well, i'm saving up some extra money(dont you dare say house or bs, mom's getting married and her rich husbands going to help me pay college AND buy me an apartment)

i cant decide what to save up for!
heres what i have narrowed it down to, in order of what i'm thinking about the most
1. short throw shifter. i never really liked them until i test drove an ss cobalt. man, that thing is awesome to shift.
2. xtc downpipe with cat. OR
3. xtc downpipe without cat. there are emissions here, i dont know about visual though, but i'm pretty sure i'd fail without one anyways. is it worth not getting the cat?
3. ss/sc bumper. because i want a front bumper thats not too low to the ground, but still enough to flow with the rest of my kit. and i refuse to get something fiberglass. plus, tonight i wasnt paying attention and hit the parking bumper thing with my bumper and the lower lip part of the kit is a crack all the way across it(you cant see the crack unless you press down on it.)
4. some motor mount of some kind? if i can get some better launches without wheel hop at the track i'm sure i'd get some better times. because i launch at 3k rpms and i get some wheel hop. if i launch any lower rpms the launch is too slow and i lose a few .seconds OR
5. one of those stiffy thingys.
4 and 5 i'm not too sure about, i'm afraid i'll messs up trying to install the mount and i know you have to like turn the bolts perfectly on the stiffy or you'll screw it up and break it so i dont want to do that....
6. another magnaflow muffler and some tubing and making a y after the axle to connect my second tip and make it not look as ricey to some people(and to sound different) AND replace the piping over the axle with mandrel 2.5 piping, because i have 2.5 mandrel up til the axle, then its crush bent 2.25 over, then back to 2.5 magnaflow.

 

Ill take door #2

 

yea 2nd choice downpipe w/ cat. Thats my next mod

 

id go with #1, isnt not having a cat a federal offense?

 

Only if you get caught

 

It won't benefit you not having one. Get an "high flow" cat that'll match the rest of your exhaust systems size.

In my opinion, replace it with a 2 1/4". 2 1/2" will just shift your powerband higher cause of the slow exhaust velocity build up.

Ultimately, what do you want out of your car cause you sound like you are just modifying just to modify, which I understand but you'll end up wasting more money and gain less power than you're putting out. Figure out how much power you want, figure out how to reach this goal and figure out how much it's going to cost to reach it.

If you need any further advice, feel free to ask.

 

well, what i would want is as close to 200 whp as i can get n/a, without spray or doing internal work(i dont have a second car yet, which i also plan on getting since i put too many miles on this one, so i wont be able to go a while without my car.)

 

what i will most likely end up trying to get, down pipe, header, intake manifold, throttle body, stage 1/2 cams, all mounts, stiffy, front strut bar, ss/sc springs, rear sway bar, stage 1 or 2 clutch, i dont know about a flywheel, i heard those are bad for drag? i like drag racing.. sometime hopefully some kind of differential, some nice tires(currents suck), short throw shifter umm... i think thats everything? oh and last tuning.

 

Bigger Intake Manifold & Throttle body might be overkill and cause negative effects cause of the lack of intake velocity. Unless you're drawing more air into your combustion chamber via valvetrain, replacing them might cause negative effects.

 

^^This may be off topic but would running +1mm valves do the same or would the power band stay where its at?

 

It would only help if you have camshafts that are helping you draw enough airflow through them. Think of it like this:

Picture a hose that sprays water...say the hose is 1 inch in diameter and the water pressure is constant and strong. Now imagine if you were to make it a 2 inch hose but with the same water pressure, it would be slower moving. This is somewhat the same concept with air intake velocity.

EDIT NOTE: This is why most people who do something like a +1 mm valves are forced inducted...makes things a much different topic.

 

LOL getting you outta the house so they can

 

get real exhaust!!!!

 

Agreed. You might as well save untill you have enough money to do the entire job done well, versus doing piece by piece getting raped on shop charges. Personally i'd pick up a quality header, buy a brand name cat off ebay. Take those parts to a local muffler shop, get them to make up a 2 1/4" exhaust system using your factory res. 2.5" will make it too loud and isn't needed with your displacement being n/a. This will be MUCH cheaper than doing sections at a time.