Cheap way to add horsepower?

[Paintball3r]

I have a stock 02 PT Cruiser, and I'm looking to put a little more get up and go into her. I will soon inherit her from her current owner...my mother, when it is fully paid for. When I turn 16 I get partial ownership of the car, though. I don't plan on having her run the 1/4 mile alot, but I don't want to get blown away if I ever try it. I would love to get a supercharger, but the 3,000+ dollars to get it is out of my range. Is there a way for me to get my car to have a little more power under the hood?

[PTGT_Boy]

The basics are intake, headers, and exhaust. It would benefit you more if it your car is a 5-speed manual.

Thinking of turbos and supercharges are pretty much out of reach on cost, and most of the time it just might be better to buy a GT.

Some other ways to have some more go, is reducing weight on the PT. Removing the rear seats and spare tires is a start.

Lightweight rims is another alternative, but this is a pricey alternative as they can go up to $2,000 for a good set of rims and tires. In addition, you might want to stay within the 16"s any higher your changing the unsprung weight and most likely will accelerate slower.

Another simple alternative is washing your car and waxing, carrying extra dirt and reducing drag co-efficient can somewhat dull your performance, but realistically, don't expect noticable performance changes. In addition, clean the interior, having a collection of gum wades, dirt, and other junk does weight down the PT.

I know there is alure to add body kits on the PT, but most of the time those things will just weigh down the car. Yes, I'm guilty of adding a body kit in my car, and I know it weighs more than my stock front facia and rear bumper! Stock fronts and rear bumpers are actually very light to start already. I'm almost inclined to say that the stock 03 and 04 front and rear facia are more ideal in reducing weight of the PT (there is no plastic piece on the bumper area found on the 01 and 02, and is integrated with the facia).

[PTGT_Boy]

Correction: having a dirty PT increases your drag co-efficient, not decrease.

[TaylorMade]

finally a kid my age, I have the same problem. I added a k&n air filter (good idea) and removed the silencers which is the best thing you could do to get more air flow and increase the sound for so little price. search the forum for silencer removal, theyll tell you how to do it. As Ive come to realize, if you dont turbo or supercharge it, itll never be fast. Im kinda disappointed about that. When I inherited my car from my dad, he told me all these things about how fast it is, how its got the dohc 16 valve and whatever. I got in the car, stepped on the gas and it barely moved. I thought something was wrong with the engine. I told all my friends that my car was fast, and I decided id just do a quick race with one of my friends. At that time I knew very little about engines, and thought my 4 cylinder could beat my friends Caddy V8 32v. Boy was that stupid. I then thought the car was the slowest on earth, but its not. just my .02

[technobear]

Pull the silencers in the airbox, put in a K&N dropin filter ($50), use synthetic oil (debatable; some will say this dont help, $20 for 5 qts).

If you know youre going to race. TAKE OUT THE BACK SEATS! If youre really paranoid, take out the spare tire and jack. (make sure you put them in after youre done.)

IMHO that is the free or cheap stuff you can do. Just by doing that stuff it made my 03 touring noticibly peppier.

[Paintball3r]

Thanks for the information PTGT, but most of that cannot apply to myself. I will be sharing the car for awhile with my mom, so taking the rear seats out is something I can't do. I am not really interested in drag racing the PT as much as I am interested in having it look nice and perform well. That and I want to be able to pile some of the guys in there and go places. record so far was 11 people lol. I will be keeping the PT as clean as possible, there are few things that look sharper than a clean PT. You mentioned intake, exhaust, and headers. I plan on getting a BTG Cat/Back Single-tip Exhaust System. It is about 460 or so. That is expensive, but I have heard them, and love how they sound. So it will improve the sound and overall feal of the car, but will I get any performance enhancements? What would you suggest about the intake and headers? I know little about them besides what they do, and I'm still a little unclear on what the headers are. If I got an aftermarket intake would that help? I don't know how well the flow is on the stock. Also, I have seen a Keystone cold air box & filter system. From what I hear if you have a scooped hood that you will get the ram air effect, which I believe means that more air will be able to get into the engine and up the HP somewhat. Is that true?

[Paintball3r]

Taylor, that is the same color PT as mine and those rims look similiar to the ones that I am looking into, but at the 1,000 dollar price range with tires it will be awhile. What I want is for the car to look like a street racing car, which wouldn't be hard...just expensive. It doesn't need to be able to do a 1/4 mile that quickly, I just want the feel that it has something nice under the hood.

Also does anyone know of some dyno tested information I could look at so I know what would help and how much? Thanks again for all your help!

[TaylorMade]

Yeah, removing the silencers gives it a low rumble sound at low rpm's at full throttle. Its great to impress the guys. My car was ordered and I dont know how my dad got the rims. They look really good. The rear spoiler helps add a sporty look to it, the stock pt's i think look a little bare. Im also adding little chrome flame decals that go on the back and behind the PT Cruiser logo on the side of the car. My car also has a factory dual 8" subwoofer sound system. I would definitely recommend getting a better sound system. They're great.

[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)

[TaylorMade]

Oh wow, I should try that too. My car's color is midnight blue, the patriot blue is close to midnight but a little lighter. Do you have any pics of your car? And its nice to finally meet a teen who doesnt think that PT's are "gay" as my friends like to tell me. I like the different look of the PTs.