Let me start off by saying I'm just looking for some opinions here, please don't give me guff for "not searching." I've done a bit of research, but I want to see what you guys are doing and the results you have found.

Here's a QUICK background on me...
I'm a DSM guy, I have a 95 Talon tsi AWD that's heavily modded, so I'm familiar with turbo motors and cars in general. I picked up my 08 SS TC just over a year ago and it's 99% stock. I've only added HID headlights and a TWM short throw shifter. I was originally going to try to sell it to get something 4x4 or AWD for the bad weather since I don't want to drive my Talon in the bad weather. Given my current financial situation and the market for these cars, I think I've decided to keep it and just re-finance it. And in that I decided I would like to do a few mods to make it more fun to drive. I won't be racing it at the 1/4 mile, but I may bring it to one or two auto x events this year.

So I don't want to do anything like a turbo upgrade, nitrous or meth. I was thinking of starting out with HPTuners to squeeze as much out of the stock setup as possible and learn to tune the car while I'm at it. I'm familiar with tuning as I use DSMLink to tune my Talon. DSMLink seems to be much simpler than HPTuners, but I grasp the concepts of where AFRs should be at boost, timing, fuel trims, etc.

Other than tuning it seems like a 3" downpipe is one of the best "bang for the buck" upgrades. What do you guys think?

 

Yay for DSM's (used to own a 94 Talon ES-T) myself

The most popular and effective mods for these cars if your not planning on going for realy big HP seems to be a Downpipe, Charge Pipes and a Tune (HP, Trifecta, SC, GMS1...) that will pretty much cover you power wise. Handling as you probably know this car is great but if your goign to Auto-X it then maybe a rear Sway Bar and some better tires.

 

Well I already took it auto-x ing once last season with some pretty good all-season tires. I sold the stock contisports almost immediately as I was disappointed with their performance.

I definitely will do some type of tuning method, but I like HPTuners because I have the ability to change stuff myself as well as log data.

The thing that bothers me about the charge pipes is that they are like $400!! I have to do some mock up work, but I feel like I could just fab up some pipes myself for MUCH cheaper. On the other hand, I'm really not a fan of the stock setup because I feel like those pipes could leak at any moment.

 

Tune, DP, Hot side CP, Intake if they ever get one that isn't a pain to tune.

I have the Injen hot side CP and the stock cold side. I have seen flows of 38 lb/min with my tuned setup. ~$200

Nothing wrong with the cold side stock. It flows well.

ZZP catless DP also ~$200

If you decide to go HPT, there is a lot of help and info on the HPT forums. You are close to Backyard Turbo FTW if you need help. He's in E. Pennsylvainia I think.

 

^ Exactly, same set up as me. The stock cold pipe flows pretty good it's the craptastic hot pipe that is restrictive and known to pop off just replace that with the Injen CP's and I think CIA also sells hot side only piping

 

I saw that ZZP sells a hotside pipe for a reasonable price. Who sells the Injen one?

Also I believe I read somewhere that the AFR reading from the OBD II port (i.e. reading an interceptor gauge or logging HPTuners) is a fairly accurate wideband reading. Is this true? Or should I invest in a wideband setup?

Also I'm gonna keep the cat on the downpipe even if it's extra money. I wanna keep this one as legal as possible.

 

The stock WB is all you need to tune our turbos. If you want to tune other cars, then you need the Pro version and an external WB setup. I wish I would have went Pro when I bought it, only so I could tune the WS6 as well.

I think I got my Injen CP off of fleabay. It's been a while so I don't remember.

 

[QUOTE=Rusty;4584462]I saw that ZZP sells a hotside pipe for a reasonable price. Who sells the Injen one?

QUOTE]

I bought mine from Turbo Tech Racing, a vendor on here.

 

Thanks

I work in Randolph, NJ. Right around the corner from Denville.

 

I looked quickly and only found the Hahn CP kit.


Awesome man! Yea that's real close. I see you pretty much did DP, K&N filter, and the Injen CP and a tune and got 330whp? That's pretty awesome! Who did your tune?

Also, if I use HPTuners, do they have "canned" tunes? Like can I go on their website or something and say I have a downpipe, can I download a base tune for that and tweak it from there?

 

BYT is a Tuner, he does his own. No canned tunes but we sure offer help and guidelines.

The only mods that really need a starting point are intakes, then you fine tune from there.

 

You could still tune it if you install a wideband with a guage in the car. I can help you tune the WS6 as well.

 

I still have the info you sent me saved in an email for the T/A. The 'Garage Queen' is sleepin' for the winter. Just turned 20k on it before it went to bed. Need more credits too.

Still thinking about selling it next year, I dunno.

Too much snow here the last few days to worry about it. Come on summer...