My newbie thread
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Newbie
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 1
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From: Wisconsin
My newbie thread
I have read and read and read and read some more. Then I searched and searched and read even more. And before I **** everyone off, I'd like to say thank you. Y'all (well almost all) have been very helpful. Lots of great info buried in and amongst it all here. Definitely learned a lot. Hopefully this can be a good newbie post.
Just got an '04 ES auto trans. What's the upgrade path?
OK honestly, it'll be a daily driver, I've had it for 2 weeks and I've put on 1600 miles, this will be typical. It lacks.... well power, yeah it lacks power. Original thought was how do I get 20-40 HP across the whole band while remaining NA. Then I came here and surprise surprise got a bit hooked. So now I'm thinking I'd really like to be able to stomp the $#!* out of the punks that pull up next to me with nothing but a CAI and 4" exhaust and rev it to 6000RPM (saw one 12 y/o with a CAI and exhaust on his huffy that wanted to race.) Here's the thing, I don't want a turbo. If I wanted a turbo I would have bought an EVO. I paid 10,500 for the car, so no more than 10,500 goes into it in mods. If I'm adding power I'm also adding the rest. Suspension, brakes, and anything I can to extend the longevity of the AT. Any mod I do should have an expected life of at least 100,000 mi. Cosmetics will be limited to... well nothing. I'll be getting rims, but those aren't purely cosmetic. I'd consider lips, but no spoiler, no body kits. If I'm going to use this to stomp punks I want it to look entirely stock. What good is stomping them if you can't make them cry by beating them with something that they think is stock? I've heard that SDS is frowned upon here, and I've done a fair amount of homework on it and actually like the idea. There aren't many nice ATs out there, there aren't many nice ESs and there aren't many SDSs at all. I think a car that was all three would be well representative of what I want. Unique, quality at the sacrifice of nothing. Longevity, performance and gas mileage are of equal importance to me. So what can I do, and do WELL to give me the best of all three? I want to be able to start picking out parts specifically, manufacturer and all, not just some laundry list of well this is available, add up a package cost and start saving (well not so much start). Everything will be an all at once, give it to a shop for a week and let them go nuts. I don't doubt that I COULD do a lot of the work, but I doubt I'd do it as well as pros and I'm really not looking to phunk around on this and end up with just another rigged up ricer that I'll never be able to sell to anyone but one of those punks it was originally designed to stomp. 200HP may be a goal, but I'm not really concerned about numbers. I'm quite convinced that my car is completely unrelated to the size of my *****. DRIVEABILITY.
P.S. I said I'd read a lot and I meant it. Honestly I just don't have a good enough working knowledge of all that's out there to put together a configuration optimized for itself on my own. I've read all the stickies. Now I need someone with enough knowledge to do the design. I'll understand the whys after all the reading now.
Just got an '04 ES auto trans. What's the upgrade path?
OK honestly, it'll be a daily driver, I've had it for 2 weeks and I've put on 1600 miles, this will be typical. It lacks.... well power, yeah it lacks power. Original thought was how do I get 20-40 HP across the whole band while remaining NA. Then I came here and surprise surprise got a bit hooked. So now I'm thinking I'd really like to be able to stomp the $#!* out of the punks that pull up next to me with nothing but a CAI and 4" exhaust and rev it to 6000RPM (saw one 12 y/o with a CAI and exhaust on his huffy that wanted to race.) Here's the thing, I don't want a turbo. If I wanted a turbo I would have bought an EVO. I paid 10,500 for the car, so no more than 10,500 goes into it in mods. If I'm adding power I'm also adding the rest. Suspension, brakes, and anything I can to extend the longevity of the AT. Any mod I do should have an expected life of at least 100,000 mi. Cosmetics will be limited to... well nothing. I'll be getting rims, but those aren't purely cosmetic. I'd consider lips, but no spoiler, no body kits. If I'm going to use this to stomp punks I want it to look entirely stock. What good is stomping them if you can't make them cry by beating them with something that they think is stock? I've heard that SDS is frowned upon here, and I've done a fair amount of homework on it and actually like the idea. There aren't many nice ATs out there, there aren't many nice ESs and there aren't many SDSs at all. I think a car that was all three would be well representative of what I want. Unique, quality at the sacrifice of nothing. Longevity, performance and gas mileage are of equal importance to me. So what can I do, and do WELL to give me the best of all three? I want to be able to start picking out parts specifically, manufacturer and all, not just some laundry list of well this is available, add up a package cost and start saving (well not so much start). Everything will be an all at once, give it to a shop for a week and let them go nuts. I don't doubt that I COULD do a lot of the work, but I doubt I'd do it as well as pros and I'm really not looking to phunk around on this and end up with just another rigged up ricer that I'll never be able to sell to anyone but one of those punks it was originally designed to stomp. 200HP may be a goal, but I'm not really concerned about numbers. I'm quite convinced that my car is completely unrelated to the size of my *****. DRIVEABILITY.
P.S. I said I'd read a lot and I meant it. Honestly I just don't have a good enough working knowledge of all that's out there to put together a configuration optimized for itself on my own. I've read all the stickies. Now I need someone with enough knowledge to do the design. I'll understand the whys after all the reading now.