, reliable...pick two. This is true. Personally, I chose fast and reliable. My advice would be to wait and save your money until you can afford headers and a tune.
Cheap, fast, reliable...pick two. This is true. Personally, I chose fast and reliable. My advice would be to wait and save your money until you can afford headers and a tune.
yes I'd pick fast and reliable too... I guess I've run my options dry. I already have headers , x pipe and a tune on the car. I make about 450 to the crank.. I was just wondering if I could squeeze out another 20 or so but apparently not.
What's the best way to squeeze out another 20 or so hp for cheap. Excluding headers, x pipe, tune, blah blah.
I had a 100hp dry shot of nitrous on my 2000 C5. Then I took it off, gutted the cats, got a Blackwing, a 160° stat, LS6 intake, and an "educated guess tune, best time/speed with Nitrous was 13.20s@111mph. With no Nitrous, but with the above boltons/mods, and cheapo tune, best was 12.89@109.97. My car is an A4 vert. Hope this helps...
Last edited by grinder11; Jul 12, 2021 at 02:12 PM.
yes I'd pick fast and reliable too... I guess I've run my options dry. I already have headers , x pipe and a tune on the car. I make about 450 to the crank.. I was just wondering if I could squeeze out another 20 or so but apparently not.
Sorry, I misunderstood your original post. I didn't realize that you had already done headers and a tune. At this point, I don't think you have a very good option for a quick 20HP. It's not at all cheap, but I have an A&A kit on my car, and I LOVE it. That might put out more power than what you're looking for though. You might consider a mild cam. That might get you around what you're looking for without paying too much. Realistically though, Forced induction or H/C/I would be the next logical step for you.
Last edited by MWWarlord; Jul 12, 2021 at 01:53 PM.
Reason: corrected typos
Sorry, I misunderstood your original post. I didn't realize that you had already done headers and a tune. At this point, I don't think you have a very good option for a quick 20HP. It's not at all cheap, but I have an A&A kit on my car, and I LOVE it. That might put out more power than what you're looking for though. You might consider a mild cam. That might get you around what you're looking for without paying too much. Realistically though, Forced induction or H/C/I would be the next logical step for you.
Yeah, I misread it, too. Anyway, if you still have the OEM filter and airbox, you can pick up some decent power going to a Blackwing, VaraRam, Haltech, etc. If you already have an aftermarket filter, 20 more hp is not going to happen cheap. Nitrous would be the next cheapest way. In my honest opinion, horsepower usually costs money. Also, you usually get what you pay for. Nitrous may be cheap, but if something does go wrong, you'll go from cheap to an engine rebuild mighty quick!!! What I'm saying is don't go cheap in places quality parts are mandatory, or you'll quickly be at that engine rebuild spot again....
There is NO such thing as HP and cheap. Lets face it, you wont feel hp and
it will make little difference at the track ( skill and luck can make up for small
hp gains) Stay stock or develope a plan save your money and exacute.
Good luck
Another option that hasn't been discussed is new gears. This won't add any HP, but it will increase your torque. The car will accelerate faster at the cost of top end speed. If you do plan on going with big power adders later, this might not be the best option for you. However, if you just want that extra little bit of oomph, it might be something to consider.