[cdnmute]

Hi guys, I have never really gone down the mod route before, never really had a car worth modding.

Anyways, I have been trying to read everything i can on here and establish a plan. This will be pretty drawn out plan as money permits but here is my basic outline.

Tork Tune - Seems like a great overall add, more power and power fuel efficiency. pretty well priced and easy to do as well.

Rims/Rubber - I seriously hate the flower wheels and I am sure better rubber would get me more out of the Tune

Suspension parts (I really need help here) - I don't want to lower this car too much because I need to drive it everyday but a little drop would look/drive better. Is there anything else that would help but not make the ride to harsh?

Brakes - Better stopping, not much else to say here

BOV
CAI
Exhaust
That's the basic plan for now...

thoughts?

 

[tech2112]

Shift cable bushing. Fmic, intercooler res delete pipe, down pipe but that could be part of your exhaust system. Boost gauge or torque app or both. Good to see what your boosting. You can do suspension work but me personally I think it's a moot item. Imo I think our cars handle well as is. Crank pulley is an option, and of course a catch can to minimize blow back. Did I leave out anything fellas?

 

[Forte5]

What is your plans with your car? More performance or more into handling?

 

[cdnmute]

Shift cable bushing. Fmic, intercooler res delete pipe, down pipe but that could be part of your exhaust system. Boost gauge or torque app or both. Good to see what your boosting. You can do suspension work but me personally I think it's a moot item. Imo I think our cars handle well as is. Crank pulley is an option, and of course a catch can to minimize blow back. Did I leave out anything fellas?

While I appreciate your listing of every upgrade you can think of, as I stated, I am new to this. Am I right in assuming FMIC is front mounted intercooler? What does a shift cable bushing do? would having it make the mods I listed work better or is it required for some reason? Is there a resource somewhere I can look up each of the items you listed?

 

[cdnmute]

What is your plans with your car? More performance or more into handling?

A little of both, One day I'd like to hit up a track day and I'd probably be equally interested in the 1/4 mile and a road course. I won't be officially competing in either though so I don't need to be on the bleeding edge of performance. What I don't want is a car with more power than the handling bits can feasibly handle. If that makes sense. This car will remain my DD so it has to maintain it's drivability.

 

[Forte5]

Makes sense. I started with power and then I will do suspension and wheels/tires. Mine is a DD also and I'm not going for crazy power just a good kick in the butt and good handling

I started with a CAI and exhaust. Still need to get the exhaust done the way I want.

 

[cdnmute]

Makes sense. I started with power and then I will do suspension and wheels/tires. Mine is a DD also and I'm not going for crazy power just a good kick in the butt and good handling

I started with a CAI and exhaust. Still need to get the exhaust done the way I want.

I know everyone has there own plan I just want to make sure there isn't something terribly flawed with mine. I know that after some bolt-ons you should get your ECU flashed again but those might be a couple of years away...

 

[Forte5]

I hear ya. Your plan isn't flawed at all. You will notice a good kick from the intake and exhaust if you did those first

 

[cdnmute]

Thank you for the input! I'm sure I will ask plenty more "noob" questions and I appreciate your time to answer them. If you ever need help building a PC maybe I can return the favour

 

[schizorazgriz]

Highly recommend a cold air/ short ram intake as an initial upgrade. Makes the badassity of the car go way up and you get some good performance gains but it's mostly the badassity factor that matters

Might I recommend 6th element SRI.

Very happy with mine. I might see if I could just buy the Cai extension off of them seperate to see the difference.

 

[cdnmute]

I'd probably get the CAI, i was reading about the possibility of hydro lock, does the 6th element CAI have the bypass to help prevent that?

 

[Forte5]

It doesn't have the bypass. You have to go through some big puddles and soak that filter bad to get it to hydro lock. I have had mine one since the car was new and I wouldn't take it off for nothing!

 

[cdnmute]

regarding the maintenance, do I buy replacement filters, or clean it? i didn't see anything on the site.

 

[Forte5]

You can buy a cleaner kit for it. I think any auto parts store might carry it. It's like a k&n filter.

 

[6thElementEngineering]

regarding the maintenance, do I buy replacement filters, or clean it? i didn't see anything on the site.

We use a Spectre Air filter, and those get cleaned an oiled like a K&N oil filter.

Air Filter Cleaning Instructions

I would recommend getting the power mods you want before the tune. Example, intake, resonator delete pipe and exhaust then get the tune. Tune after your power mods are installed with give a better overall performance increase vs doing that backwards.

 

[DennRN]

You guys forgot a really important mod...
The ECU tune.

Look at setting a budget first then try and maximize your upgrades within that budget. It's okay to increase the budget down the road, but you want to remember that modding your car is a game of diminishing returns.
For instance hypothetically I can buy an upgrade that costs $400-500 and gives around 20-25 HP, I could spend $200 on an upgrade that gives 7-10 HP, or around 20 dollars for 1-2 HP.
After you have all of those, you will have to decide between a $600 mod that gives 10-12 HP vs a $500 one that gives around 7-8HP, each time you get the next largest gain/cost you end up paying more and more to get less and less.

The most cost effective mods will be (in no particular order: ) cold air intake, exhaust, ECU tune, FMIC (when 6th element releases it [nudge-nudge]), ect.
None of these mods should reduce the reliability of your car as long as it is done with quality parts hint: look to our awesome supporting vendors here on the forums.
Actually when done right your car can remain as reliable if not slightly more so.

There are supporting mods that don't really give gains in HP but do specifically increase reliability.
Examples are 1 or 2 oil catch cans, aftermarket BOV (diverter valve), Torque app (so you can uncover issues, and track performance), ect.

Another subclass of mods are those that increase responsiveness, and handling.
Performance tires, shifter bushing, lower engine mount, chassis bracing, suspension, ect.

I'd start off with scouring the forums, learning about the different mods and making a list of their cost vs what they deliver vs potential issues they might introduce.
When you have that list make a game plan on how much you are going to spend and in what order you want to start modding.
The order of your mods may seriously change what you experience, for instance, opening up the exhaust first will give less perceived gains then opening up the intake, then opening up the exhaust to handle the extra flow. Your car's ECU will eventually adjust to the new flow rates anyway and try to return to the programmed limits, thereby making your upgrades gimped unless you also do the ECU tune.

 

[shagger]

Over at the Veloster.org forums they have some dyno graphs that lend support to doing the Resonator pipe Delete. Our engine is the same so the results should be the same. See post #96.

Intercooler pipe mod / TorKPipe : review! - Page 10

 

[Playwithmymind]

You will also want to think ahead if you are on a budget. No sense in doing the BOV and res delete pipe if you plan on doing the FMIC, neither of them will be used. Just simple planning will save you more in the long run.

 

[tech2112]

You could do Cai and exhaust at the same time. Better flow in and better flow outward. Keep in mind that the stock exhaust is very restrictive. My advice to you...and the customers I deal with (Mercedes Benz dealership ) is start with the intake and exhaust to get a feel for things, then do the non gain mods...bushing, engine mounts etc, then before you install a fmic get the tune. But it's like it's been said you have to know what your looking to do. If you want 300 hp, you have a lot of work to do. In regards to what the shift bushing does, it heLPS with shifting smoother. If you have a/t I don't really see the need. On a last note this engine is only the 2nd gen so understand we don't have the aftermarket support as with a honda...yet. good luck and ask questions and search

 

[shagger]

I figured I'd throw the available mods in a chart and put some numbers to the gains per dollar. Bear in mind that the Intercooler Resonator delete mod has claims of all the way from 3 horses all the way to 13 over at the Veloster forums, but even if you take the minimum gains it's still the most cost effective modification. Not nearly as sexy / exciting as a tune I grant you, but budget minded folks have to start somewhere!

My plan is to do the Tork pipe / resonator delete this weekend and as soon as I come up with $844 do the CAI and Tork Tune.

Type of mod Horsepower gains Cost Horses per Dollar Intercooler Res Delete Max 13 $ 25.00 0.520 Intercooler Res Delete Min 3 $ 25.00 0.120 Tork Tune 40 $ 595.00 0.067 CAI 9 $ 249.00 0.036 SRI 7 $ 205.00 0.034