91' Talon Tsi AWD

[kaiser2]

Just bought a talon awd for a first car . What would be the best things to do first to make the car quicker?

 

[boosted_91_tsi]

Here is a good place to start...http://dsmtuners.com/sub.php?page=1gtstage0power At the end of the list you can check out the stage 1 mods and so on. The first thing to do with a 15 year old car is to make it as mechanically sound as possible. A bunch of mods to go faster will do nothing if the car itself fails on you. Is this car bone stock? How many miles? Feel free to post up some pics too. One thing that is not listed in the first mods is logging software. You can log and see how your car is stock and then as you add mods you can see the effect each of them has. Something to check into anyways.

 

[blackbyrd]

You need to be actively reading.
http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/faq.php Forums FAQ and policys
Learn to use the search feature : http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/search.php
Top 10 FAQ's on dsms http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=55410

Then once you've acquainted yourself somewhat with dsmtuners, you'll most importantly want to do a full tune up, maintence, and fix all oil leaks! http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=239375
Then I would do a boost/intake leak test : http://www.vfaq.com/mods/ICtester.html
Then maybe a compression test : http://www.dsmgrrrl.com/FAQs/compression.htm

Then once your car is for sure in decent mechanical condition, you can check out the following:
Free mods: http://www.dsmtuners.com/sub.php?page=1gtstage0power
Then check out the rest of the recommended upgrade path :
http://www.dsmtuners.com/sub.php?page=1gtupgrades
http://www.dsmtuners.com/sub.php?page=1gsuspension

You'll want to acquaint yourself with www.vfaq.com and the Tech articles on this site http://www.dsmtuners.com/tech.php

Good luck!
And search!

 

[kaiser2]

the car has just a bushcur full exhaust and it has about 100k miles

 

[boosted_91_tsi]

Not a bad start. Nice find!! When you begin to go over this car you will learn alot. Here is another link for more info and terminology ... http://1000q.dsm.org/

Before any mods, a boost gauge would be your best buy after routine maintenance.

 

[kaiser2]

a boost gauge to put on the dash or the pods for the inside of the window?

 

[xioca]

A mechanical boost gauge, the stock one doesn't actually read pressure, it's just an estimation from the ECU.

 

[THE REAL DEAL]

1. Maintenance
2. Maintenance
and finally...
3. Maintenance

Buy a Haynes or Chiltons manual and go through the routine maintenance in the beginning of the book. You never know what the guy before you neglected to do. Try to do everything in there before you go modding anything. Depending on what you do, you may fix something and free up some power. I should have done all the maintenance to my car when I got it because the guy before me was an idiot (and surprisingly worked at a Lexus dealership) and I could have saved myself from some of the problems I've ran into since I've had it.

Your next step should be the free mods and an aftermarket boost gauge. You WILL need the gauge. After that, it's all up to you how you wanna do things. Good luck and have fun! I remember the first days of having my talon and how I told the previous owner that since it was so fun to drive, it felt like more of a toy than a car.

 

[69buickman]

It seems that everyone has great advice on your upgrades, but be sure to change the timing belt, water pump, and tensioner pulley just so you know where your vehichle is at. The only reason im telling you this is because my first gen, when i bought it, supposidly had a timing belt change and in within 10k i ruined my valvetrain. Learn from my mistake.
Something else i just thought of would be to make sure no matter how fast you want to go you always have the capabilities of slowing down. Crossed drilled rotors are good and High Performance callipers and pads are a must. These are just basic and easy upgrades just about anyone can do to improve their ride. Have fun man.

 

[flamingsqu1rr3l]

How about performing maintenance first?...

 

[TheClaw]

^ - werd.

FORGET about modding the car for a little while. If you want it to last, do some maintenance first. It's 15 years old man...

Plugs, wires, ALL FLUIDS, suspension, etc.

It'll treat you much better in the long run.

 

[SnowBird]

In this order: Maintenance, maintenance, boost gauge, clutch, MBC. Thats a low cost start-you already have the exhaust outta the way. Whatever you do, religously use mitsu parts whenever you can, especially on timing belt kit parts.