Got a little money to spend. Any ideas for a bone stock TSi?

[RicciDSM]

So, I found out today my mustang is totaled and ill be getting a good amount of money, finally enough to buy another DSM.

I found a bone stock 97 Talon TSi, FWD for $2900.

Say If I got that and have around $1500-$2000 to drop into it right away. What should I go with first?

I was thinking since my buddy has an Apexi Downpipe he is giving me, I could get an o2 housing (dumped) and a simple ebay cat back or maybe a Thermal cat-back. Then do the intake, Upper Intercooler Piping & BOV, and other little things such as TurboTimer, BoostGauge, and a ManualBoostController.

What do you all think about that setup? Or is there something else I should add/remove?

 

[jrohner]

How about something to tune with? EPROM ECU and a Moates burner or emulator, or a 98-99 flashable ECU (better) and Openport 2.0 cable for ECUFlash & Evoscan.

And a 14B or 16G turbo and 1G BOV. After that, ebay exhaust. With those things and possibly a fuel pump and injectors, you could probably nearly double your hp over stock.

Tuning, 14B, and more boost would be the 3 things that would get you the most performance for the money spent IMO.

 

[RicciDSM]

I was thinking about doing simple mod at first because of money/daily driving reasons. I dont wanna get too into tuning just yet, I need a reliable daily driver for the time being.

Also I forgot to mention the car is automatic....

 

[jrohner]

I was thinking about doing simple mod at first because of money/daily driving reasons. I dont wanna get too into tuning just yet, I need a reliable daily driver for the time being.

Also I forgot to mention the car is automatic....

Unless you do something very stupid, there's no reason tuning will make it less reliable. The main thing to do tuning first is to raise or remove fuel cut, as you'll hit it before making decent power -- you'll hit it just by upping the boost.

Always remember to do some logging before and after with mods or tuning to make sure it's safe.

From what I've been doing with the auto car I have, I've learned that tuning is even more crucial with an automatic since brake boosting doesn't work well if the AFR's are really rich. If the tune is off, the car will just feel sluggish taking off.

 

[esoteric]

Boost/A-F wideband/EGT gauges, MBC, Intake, 1g BOV and hard UIP. Then exhaust. Then DSM link and other logging tools, then fuel mods, then you can worry about a bigger turbo or something like that.

 

[RicciDSM]

Ok so im leaning towards the Intake, BOV, IC Pipe, MBC, Gagues, TurboTimer for now. As much as I would like to do exhaust that might have to wait I guess. I wanna get small things out of the way. I might just hold off on exhaust and do it right instead of an ebay catback when the time comes.

 

[rock1t]

are you sure you want to go down the path of DSMs.

 

[diamond-star]

Ok so im leaning towards the Intake, BOV, IC Pipe, MBC, Gagues, TurboTimer for now. As much as I would like to do exhaust that might have to wait I guess. I wanna get small things out of the way. I might just hold off on exhaust and do it right instead of an ebay catback when the time comes.

that stuff is great..but me?..i would have all brand new timing pullys water pump and bsd..with a nice hks or gates belt...just my 2cents..

its not worth the chance to have a t-belt jump on ya. cause you will be bying a head with your 1,500 bucks...

 

[Bluedragondsm]

are you sure you want to go down the path of DSMs.

What kind of advice is this

 

[JRoX85]

full tb
fmic
maintenance

 

[rock1t]

What kind of advice is this

this is a cost savings approach.

 

[standard235]

Maintenance...

ARP studs and a new gasket
Use OEM.

Meh

 

[Bluedragondsm]

this is a cost savings approach.

Every car costs money to mod, DSM's are no different. A guy I know just turboed his camaro and it blew the engine after a month, Hell if anything DSM's are one of the most reliable car for the amount of HP they put out for the cost.

 

[peon_slayer]

maintenance before mods

get a

new timing belt
pulleys
tensioner
all new fluids
new water and oil pump

and hell if you still have cash left over go buy your self a turbo timer

 

[2gawdtsi]

Ok so im leaning towards the Intake, BOV, IC Pipe, MBC, Gagues, TurboTimer for now. As much as I would like to do exhaust that might have to wait I guess. I wanna get small things out of the way. I might just hold off on exhaust and do it right instead of an ebay catback when the time comes.

A turbo timer isnt necessary on the stock turbo.

Instead I would pick up an ebay downpipe and catback. Or some other exhaust, whichever you have money still for.
Exhaust needs to be freeflowing to let all those mods shine.

 

[kenuwine4g63]

Yea do all the maintnance first. Timing belt, oil/water pump, bs belts everything. and you should still have a little bit to play with. Dont worry about a turbo timer right now, Go to a exhaust shop and get one custom built(saves alot of money), Go to autozone, o'rielly, pep boys etc and pick up some gauges, Boost, exhaust temp, oil pressure, New spark plugs, spark plug wires, a very good grade of oil(recommend Royal Purple), and also get a hard intake tube off ebay($58 bucks) for the time being. The car will feel totally different, Thats my 2 cents.

 

[bricksquad7]

i would chip it i have a automatic and the chip i put in made the most difference , it shifts way better

 

[NV_GSX]

save your money for the things that you will have to repair and replace as the car is very old

 

[clownface]

I'd spend a lot of that on maintenance, timing belt, fluids and such. Get a way to control boost and a way to see the level of boost, get a new high flow air filter (cheap as hell), and a BOV. Skip out on some of those other engine mods, and get some good tires for that thing. Since it's FWD you'll really be able to tell the difference!

 

[CHAR-FT]

Buy it first, do 60K on it, drive it stock for a while, get the feel for it then make sure its a reliable vehicle before unloading money, trust me!

 

[RicciDSM]

Well the car is currently owned by a 43yr old man whos mother gave him the car back in 2004 (she was original owner), and from what I was told he has been taking awesome care of the car. Changed all belts recently, oil every 2000, etc etc etc and the list goes on. Needs absolutely nothing, which is why Im looking to spend my left over money on performance.

I found a big evo 16g turbo with a punishment racing dumped o2 housing and j pipe for $250 obo on craigslist...I think I might jump right on that. No shaft play or anything.

 

[kenuwine4g63]

Jump on it. Wire him the money right now

 

[RicciDSM]

Jump on it. Wire him the money right now

hahah I saw the deal and was like this cant be real, but it is. Says he spun a rob bearing after putting it on and just wants to build something else. Anyway, say if I bought a 16g, what supporting mods would I need?

Its a bone stock TSi, not even an intake on the thing. If I were to toss a 16g on right away what else would I need?

 

[kenuwine4g63]

hahah I saw the deal and was like this cant be real, but it is. Says he spun a rob bearing after putting it on and just wants to build something else. Anyway, say if I bought a 16g, what supporting mods would I need?

Its a bone stock TSi, not even an intake on the thing. If I were to toss a 16g on right away what else would I need?

Well if you toss it straight in there run it off the wastegate pressure which should be 10psi. You would need a 2g install kit, or you could find someone parting out a 1g turbo and get the oil return and feed line for the turbo, and you would also need a j-pipe. After all that, i advise you to do the fuel pump re-wire mod, and get at least 550cc injectors if you want to run more than 10 psi(which im pretty sure you want to). You could run up to 15psi on that, if you want to run more get a walbro 190, or a evo fuel pump, a wideband and some sort of logger and something to tune your fuel trims with. Im telling you, im runing 15psi on a 16g on the stock fuel set up with the stock fuel pump re-wire mod, and as soon as the car see's anything over 10psi its starts to pull timing and run lean. I dnt know how bad because i have a narrowband wired the ecu, but its not right. But with 550s you car will run them like 450s so your gonna run rich but it will increase the timing and that b***h will pull harder than what you think, and thats not even in its efficency range.

 

[RicciDSM]

How about if I got the combo and just used the o2 housing...? Or does that o2 housing ONLY fit the 16g turbo, not the stock one?