Ok - I've got 3 months/3000 miles on my new IX and I'm ready for another round of upgrades. My budget is $2000-$2500. I'd like to do a quick 'sanity check' on my choices here before pulling the trigger.

My priorities:

* Top quality parts only (No ebay knockoffs...and yes I know they're cheaper!)
* Best value to performance ratio (No $600 parts to add 4HP)
* Reasonably easy to return the car to stock if necessary
* Safe build with no components stressed to their near-breaking point
* Spirited daily driver. Car will not be launched, dragged, or taken to the track.

Here are my current mods:

* Hallman Pro MBC @ 20psi
* K&N drop in filter
* Defi Boost Gauge
* TTP Engineering Flash
* Tactrix cable + Evoscan for knock monitoring

The mods I'm considering next:

* Buscher Racing 3" Turbo Back Exhaust (catless) w/ Magnaflow
* Walbro 255 Fuel Pump
* Current gen Meth Injection Kit w/ failsafe
* Zeitronix Wideband Meter (+ secondary meth failsafe)

Thoughts? Is the Walbro necessary for the above mods? Also I know that I've skipped past a lot of the standard bolt ons before jumping straight to meth (e.g. o2 housing, FMIC, lower/upper IC pipes, exhaust manifold, etc.) - but it seems like the stock IX components are decent and the gains from those bolt ons are pretty negligible for a non-tracked car. I'm sure some people are hesitant about meth, but as far as I can tell the new kits are mostly foolproof as long as you allocate money into the failsafes. Does anyone see an obvious problem with this strategy? Is anyone running a similar configuration?

TIA for the opinions!

 

All that stuff will leave you with like an additional 700 dollars leftover, get some cams to go along with it and a custom tune.

 

I would say definetely do the fuel pump. And the other mods you mentioned sound right on the money. I would get re-tuned after the additional mods, especially for the fuel pump and the meth since you will be running much higher boost levels. The cams sound like a great idea to compliment the rest of your mods that your doing. The car will be a beast when your done.

 

Oh yeah, the custom tune is a given. But I wasn't sure about cams since they seemed to be very recent/untested development for the IX's. I'll consider them!

 

I'm a proponent of alky/meth injection and use it myself, but that mod alone blows away 2 of your requirements:

- Easily returnable to stock
- Not pushing components to the edge

The alky install is quite extensive and has your IC plumbed permanently while also putting extra wiring throughout the car from the front to rear. Likewise, it's used for running max boost on the stock turbo, so you'll be pushing your turbo to the max but with nowhere to use it, since you're never going to use the car for any worthwhile purpose. It doesn't sound to me like it fits your mold when other bolt-ons are so much simpler and DO actually make power on the cheap: o2 housing, ported exhaust manifold, licp, etc.

 

+1 to that..

 

^^ +1 to the above.

Do full exhaust, LICP and a custom tune. Save the rest. All this is bolt on, and you can reflash things back to stock if you need quickly.

Until then, watch others with IX cam numbers and see how things pan out; that's my plan.

 

Like other said the alky will be a pain to take out and go to stock. IMO go with the walbro, tbe, licp, ported & coated o2 and manifold, cams and a custom tune

 

Thanks for the advice. I think that I will reconsider my options and stick to the bolt-ons for the reasons mentioned.

 

buschur stage 1 + cams and tune

 

Your first Mod should be to delete this thread! You never know who is watching the forums. On a serious note good luck with your build. If you stick to your criteria you will have a very fun ride!

 

^Well, the BR stage would be redundant....

Cams, LICP, and the fuel pump and TBE.

 

Top quality parts and you got a KN dropin? Dude, look into a BMC or Works filter please...

 

Ok, so here's the updated plan:

* BR 3" Turbo Back Exhaust + HFC w/ Magnaflow
* BR Lower IC Pipe
* BR fabricated SS o2 housing
* BR ported/coated exhaust manifold
* Walbro 255 Fuel Pump
* Zeitronix Wideband

I think this will be a decent upgrade path based on my goals, and it should bring me in pretty close to my budget after installation costs. I'm hoping to get 40WHP or so out of the mods. I figure maybe 25HP from the exhaust and then another 15HP out of the LICP/o2/manifold? It would probably be a given if I went with a test pipe instead of the cat, but I still think I want to stick with the HFC. (On that note, how good is the HFC that Buschur includes with their turbo-back?)

 

well sounds like a good start brad. make sure you get tuned. check out my signature. mods are basic with a custom dynoflash tune. im sure you will get similar results. if not better, with the upgraded manifold and LICP.