Some tips for performance around $1000?
 

I'll admit right away, I love to drive cars, but I know nearly nothing when it comes to performance upgrades. This summer I have been saving money up to get a turbo kit, good one from my research about 5k. Some stuff came up and all I have left to play with is around 1k. I was just wondering what I could do for the best bang per buck with my price range. I am pretty handy, so if given instructions I could install some things my self (Can't tune to save my life though). I was considering the Nitrous Express 15lb kit, seems simple enough to install, but that is my last resort. Just wondering what you guys around this forum think I could do for around 1k to give my car some more power (Or a lot more if possible :bonk:)....

Also please forgive me if I posted in the wrong place, let me know where to put this and I'll put it there instead! Thank you in advance!

Also in case any of you were wondering, I got the car in about March of this year. LOVE the handling, now just to make those imprezas have to try a little harder at stoplights :)

e85 tune

That was something I was also considering, I heard that the Flex Fuel Kit V2 by Visconti Tuning is good, but is it ok to run pure e85 off it, and also how much HP and Torque gain could I expect? Thank You!

What kind of performance are you ideally looking for? Handling performance, power performance, break-yuh-neck performance?

The flex fuel kit from Visconti likes to catch fire randomly. Get one from Moto East instead. It'll need to be tuned, which means an Ecutek license and dyno time, which means it may well be above $1K.

Maybe an openflash tablet and header with a stage 2 map?

Power, the handling is good enough for where i'm driving right now. Doubt I'll get to break my neck for a G, but that's the goal!:D

I heard about openflash recently, I am not too familiar with it though. My understanding is that its a tablet that directly hooks up to the ECU with a bunch of free maps? Would I just get it and load a E85 map or something? Sorry I'm really new to tuning. I heard headers are a good idea, do you recommend any?

There are multiple threads about it in the software tuning forum. They're definitely worth a read if you're interested in going that route.

Basically, it's a tool that lets you reflash your ECU. It comes with some preloaded maps. I'm running stage 1, which is basically OEM header and everything and an optimized ECU tune. It was a noticeable difference over stock. It really is a "set it and forget it" kind of thing. And it takes 5-10 minutes to do a flash. It's quick.

There's also stage 2, which is an unequal-length catless header, air filter, and tune. This makes a significant difference because the OEM header is pretty restrictive. I believe it comes with E85 stage 1 and E85 stage 2, as well. Plus, if the map you want isn't preloaded, there are a ton more maps on their website. Chances are whatever you want to do has been done already and there's a map for it. Maps are free.

Further, you can use it for custom tunes. Turbo, supercharger, electric supercharger, whatever. A few free programs on your computer and someone with tuning experience and you're good to go. It can also be used as a set of real-time gauges, if you want to rig up a mount for your car.

I encourage you to check out the software tuning forum and see what your options are. I went with the OFT because it was quick and damn near stupid-proof, plus it gave me easy expandability for future mods.

That actually sounds pretty amazing, It definitely will not be a waste when I decide to get more upgrades! Thank you very much for the Help. I will look into it with the Header!!!:thanks:

Tires and suspension are apparenlty the best mod to do to the car, but for cheap worthwhile mods, get a airbox filter (K&N are great.)

Easy gains in hp for less than 50 bucks, great bang for buck. I enjoy my transmission insert a lot for the money, (under 30$) and mtec springs were well worth it along with a heavy shift knob. Trust me)
subframe bushings and engine mounts are great mods and cheap, which improve response, and a master cylinder brace improves brake feel.

Tune is worth the money if you have access to E85 (500-700$). If not it's still something (maybe 5-10hp) but a tune can emphasize bolt-ons like header-back exhausts. Also ECUtek and OFT is known to make the car run smoother.
Exhaust is expensive but was worth it for the sound.

-All in all, a turbo is the only way to make more than 40hp over stock. Good luck!

+1
but I would say OFT + OFH with an E85 tune(free upgrade from stage 2 if you have access to E85)

Open Flash Tablet (OFT), and Open Flash Header (OFH) combo comes in right at $1000. But you may want to try a different header if you want it now. There is currently about a 3 month lead time for the header. As for performance; on an older tune they were getting ~ +30hp/+20tq and +30tq in the dip.


If interested strictly in power, I believe that is the best bang for the buck you will find for $1000. For more info check out: http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showt...=51962&page=11

Wow, this Open Flash Seems pretty cool! I'm tempted to order now, but 3 months?! You are right I do want it sooner, I forgot to mention that my FRS came stock with the TRD exhaust, but I'm assuming the OpenFlash has maps for it. What would be a good header I could order alongside the OpenFlash to get it in my FRS sooner?
Also I want to thank you all for all the Help!

+1 on this, im running it and its great, but remember no header and tune available is gona match a turbo. also, this is my hater face for people who have access to e85. :mad0260:

The OFT tunes better optimize for most parts. There will not be a spacific tune for TRD exhaust. But the stage 1 tune will help the ecu to adapt and make the most of it. Stage 1 is for basic intake filter, exhaust mods. Stage 2 is if you have swapped out your header + all the other mods that stage 1 covers, they come in equal length, and unequal length, there are different tunes to cover you either way you go. The OFH is an Unequal lenght header (UEL), so that's they dyno I posted above. The factory header has a built in precat or catalitic converter. You can buy headers with or without the cat. The OFH does not have a cat. If you buy a header without a cat, and do not get a proper tune, you will probably throw a check engine light. There are alot of headers, depending on your price range, and quality desired. I think the cheapest is the Borla, but not sure. I decided to wait, and hopefully will get my OFH in 1 more week.

Ok! I think I might order the Tablet for now and wait a little on the header. Thanks again for all the help!

Car and Driver recently wrote an excellent blog post about improving the FRS/BRZ without ruining it. I recommend picking a few options from their grocery list: http://blog.caranddriver.com/tuning-...an-30k-all-in/

There are a lot of good headers. FT-86 SpeedFactory has a bunch of decent choices. The OFT tunes are based around their header, which is an unequal-length catless header.

That list is less than great. The Injen intake is a $287 waste of money. You don't need a $1100 header. A Tomei header and OFT is $1200, vs. $1900 for their suggested header and tune. A $255 short shifter could be replaced by $100 worth of drivetrain bushings. And a cat-back adds no power at all, just noise.

You could do a lot more power and suspension mods for what they're spending and end up with a much better vehicle.

Do you plan on staying Naturally Aspirated? Do you want the relief of having to go to a tuner? OpenFlash tablet might be a good option for you then. I would definitely read up on some of the already established threads, read through the first few pages and get familiar with what you can expect. Ecutek is also great, but objectively I feel it for the more involved tuner who needs/wants every detail, especially if you are running FI, which is understandable and if I went FI then I too would switch to Ecutek.

With the tablet you can use the low-key provided maps available through their website. They are modest but they do enable power, especially if you run E85. Its a nice piece that gets the job done if you want to keep things simple with regards to tuning.

Just from my point of view...

Turbo; the only thing I see wrong with this - is the motor already runs so high that the fear of blowing your engine is there. Probably with proper tuning this could be avoided, but doesn't this take away from the true purpose of the GT86? To hit corners at high speeds with ease? I mean, yeah, a little more power would be great but I believe a turbo takes away from the car. Eventually, when I get bored I'll purchase one and see how I like it. Seems like a lot of work.

Bolt-ons; this is seriously all you really have in terms of WHP gains. These are typically headers, exhausts, intakes and so on. Literally anything you can take off your car, and just bolt right on.

TL;DR; You could tune it, possibly get it cammed, add an intake, and catback exhaust or headers all for under $1000, but I would definitely go for high quality over cheap and inexpensive.

Remember, this is your car and the more you invest in it, the better you'll feel.

:burnrubber:
OR you could just paint as many things red as you possibly can, and add 10WHP per square inch of red.

Not paint, plastidip.

I swear for every thread on here or on all of the retard Facebook groups for our cars, this question has been asked more times than the @FullBlown car has horsepower.

Power: OFT tune/header
Handling: Good tires, performance driving course

What is E85?

E85 is an ethanol based fuel...85% ethanol. In the US it's made using corn. Can't run it without a tune because the fuel consumption is much higher than with normal gasoline, but with it you can make a decent amount more power...it's about equivalent to 105 octane. I think on an NA car it allows for more aggressive timing; boosted guys love it because you can run higher boost with less chance of pre-detonation. It also helps keep cylinder temps down.

a motec systems exhaust and a spoon engine...

not a bad way to spend 1 thousand dollars. . .

I love the part where Tran was like "a couple SR-20's will pull a premium before race wars huh".

I'm sitting over here like, how does a RWD built motor work at all in those FWD Civics? :bellyroll:

You have to transverse mount it so it'll mate up with an RSX transmission. It takes some custom fabricated engine mounts and lengthening of the engine harness and just kidding I have no idea.

I gave him the benefit of the doubt as I believe Nissan also had a version of the SR20 motor for the FWD Sentra...

lol we are slowly moving waayyy off topic

Either way nobody would waste time on an SR20 when could've had 2J's and RB's back then lol

"2JZ no shit!"

Why is he surprised to see a 2JZ in a Mark IV Supra?

Openflash tablet, Openflash header, and perrin catback. K&N drop in filter.

dont listen to anyone who says anything other than tires and trac ktime/instruction. i promise you cant put the 200 hp the car has to use so what do you need more for? this car is as ready out of the box as any car i have ever spent significant time behind the wheel of.

I just got my Open Flash Tablet Today, The Torque dip is basically all gone! I like the car so much better now! Going to hold off on the header until the backorders turn into in stock or I find a different header that people like as much. But I do not regret getting the OFT at all! Thank you so much guys!!!!

Here is another option for an E85 tune with EcuTeK and literally no other performance parts. Not even wheels or tires and this is what is possible.

Dyno Jet E85 Tune Only (even stock air filter).
http://www.delicioustuning.com/sites...0whp_E85_0.jpg

Quarter Mile Times: 14.35 (have faster slips going up soon)
http://www.delicioustuning.com/sites...le_14.3576.png

For more info on what our tune and what it has accomplished: Click Here

For under a $1000 spent on your vehicle you can be at 200 whp and 14.3 quarter mile times and still have a few bucks to spare for E85.

Cheers,
William Knose
Delicious Tuning