If you had a completely stock lancer, and one grand in your pocket to spend on it.
What would you do? Engine and attaching parts only. Most bang for your buck style. Please only serious answers.

 

I would save another 2 thousand for a turbo kit.

When I looked at the title I thought you meant $1

 

IMO, the best bang for your buck mod is the ported 4G93 manifold swap. Can be had for under $100 if you're resourceful.

Technically you could also perform a port and polish on your cylinder head yourself. This would net nice gains and be very cheap to perform with the right knowledge and know-how.

After that I would do a catback, intake, header and cam. A Tactrix cable to tune with EcuFlash would also be a good idea to extract more power. That would quickly round out the $1000 budget. But if you're able to source your parts from the for sale threads here then you would be well under budget with money to spare.

This plan would provide you with a strong breathing engine (throttle body being the only bottleneck).

I just want to add that threads like this are pretty pointless as the answers you are looking for can be sourced from the threads.

 

You can build a custom 16g turbo kit for under $1000.

 

but it won't run right until you fork out another few bills and get it tuned; unless, of course, you know how to tune it right.

Here's an idea.
You can sit 5 people in a lancer. 1 driver, 4 passengers.
The 4g94 is a 4 banger, so you got 4 cylinders.

4 cylinders, 4 passengers. See where I'm going with this?

Get 4 extra long straws
1 end of the straw attached to a custom made hole in your intake manifold
1 end of the straw in your buddy' mouth. Every passenger gets a straw.
Every passenger is also assigned 1 piston. If they all blow in the straws like they should maybe you'll see a pound of boost or two for under 1$. If it costs you more than 1$ for straws, go to another corner store.

 

I'd save it for a turbo kit or do what senate said. The best bang for the buck mod is still the turbo kit.

 

Hahahahahahaha

One of my friends was blowing in the vacuum line on my boost gauge and he got it up to like 4 or 5 psi, with 4 people you might blow up the engine!!! Id be careful with that one!

 

hahahaah great stuff !!

 

Mine runs pretty well actually. It could make more power but it still runs pretty strong/safe at the moment.

 

How much would one expect to spend to get the g94 head ported and polished?

 

You can spend upwards of $1200 for a P&P depending on the miles/condition of the head.

 

Senate. Your the man. Sorry I make you answer all my dumb questions.
So look at this list, what do you think it could produce to the wheels?

G93 Ported IM
CAI
Bored TB
Header, supporting exhaust mods ie. 2.5" cat back
Stage 1 cam and adjustable gear
Piggy back and a wideband
Pro tune

I think that list can be under a grand if I can find most of it used. From what I've seen this may put out 130whp and most of it will be usable if/when I put a turbo on. Worth while investment? I like to tinker so to me its worth it.

 

Those mods would be good for about 120-130whp. Whether it's worth it or not depends on if you're looking for large gains. The CAI, headers and piggyback wouldn't be usable with a future turbo setup.

 

I want to do this stuff so bad, but I know its pointless. Yet I love to just tinker and make something, if I feel like I've waisted my time though its not worth it. Im not looking to blow away every car I see nor try to race thinking my car is awesome sauce, but the pride of doing something and it turning out good. With these mods, will I realy feel a differance?

 

What's the base though? 130 WHP is an arbitrary number without context, that could be 50 over stock (not going to happen) or 10 over stock.