Best Mods for a low budget?
09-11-2013, 08:50 AM
#1
Intermediate
Thread Starter
Best Mods for a low budget?
Hey guys I just got a 05 5AT for a birthday gift. I'm only 16 and work a couple days a week, so my budget is limited. Any ideas for starter mods?
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CheyTL (05-05-2024)
09-11-2013, 08:59 AM
#2
I wouldn't put too much money into your car since most crash their first car pretty quick. Most mods are expensive for this car die to the small number of people who mod the TL. On the other hand the TL is very safe so it's a great first car safety wise.
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CheyTL (05-05-2024)
09-11-2013, 09:04 AM
#3
Intermediate
Thread Starter
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Atlas.46 (09-11-2013),
Undying Dreams (09-11-2013)
bye bye money.
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First__TL (09-12-2013)
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BxTrini_TL (11-01-2013)
09-11-2013, 09:44 AM
#7
Drifting
iTrader: (1)
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Salt Lake City, UT
Age: 42
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Mid muffler delete - Makes a bit more "growl" and drops about 10lbs. About $40-$50. Possibly increases hp a bit due to opening up the exhaust a little.
Poor mans cold air intake.:
https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-performance-parts-modifications-112/3g-diy-poor-mans-cold-air-intake-pics-853546/
Throttle body coolant bypass - Reduces the temperature of the throttle body which slightly reduces your air intake temps resulting in an ever so slight bit of hp gain (possibly...).
https://acurazine.com/forums/1g-tl-performance-parts-modifications-121/throttle-body-coolant-bypass-mod-636974/
TL Diet - Reduces weight, raising effective/available hp.
https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-performance-parts-modifications-112/m-010-putting-tl-diet-update-links-post-1-a-610974/
There's a few starters that are free or cheap.
Poor mans cold air intake.:
https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-performance-parts-modifications-112/3g-diy-poor-mans-cold-air-intake-pics-853546/
Throttle body coolant bypass - Reduces the temperature of the throttle body which slightly reduces your air intake temps resulting in an ever so slight bit of hp gain (possibly...).
https://acurazine.com/forums/1g-tl-performance-parts-modifications-121/throttle-body-coolant-bypass-mod-636974/
TL Diet - Reduces weight, raising effective/available hp.
https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-performance-parts-modifications-112/m-010-putting-tl-diet-update-links-post-1-a-610974/
There's a few starters that are free or cheap.
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paulmnly (10-04-2013)
09-11-2013, 01:47 PM
#9
^lol
Suspension:
Lowering Springs
Rear Sway Bar
Both will greatly increase handling performance and being lower will make the car look more sporty.
Engine:
losiglow has a good idea with the muffler delete. Muffler shop should help you with that. Find a no name place with experience.
Don't worry about the intake too much since they tend to cost upwards of $300 msrp and have minimal gains. If you find something around $200 that could be a good buy but it is still more bling than power.
Cosmetically:
LEDs
Very cheap on amazon and you car will look very different with white lights verse yellow.
Suspension:
Lowering Springs
Rear Sway Bar
Both will greatly increase handling performance and being lower will make the car look more sporty.
Engine:
losiglow has a good idea with the muffler delete. Muffler shop should help you with that. Find a no name place with experience.
Don't worry about the intake too much since they tend to cost upwards of $300 msrp and have minimal gains. If you find something around $200 that could be a good buy but it is still more bling than power.
Cosmetically:
LEDs
Very cheap on amazon and you car will look very different with white lights verse yellow.
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BxTrini_TL (11-01-2013),
First__TL (09-12-2013)
09-12-2013, 06:32 AM
#10
Intermediate
Thread Starter
^lol
Suspension:
Lowering Springs
Rear Sway Bar
Both will greatly increase handling performance and being lower will make the car look more sporty.
Engine:
losiglow has a good idea with the muffler delete. Muffler shop should help you with that. Find a no name place with experience.
Don't worry about the intake too much since they tend to cost upwards of $300 msrp and have minimal gains. If you find something around $200 that could be a good buy but it is still more bling than power.
Cosmetically:
LEDs
Very cheap on amazon and you car will look very different with white lights verse yellow.
Suspension:
Lowering Springs
Rear Sway Bar
Both will greatly increase handling performance and being lower will make the car look more sporty.
Engine:
losiglow has a good idea with the muffler delete. Muffler shop should help you with that. Find a no name place with experience.
Don't worry about the intake too much since they tend to cost upwards of $300 msrp and have minimal gains. If you find something around $200 that could be a good buy but it is still more bling than power.
Cosmetically:
LEDs
Very cheap on amazon and you car will look very different with white lights verse yellow.
09-12-2013, 07:11 AM
#11
why not give XLR8 a click and find out the options you have?
http://store.excelerateperformance.com/
09-12-2013, 08:55 AM
#13
Burning Brakes
LEDs everywhere - super cheap
intake resonator delete - free
vinyl wrap/plasti dip/spray painting your emblems/grille/etc - pretty cheap
clearing your own headlights - ~$90
intake resonator delete - free
vinyl wrap/plasti dip/spray painting your emblems/grille/etc - pretty cheap
clearing your own headlights - ~$90
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First__TL (09-12-2013)
09-12-2013, 09:05 AM
#14
Intermediate
Thread Starter
one of the vendors popped into your thread.
why not give XLR8 a click and find out the options you have?
http://store.excelerateperformance.com/
why not give XLR8 a click and find out the options you have?
http://store.excelerateperformance.com/
car louder but don't have the money right now for a whole exhaust kit. If so what stage?
09-12-2013, 09:10 AM
#15
Burning Brakes
He's going to tell you that it's complete personal preference.
Check out the stages on youtube to see which sound you like best and go from there. Someone might like stage 3 over stage 2, and someone might hate both those stages and love stage 4. Lots of videos on youtube
Check out the stages on youtube to see which sound you like best and go from there. Someone might like stage 3 over stage 2, and someone might hate both those stages and love stage 4. Lots of videos on youtube
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justnspace (09-12-2013)
09-12-2013, 09:14 AM
#16
Intermediate
Thread Starter
He's going to tell you that it's complete personal preference.
Check out the stages on youtube to see which sound you like best and go from there. Someone might like stage 3 over stage 2, and someone might hate both those stages and love stage 4. Lots of videos on youtube
Check out the stages on youtube to see which sound you like best and go from there. Someone might like stage 3 over stage 2, and someone might hate both those stages and love stage 4. Lots of videos on youtube
09-12-2013, 09:36 AM
#18
Intermediate
Thread Starter
09-12-2013, 09:39 AM
#19
My first ricer
iTrader: (4)
Go on youtube for exhaust vids, personally I like the rear mufflers deleted more than the rear, not very loud until 3000rpm or so. Throttle body coolant bypass (free), engine cover removal and weight reduction (free).
Most important cheap mod is maintenance, if you blow your trans you will not be doing any mods for a long time. Read up on doing a 3x3, since you're on a budget I'd go with the cheapest Dexron III fluid you can find, 9 quarts at $4 a quart (causes less wear than Honda fluid) and pressure switches (about $80 for both). The auto trans sucks on these cars and is expensive to rebuild, fresh fluid will keep it happy.
Leave the VSA on, these cars put a good amount of power through the front wheels and will slide pretty easy with VSA off.
Also Plastidip.
Most important cheap mod is maintenance, if you blow your trans you will not be doing any mods for a long time. Read up on doing a 3x3, since you're on a budget I'd go with the cheapest Dexron III fluid you can find, 9 quarts at $4 a quart (causes less wear than Honda fluid) and pressure switches (about $80 for both). The auto trans sucks on these cars and is expensive to rebuild, fresh fluid will keep it happy.
Leave the VSA on, these cars put a good amount of power through the front wheels and will slide pretty easy with VSA off.
Also Plastidip.
09-12-2013, 09:45 AM
#21
Intermediate
Thread Starter
Go on youtube for exhaust vids, personally I like the rear mufflers deleted more than the rear, not very loud until 3000rpm or so. Throttle body coolant bypass (free), engine cover removal and weight reduction (free).
Most important cheap mod is maintenance, if you blow your trans you will not be doing any mods for a long time. Read up on doing a 3x3, since you're on a budget I'd go with the cheapest Dexron III fluid you can find, 9 quarts at $4 a quart (causes less wear than Honda fluid) and pressure switches (about $80 for both). The auto trans sucks on these cars and is expensive to rebuild, fresh fluid will keep it happy.
Leave the VSA on, these cars put a good amount of power through the front wheels and will slide pretty easy with VSA off.
Also Plastidip.
Most important cheap mod is maintenance, if you blow your trans you will not be doing any mods for a long time. Read up on doing a 3x3, since you're on a budget I'd go with the cheapest Dexron III fluid you can find, 9 quarts at $4 a quart (causes less wear than Honda fluid) and pressure switches (about $80 for both). The auto trans sucks on these cars and is expensive to rebuild, fresh fluid will keep it happy.
Leave the VSA on, these cars put a good amount of power through the front wheels and will slide pretty easy with VSA off.
Also Plastidip.
09-12-2013, 10:05 AM
#24
Intermediate
Thread Starter
09-12-2013, 10:53 AM
#25
My first ricer
iTrader: (4)
Pressure switches are for the transmission, not sure how long they're designed to last but after 50K miles or so the shifts start to get soft/sloppy which wears the transmission much quicker/creates more heat. It's just recommended preventative maintenance. You can search to find the part numbers, if you pull the front driver side wheel you can see them, they just screw right into the transmission and have 1 plug.
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justnspace (09-12-2013)
09-12-2013, 11:21 AM
#26
Intermediate
I added the dynomax resonator (Stage 3) last night after having the mm and resonator replaced with straight pipe (Stage 4). Here is my stand still clip:
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09-12-2013, 11:33 AM
#27
Intermediate
Thread Starter
Pressure switches are for the transmission, not sure how long they're designed to last but after 50K miles or so the shifts start to get soft/sloppy which wears the transmission much quicker/creates more heat. It's just recommended preventative maintenance. You can search to find the part numbers, if you pull the front driver side wheel you can see them, they just screw right into the transmission and have 1 plug.
09-12-2013, 11:59 AM
#29
one of the vendors popped into your thread.
why not give XLR8 a click and find out the options you have?
http://store.excelerateperformance.com/
why not give XLR8 a click and find out the options you have?
http://store.excelerateperformance.com/
09-12-2013, 01:11 PM
#31
Intermediate
Thread Starter
I got the car used and the dealership said it was an old guy so he probably never changed them (no offense to the older people) so they got like 84k on them? And what would you recommend for a more aggressive stance?
09-12-2013, 01:13 PM
#32
Intermediate
Thread Starter
09-12-2013, 01:16 PM
#34
Intermediate
Thread Starter
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First__TL (09-12-2013)
09-12-2013, 02:55 PM
#37
Intermediate
Thread Starter
Im new to all of this so half the stuff everyone is talking about i have a rough idea what it is but other than that i have never heard of any of it. I asked the question to get a feel of what i can do and how much it would cost..
09-12-2013, 06:38 PM
#38
Burning Brakes
Can you drive the car by yourself at your age? Don't take this as an insult or anything, I'm actually just curious because I'm trying to remember how old I was when I was finally allowed to drive a car solo.
Anyways, people on this forum are very helpful like you've already seen, but it's also important to start searching on your own to get a better understanding of everything.
Use google and after whatever type of part or problem use ACURAZINE and most likely a thread will be found that relates to your question. It's insane the amount of information you can find on here, and every question you asked in this thread alone has multiple threads that already exist about it. Just wanted to point you in the right direction.
And congrats for modding at such a young age!
Anyways, people on this forum are very helpful like you've already seen, but it's also important to start searching on your own to get a better understanding of everything.
Use google and after whatever type of part or problem use ACURAZINE and most likely a thread will be found that relates to your question. It's insane the amount of information you can find on here, and every question you asked in this thread alone has multiple threads that already exist about it. Just wanted to point you in the right direction.
And congrats for modding at such a young age!
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justnspace (09-12-2013)
09-12-2013, 06:46 PM
#39
Congratz on ur first car specially a 3rd gen at that ! Drive carefully and take care of it. Cheap mods? For our cars the word "cheap" dont exist lol just save a couple dollars and get what you want little by little. Best of luck bro
09-12-2013, 07:30 PM
#40
Intermediate
Thread Starter
Can you drive the car by yourself at your age? Don't take this as an insult or anything, I'm actually just curious because I'm trying to remember how old I was when I was finally allowed to drive a car solo.
Anyways, people on this forum are very helpful like you've already seen, but it's also important to start searching on your own to get a better understanding of everything.
Use google and after whatever type of part or problem use ACURAZINE and most likely a thread will be found that relates to your question. It's insane the amount of information you can find on here, and every question you asked in this thread alone has multiple threads that already exist about it. Just wanted to point you in the right direction.
And congrats for modding at such a young age!
Anyways, people on this forum are very helpful like you've already seen, but it's also important to start searching on your own to get a better understanding of everything.
Use google and after whatever type of part or problem use ACURAZINE and most likely a thread will be found that relates to your question. It's insane the amount of information you can find on here, and every question you asked in this thread alone has multiple threads that already exist about it. Just wanted to point you in the right direction.
And congrats for modding at such a young age!