What should I do next?

[strayfe]

I have a laser 2.0 turbo. I just recently cut out the air can, leaving only the rim for good fitting, and bought a brand new K&N air filter and set it up. I also took out the center honey combs in the MAF and noticed after all this my PSI went up from around 9-10 to about 13. Is this normal btw? I also noticed my idle despreately dropped and it was suffocating and sometimes stalled in neutral, "probly the honeycombs" So I changed the idle speed and I now idle around 1100 1200, im probly gonna put it back to 1000 tomorow so I dont waste unnecesary gas at lights. Anyways that probs gone.

Next I heard about the BCS removal mod, but funny thing, It is nowhere to be found!, I searched every nick and a groove, even taking my coolent and taking time to flush while I was at it. Where the BCS should be there is litteraly nothing which is really weird. I know my car has been into the shop and had parts replaced at least 40+ times by now but still.

So I decided the BCS removal isn't really worth it, I am going to bypass that free mod and I am ready to look into some good, not over the top expensive upgrades to look into. Note that I am total DSM newb, and for that matter, I am new with the workings of cars in general, but I am moving along slowly and learning as I go. Man I really wish they had a "DSM for dummies" book. But I would like to be able to acheive some decent HP gains on my own without having to deal with the ECU, AND without paying a mechanic 10's of thousands to upgrade my car for me.

Anyways I would like some advice from all you experts. I wish I had your knowlege, btw, how did you get so good with cars? Did you take mechanic classes or did you just learn as you went also?

Edit: Oh yeah, with the small mods I listed, What would you say my HP would be at about now, going by saying my car was 190hp before.

 

[kahl23]

Tech Guide - DSMtuners
Read that, everything. That is a great place to start. Also, make sure all of your maintenance is up to date before you start modding. The fact you dont have a BCS isn't surprising, they often get removed. As far as your boost psi rising, I'm not sure if that is a result of your hacked MAF, as I never dealt with a hacked MAF, but I wouldn't lose sleep over it so long as its only at 13 psi. I would say a good place for you to start would be getting (or making) yourself a manual boost controller and a real boost gauge (if you don't already have one), the stocker sucks, it doesnt read boost, it just estimates. Then, set your psi to no more than around 15-16 psi if you have no fuel mods. Another good mod at this level for you would be to port your exhaust manifold, or better yet buy a 2g mani and port that. You can also port your O2 housing. After this the next step would probably be an intake, catback and downpipe. That's really as far as you can go without getting into fuel management, and doing those things will give you appreciable gains and are a good way to get your feet wet. A lot of us, including me, just learned by doing. I spent a lot of time reading the forums, vfaq, and going to the track and talking to the DSMers there. This is a good community, lots of people are willing to help you out. Finally, don't ask how much power youre making, every setup is different, no one knows for sure, and it's technically bench racing, which is not allowed here. Good luck!

 

[25391tally]

another tacoma dsm ? nice in my group of freinds we have about 7, 6 of which are not running but anyways ya get at us if you need any help man were all more than willing to help a fellow dsmer out

 

[e85_4g63]

Everything kahl23 said is pretty much spot on! Just read, read, and read. When your sick of reading, go out to the garage and clean your car! Then come back in and read some more. Also don't be afraid to ask questions! Use the search feature at the top of the screen, should be high lighted yellow, next to "forums"....