Performance Mods for a clueless owner?

[Melbowski]

I own an auto SL myself, basically everything that has been said is what you should follow. While I'm all for some mods, there's no point in putting a ton of money into it. If you plan to drop a lot into it, you could just wait to get a VR4, 100+ horses, AWD, AWS, and lots of other goodies. The earlier models are getting pretty darn cheap these days...

Now on to the part you actually care about, I've always used this guide N/A UPGRADE BIBLE. by YOGURT!. It gives pretty much all the mods you can do to a N/A, as well as tell you about what they'll put to the ground. Any information such as where to by, or how to install can be found on the forums, or just post up and we'll help out the best we can. Hope it helps you out.

Melbowski

[tachyon_ftl]

Check your state laws before you rip out the cat and replace it with a test pipe- or at least keep the cat for inspections. With a 1997, you're OBD2 and in a lot of states (like mine) that means you're subject to emissions regs that don't apply to 1995 and earlier.

[Beethoven]

Yea I was a little unsure of putting the test pipe in, but I just got my car inspected so Im good for two years. Worst comes to worst I'd just have to switch it back to something else for inspection, right?

Also I've got a friend who knows a lot more about cars than me, he said he can get me a good RAM intake for $70 and he will help me out with putting it in . Is this a good deal? Is RAM intake even worth it? I brought up a cold air and he said "If you want to keep your car for a long time than I wouldnt do it" I do drive my car a lot, usually every day to school and sometimes to work, so any advice? Also, where can I get a 120K tune up done, and how much does it run? Thanks guys

[Mysticfyre]

I bought my car and already had a K&N intake and exhaust done, but it was sluggish.

I had the 60k done, and it was an amazing difference; like night and day.

I would suggest you do that before going for any mods.

[Beethoven]

The car had the trannsmission and engine rebuilt at 100,000 miles and the previous owner did supply the reciepts for the work and parts, so would that be neccessary?

Also, bad news, the car got a flat today , the back left tire. Anyone know how much a tire costs for one of these cars? As of now the car has Yokohama AS430s on it, cant find pricing on them anywhere on the net. I havent had time to check out the cause too thouroughly, as from what I could see there are no punctures in it, and I ran my hand around the tire but couldnt feel anything either. Tommorow Ill have time to jack it up and fill it back up with air to see if I can find a leak or see if it goes flat again.

The only thing I can think of is that maybe someone let the air out of one of the tires while I left my car parked in the school lot, but I seriously dont see why anyone would have a reason for doing so, Im a nice guy. And I know the tire was perfectly fine before I took it out this morning, I picked up on it being flat right away. But now it is completely flat, and I had no choice but to make the 5 minute drive home on the flat tire, I hope I didnt ruin it or make it any worse than it is. Maybe I hit something on the way to school this morning and it slowly leaked as it sat parked, Im not sure. But I didnt hit anything that I could see, thats for sure.

[Beethoven]

K so filled the tire back up with air today, so far its been holding for about an hour off the jack so its looking good, but im not sure im in the clear yet until it sits for a little more, just to make sure theres not a slow leak or anything else. If not, looks like ill be driving it tonight . Does anyone know ANY way a tire can become flat, but hold air again after being refilled (Other than somone messing with it) Maybe the piston got caught somehow or something ? I have no clue

[3kgtrider]

tirerack.com has fairly good priced tires. if not try ebay too. sometimes ull get lucky on there.


i have a 94 base and im in teh same boat. i dont know a god damn thing about engines and stuff. so far i got the ram air intake and it sounds good but no noticeable difference in performance. my next step is a custom exhaust from ashop so it should be fairly cheap. after that, no more "go" upgrades. im pretty much a "show" guy.

[moffman93']

LOL at high stall converters and shift kits. Hes trying to add power to his SL not make a racecar. A higher stall would make DDing it more of a pain and suck on gas mileage. Plus, the labor on a job like that wouldn't be worth it. Just get a downpipe and testpipe/high flow cat, intake, plugs, new wires, and make sure its running healthy and it will probably be quick enough to keep you happy. Then just save up for a vr4 or TT urs

[Beethoven]

Ok so heres the weird thing... i filled the flat tire back up with air. In 6 hours it went down to 35 from being at 42... and then no more. I filled it up again, and same thing, 6 hours later, it went down to 35 from 42... but no more! I waited another 6 hours after that and it remained at 35. What the hell is going on ?

[carsoncars]

haha that's odd i set my tires as well to 41-42 but it always seems my rear right tire goes down to 33-35 after i fill them up and i check it the day later. when i bought the car it had winters on and i was looking at the summers and noticed a bit of rubber peeling just around the rim, i think that's the cause of my deflation and I'm yet to time how long it take to deflate.

check around the rim aswell as the outside could be missing something, also listen to the purge valve thingy where you add air, could be slowly leaking out...