Who hasn't heard this before: "I'm a noob and I want to make my car go faster! But.... how ah?" Well I'm going to create a simple guide for those who want to get started but don't know how.
Step #1 : Determine how much budget you have. RM100 will almost get you nowhere and RM10,000 can do wonders. There's usually no such thing as cheap and cheerful. If you have a healthy budget you can do more, if not - save it up and blow it all on mods later. Simple as that.
Step #2 : How far do you want to go? Forced induction? Or your daddy won't allow? Either way, find out what it is you want to achieve from the mods. Do you want to have more torque? Or take corners at insane speeds? Or do you want your car to bounce up and down low rider style? Or do you just wanna go faster than a certain bright orange Supra recently featured on ZTH?
(You'll need really big bucks to do that btw)Step #3 : You need to understand - more power = more air + more petrol. Mumbo jumbo gimmicks won't do crap unless it fits in the equation. More petrol = higher fuel consumption. Also, harder suspension = better cornering = worse ride quality. There's no such thing as cornering like God but having a ride as comfortable as a Citroen C6. Modification is all about compromise. You give some to get some. If you can understand all that and agree, continue reading.
Right. Let's get started with the most basic of all mods - Improving airflow.
The air filter. The stock paper air filter is somewhat restrictive and lots of companies have come up with their higher airflow filters, either drop in or open pod. The general rule is if you're looking for low profile looks, a drop-in airfilter is the one you want. If you want bling, consider the open pod filter, but you'll need to invest in a intake pipe and probably silicon connectors. Meaning open pods are not cheap to install.
There's some superstition that says automatics can't use open pods and should be for manuals only, etc... that's a load of bullcockney. The only thing about autos using open pods is they might lose some low end torque because of longer gear ratios. But you'll gain plenty of top end with an open pod so there's pros and cons.
The Cold Air Intake (CAI). This usually is a flexible pipe that's routed directly to the air filter from the outside. Cooler air is routed directly to the filter and that in turn means your filter is breathing oxygen rich cooler air which technically is supposed to help combustion. Hotter air is less oxygen rich.
What folks usually do is they hook up the CAI hose from the stock airbox to a foglamp hole in the bumper so the air is 'rammed' in and force fed to the intake. Whilst that's a good idea, in M'sia it floods and rains every other day. Meaning you run the risk of sucking in water and that's a very bad idea. A few drops of water is fine, but a cupful of water will result in hydrolocking and that usually equates to an engine rebuild.
So install your CAI wisely.
The exhaust system. The exhaust is used to vent out the burnt gases from the engine into the atmosphere. Complete OEM exhaust systems consist of a manifold, flexible pipe, catalytic convertor, resonator and a muffler. In this system only the catalytic convertor (catcon) is the most restrictive since it filters out the toxic/poisonous gases from the exhaust before fuming it out of the muffler. You can opt to delete the catcon or install a highflow catcon (more environmentally friendly) to release a little more ponies from your car. To put it crudely, think of it as you farting through your underwear and pants filtering all the nasties and getting caught in your clothes versus venting your bodily gases into the open without any clothes on.
A properly tuned manifold, piping length and diameter will do wonders too. The resonator is there to reduce noise so look for a free flowing one to reduce the restriction whilst keeping the decibles down.
Lastly the muffler - there are a few different types in the market and many have claimed different results using different setups. S-Flow, straight flow, twin-loop, etc. This is my personal view on mufflers. S-Flow mufflers offer the most amount of back pressure so automatics would benefit from this sort of muffler as the gears require some back pressure to change gears. However depending on your setup, a manual would benefit from a s-flow as well. I believe it helps with your low end torque so it probably would be useful if you're tuning your car for low end power.
Straight flow mufflers provide very little restriction for the exhaust so this is usually very useful for manuals or cars with lots of low end power but weak mid to high end power.
It all depends on your tuners recommendation so seek advice from your tuner as to which type of muffler to opt for.
All this will set you back about RM1,000 to RM2,000 depending on the brand, quality and workmanship.
Next up - I have more money and want to mod some more!
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