I am relatively new to the auto performance world so in the near future you will see a lot of my name on these forums. Anyways, I want to see what I can do about getting some ***** under my hood. I cane from the mustang world where you can do pistons and other misc. engine internals. Can you do the same to the RA like boring the cylinders and getting forged pistons... valves... ect. ?? I eventually want to get a turbo but want to work on the engine itself first then work on turbo and electronics.

So... What can be done to the engine?

 

First off, check out the Newbie thread at the top of the Ralliart General forum, that'll answer numerous questions.

Next, our engine and car is still pretty new to the market, so parts are still slowly coming. You definitely do NOT want to bore the cylinders in our engines, as the cylinder walls are already pretty thin. At this point in time, if you want forged internals, you'd have to have them custom made. Maybe give RRM a call and see if they can get them. When stock, the engine can handle maybe 15psi max from a turbo before internals need to be upgraded (at least this seems to be the general consensus).

An upgraded header isn't necessary as we already have a tubular header that works rather well. You could have the throttle body and intake manifold bored and polished, but this would be expensive for rather little gain. If you're positive that you're going to go turbo, don't bother investing in an intake or downpipe (RRM's turbo kit comes with a new catless downpipe).

Hope this helps.

 

I have looked at the turbo option and am unsure of spending $4,000 all at once. So... I'm looking at other options that will give dramatic power increases.

Please don't suggest NOS... I don't want to push a button and re-fill a bottle to get power!

 

There is no other dramtic hp increase without turbo/nos.

 

Don't worry, I won't suggest NOS, I personally won't touch the stuff as I actually care about my engine.

If you're wondering about gaining power through the NA route, that's a bit easier and less expensive. Dropping in the following should get you to 200hp at the flywheel (about 170 at the wheels):

CAI
RRM Downpipe
RRM Piggyback ECU

If you wanted more, then you could switch over to forged pistons and rods, run a higher compression ratio, then have a local tuner shop w/a dyno custom program a piggyback or stand-alone ECU for you.

If you're going to go after all that power, then I'd also look into upgrading tires, sway bar, rear strut bar, and brake pads.

All that said, you still won't get as much power as you would with a turbo. A stage 1 RRM turbo will put you up to about 240hp at the flywheel. The stage 2 turbo kit, when it's released, will give even more. You'll have a very, very very hard time getting that kind of power without a turbo (it would cost way too much money, turbo is cheaper).

 

Staying NA, doing the piggyback adds quite a bit, the CAI/exaust would help that as well.
As for actual, internal engine work. Don't do it unless you want a REAL monster of an engine. As was mentioned, the engine was built quite well. Nothing is proven on how much boost it can reliably handle, but unless, like I said, you want to build a 500horsepower super ralliart, I wouldn't bother with internal work.
Boring is kind of pointless and is apparently bad for this engine. It's a 2.4L, I wouldn't bother trying to bore it. Turbo will give you the hugest boost of power though. A turbo, exaust and some fuel tinkering to support the turbo will give you lots of power.