Cheap way to add horsepower?

[Paintball3r]

These are the rims that I am looking at

http://www.discountedwheelwarehouse....owLarge=T rue

My parents know a guy who can hook me up with a sound system. Pretty bad when your parents give you the hookup, but he does alot of that kind of stuff, adn knows all the secret handshakes to get you a good price on the stuff. [8D][?]

[TaylorMade]

man, those are sweet rims. I am satisfied with mine right now though. I guess throttle body spacers would also be a good idea for better mileage and maybe a little hp

[Paintball3r]

That is my problem, I know little to nothing about engines. I know that they run on gas, and that if you get more air into them you are going to get some extra HP out of em. Thats about it. I would have bet on your friend with the caddy in that race, even though I do believe that caddy is alot heavier than your PT. So I came here and hopefully I can learn alot about how the car works and how to make her run like a dream for years to come. Lets just hope I can soak enough of it in before I get my liscense. (In October) That PT you have looks great Taylor! [?]

[TaylorMade]

Thanks, paintballer. Yeah the caddy is heavier, but only by a few hundred pounds, not enough to make a 4 cylinder, 140 hp difference. I knew very little about engines when i started too. Now I still dont know alot, but I got alot of info about aftermarket modding options and different engine types. This is a really good forum

[Paintball3r]

quote:Originally posted by technobear

Some people will tell you that modding the stock airbox to make it a cold air intake (mx-5) will give you as much performance as a $200 intake from say.. K&N. As far as the seats, Remember: THey just slide in and out! Its not permanent. The exhaust will compliment any flow enhancements you do to the intake, and headers will help a little, maybe.

If youre wanting to make performance upgrades cheaply, i would go for the free or close to free ones.

Tip: when youre the primary driver, unhook the negative battery cable for 10 minutes or so to reset the computer, then go out and drive the car how you want it to know you drive. You will get a peppier car than before. Right now its used to your mothers driving. (learning computer runs the engine)

How would I go about modding my stock air box to make it a cold air intake? If I did that would I still need a scoop in my hood to get the max performance? So when I become the driver of the car, and I reset the computer it will learn my driving habits? Like breaking a little later than most people by applying more pressure and how I accelerate? Wow that is amazing, I knew there was a computer in there, but I didn't know it could do all of that. What is the difference between an airbox, and an intake? and why do they call it a cold air box?

Yeah Taylor, this forum seems to be great!

[CHROMEDCRUISER]

Paintball3er and TaylorMaid,
I'm a little bit older than you guys, but not by much. I've loved the PT since the day it came out. I know you guys want to go fast, but you just aren't going to get the performance enhancements you want without either getting a GT or dropping in the supercharger. First off, I would definately get the K&N air filter, and remove the white silencer (top of the air box) and the black silencer (halfway down on the right side of the air box, it looks like a parascope and is a lot more difficult to take out, so take your time.) Once you've got that taken care of, disconnect your battery cables for about 15 minutes. Hook them back up, and go for a drive. Keep the pedal all the way down when you accelerate. This is going to teach the computer that you like to go faster than Mom does. You're going to notice a pretty good difference in performance, and especially the sound when you've got all that done. Next, if you're going to get a big amp and sub, you're just weighing down the car even more, losing all that performance you just picked up. Definately consider taking out the rear seats. When the boys wanna roll big, you just slide the seats back in. You guys really want to make miracles happen under the hood that just aren't possible. I would definately save up and get either a K&N fuel injection performance kit which completely replaces your intake, or go for the Weapon R intake, which is about $120 shipped to your door, and is supposed to be better than K&N. This is going to make an even bigger difference. Next, stop thinking about bigger rims and tires, it's just not worth it other than the look. What you really want to get is a new set of springs, shocks, and a strut bar. This is going to make you look faster than you really are, and that's exactly what you're going for. Without that turbo or supercharger, you just aren't going to make that big of a difference, so you've gotta go all show and little go. Along with looking faster, you're going to feel faster going around those sharp turns that I know you love to take doing 15+ over the speed limit. In reality, you will be going faster through the turns, so I suppose that will be a good performance upgrade. Finally, forget about BTG, save yourself a couple hundred dollars and get either a flowmaster or dynomax muffler. You'll get just as much performance and sound for a couple hundred cheaper. I suppose that's it, just keep in mind that you want to look as fast as possible, because without that turbo, you are not gonna roast the tires in all four gears. Also consider tinting your front windows, the car will look even better, and with all the other mods you've done, you're going to really impress the guys, the ladies, and even yourself.
Here are some links:

http://www.pttuning.com
http://www.flowmastermufflers.com
http://www.abtivan.com/weaponr/weapo...mschrysler.htm

I hope this helps.
Live your life a quarter mile at a time.

[Paintball3r]

I would love to tint my front windows, but it is illegal in IL. [V]

[technobear]

Well Put.

[Konkeler]

I didn't get a chance to read the whole thread, because I need to get going to work. By the way I'm 18 (so close to your age)

It's a slow car, and unless you dump alot of money into it (Supercharger or TurboCharger) it'll never be a fast car. You can buy a few over-priced goodies for it, but personally, I would save my money. They're big semi-heavy cars with small engines. So even with a few bolt-ons don't expect to win many races.

But, it makes a Wonderful car for a Daily Driver. I love mine and use it just for that. If you want a fast car, get something else (or spend alot of money)

[bigdogdad]

Nice picture there Konkeler[?]