my plans for the car - need assisstance

[FuelInjected]

Hey guys. I am pretty new to the whole modding thing on a turbo. So hear me out, and see if you could help me. I've read through the tech guides, and plenty of things on this site. I just did all my maintance work, i mean all! and i had gotten a rebuilt transmission from Magnus Manifolds (they are local for me), with a 4spider center diff in there, and stage 2 Excedy clutch, and flywheel. my car is also lowered on eibach's pro's and tokico's HP. for now the rest is stock, not i am looking to start modding and making power basically. Eventually I want to get this car to 400hp to the motor, or close to that range.
I am not sure exactly about the tuning part. What is the best way for me to go about with tuning the car? I know there is chips, safc, and other things. dsm link, aem. I want to go with something that will be really simple, like plug in and go, or let a tuner tune it, but something simple without much hacking, and getting many different things i guess. Money is still a factor, but i would rather pay a bit more, just because of the convinience part of it. I don't know anything about tuning, and don't want to play with it.
and 2nd question: which mod's can I get for now, without tuning the car? i know that i can get a catback for sure, but i don't know what else. I am planning on getting a 16g turbo, FMIC, and few things next summer, and have it tuned, but till then,I was thinking to do other upgrades that will still give some power till then.

Any input is appreciated guys. Thanks.

 

[TjPhillips36]

Chips would be the easiest but they are never exact as each car is different, plus you would need an EPROM ECU.

SAFC is the cheapest but definitely not the most effective tuning device, a lot of people get good results, but DSMLink has a lot more controls.

DSMLink is fairly easy to use and learn to use, and most reputable tuners can and will use it. The only thing you would need to find is a EPROM ECU out of a 95 which are usually around $200 + $500 or so for the software and chip. And a little more if you need to find a cheap laptop to run it.

 

[demografik]

for your basic mods, go with a turbo-back exhaust, intake pipe + cone filter, front mount and blow off valve. if you want to make some decent power for a while before you really dig in with the 16g and fuel mods, you can pick up a 14b fairly cheap.

 

[BOC Jason]

One of the most simple and cheap mods you can buy is a K&N filter for your intake.
It's much cheaper than other brand and will give you just as much power.

and and did i mention it was a million mile warranty? (that's roughly 8.73 dsm lifetimes)

 

[turboking15]

intake and filter, turbo back exhaust, hard intercooler piping, bov, and a 14b is where i would start. that should give you a pretty good bump in performance.

 

[FuelInjected]

demografik. I won't be picking up 14b, because i am getting a 16G either next summer, or spring, so no point of me spending on something I won't need after that basically. I am going to go with 16G for sure, and just need supporting mods. But i just want to know specifically which mods i can get besides catback exhaust without having to tune my car. I am not sure if I could put on a cold air intake, or downpipe, i think iw ould need to tune for that. but maybe some other mods I can do? If you can guys list specifically what I can do without having to tune the car, would be awesome.

So for my power goal, and to tune with 16G turbo, simplest would be DSM link?
Which should run me around 500 + another 200-500 for the eprom ecu. Did i get that correct? Cus if yes, thats like almost 800-1000 for that, i may as well go with AEM ECU, which runs around 1100 i beleive, and is better as well.

Anyways i just want a simple chip or whatever i buy for tuning, to bring it in to Magnus, so they can tune it for me. But even better would be if I bought something with preset map or something. My buddy has a subby, and he got just a turboback with intake, and got some plug in thing, that goes under his steering wheel, and it just has like 3-4 different maps, for various mods, and pump and race gas. Would be awesome if I could find something like that, if not, then i am not sure, but something simple is what i need.

 

[joyfil2001]

Tech Guide: 2G 4G63t Upgrades: Stage 1 Power - DSMtuners

start here. thats what i did.

 

[FuelInjected]

i know. if you read my post, i mentioned i read through the tech guide already. i know what there is to it, and which parts. what I want to know, is which parts i can install without a tune. for example, i am sure cold air intake, or downpipe would require a tune. Althought i am not sure about dsm, as i am somewhat new to the whole thing.
I know what parts i need, i just need to know which ones I can install without doing a tune on the car. As far as I know just the catback. besides the fuel pressure regulator, blow off, and shit like that. I also want to know what people think would be the best way to go about tuning for my application, when I do get my 16G and the rest of the goodies.

 

[joyfil2001]

you can pretty much get away with everything in the stage 1 tech article without a tune. as long as your not changing anything that requires air/fuel modification, such as injectors, you dont need a tune. for tuning, i would recomend dsmlink.

 

[FuelInjected]

so you saying if i got a downpipe, catback, cold air intake. I wouldn't need a tune? I can just add those as bolt-ons and off I go?
Are you 100% sure, I just heard otherwise from few people, but with different turbo cars.
So i am not exactly sure, but if that's true, i'll be getting those parts soon then.

 

[joyfil2001]

im 100% sure you do not need a tune. the only turbo car i know of that needs a tune with a CAI is a subaru.

 

[crimsondragon]

You can put anything on without a tune. Whether your car will run good or not...well that's not your question now is it?

 

[joyfil2001]

lets not try and confuse the OP now. . Your car will run fine. I'm hoping that when you say you have a cold air intake you just mean a cone filter on a MAS adapter?

Oh, and a word of advice. Install one thing at a time, and then run the car. That way if anything isn't hooked up properly you will know which component is causing the problem. I learned the hard way.

 

[Defiant]

Start with our Tuning Guides. If those leave you confused or baffled, then post specific questions. Use a descriptive thread title when you do.