great post!

 

Ok so this is my first post. I've been reading all the reviews on here for about 4 months now. I'm currently out in Iraq and have a butt load of cash. I don't plan on going with the turbo but I am considering a SC. My other thought was NOS but I don't know how much to get or how I should ajust my timeing once I get it. Sense you guys are talking about NOS I thought you could help.

My current list of mods is way out of date. When I return to the states I should have a few pics of all the goods. Most of them are sitting in my room and need to be put on. Oh well such as life. Well your help would be apreciated.

 

How about for the next bit of info you pre-empt all the questions about ZPI's new block and explain some about what they're trying to achieve with the stage 1, 2 and 3, and what it will mean for our cars?

BTW, excellent thread, thank you.

 

Well thay may take the performance 101 a little off the path. Also I don't think this thread should really point towards one company or another or product lines that in depth. Keep it simple for those who are just starting to get into this money pit you can get addicted to.
I think any projects that call for actually pulling the head off and or block work should not be a part of this thread. Just bolt on only. Just my thought.
I will say that my point is that I/H/E packages can vary from $700-$1900 and only 4hp seperate them and different tones of rasp as I have still never seen or heard a complete rasp FREE set up when all those items have been changed. Also to be clear that when you go forced induction that it is like crack and addictive. The more air you can move...the cooler you can get the intake charge of air...the more perfect you can ignite the fuel..it just keeps going. I had a car once that was a 89 Daytona Shelby. It only booked for $2500 when I got it. A year later I had $13000-$15000 in it. I know many of you know little about that car but hey I dyno'd over 350hp/350trq. to the ground. I will mention also that it involved 24-27psi and race gas with working AC. 0-60 times under 5 sec.
I sold the car a couple of years ago for $3500. This stuff happens to people all the time. Also the TC being only ONE model you are already upside down when you add many factory options. Not to mention gap car insurance does not cover your mods. So if you ever total your car you better hope you can wrench off everything you do.

Scott

 

Engine work is discussed in Performance 201 :D

 

Just a quick note, I'll edit this later as I'm at work right now. I agree that anything involving taking your engine apart should not be covered here. That is way beyond the scope of something you can really do right in your garage, even with the right tools and a friend. However, that aside, I will try to post a quick note later on about the differences between Stage 1, Stage 2, and boost (psi). Happy tuning!

 

here are some suggestions for some future posts.
In addition to the basic theory about the 4 strokes (and what happens in each), I think it would be a good idea to go into more depth with things like:
Timing,
Spark plug gap, Spark plug heat rating, Spark plug metals,
Compression,
How these things can affect detonation. What detonation actually is and sounds like.

Maybe some info on lighter smaller clutch, flywheel, and how less rotational inertia = more power.

May want to warn people how those big heavy wheels will slow them down as well.

Might want to mention things like how a ceramic coated header keeps more heat out of the engine bay. How catalytic converters actually need to be heated up to work correctly (the pre-cat speeds this up). How sometimes better flowing = less low end torque, more high end hp.

Maybe go into the basics of how cams with a different lift/duration can increase top end power but hurt low end.

Some info on how valve springs can be hurt from over revving which is why the rev-limiter is so low.

Can talk about general theory like how stroke and bore create displacement which adds torque. (why Tc is better than Si haha)

 

If you guys haven't noticed, I haven't posted to this for awhile. Government fiscal year just rolled over beginning of October so I have been mega-busy as funding gets moved around various programs. Anyways, the point is that I am hoping some of you other greasemonkeys will jump in here. I sure don't know all there is to know about cars.

Some of the topics above probably wouldn't be my first choice to get in to next, but I think a good case could be made for examining weight - not just wheels, but stereo equipment, those stupid wings that don't actually provide any downforce, etc. Do you want a flashy, showy car, or a speed monster? If you really wanted the best possible times on the track, you'd rip out your stereo and all the associated components - dead weight. Hell, you'd rip out the back seat as well, and probably curse Toyota for putting that huge glass roof on the car because of all the reinforcing it forced for the rest of the car's body.

I will definitely get more in depth into how a clutch works, why bigger, lighter flywheels are "better", etc.

We can also get in to issues of timing, sparks, compression, and detonation at some point, as these (esp the last one) are important for anyone to know about when tinkering with their car. ScionicBlue (or whomever), feel free to educate the young'ns :-p

 

Anybody seen lo_bux_racer? He hasn't posted in a while. He's very knowledgible.

 

Just some 2 cents on the NOS piece. It seems to be the rage with all the kiddies out there, but I THINK what most people don't understand is that there are some serious mods that need to be done to the engine in order for it to handle that kind of power. In addition to that, everytime that little button is pressed, you're taking away a considerable amount of life off the engine. My thought, tell me im wrong...

 

I was wondering what performace mods are out there without voiding the warrenty. (I have $6000 to spend)

 

Performance stickers!

 

an easy 10-15 HP right there!! and REAL easy

 

Anyone know of a good shop in florida to get an engine done. internals, cams.

 

i find it funny that after aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall that good info, somebody STILL asks "what mods can i do without voiding my warranty"

 

I have a question about Turbochargers and BOVs.

I see a lot of Turbochargers with BOVs, but how do they prevent the engine from running a rich fuel mixture? Do they even prevent this, or is it actually a given that Turbos with BOVs cause the engine to run rich? So if an engine runs rich, what effects does this cause?

-Thanks

 

This is it? I was expecting this to be a 10 page thread.

 

I don't know much about turbos or BOV's but the only problem's with running rich are that you use more fuel than needed. (less MPG) and your injectors build up deposits/gum. not that bad. deposets can be cleaned with injector cleaner. you can buy it almost anywhere. as for the turbo stuff. Please correct me if I am wrong, they force more air into your engine. and unless your ECU compensates for this you will run lean, not rich. running lean is much worse than running rich. if you run lean you risk burning your engine and causing serious damage.

now here is a little bit on nos
when you heat nitrous oxide to about 570 degrees F (~300 C), it splits into oxygen and nitrogen. so the injection of nitrous oxide into an engine means that more oxygen is available during combustion. because you have more oxygen, you can also inject more fuel, allowing the same engine to produce more power.
nitrous oxide has another effect that improves performance even more. when it vaporizes, nitrous oxide provides a significant cooling effect to the intake air. when you reduce the intake air temperature, you increase the air's density, and this provides even more oxygen inside the cylinder.
the problem's with nitrous oxide is that it is fairly bulky, and the engine needs a lot of it. like any gas, it takes up a fair amount of space even when compressed into a liquid. a 5-liter engine running at 4,000 rotations per minute (rpm) consumes about 10,000 liters of air every minute (compared to about 0.2 liters of gasoline)
using nitrous also runs the risk of burning your engine. if your engine dosn't add enough fuel to your cylinders, it will torch them. agin you need to do lots of work to add this to your car. someone else can tell you that.

 

wooow....i am very grateful for this thread......i feel like im actually learning something but now im scared shytless to put anything on my car......screw a header....lmao.....ill stick to an hks exhaust, an injen intake, sum trd sway bars, already got my trd springs, i think dats it as far as performance goes......anything else would make my car wayyy too complicated for me to understand.....lol

 

Alright, so how are people getting away with putting headers on their cars? In VA, we have bi-annual emmisions inspections, and if you lose the cat, I'd imagine you would fail emmisions inspection. How the hell are people getting away with it? Don't tell me people are swapping stuff for emissions inspections....