I'd like to introduce myself.

I drive a black 03 Lancer OZ automatic. I love my baby. For some reason, I have been wanting to toy around with it for a little while now. I have never been much of a car guy, but now that I drive TONS (I have a 2 hour commute right now for an internship, plus work and school ), I want to plaay . I'm sure I am wearing on my OZ more than most, I have around 34,000 miles already, and ive had it for 2 and a half years.
ANYWAY. I have been lurking for awhile, reading old posts and ish. I finally joined to get some personal advice. I don't have tons of money (yet! gimme 2 years, lol), and I was thinking the best way to start was a SRI (since CAI seemingly won't fit). I have almost already decided to go with the RMR.
Anyone have an alternative to starting my tinkering voyage (the seemingly living-on-the-edge-of-a-humongous-cliff type of voyage )? As I said, I am travelling a ton right now, so gas mileage is an absolute premium until I get a closer internship rotation. I have heard that intake/exhaust can actually improve MPG while at the same time improving performance to the redline (no, not really hittin it that hard )

So. To be shortwinded:
Hi. Help. Thanks.

- Rich

 

Sorry bud but it won't help your "MPG" intake = more air-->more fuel

 

actually i disagree. My gas mileage has gotten consistently better with my mods.. especially the header and emanage.. i average around 32mpg

an intake with out any tuning will probably hurt you milage somewhat though.

 

I Beleive There Is A Write Up Somewhere On Getting Started With Mods That Road Race Has Made....

 

i would say go with the rrm pulley ... a lot of people have been very happy with that and it seems better than a sri ... if you feel the need to spoil yourself get both ... its a great start ..

 

but...will the pulley make a difference bc he has an auto? better throttle response maybe, but its not practicle for an auto. manual maybe b/c not only is it lighter but more effecient. anyway thats my 2c. i dont think you really need it. just 3-5 lbs off i guess

 

Very practical for an auto! I have an 02' oz auto and just got my pulley on the other day. Its amazing. The lighter pulley makes the engine work a little less to turn the belts that keep your altenator, ac, and power teering pump working. The transmission has little to do with it. I vote RMR intake and the RRM pulley. and good luck on modding you car man.

 

me too man, i had mine for 42k miles. and i'm ready to mod as well haha

 

wait, hold on, 34K miles in 2.5 years?? that's hardly anything. I'm at 2.5 years as well, but I am going to cross the 76K mark soon.

anywho, get an intake and exhaust to start, you'll like the sound and see a small gain in economy. I think I gained 1 or 2 mpg with mine. A great exhaust to get is the Greddy Evo2 that RRM has on sale right now. 80 bux last I checked. I payed 150 when the sale started, he's just trying to move them. And don't waste you money on any fancy intake (not manifold), just get the MAF adapter from an ebay vendor and shop around for a cheap K&N cone filter.

 

I've said it before, I'll say it again.

Never ask on a message board. You'll get 87 answers.

Make a stable plan - what do you want out of your Lancer? What parts do you need to achieve that? What is affordable/doable? Then attack that.

I just pieced my Lancer together bit by bit. I've kinda made the same mistake with my Subaru.
My buddy, on the other hand, bought the car knowing exactly what he wanted. Then he bought each and every piece he needed one by one. I'm jealous of that.

 

+1.. And are you going for show or go? Or a little bit of both? Do you plan on really pushing the lancer or just a little more power on the highway? RRM would be a good place to start...www.roadracemotorsports.com

 

I don't mind the 87 answers, as I said: I am quite the noob. The more opinions I hear the more I will have an idea of what to do with my OZ. (Also why I spent a few weeks lurking and reading anything I could find before I decided to ask my own question.)
I don't have a solid plan of attack, just a general idea of what I want my car to do. It is very simple acutually: I would like to keep and/or increase fuel efficiency the most right now while adding some power. In the long run I want more power. MORE POWER. Of course, I want my baby to look good, too.
So my semi-solid plan of attack as of now is: intake/exhaust. Pulley too, perhaps. All depends on the cash!

twardOZRally:
Yeah I guess its not all that bad, but I had really low mileage up until the end of the summer. It is starting to skyrocket, and it makes me sad.
Did you say $80 for exhaust? Do you mean just the muffler, or catback? $80 seems like a sweet deal...

Anyway, thanks everyone for all the input so far!

 

2.5 years i had 54k on my lancer. im never doin that again lol too much money spent trying to keep her running. and for 80$ for a greddy evo2 exhaust i dunno....i paid 600 for mine that was just about a year ago also.

 

it's for the muffler only. you just have to get a local shop to fab up the pipes. I got mine done for $120. Check the lancer vendor forum. Big thread about it in there

 

I have an auto with SRI, Header & Downpipe, Greddy Muffler, High Flow Cat, RRM Pulley, Plug Wires and out of all those mods the pulley gave me the most noticable gains.