Some of the K&N's do have excessive oil although mine did not and it is dyno proven to improve HP. So how is it that it does not flow as well as stock? The other mods are dangerous??? Not unless you turn up the boost to levels over 20 psi. All the MBC will do is give less boost taper. The car is rich from the factory and it is well known that an MBC at reasonable levels with a cat back and K&N will not cause a dangerous lean condition. The cat back I have is the Buschur Magnaflow which is almost as quiet as stock. Why would Al have had to pull fuel and also give additional timing if I was at such dangerous conditions?

 

Each car is different. When Al "tuned" my first EVO he added a bunch of fuel and took out a ton of timing. My poor car made a lot less power after Al did his $600 road tune to my car. He said he had to do it because my car was knocking too much and that was with only a catback exhaust. As far a noise goes, my catback had the magnaflow muffler as well, plus a resonator and it was not quite as straight as the Bushur catback. Other guys had the Bushur and they were a lot louder than mine. I'm not criticizing the Bushur exhaust, it's supposed to be very good for power, but no way it's like the stock exhaust. I can tell you for a fact because I removed my exhaust which was quieter than Bushur's and put the stock back on and it's incredibly more quiet. If you value the comfort of the quieter exhaust, it's better to leave it stock.

I used to read all about ppls mods and recommendations of mods from these forums. I thought that a lot of stuff made sense and all and I was seduced by the promise of easy power and "better than stock" driveability, sound levels, ride, etc. For me it proved to be exactly opposite and my car got screwed up after spending a ton of money and time in it. I would not advise anybody to start putting mods in their car without a pretty good idea of what the unintended results will be like. I'd say be careful what you do to your car and don't believe $hit of what you hear until you verify it yourself. I know that for me the XEDE worked extremely well. All the other mods I did had serious unintended consequences such as driveability issues, reliability, damage to the engine and more. And no, nothing you add to your car in the way of EMS or suspension changes will be better than stock for trouble free, day-to-day, comfortable driveability. No way, no how. Anybody who says that is blowing smoke and not telling the whole story. It maybe better than stock for racing or something like that, but there is a huge hassle price to pay for that crap.

 

search, this question has been answered a billion times.

First mods- yes would be a flash, tbe, an intake or drop in filter, MBC, and a boost gauge.

 

Yeah. it's been answered. But not correctly. Usually by ppl who don't have any of the mods they talk about or they don't even have an EVO. What you say above for instance is bull.

The very first thing that one should do is take the car to a reputable tuner with a good dyno like the Dynodinamics or Mustang. Hook it up and get a solid idea of where the car is . How it runs, whether it's running lean or rich, if it knocks, etc. Preferably one should also do a compression test if there is any doubt and check to see if the cams are timed right, etc. Only then one can begin to modify the car. I don't believe that mail order flashes are worth much but to each his own. If you don't care that your car is loud as $hit, the TB 3" exhaust can give you good power but the car must be tuned for the mods. If you don't drive on public roads and only want track performance then modify all your suspension anyway you want. As for the rest, you can spend all the money and time you want with cams, cam gears, fuel pumps, injectors, and more but it's all a huge crap shoot....

 

i have an 03 and am working with a budget. I bought a megan dp for $70 shipped, a rnr resonated test pipe for $50 shipped, a buschar intake(just the filter) for $70, a hallmann boost controller for $65 and then sent the ecu to turbotrix for a tune. the car is wonderful to drive. i cant say that i have any driveability issues, but wont say that its better then stock. Not having boost taper is great though, and the car is that much more fun to drive!

 

AHHHH FINALLLYYY Someone has the ***** to say something honest I like that. best thing i have heard all night

 

You mean that everybody else was saying dishonest things? You are just happy because somebody said something that you wanted to hear

 

Tbe!

 

None of the mods I have added have caused any negative consequence in the 9000 miles I have put on my car. The better gas mileage I have gotten from Al's tune has probably paid for the flash too. The 3" Magnaflow cat back exhaust is very close to stock sounding. I run the car in Solo 2 and we have strict noise rules due to running in residential areas. The only downside is I can't hear my rev's over the car next to me when I drag which makes it hard to know where the RPM's are and watch the tree at the same time.

Guess I'm quite the magician to be able to blow smoke and run low 12's with a car that has better driveability than stock. Must be going in to debt because I sure haven't paid any huge hassle price yet Sorry to here you had problems but there are plenty of people on here who have cars that have drivability as good as stock with a decent amount of mods.

 

No, you are not a magician. You are a good driver and you have a fast car
... You also have a very diffeent idea of what "driveability" means. To you, the sound of the exhaust is probably music to your ears. Whatever behavior the car has acquired as a result of your mods is probably something you don't even notice. Good for you , I look at your sig and I can tell already that you are basically a racer (11 second DSM, 12 second EVO, Focus....)

Please believe me that there are lots of people out there that have very different ideas of driveability, comfort, performance, etc. When they modify their cars based on the opinions of people like you, they are disappointed and upset.... Like I said, not all EVOs are alike and they respond differently to modifications. Furthermore, even if the mods work out just fine (in the tuners head) modifications are definitely not for everybody.

 

The "best" mod's ive done are...
Mr valve
Evo 7 tail lights
hotchkis springs
Alpine Hu
Dynoflash
all of the above has made my evo , more !

 

The sound of exhaust is definitely not music to my ears anymore as shortly after I always hear sirens on the street. That is why I was so impressed with how quiet the Magnaflow was with normal driving. I have had many, many people (EVO owners included) come up to me at the strip and think my car is stock. My 11 second DSM was a race car and I did not like driving it on the street because I was lucky to make it around town once before I got pulled over. Stiff suspension, noisy interior, roll cage, etc. I wish you were closer as I would gladly give you a ride and let you check out the EVO so you could see the other side of the fence. I agree mods are not for everyone. My mods though require no tuning on my part, extra maintenance and are next to invisible/audible. There is no reason the same parts should not give similar results in another car that is in good mechanical condition with a good driver.

If it wasn't for people like me, I wouldn't be enjoying the near supercar performance of my car for such little money and getting better gas mileage too. You are upset because your car was one of the few that had problems from mods and caused you a hassle. Why would there be so many tuner companies out there if everybody was so upset and dissappointed with the issues from modding their car? The more you mod your car the more drivability issues you could possible have especially if the parts are not matched correctly. For you that threshold was very low. Now that I am 31, it is also much lower for me too. All EVO's are different and more importantly all part combinations do not give the exact same results. They will have similar results though unless there is an underlying mechanical problem or someone is putting 87 octane in their tank. If you can't drive, you can have 500whp and run high 12's. You could also have major boost leaks or bad tune with a GT35R and run 12's.

If I would have listened to horror stories, I would have never drag raced my car after hearing a story from someone at Xede that said they blew both differentials on an EVO after wheel hop and recommended to me that I never drag race mine. Since then I have only read about one other person blowing their front differential but he is also running 10's. I appreciate their input but also got input from many other sources. I'm sure it happens but it is not common place for 12 second cars just like issues from modifications. It can happen but it is a small percentage. I am glad that they did share the information with me though as now I am more prepared that something bad could happen. It is good that you do share your experience as people who are thinking about modding should know that things don't always go perfect but they should also know it is not the norm. Look how many posts there are on here from people that have stock cars and lots of problems. Some of it is just bad luck.

Maybe we should start a poll to see all of those people that are dissapointed and upset that they modded their car versus those who are happy with their mods? I am betting that most are happy and will either continue to mod their EVO, keep their current mods, or buy better ones.

 

Man to you things that would drive me crazy are nothing. You have a high threshold of tolerance for problems:

*issues with SSQV (stalling, etc)
*P0300 codes
*replaced lifters
*exhaust leaks
*CEL EGR flow codes
*Boost leaks
*CEL light from installing "chip"
*broken front diff

That's from reading a few of your posts to the list. Now, to me and maybe a few others, that would be totally unacceptable. This is what I mean, can't go around telling folks that everything will be OK if one does so and so just because it seems OK to you (or whoever). It's not a value judgement, just plain reality. Now, lets look at the big hassles of my '05 MR:

XEDE and custom tune by Dyno4mance.... Gained 25 whp, no drawbacks

Installed 3" catback.... Hated the noise, glad to give up the 10 WHP that I gained.

That's it, no more problems, nothing, nada, zip............ (really, nothing, no CELs, no idle issues, nothing....

 

Dont get a bov yet. I had one on and ripped it off within about a week. thats how i learned my lesson. Def. get a MBC, and boost gauge but DO NOT get a boost controller if you have no way to monitor the boost. If you are just wanting that loud whoosh sound, then maybe later on down the road after you do some mod's and start getting ready for a turbo upgrade, get a short ram like hks and it will make your stock one sound aftermarket. The stock Evo bov's will do fine, and sometimes the JDM MR bov's do alot better. Thats what i have on mine now and i love it.

 

This really shouldnt turn into an argument. Everyone's idea of driveability is different. As much as id like to get an exhaust for performance, the noise isnt appealing to me anymore, and the tickets dont help either. No matter what mods u do, someone will always have a gripe with it and say that it effects some aspect of ur driveability over stock. its already been said, but the easiest way to learn is to do things urself sometimes, just use what u learnt the best way u can!