Im planning on doing my taxes this week and I'm not sure what mod I wan't to do next. After expenses are cought up I'll be able to take about $300 for my GSR. I'm stuck between the K&N intake kit or a catback I found for the same price. Planning on getting it tuned in FEB so I'm trying to throw it on to get the most out of my tune. As of now I have a cone filter with a COBB turbo inlet, I'm not sure what will be the best bang for my dollar. I'd love to actually hear my evo but I'm all about power. What would you guys do?

 

Save up more money. The only mod I can think of that costs $300 or less and is worth doing to an X is adding spacers. A $300 cat-back will almost definitely by awful.

You own an expensive car. Modding in $300 steps will cost you two or three times as much in the long run.

 

So don't worry about getting the intake?....I assume that the cone filter and the turbo inlet should suffice. I helped install the test pipe and ebay catback on my buddy's EVO IIIV and it sounds amazing, great tone...figured that this catback couldn't sound any different than his (given he is catless and I am not). I've heard OBX before and it doesn't sound bad, figured it might be a good investment, its got to be better than the stock set-up.

 

Keep your current intake, changing beyond a drop-in won't yield much for gains. Iowa is right, stay away from a $300 catback, unless used.

Spacers aren't a bad recommendation. Depending on what you're going to use it for, brakes may be useful as well. One mod that I highly recommend is SRP Pedals. They help revmatching so much by getting rid of the horrid gap between brake and gas.

 

Why not get a test pipe.. And save the rest for the tune? Or maybe a 3-port too..

I wouldn't do the cheap catback..

 

I suppose I could get a test pipe, cheap enough and if anything goes wrong I can always swap it out for warranty work. I thought about getting a 3-port but for the mods I don't think it would be worth it, the factory boost controller will be fine for my HP goal (300whp on a dynojet). If I did get a test pipe and had it tuned using EvoScan and had to take it off would the car be drastically affected? I know its not wise to run a test pipe without a tune but what if you have a tune for the test pipe and your forced to run a cat lets say warranty reasons?

 

It's fine if you don't go WOT. When you get a tune for specific parts, it's not a good idea to change the parts out. Just makes sense. But if you don't go in to boost too much you will be perfectly fine.

 

simple enough, so the intake would be pointless....cheap exhausts are a no go....run a test pipe and tune and have fun, sounds like a plan. Thoughts on UICP....only $100 and from the threads I've read there supposed to be pretty good. Ill probably just stick to what you guys are saying, shouldn't be hard to get to my power goals with this set-up.

 

if you're looking at UICP i would recommend ETS or AMS. and 300awhp is way too easy to gain on these cars so you should most definitely not have any issues.

 

Test pipe, UICP, 3 port. A little over $300 but not much if you shop around

 

good enough, any recommendations on where to look for the best prices (besides the Evo X "for sale" threads)

 

Um, doesn't NC have annual emissions testing?

 

yes, but you'll hardly find any inspection station that uses a sniffer. Its a plus that inspections are only every other year. I'm considering it but I'm not exactly sure that a test pipe will help while using the factory exhaust plus it probably wont sound much better. A local shop (Force Fed Performance) said they could hook me up with a plug and play EBC for $100, but after talking to my tuner I'm not dead set on it yet. It would sure help with boost taper thats for sure...

 

Who is your tuner?

 

Ben at Carolina Dyno in Wilmington, NC. Me and a buddy of mine have been talking to him through e-mails. The boost taper is going to happen with the factory boost controler but he can tune it to where it doesn't taper as much... Ill be running on a Dyno Dynamics dyno and after a tune should be somewhere around the 250-260whp mark...(300 or more on a dynojet) from what I'm told.

My ultimate goal is to get my car to be capable of running low 12s high 11s should I decide to take it to the track. Had a friend who (before he wrecked it) had an STI that made 315...and that thing would rip. Its hard coming from a '12 5.0 with 427whp to a 240awhp EVO. Just trying to get that feeling back.