Upgrades and How-To (Newbs look here!)
Thread Starter
Newbie
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 15
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From: Allentown, PA
Upgrades and How-To (Newbs look here!)
I know there is alot here to read, but if your just starting out it would be beneficial to sift through the majority of it!
I would assume that I'm not the only one with a stock or close to stock Lancer here on EvolutionM. I'm also sure that there are many kids just starting out with their new car (lancer or not)and arent sure what to do with it or dont know much about cars in general. This is a thread for those that are new to the car upgrading scene and need some tips and information on where to start (I'm sure i'll end up asking one or two questions along the way also
).
Over the next few weeks i will begin the upgrades to my 2004 Lancer OZ Rally, partially referring to/using the newbie tutorial thats stickied at the top of the lancer general forum.
I'll be doing alot of the upgrades myself, with the help of some friends, and i will be posting a list (in order) of all of the upgrades as they come, with a brief tutorial on how to perform the upgrade. I hope the EvoM community supports the idea and i dont get a flamejob
*******************************************
I will be doing both performance AND cosmetic work in a completely random order, whatever i end up doing at whatever time. If you only wanna focus on performance work then skip stuff like step two...these are only the order in which i am doing things to my car...not the order things should be done.
************************************************
Step One:
The first thing i will be adding to my car is a CAI (Cold Air Intake). I'm going to suggest going with a higher quality one (Injen/AEM/etc). Recently I experimented with a CAI from X3Racing.com, i had alot of problems with it (Filter falling apart, pieces not fitting where they should be, car stalling when stopped for whatever reason
, probably related to MAF/MAS but I never diagnosed)and decided to take it out. Over the next few days i will post pictures and a tutorial on how to put it in. I'm sure there's already one of these online somewhere but it might as well be put into an easy spot to find.
Update:
I decided to go with the AEM Cold Air Intake. It costed around $250.00 and change from a registered dealer (Cars N Effects in Whitehall PA, www.carsneffects.com ). I ran into only one problem while installing - my lancer is an '04, they only make it for '03 and below! For the most part, the internals are all the same but the antifreeze pipe is right where the intake should go up towards the MAF, with some adjustment it slid right into place.
The instructions included with the cold air intake are very detailed and easy to follow, it included many pictures which i was told are available online and thats why i wont bother uploading the pics i took. My service engine light did not turn on and it idles perfectly, just like any correctly installed intake should. If your service engine light comes on or your idleing is not constant you should make sure all your connections are tightened and that your MAS has nothing inside it and is firmly in place. This job can take anywhere from 15 minutes to three hours depending on if you have help and if you have any idea with what your doing.
Heres a breif idea of how to install a cold air intake:
To install the new CAI the old bulky airbox had to come out. There are two screws that are connected to the air box mount which must be unscrewed, then the air box mount must be taken out by unscrewing the 3 screws holding it in place. The next step would be to unplug the MAS. From there you can pretty much pull the box out and take the mass air filter out of it.
The next step would be to jack up your front drivers side and take off your tire, because you need to get under your wheel well. Take out (or at least disconnect) all of the black shadowing inside the well. We'll need this for later.
Take the MAF and screw it into the metal piece that fits flush with the side of it. Connect the smaller section of the intake to it and the motor (using the rubber pieces provided), then connect the larger portion of the intake to the MAF and (because we have your wheel off and shadowing taken out) we can just stick the filter right on the end and close it all up. Connect your MAS and your good to go, make sure all your connections are tight and take a deep breath
, you just installed your first cold air intake!
If you have a model that is a 2004+, you have to tilt everything from the MAF up to the top of the intake downwards about 45 degrees to meet up with the bottom half of the intake because the antifreeze piping is in the way, the intake will not connect to the rubber holder they have you install, so you can skip that step...it works fine without it anyway.
Step Two:
The next thing i'll be doing to my car is in no way related to step one, i'll be tinting my windows!
Every state is different as to how much you can tint your windows, so make sure you look that up. Depending on who pulls you over for it or where you are(Bethlehem, PA, for example), you may end up having to not only pay a fine but pull off your tint on the spot! With that in mind, careful how much you tint!
Tinting for a 4 door car such as ours usually runs anywhere from $200-250 depending on where you go, make sure you know who is doing your work because you dont want your windows to look crappy, do you?
Step Three:
One thing that can really make your car look better is lowering springs or coilovers. Personally i'd rather spend the $125 on coilovers instead of the $250 on lowering springs, it depends on how deep your pockets are and if you want to lower your car 1.5'' or 4''.
More updates to come on lowering your car
I would assume that I'm not the only one with a stock or close to stock Lancer here on EvolutionM. I'm also sure that there are many kids just starting out with their new car (lancer or not)and arent sure what to do with it or dont know much about cars in general. This is a thread for those that are new to the car upgrading scene and need some tips and information on where to start (I'm sure i'll end up asking one or two questions along the way also
). Over the next few weeks i will begin the upgrades to my 2004 Lancer OZ Rally, partially referring to/using the newbie tutorial thats stickied at the top of the lancer general forum.
I'll be doing alot of the upgrades myself, with the help of some friends, and i will be posting a list (in order) of all of the upgrades as they come, with a brief tutorial on how to perform the upgrade. I hope the EvoM community supports the idea and i dont get a flamejob
*******************************************
I will be doing both performance AND cosmetic work in a completely random order, whatever i end up doing at whatever time. If you only wanna focus on performance work then skip stuff like step two...these are only the order in which i am doing things to my car...not the order things should be done.
************************************************
Step One:
The first thing i will be adding to my car is a CAI (Cold Air Intake). I'm going to suggest going with a higher quality one (Injen/AEM/etc). Recently I experimented with a CAI from X3Racing.com, i had alot of problems with it (Filter falling apart, pieces not fitting where they should be, car stalling when stopped for whatever reason
, probably related to MAF/MAS but I never diagnosed)and decided to take it out. Over the next few days i will post pictures and a tutorial on how to put it in. I'm sure there's already one of these online somewhere but it might as well be put into an easy spot to find.Update:
I decided to go with the AEM Cold Air Intake. It costed around $250.00 and change from a registered dealer (Cars N Effects in Whitehall PA, www.carsneffects.com ). I ran into only one problem while installing - my lancer is an '04, they only make it for '03 and below! For the most part, the internals are all the same but the antifreeze pipe is right where the intake should go up towards the MAF, with some adjustment it slid right into place.
The instructions included with the cold air intake are very detailed and easy to follow, it included many pictures which i was told are available online and thats why i wont bother uploading the pics i took. My service engine light did not turn on and it idles perfectly, just like any correctly installed intake should. If your service engine light comes on or your idleing is not constant you should make sure all your connections are tightened and that your MAS has nothing inside it and is firmly in place. This job can take anywhere from 15 minutes to three hours depending on if you have help and if you have any idea with what your doing.
Heres a breif idea of how to install a cold air intake:
To install the new CAI the old bulky airbox had to come out. There are two screws that are connected to the air box mount which must be unscrewed, then the air box mount must be taken out by unscrewing the 3 screws holding it in place. The next step would be to unplug the MAS. From there you can pretty much pull the box out and take the mass air filter out of it.
The next step would be to jack up your front drivers side and take off your tire, because you need to get under your wheel well. Take out (or at least disconnect) all of the black shadowing inside the well. We'll need this for later.
Take the MAF and screw it into the metal piece that fits flush with the side of it. Connect the smaller section of the intake to it and the motor (using the rubber pieces provided), then connect the larger portion of the intake to the MAF and (because we have your wheel off and shadowing taken out) we can just stick the filter right on the end and close it all up. Connect your MAS and your good to go, make sure all your connections are tight and take a deep breath
, you just installed your first cold air intake!If you have a model that is a 2004+, you have to tilt everything from the MAF up to the top of the intake downwards about 45 degrees to meet up with the bottom half of the intake because the antifreeze piping is in the way, the intake will not connect to the rubber holder they have you install, so you can skip that step...it works fine without it anyway.
Step Two:
The next thing i'll be doing to my car is in no way related to step one, i'll be tinting my windows!
Every state is different as to how much you can tint your windows, so make sure you look that up. Depending on who pulls you over for it or where you are(Bethlehem, PA, for example), you may end up having to not only pay a fine but pull off your tint on the spot! With that in mind, careful how much you tint!
Tinting for a 4 door car such as ours usually runs anywhere from $200-250 depending on where you go, make sure you know who is doing your work because you dont want your windows to look crappy, do you?
Step Three:
One thing that can really make your car look better is lowering springs or coilovers. Personally i'd rather spend the $125 on coilovers instead of the $250 on lowering springs, it depends on how deep your pockets are and if you want to lower your car 1.5'' or 4''.
More updates to come on lowering your car
Last edited by Quatre; Jun 20, 2005 at 09:39 PM.
good idea, when you r all done, u should have a fairly long thread with a bunch of how-to's inside. once you are done, it should be stickied if the information is helpful. just so other noob's have somewhere to look w/out having to start a new thread and get flammed on for not searching. if i decide to still do my turbo kit, i'll have a complete how-to also, good luck, how come your just speaking out on the forums now, do u go to any meets?
Originally Posted by Talon5spd90
just a hint, dont buy an aem one, they suck. also, dont get the aem bypass valve, they are made like ****
