Call me lazy and cheap, but I am looking to up the power of my tC without spending much cash. Are there any cheap tricks? I know on Jetta Turbos a $40 nozzle from the turbo to intake is good for 27 hp. Anything easy like that on our cars?? Obviously i can do intake, exhaust, chip, etc etc..........anything easier?

 

no such animal.
you have to pay to play.
theres no quick cheap big power adders for our cars.

 

Yes.... when you get manual over automatic you save 800 bucks plus 20hp xtra.

I regret this to some extent.

 

^^
and if he already has a manual???

 

Stickers

 

those two words don't really go together.

 

The closest I've come to cheap power is a wash, wax, and tire shine at the local Brown Bear car wash. I swear to god my car is like another 30 horsepower after one of those.

 

hmmm...try a racing stripe

 

Don't bother with cheap power. It's easier to make a more noticeable improvement when dealing with suspension. For about a grand, you can get a pretty good suspension setup. Plus, your car will feel faster.

For a grand, you wouldn't net very much in power.

For cheap acceleration, search up weight reduction and follow as many of the suggestions as you want.

 

cheap power does exist to the knowledgeable and the skilled. Make your own turbo kit out of custom made manifold/downpipe and ebay bought turbo. A local shop makes custom manifolds for about 300, downpipe around 100. I could make a kit that runs at 4-6psi for under a grand, and im actually thinking about it.

Its easy, just emulate other succesful kits with cheaper parts. Take a zpi stage 0 for example, a very easy kit to copy in terms of components and the way it works.

It can be pulled off, just depends on your skill level.

 

Even if you eBay all the parts, for quality parts, it should come to about 1500 bucks at least. A turbo itself should cost about 300 dollars. A custom manifold (you could probably weld your own from eBay modular manifold pieces) would run about 100 or so then. The rest of the piping will probably make up the rest of the grand. I suppose you can ditch the accessories like BOV and external WG and engine management but I wouldn't call it a "kit" then. That's just I.

 

make the most of your car and get good tires. better tractions means better handling, braking, and acceleration (1st and 2nd).

After that, exhaust and intake work. But thate aren't really "cheap", and don't yeild 27hp per bolt-on.

 

If you're looking for bang/ $, N2O.

 

ill break it down for you.

manifold made in shop
300
downpipe made in shop
150
ebay turbo internally wastegated (including new in box turbos)
200-400
assortment of turbo aluminim pipes (that will be measured and cut to fit your needs
100
various vacuum lines/ oil lines and fittings
<50

heck i even found an assortment of pipes including a greddy type-S blow off valve for
130
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/GREDD...QQcmdZViewItem

blow off valves are cheap so thats not an issue

if you dont have enough piping bends in the pipe assortment to get the job done, buy 2 assortments! still only 200

i can have a brand new 6PSI turbo kit for about 930$ if i wanted. Will I? I dont know if i feel like going through the all the work just to upgrade to a dezod kit in the future.

can it be done heck yess if you know what your doing.

 

I found the Megan Header for $200 was the best upgrade I purchased.

 

I would love to know what $40 nozzle gave a VW 27 hp. I hade a 1.8t jetta for years and the only thing close to giving that much power was getting a chip. And the only cars that gained that much power where to early 150hp rated 1.8t's. By the way, chips cost $300(basic upsolute)-$650(loaded APR). Everyone would be fast if you could buy reliable HP for under $2 a HP.

 

I think all of the extra piping, if it's not cut and welded by yourself, will take some money to be routed properly. But you probably know better than I do.

 

maybe a boost controller? not sure what the cost is, but I know its a good HP/$ ratio. but you obviously have to have boost to utilize it.

 

I know you aren't going to like hearing this, and some of what I got out of it was because of what I had in the car but.....

I stripped 157.7lbs out of my car last night, 18.5 of which went back in because of aesthetics, for a total of 139.2lbs for a total cost of...... *drumroll*

$0.00

See this thread for what I did, and YES I do realize some of the crap was because of what I put in there, but every pound helps.
https://www.scionlife.com/forums/vie....php?p=1571466

 

Hacked airbox + K&N filter = $40
Megan Racing Header = $190 shipped
Weight reduction = Free... about 30 minutes.
Driving practice = As much gas as you want to burn.

-- See video in sig. 15.36... which is about .5 - .7 better than most people run bone stock. A pretty good increase for not much.


The ultimate bang for buck will always be nitrous. $300-400 and you can shoot a 75 spray on a stock car to hit 14's.