Bang for the buck - upgrades
 

I am interested in a list that give you cost/horsepower so it is easier to decide which upgrades to do next. I guess $ and Hp needs to be backed up with links to vendor pages and dyno test if requested. It is individual upgrades compared to a stock car. I will also include combinations of upgrades that has been dynoed in the bottom.

The data is based on manufacturers own dyno tests and MSRP prizes. The data my not be accurate and comparable. Quality of the products and a ton of other factors are equally important to consider when you buy upgrades. I a privat BRZ owner myself with no commercial interest in this other than I want to spend my money on upgrades wisely. (That was the disclamer :-)

Data so far:
http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s...psa569f98b.png

Some upgrades can't be measured in hp.

A light weight crank pulley for instance shows no hp gain on a dyno, but reduces rotational mass to give you quicker throttle response.

Upgraded tires and suspensions also have no dyno gain, but take seconds from lap times.

Really, you're just looking at intake, header, and exhaust (as well as a tune). For most of these it will run $100 per 1hp/.7 tq. You could turbo for 5k and net about $50 per 1/.7

Visconti's tune will get you near that as well, and if you go to e85 it's closer to $20 per.

lol i was also hoping someone would make a chart or something so i can see which company has more HP per mod, maybe a column for claimed HP gain and user proven gains. this way when i go to buy mods in the future i can just look at the chart and have a better idea on what i want.

I fully agree with you. Ideally we should have testet all upgrades on a race track and a drag strip and found $ pr. 1/10 second with same car and driver. But the $/hp is simple and give you an indication. I know it is tons of weaknesses to this, but it could be interesting to compare whether you should put your money in e.g. an intake, headers or a ECU tune and see the cost differences between NA tuning and FI.

#1 is tires.

did this with my Spec-V and quickly realized that just because it was most $<HP didnt make it worth the $$...sometimes personal satisfaction is better than #'s. I am def not a fan of trailer queens or maintaining a nice paint job but sometimes what sounds better and looks better (and a company'spolicies/values) is more important than $<HP... just my .02 (although if you do get a sweet spread sheet going i will def. use)

Run on treadmill. Lose 20lbs. +10hp. $0. Thats what I did. no joke.

More often then not your HP gains will not stack one in each other either so just because you got a exhaust that gives 15(nameless and SRT) and a filter that gives you 5 and a tune that gives you 15 just remember you will probably not end up with 35 HP more.

E85 stage 1 is the most promising na upgrade so far netting 35hp over stock. Really wish we had the corn juice up in Canada, we do grow a lot of the crop that it gets made out of.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

$1/HP
http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/8582/10hpm.jpg
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14709

Anyone watch Might Car Mods? Paint your brake calipers red and you are guaranteed 25 extra kW!

Now this is not a power mod however I just covered the bare non-deadened metal of the FR-S's trunk and door/door panels with FatMat. The car stepped up a class in cabin quietness. While technically the car is slower b/c of the added ~10 pounds however its hard to quantify how awesome the car is to be in during extended trips now.

Toyobaru FR-Z is on a different level of playing field then the rest of the coupe in the market. Front engine rear wheel drive is the definition of fun. Enough said, I like to tackle touge on my free time I’m currently on stock setup, upgrade HID headlight that about it. FR-Z is very well built car from the ground up, the stock suspension is stiff enough for track and canyon driving. If you are looking for a list of upgrade $$ > HP increase then this car is not for you, I would recommend you to please sell your car to a person that can really enjoy driving rather mods car. You can truely appreciate this car if you learn how to drive it well, mods are fun, upgrade can be costly, but in the end is the driver (are you) good enough to drive the FR-S.

uhhhhhhhhhh are you suggesting everyone who mods or plans on modding these cars should sell it, because they dont appreciate it? or because they want the most bang for their buck? Im not even sure if i want to mod the car when i get it, but JUST IN CASE i do. i would like to have a spread sheet to look at instead of reading through every thread. If anything i would like to get rid of the torque dip that people speak of. Im sure the car is fine the way it is, but im pretty sure a pulley, ecu, intake upgrade would be nice.

Well look at it this way, if you want bang for your bucks then why not buy a 2013 Genesis Coupe 2.0T 260HP@6000 and 260@2000 Torque. These are impressive numbers with more bangs for your bucks, with the Genesis being $27,375 and FRS $24,955. With $2500 more on Genesis you get 60 HP and well over 100 Torque. Can you try to spend $2500 on mods and try get the numbers on FRS?

lol, because i want a car that makes me feel connected to the road. A car that will be fun to drive day after day, that is also reliable and good on fuel. not to mention attractive inside and out. I wouldnt drop money on a car without doing my hours of research and test driving it. when i say bang for buck it was in regard to mods. if i wanted more hp for $ in a car i would have gone with the mustang for camaro. HOWEVER, as i mentioned before. Some extra upgrades to increase throttle response and more torque at 3500rpm wouldnt hurt. im not asking for 400hp. im not sure but i think toybaru designed this with user mods in mind. anyways, im not looking for this :fighting0040: but i dont think its fair to say people dont appreciate the car because they feel it could be tweaked to better its performance. We all know no car is perfect, except in the eye of the beholder.

Ok, I think we can all have an opinion on this. The thread is not about what opinions we have, the OP asked for help in assembling a list of $$$ per HP. So I guess the only help would be whatever upgrade you bought, calculate how much money per HP it is. That simple. It will be helpful for a lot of people.

I'll start:
Street Axleback and High Flow Cat Package/ Nameless/ $949 12 HP -->$79/HP

Wow, never thought so many people would give the guy crap for asking about mods. This car was built for people who mod.

From what I have seen you would be best off with working on the exhuast system.

My question is do you care about emissions and warranty?

For a few cents per gallon more, it's actually more impressive than that, the '13 2.0T is 274HP/275TQ with premium fuel!

In any event, I understand what the OP is looking for, but the reality is that this is a multi-dimensional problem that you can't easily solve with a flat matrix. $/HP is too simplistic to figure out what the next best mod would be, and it doesn't cover things that are not intrinsically linked to power gains.

Its a tough thing to do since everyone is testing under diffrent conditions and using diffrent dynos. That and the stock ecu is extremly fiesty.

Part X might make Y power on one day and then you go to lunch and now its making A power. Without a stable tune and testing parts on a average of 5-10 times each itll be really tough to get accurate numbers for what each part really makes.

Regardless right now bang for buck will be a tune apparantly followed by the nameless axleback/downpipe/overpipe system. The header when ever its released will be a amazing bang for your dollar but thats not currently avaliable.

Intakes dont seem to be worth it without a tune but they are cheap and if you get tuned down the line i could see them being worth it. The perrin system with a tune does great things to the torque dip and really helps all around the powerband.

Of course this is all personal opinion, but i think full bolt ons and a tune will easily make this a quick car compared to stock.

What if I already weight 46kg = about 100lbs?... What do I do then!? if i lose 9 more killo(20 pounds) i think i would die.

(173cm tall - 5.67Feet)

From looking at Perrin's post: http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13991.

They made 18WHP with $2,500 in parts; PERRIN 2.5" Catback, PERRIN 2.5" Catless Front Pipe, PERRIN 2.5" Overpipe, and PERRIN Headers. That is about $138 per HP. This will not pass emissions anywhere since the cats have been removed. Now you can add the ECU and probably free up quite a few more ponies. I have not seen a dyno with the whole exhaust plus the ECU.

Now if you compare that to the Accelerated turbo kit which is going for $5,800 installed and nets about 100 to 130 WHP. Not sure how much it is for the basic kit not with the ECU. Hard to find the right dyno for the base kit.

But if it is 100 HP than it is $58 per HP. Now that will be you best bang other than nitrous.

You need to add to AP's turbo the tune which is needed so add about 1200.

I understand everyone's concerns and point regarding different Dyno's etc etc, but something simple like jadewbj's post should help the OP.

I'm surprised we haven't seen the "obligatory" you should get driving lessons, go to autox, etc...

anyways, to answer the question, unless you go FI, any mod that you "bolt on" is going to have a marginal difference in power. you're best bet is to determine whether you are going to stay NA or go FI, once you decide that then you can set a plan of action.

it might also help if you give us a price range...

Your best bet for added WHP at this point seems to be to choose your favorite full exhaust system (full header back - AP, Agency Power, Nameless, SRT, whatever) and get a tune (Visconti ECUflash is proven at this point).

Pulleys, intakes and partial exhausts don't seem to do much in isolation that wouldn't lie outside the range of dyno or weather fluctuation.

Not against 'feel' mods per say - this car is all about feel. I've added stickier tires, better pads, a sound tube delete, a meatier shift knob and a Nameless track pipe so far and the car 'feels' a whole ton better. Faster in corners, stops better, feels better to drive. More power though? Nah.

The proven options for adding proven WHP are pretty few but pretty straightforward at this point.

What do you mean add AP's Turbo to the tune? Did you mean add the tune to AP's turbo? I think the lower 100 WHP was for the kit as he is selling it without the tune.

According to Don in his post: http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showt...=9942&page=101
They are claiming 290WHP with the "Basic kit" still not sure if that is with or without ECU because he says "uses factory injectors and ecu" but then says "the tuning is provided via ecutek".

If it is 290HP with just the $5745 (includes installation) then you are talking about $20 per WHP which is crazy cheap.

FIXED: As pointed out below it is a 130WHP gain for $5745 or $44 per HP.

People can argue all they want about comparing different dynos, cars, locations testing procedures but the best bang for you buck is turbo (I am ruling out nitrous because these are not drag cars).

Making power with NA cars without adding Forced induction is always expensive.

Think about it, 18WHP with $2,500 in parts; PERRIN 2.5" Catback, PERRIN 2.5" Catless Front Pipe, PERRIN 2.5" Overpipe, and PERRIN Headers. Even if you add a intake and a tune you would be lucky to net 50WHP. That would also end up costing you around $4,000 give or take depending on which parts you choose.

Edit: That would make it about $80 per WHP for NA Mods.

Gotta pay to play.

You have to pay extra for the tune. The basic kit does not run on the stock ECU alone, it needs to be flashed with the Ecutek software.

Umm, the stock kit brings your car up to 290. If it added 290 you would be at 450 hp. It actually adds about 130.

5k for the turbo, 750 installed by don and 1200 for the ecutek FI tune = 6950 otd.

6950/130 = 53$ per hp like I posted.

Have you tried a lightweight pully? I think it makes a huge difference. It helps a lot with getting rid of the torque dip.

My bad, got ahead of myself and grabbed the wrong number. Thanks for pointing that out.

Either way it is still about 1/2 the PPWHP for turbo as opposed to NA MODS.

AP Turbo is 130WHP gain for $5745 or $44 per HP.

NA guess is $4,000 for a full load of bolt ons would be lucky to net a 50WHP gain or $80 per WHP.

I might do...but I'd do it for better feel and not with the expectation of gaining HP. :)

I said in my original post Add TO Don's Turbo the tune. He is only selling one kit. There is no "basic kit" and another kit. The 215 HP was the first day they Dynoed at 4 psi, nothing else. the second day they Dynoed they dialed boost to 8-9 psi, they got to 290 HP and that is the kit. His kit NEEDS a tune from ECUTek, but its not included in the 5K price, it is extra.

What I am holding out for is the new FA20 WRX motor that is coming out in the next generation WRX.

http://blog.caranddriver.com/turbo-v...ower-next-wrx/

http://blog.caranddriver.com/wp-cont...boxer-four.jpg

"The turbo FA20′s output numbers are impressive: 296 hp and 295 lb-ft of torque."

I think I will drive my car as is until the warranty is over and by then I should be able to pick up a used motor for the $2,000 to $3,000 range (seeing used WRX motors on ebay for that or less). It should be a straightforward swap since it is basically the same motor. I figure $5,000 installed is feasible.

That way you get factory reliability and then can do more mods to pump up the power.

Got it, just saw Don clear it up in his post on the kit. It requires the ECU flash.

Revised:
It seems that it is about 36% less PPWHP for turbo as opposed to NA MODS.

AP Turbo is 130WHP gain for $6745(kit plus $1000 for tune, guesstimated since the NA tune was $800) or $51 per HP.

NA guess is $4,000 for a full load of bolt ons would be lucky to net a 50WHP gain or $80 per WHP.

^^^Agreed. Now regarding your previous to last post, you will not find that WRX motor for sale in 2-3 years for 2-3K. Expect more like 5K. It will be a new motor (rare) and we still don't know how properly it will bolt on. With THAT said, it is a very nice approach! Gives you 250 WHP, with room to improve.

I guy can dream, I hope they come down around that price when I get out of powertrain 5 years. Plus you can offset some of the cost by selling your stock motor.

Somebody get this person a sammich, STAT!

But what if I add AP, Dynosty, AND Avo's turbo kits to my car?

Giggitty...

I'm surprised everyone's missing the point of owning a brz/frs to begin w. Genesis power gains aren't the same & shouldnt be compared to ours. Our cars weigh 2700lbs! Don't the genesis weigh about 3300? 50+ hp, I think, would be a huge gain for us. If I can get a S/C, some exhaust & a little thicker stickier tires, ill be happy

Personally I will either be waiting until the car is out of warranty to do any major HP mods. That is unless TRD does release a SC that can keep the warranty.