- 2,609
- 35
- Dec 17, 2004
-
East Hampton,
Connecticut
I posted this on another site and I felt that it should be here as well;
Just doing a little search/reminiscing and thought I would do a few notes on what I feel are the important modifications along the way to 200whp NA.
BOLT-ONS
Intake manifold:
Honestly, I would stick with the stock intake for your first bit of modding (a little polish and paint and she'll even look good in there). Porting it out and removing the humps (obviously, with a polish) would be helpful. But I don't think you want to break into the OBX or sheetmetal style intake until you get some internal mods working (ports and cams etc.). As well as, getting rid of the stock ECU for a tunable ECU.
Throttle body:
A lot of conversation here; 55?, 57?, 60? Well, one thing we do know is the stock sized is out. Another thing is to get to 200whp, you will need to have the 60mm. Everything else is an in between conversation (but important to note that whatever size you do get, be sure to match the intake neck appropriately).
And IMO (and I've proven this in comparison's while drag racing), the 60mm is the way to go.
Injectors:
Stock will bring you all the way but at some point near 180whp, you will be dealing with IDC's in the 80's. You may want to upgrade at that point (if you are running MSnS or some other tuner) so that you keep your IDC's down.
Fuel rail and lines:
Stock, stock, stock. The only reason you would alter these would be for the bling factor.
Fuel pump:
While I changed mine to a 190 Walbro, I don't believe it was necessary. I just did it for piece of mind in a problem I was searching out.
Crank Pulley
Go right ahead and change that out to a UDP. Not sure that its all necessary. But it will give you better throttle response and a lighter rotating mass.
Exhaust Mani:
Here is the biggest problem. I believe that you will NEED an LTH (yeah, I know I got the only one right now). I've always believed that it was key to get one for bigger power. I'm not so sure that any of the headers out there can make it, but your best bet would be to get a 4-1 with the biggest pipes that they use. I'm positive that the 4-2-1 style will not get there NA. The resonances will just not allow it.
Exhaust:
2 1/2" should be fine to get there. I did not use 3" until I was over 200whp and it added very little power. Though I don't believe a 3" will hurt you if you are just about 200whp, I don't think its necessary and it can only hurt you in the lower power stages.
INTERNALS
Cams:
Good ole Crower 2's are like a "Super Cam". These are so versatile. You can just bolt them on to your stock set-up and leave them in for your journey to over 200whp. In addition, you can use these on various turbo set-ups. They just got these cam numbers right.
But this doesn't discount using something like Crower 3's. They will be fine. Its just that the Crower 2's will work nicely as you start and bring you up and over the 200whp threshold.
Valves:
While I always liked using SS valves (stength and heat dissapation being a couple of big reasons), its not a must. But certainly, SS or not, stock sized valves will be all you need.
Valve springs:
While I'm a big proponent of taking the stock springs into higher rpm's, you would be advised to change springs to stronger springs, sooner than later. You will need them and, since they won't hurt you (they can only help), doing them earlier would be the better part of valor.
Head porting:
Always a question of what "level" of port necessary, but it is an important component of the trip to 200whp. The good thing is that you can start off with a not too agressive port, and work your way up as you gain modifications. Therefore, you can re-use the head as you go. IMO, a light port can help at any time (obviously using these terms very generically), but a heavy port will require a lot of supporting pieces.
Compression:
From the looks of some of the more recent dyno's, upping the comp seems to be a big help in getting power out of our cars (Stock ECU or otherwise). I know for a fact that you can up it to 10.9 comp on a stock ECU with pump gas no problems. I believe that 12.1-12.5 is doable on stock ECU with pump gas (just haven't done it).
Rods:
No problem with using stock rods up and over 200whp. But you will need to make them free floating if you up the comp (aftermarket forged piston requirements). But there is also no problem with just using Eagle rods (or the like).
TUNERS
STOCK ECU:
Throw it out,
. Just dogs you down as you modify. In its attempts to get the numbers that the ECU is programmed to retain, it actually works against you as you mod.
AFX/ECU:
Great bolt-on ecu. Can come close to rivalling a professional tune on a "tunable" ECU. Can it take you to 200whp? Not sure, but it can certainly take you pretty far. Don't know if the timing maps would be aggressive enough to get there.
MSnS:
A full tunable ECU that will certainly take you as far as you want to go. Has been proven over and over again in various different set-ups (turbo included), to be the "tuner" of choice for our cars. would actually recommned installing this early on in the journey toward 200whp, just because of the before mentioned penchant for our stock ECU's to work against us.
Now you don't have to get rid of the stock ECU. You can use MSnS as a piggyback so that you can go back to your stock set-up for emissions etc. Also keep in mind that there are other tunable ECU's out there. Its just that MSnS seems to be the most used and cost effective.
SAF-C:
This is actually a useable tool on our NA cars. Can add power but it will also help with smoothing out areas of concern (idle, weak spots in the curve).
Just some "IMO" thoughts. Feel free to post up if you think I didn't address something or you got more to add. just kinda free thinking it here.
Just doing a little search/reminiscing and thought I would do a few notes on what I feel are the important modifications along the way to 200whp NA.
BOLT-ONS
Intake manifold:
Honestly, I would stick with the stock intake for your first bit of modding (a little polish and paint and she'll even look good in there). Porting it out and removing the humps (obviously, with a polish) would be helpful. But I don't think you want to break into the OBX or sheetmetal style intake until you get some internal mods working (ports and cams etc.). As well as, getting rid of the stock ECU for a tunable ECU.
Throttle body:
A lot of conversation here; 55?, 57?, 60? Well, one thing we do know is the stock sized is out. Another thing is to get to 200whp, you will need to have the 60mm. Everything else is an in between conversation (but important to note that whatever size you do get, be sure to match the intake neck appropriately).
And IMO (and I've proven this in comparison's while drag racing), the 60mm is the way to go.
Injectors:
Stock will bring you all the way but at some point near 180whp, you will be dealing with IDC's in the 80's. You may want to upgrade at that point (if you are running MSnS or some other tuner) so that you keep your IDC's down.
Fuel rail and lines:
Stock, stock, stock. The only reason you would alter these would be for the bling factor.
Fuel pump:
While I changed mine to a 190 Walbro, I don't believe it was necessary. I just did it for piece of mind in a problem I was searching out.
Crank Pulley
Go right ahead and change that out to a UDP. Not sure that its all necessary. But it will give you better throttle response and a lighter rotating mass.
Exhaust Mani:
Here is the biggest problem. I believe that you will NEED an LTH (yeah, I know I got the only one right now). I've always believed that it was key to get one for bigger power. I'm not so sure that any of the headers out there can make it, but your best bet would be to get a 4-1 with the biggest pipes that they use. I'm positive that the 4-2-1 style will not get there NA. The resonances will just not allow it.
Exhaust:
2 1/2" should be fine to get there. I did not use 3" until I was over 200whp and it added very little power. Though I don't believe a 3" will hurt you if you are just about 200whp, I don't think its necessary and it can only hurt you in the lower power stages.
INTERNALS
Cams:
Good ole Crower 2's are like a "Super Cam". These are so versatile. You can just bolt them on to your stock set-up and leave them in for your journey to over 200whp. In addition, you can use these on various turbo set-ups. They just got these cam numbers right.
But this doesn't discount using something like Crower 3's. They will be fine. Its just that the Crower 2's will work nicely as you start and bring you up and over the 200whp threshold.
Valves:
While I always liked using SS valves (stength and heat dissapation being a couple of big reasons), its not a must. But certainly, SS or not, stock sized valves will be all you need.
Valve springs:
While I'm a big proponent of taking the stock springs into higher rpm's, you would be advised to change springs to stronger springs, sooner than later. You will need them and, since they won't hurt you (they can only help), doing them earlier would be the better part of valor.
Head porting:
Always a question of what "level" of port necessary, but it is an important component of the trip to 200whp. The good thing is that you can start off with a not too agressive port, and work your way up as you gain modifications. Therefore, you can re-use the head as you go. IMO, a light port can help at any time (obviously using these terms very generically), but a heavy port will require a lot of supporting pieces.
Compression:
From the looks of some of the more recent dyno's, upping the comp seems to be a big help in getting power out of our cars (Stock ECU or otherwise). I know for a fact that you can up it to 10.9 comp on a stock ECU with pump gas no problems. I believe that 12.1-12.5 is doable on stock ECU with pump gas (just haven't done it).
Rods:
No problem with using stock rods up and over 200whp. But you will need to make them free floating if you up the comp (aftermarket forged piston requirements). But there is also no problem with just using Eagle rods (or the like).
TUNERS
STOCK ECU:
Throw it out,
. Just dogs you down as you modify. In its attempts to get the numbers that the ECU is programmed to retain, it actually works against you as you mod.AFX/ECU:
Great bolt-on ecu. Can come close to rivalling a professional tune on a "tunable" ECU. Can it take you to 200whp? Not sure, but it can certainly take you pretty far. Don't know if the timing maps would be aggressive enough to get there.
MSnS:
A full tunable ECU that will certainly take you as far as you want to go. Has been proven over and over again in various different set-ups (turbo included), to be the "tuner" of choice for our cars. would actually recommned installing this early on in the journey toward 200whp, just because of the before mentioned penchant for our stock ECU's to work against us.
Now you don't have to get rid of the stock ECU. You can use MSnS as a piggyback so that you can go back to your stock set-up for emissions etc. Also keep in mind that there are other tunable ECU's out there. Its just that MSnS seems to be the most used and cost effective.
SAF-C:
This is actually a useable tool on our NA cars. Can add power but it will also help with smoothing out areas of concern (idle, weak spots in the curve).
Just some "IMO" thoughts. Feel free to post up if you think I didn't address something or you got more to add. just kinda free thinking it here.
