I know alot of people ask "what mods should they do?" but I'm kind of curious what mods they felt like they got thier dollars worth out of.
1. K&N air filter and maf pipe: relatively cheap and they seam to work.
2. scanmaster: Fancier stuff is available but constantly displaying knock retard and o2's during a pass is priceless for both piece of mind and tunning.
3. translator plus AND extender chip combo: Effective and so easy to use you'll fell like you stold some thing.
4. torque converter: If I ever find the perfect one Ill let you know. I got a Art Carr 9" 3200 n/l #16930 from Cotton's. The list of what I liked about the converter was long. The only thing I didnt like was too much slippage on the top end. I think this had alot to do with my relatively low rpm shift points (stock cam and unported heads). All in all a good converter really changes the way a car feels at the track and on the street.
5. Slicks: I run 28x9 ET drags. You can get "decent" launches right off the bat with slicks. Other mods can help you gain even more with them.
6. passenger side air bag: Cheap and it works
7. tubular torque arm: I dont run a high dollar adjustable t-arm. I have and Edelbrock unit that sells for $173 out of Summit. I got mine brand new off of Ebay for like $110. Ever since putting this in my car my weak link is the brakes and how much boost I can hold. Unhook the front sway bar, put around 20 to 23 psi in the air bag, 12 to 14 psi in the slicks, install this bar, do a mild burn out, launch at 8 to 10 psi off the foot brake with a good converter, and you'll get the launch your looking for. When the car is running decent people like to watch it launch.
8. Precision 63 exhaust housing: Now that I have a ball bearing turbo I would love to try a 4 bolt housing. Until then the precision 63 seams to do what its supposed to. It has good spool up seams to help on the top end.
9. Walbro 340 and home made hot wire kit: I had a bad experience with mine dieing with less than 500 miles on it. I think this had to do with sitting for several months at a time (thats my guess). With this pump through stock lines and MSD 50's my car kept running rich. I kept having to lower fuel pressure and pull fuel out with my translator plus. When I finally got it leaned out enough I went 11.30. I will say there is plenty of fuel in that combo to go into the 10's. When mine started crapping out I went to a big external pump and lines because my long term goals will excede the capabilities of a 340 and msd 50's.
10. intercoolers: TTA intercooler options suck! For my old GN I went and dumped some cash on a TE44, 3" down pipe with external gate, 009 injectors, chip, and fuel pump. This was about 7 years ago and this stuff used to cost MORE than it does now. I laid out over $1500 for that stuff. I was dissapointed in the way the car felt. A couple weeks later I installed a precision front mount for $1000 then took the car back out. Thats when the car started to feel fast. That thing really felt like it was moving out.
Now on my TTA I had a BGC stretch IC with my first set of mods. This didnt work because of ground clearance probs and it was always scrapping. So I threw the stocker back in. Man it felt like some one yanked one of my plug wires out. To compound the problem I had to lower the boost on pump gas because the air going into the motor was now hotter and the cars was showing knock at boost levels where it used to be fine. My car now runs a liquid IC and I have made a full pass at 28 psi with my o2's in the mid 600's with no knock. The liquid IC just sucks so much heat out of the air the car is no longer knock sensitive. In fact I'm starting to think that I'm running too much octane! Think about the amount of boost I've admitted to running coupled with that last statement. Anyone still reading this must think I'm retarded!
But explain this: I went 11.16@121 I drove straight down the return lane, restaged, 5 cars later I made another pass, hot motor, hot trans, ect ect.. and I went 11.17. Now who running 28 psi hot laps a turbo Buick and runs 0.01 seconds slower? Infact when I did the 11.16 I had launched a little better. If it wasnt for that the 11.17 hot lap pass would have been faster.
11. fuel pressure gauge you can see in the car: Four times now I have seen this become important. Twice for me and twice for buddies. Whats a TB motor cost to redo? Ive seen 4 motors flurting with disaster that a fuel pressure gauge saved. The problem is that the fuel problem doesnt show up until you need it the most, on it hard with the boost up. Thats a bad combo.
Jason
1. K&N air filter and maf pipe: relatively cheap and they seam to work.
2. scanmaster: Fancier stuff is available but constantly displaying knock retard and o2's during a pass is priceless for both piece of mind and tunning.
3. translator plus AND extender chip combo: Effective and so easy to use you'll fell like you stold some thing.
4. torque converter: If I ever find the perfect one Ill let you know. I got a Art Carr 9" 3200 n/l #16930 from Cotton's. The list of what I liked about the converter was long. The only thing I didnt like was too much slippage on the top end. I think this had alot to do with my relatively low rpm shift points (stock cam and unported heads). All in all a good converter really changes the way a car feels at the track and on the street.
5. Slicks: I run 28x9 ET drags. You can get "decent" launches right off the bat with slicks. Other mods can help you gain even more with them.
6. passenger side air bag: Cheap and it works
7. tubular torque arm: I dont run a high dollar adjustable t-arm. I have and Edelbrock unit that sells for $173 out of Summit. I got mine brand new off of Ebay for like $110. Ever since putting this in my car my weak link is the brakes and how much boost I can hold. Unhook the front sway bar, put around 20 to 23 psi in the air bag, 12 to 14 psi in the slicks, install this bar, do a mild burn out, launch at 8 to 10 psi off the foot brake with a good converter, and you'll get the launch your looking for. When the car is running decent people like to watch it launch.
8. Precision 63 exhaust housing: Now that I have a ball bearing turbo I would love to try a 4 bolt housing. Until then the precision 63 seams to do what its supposed to. It has good spool up seams to help on the top end.
9. Walbro 340 and home made hot wire kit: I had a bad experience with mine dieing with less than 500 miles on it. I think this had to do with sitting for several months at a time (thats my guess). With this pump through stock lines and MSD 50's my car kept running rich. I kept having to lower fuel pressure and pull fuel out with my translator plus. When I finally got it leaned out enough I went 11.30. I will say there is plenty of fuel in that combo to go into the 10's. When mine started crapping out I went to a big external pump and lines because my long term goals will excede the capabilities of a 340 and msd 50's.
10. intercoolers: TTA intercooler options suck! For my old GN I went and dumped some cash on a TE44, 3" down pipe with external gate, 009 injectors, chip, and fuel pump. This was about 7 years ago and this stuff used to cost MORE than it does now. I laid out over $1500 for that stuff. I was dissapointed in the way the car felt. A couple weeks later I installed a precision front mount for $1000 then took the car back out. Thats when the car started to feel fast. That thing really felt like it was moving out.
Now on my TTA I had a BGC stretch IC with my first set of mods. This didnt work because of ground clearance probs and it was always scrapping. So I threw the stocker back in. Man it felt like some one yanked one of my plug wires out. To compound the problem I had to lower the boost on pump gas because the air going into the motor was now hotter and the cars was showing knock at boost levels where it used to be fine. My car now runs a liquid IC and I have made a full pass at 28 psi with my o2's in the mid 600's with no knock. The liquid IC just sucks so much heat out of the air the car is no longer knock sensitive. In fact I'm starting to think that I'm running too much octane! Think about the amount of boost I've admitted to running coupled with that last statement. Anyone still reading this must think I'm retarded!
But explain this: I went 11.16@121 I drove straight down the return lane, restaged, 5 cars later I made another pass, hot motor, hot trans, ect ect.. and I went 11.17. Now who running 28 psi hot laps a turbo Buick and runs 0.01 seconds slower? Infact when I did the 11.16 I had launched a little better. If it wasnt for that the 11.17 hot lap pass would have been faster.11. fuel pressure gauge you can see in the car: Four times now I have seen this become important. Twice for me and twice for buddies. Whats a TB motor cost to redo? Ive seen 4 motors flurting with disaster that a fuel pressure gauge saved. The problem is that the fuel problem doesnt show up until you need it the most, on it hard with the boost up. Thats a bad combo.
Jason
I have at least 700 passes on my car. No problem.
