Help me I have no idea what im doing!
 

Hi all!

So for starters I own an automatic (i know, i know, but its easier for in the city) 2004 2.4L lancer ralliart. I've had it for almost 4 years and i love it. Only way id get rid of it is to upgrade to a newer one.

Here's my problem though. I am not a mechanic, i am not even a car guy. Sure i can do oil changes, and change my tires, and for the most part i can make a pretty good guess as to whats going on when something is wrong. Now I'm starting to work more and have more money so i'd really like to start doing some performance upgrades, problem is, i don't have the foggiest idea where to start.

first of all, i know that having an automatic seriously limits what i could even do (i think). but i'd still like to do something. I'd love to get some more horsepower, faster acceleration and maybe even touch up the handling, so i guess the best way to say it would be that i'd like to upgrade from stock to a decent bit of aftermarket. im not looking to race, or spend a ton of money, but i'd like to do some basic upgrades.

If anybody could help me out, suggest things i could do, places i could look, i've been googling stuff trying to find things for a little under a year now with no luck. i found a couple of lancer and mitsubishi forums and once consistent thing i found was "ask on evolutionm.net" So here i am. I'll greatly appreciate any advice!

(also i live in canada, so shipping from places in the states can be iffy, at least for other things, not sure how it is for car parts)

Thanks!!

tuning, rear sway bar, and stiffer suspension.

Well being as your in canada Im sure several of our Canadian members can point you at where to get parts. We have a lot of Canadian members lol.

However the auto isnt as limited as you think it is. There are automatics with stock transmission pushing 300hp. So with a bit of research you'll find that being auto doesnt really limit what you can do, as much as it limits what you can AFFORD to do. I own an auto so I know where your coming from.

So getting that out of the way. The first thing you need to do is be honest with yourself. What is it you want to do with the car? If drag racing is your thing you'll need to focus on engine mods for now. Piecing together a turbo or supercharger kit would be a good place to start. If you want a car that handles well on curvy roads, or tracks then we can start finding you suspension upgrades. Or if you just want instant gratification a tune is a great way to squeeze a few more HP from the engine.

From experience with my auto. I started with the most basic of bolt ons. A short ram intake mod, and a straight muffler. Then I started on the suspension. Lowered it, added a rear strut bar, lower tie bar, bigger rear sway bar, camber. Then I added a lightweight crankshaft pulley which made it a bit peppier. I was satisfied with that for a while. But then the itch for more power crept up on me. Thats when I started making plans for a supercharger, and ended up switching and collecting parts to turbo the car. And I recently tuned the car which added a few HP and a lot more torque. So thats been a fun endeavor so far.

Suspension really brings the car to life. It will feel responsive and handle curves like a champ.

If your going for more power skip over the cold air, exhaust and those basic bolt on go straight for forced induction. Turbo or Supercharger.

Or you can always mix and match upgrades but the best way to get results from that is to tune the car accordingly.

Let us know where you would like to go from here and we can point you in the right direction.

Welcome to the forum! Glad there is another Auto RA guy around besides me and truth again! Raikiri sold his and upgraded to a newer RA.

this. the amount youll spend on all the typical bolt ons will easily equate to a bigger turbo. wish i would have gone that route instead. now im stuck with the stock turbo.

i guess you could get bigger injectors and fuel pump and start running e85 in addition.. if you dont mind sacrificing some mpg :lol:

lol well in the case of the RA we are going from naturally aspirated to turbo.

first of all, wow. That was awsome how fast i got replies. thanks guys.

second, remember i know nothing about performance parts. this is my first car, ive owned it for four years and the only thing i have actually upgraded would be my deck, and that was only in the last month.

I guess the main things i would like to do would be better acceleration, so the drag racing and improved handling. does that make sense to do the two together?

so where could i look for turbo/supercharger kits, as well as decent suspension upgrades? and what else would i need to do to go with those things to make them more effective.

Well thats sort of the thing. You can spend a lot of money rounding up suspension bits to make it handle better. And you can spend a lot of money rounding up forced induction bits to make it go faster.

No one sells a "kit" for the ralliart except RRM and you dont want their setup its a poor design. it adds a 5th fuel injector into the intake pipe, uses a piggy back ecu that fails. You could piece together a turbo kit but you should do a lot of studying and if you arent comfortable disassembling your engine and putting it back together again I would honestly look into other avenues.

You can go the bolt on route if you want. Cold air intake, headers, free up exhaust restrictions. But all of that wont do you much unless you get the car tuned.

So let me be honest with you. If I could do my auto RA all over again from scratch back when I knew little about the car. I would invest in coilovers, not lowering springs. I would get the whiteline rear sway bar. I would rebuild my exhaust from the header back with either a high flow catalytic converter, resonator and muffler, or a bigger resonator and no catalytic converter. A nice set of performance tires, upgraded brakes, and stainless steel brake lines. Then I would do the mod to the stock intake box to get cool air into it. I would get the light weight crankshaft pulley. And lastly I would get it tuned.

At that point you have done things to improve the handling, braking, and acceleration and none of it is too much to keep you from choosing a new direction in the future once you get the feel for what you really want.

In fact you would be well setup to choose any direction to take your build at that point. You have coilovers so if you want to slam it and work on your stance. You have a more free flowing exhaust if you choose to turbo or supercharge it. You havent added bars inside the car if you decide to add a crazy stereo system. You have the beginnings of a good suspension if you choose to get into track racing or autocross. And you'd be tuned so you could make your computer perform to its best regardless of your setup.

You would basically have a platform capable of going in any direction at that point and it would make the car peppier, stronger, and have better handling in the mean time. I remember when I first got started I made the mistake of finding a website with a few parts for the car and said "I want everything they have!" But thats wrong. Spend some time on this forum reading things, the DIY section and the Show n Shine sections are great places to start. You'll see some great mods, and see what other members have done with their cars. Its a great way to get some inspiration!

{thumbup}:mitsu:

Yessssssssssssssss! Another Canadian Eh RA owner. Our numbers are growing! *evil smirk*

Alright, here we go!

So I see you're looking to upgrade and make your RA beastly? Well buddy, you've come to the right place...

I don't wanna sound like a chore but first thing you gotta learn here on EvoM is how to use our search function. Visit the "How-To" section for more details on how to perform maintenance and upgrades on the 2004 - 2006 RA. Moving along now...

I started off just like you man. Didn't know anything about cars but I got myself an RA just because these machines are amazing and the Lancer has sentimental value to me. My grandfather owns a 1989 Lancer Mirage and he bought it so that he could drive my mom to the hospital to give birth to me lmfao. Where I lived in the Philippines, there's no way you'll get to the hospital on time if you don't have a car lol. Enough about me though and more about the Ralliart...:updown:

Here are a few of my personal favourites that I would strongly suggest to anyone:

1.) https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/04...take-pipe.html

2.) https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/04...tallation.html

3.) https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/04...alve-lash.html

4.) https://www.evolutionm.net/forums/04...s-install.html

If you have any questions regarding these, feel free to ask us and we'll be right here to help you out.

Take care and welcome to EvolutionM! :mitsu:

I may have all the parts you need...AEM SRI, MagnaFlo Cat-back exhaust, UD pulley, rims, lowering springs...CF hood, rear strut bar, MagnaFlo cat... A ECU that you can have reprogrammed...

Further to the comment above, here is a list of things that I will be parting with from my car. I have included links to the appropriate website so that you can see what they are:

Ralliart AEM Short Ram Intake

Ralliart RRM Underdrive Pulley Kit

Ralliart TEIN S.Tech

Ralliart Road Race Rear Strut Bar Silver

Ralliart RRM Magnaflow Catback

18" OEM RalliArt Wheels (Painted black) w/tires about 40% tread remaining

VISRacing Lancer 4Dr Evo-style Carbon Fiber Hood (painted flat black)

If you buy it all I will sell it cheap. I will help yo install the parts too!

what color is the intake?

Do you still have
SRI
UDP
and rear sway bar?

Have to disagree. If your here and looking to mod the car, your a car guy!

Yes
Yes
Don't have one. other then the OEM one.

I am going to assume you meant strut brace, yes.