Hello,

I'm looking to increase the horsepower on my car in a way that is beneficial to daily driving (think 0-80 driving). I am not looking to build a drag strip queen or a dyno queen. I couldn't care less how the car feels past 80mph. What I want is a car that is faster and pulls harder on my commute to work and weekend driving.

Being that this is a daily driver, I do not want it to be loud and stinky, so that pretty much rules out a test pipe and most exhausts I imagine.

I already have a cone filter, and may upgrade to a real intake to see if there is any improvement. I plan on getting a Cobb AP because there are no tuners within 3 hours of me, and I don't have the time to learn how to self tune nor the time to be without a car if I mess something up.

So after an intake and a Cobb, what's next? Are there any exhausts that don't stink to high heavens and sound loud, that actually provide HP improvements?

I don't even know what to look at. Cams? 3ports? Downpipes?

Thanks in advance.

 

There exists quiet exhausts, and if you leave the cat on, no stink.

Buschur's Crossflow is quiet, and Ultimate Racing has a few quiet options too. Just off the top of my head, there's an Exhaust thread around here somewhere, but it's difficult to judge how "quiet" they are by words or a Youtube video.

If you're unable/unwilling to get protuned, you could always get a mail in tune from Mellon or Jestr, but that'd require logging and such, which you might not want to do.

If you won't do that, you'd be best off following the Perrin/Cobb route, just go with their parts, which are good, bolt em up, and voila. It'd be tricky to do a mail-in tune for cams, I'd think.

Downpipe isn't worth it w/o a turbo swap, nor is a 3port, especially w/ no protune/self tune, as it NEEDS a tune to work.

 

full turbo back exhaust!!! and a tune right after...mabye a boost controller if you have it in the buget

 

Here is what you should get, and you will make some good power, and not over due your goals and it will be a great daily driver:

Turbo back exhaust: GReddy TIC isnt to to loud, or the HKS
Intake-ETS makes a good one
Walbro fuel pump
3 port boost controller: cost about 70 bucks from evolution dynamics
intercooler core or with piping: I use the ETS Intercooler
Last get it tuned. You will be around the 320 to 350 awhp marker depending on the tuner.

You will have fun fun fun.

 

Perrin stage 3, rear swaybar, rck and enjoy.

 

Evo red or Tomei upgrade

turbo back exhaust and a flash.

simple done in expensive and 400HP atw
can't really complain

 

Do a fuel pump and boost controller. Also Apex'i makes an exhaust that's pretty quiet and stealthy. It is in their noir line.

 

Greddy exhaust with a HFC and if you want go a little crazy pick up a FP green or a dom 2.0. Looks stock and will put you well over 100awhp over stock with great spool. Throw in a E85 tune (if you have it in your area) and you will be like this is a totally different car!!! Quiet and no one will ever see you coming.

 

Here's some thoughts...

Catback: T1R supposedly makes the quietest catback; there are other good options already mentioned in this thread.

Hi-Flow Cat: plenty of options out there from MilSpec to AMS to T1R to Perrin, etc. They will have a little bit of smell (more than OEM cat), but nowhere near as much as a test pipe.

02/Downpipe: if you keep the OEM cat, there's no reason to replace this; if you do go with a HFC, then make sure to get an 02/downpipe combo piece, AMS makes a really nice piece, Perrin has a DP/HFC combo piece (but no O2 housing), and there are plenty of other options

Exhaust manifold: Buschur, Full Race, etc, etc, offer these and they will help the turbo breath a little better and you could see better spool from this, but this really isn't needed unless you're going with a new turbo and only if you remove the OEM cat.

Intake: Pretty much any one will be fine. Buschur, AMS, ETS, etc, etc

Turbo inlet pipe: will help your turbo to spool a tiny bit faster; Perrin makes one and I think ETS and AMS and Buschur also do as well

UICP: this is a must. Nisei, AMS, Buschur, ETS, etc, etc.

LICP: not really needed

Intercooler: not really needed at the power level you'll be at, but you could add one; Buschur, Perrin, AMS, ETS, etc, etc. This could add a little lag to your turbo spooling.

Turbo: You could upgrade to a Dom 2.0 or a red or something like that. But, if you keep the OEM cat on the car, you won't see much of a gain because the stock cat is a bottleneck.

Boost control: You can do an MBC or EBC or you could use ECU-controlled. Talk to your tuner about which is best for your final set up.

Tuner: You'll see the best results if you can get a pro-tune. Since you're in Ohio, why not look at heading up to Buschur? Or maybe heading over to AMS? It's well worth it to drive a couple hours to get the right tune. A Cobb AP will be fine, but you may find it a little limiting and it won't give you the most performance from the mods you choose.

I think that's about everything when it comes to bolt-ons.

 

LICP, TBE, MBC, Fuel Pump, Injectors, BBK, T-Bolt Clamps.

Stop worrying about the drive and head to Buschur Racing.
http://maps.google.com/maps?daddr=24...2,7.124634&z=8

That's about the exact same distance I drive when I go out to CBRD.

-Jalal

 

Wow thanks everyone for all the advice. Lots of similar opinions and lots of differing ones too.

I definitely don't want to go the pro-tune/self tune route for a couple of reasons. First off is the distance. My wife is tolerant of my other vices (I'm a workout nut and a Home Theater nut), but if I get too involved in another activity she may lose it, especially since child #2 is on its way. Self-tuning would require a lot of learning on my part, as well as some potential downtime if I screw something up. A protune would be great if I was doing this all at once, but will most likely be in stages. I don't want to make a lot of trips to Buschur and back just to get a tune. I'd also be nervous not being right by the tuner in the event of an issue. With an AP I feel that it is more safe since the tunes are not conservative. I want to make more HP but I'm pretty risk averse when it comes to an expensive car.

So if I go the AP route it sounds like I should probably stick with parts that Cobb provides maps for directly, just to be safe. I'll have to read up some more on what maps they offer.

I guess I need to read up on TBEs more because I was under the impression that all the owns that actually made gains were loud and stinky.

Thanks everyone for the answers and I suspect I will add some more questions to this thread after I read some more.

 

pretty good stuff

 

I see a few people recommending getting a new fuel pump, but I have only seen that mentioned with regards to big mods like a turbo upgrade. Why are people recommending a fuel pump upgrade if I am not upgrading the turbo? I thought our cars ran super rich as is?

 

Why does it matter if the car "stinks"? You will never really smell it. I understand that you may have to deal with emissions or inspections but the smell associated with a catless exhaust system is really for everyone else to smell and not you. Just a thought...

 

We don't have emissions testing here. I don't want it to stink or be loud because I live in a nice neighborhood with people I hang out with regularly. There is a guy on our block with a '68 Chevelle with no mufflers or anything and it pretty much wakes up the whole block when he turns it on. I don't want to be that guy. i don't want to wake the whole neighborhood nor stink everyone out.