Performance Bolt-Ons 101 - What you should know
04-19-2005, 04:07 PM
#1
Car Addict
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Chicago (Lincoln Square)
Posts: 843
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like
on
1 Post
Performance Bolt-Ons 101 - What you should know
If I may be so bold, I thought I would take a little time and discuss performance bolt-ons in general and hopefully help point out some facts, and also some things to avoid.
Performance bolt-on's should be defined as... parts that you can bolt on in place of stock parts to enhance the performance of the stock drivetrain.
List of common bolt-ons:
-Air intakes
-Air filters
-Headers
-Catbacks
-Plug wires
-Ignition boxes
-aftermarket torque converters
-aftermarket gears
-aftermarket cams
-ported heads
... And the list goes on.
When you look specifically at the TL, let's use a 2005 6MT TL as the subject, you have a car that makes 270 hp at the crank. The car stock is quiet, refined, and some folks have driven their's stock down into the low 14's in the 1/4 mile.
Let's look at the most popular TL mods:
1) Exhaust
The general rule of thumb is that aftermarket exhaust will perform better than stock so long as the mufflers, resonators and tubing are not more restrictive than stock. Generally speaking baffled mufflers will not flow or perform as well as straight-through designed mufflers. But straight-through mufflers can get extremely loud. After all, you are getting close to having no muffler at all. I think a good gain would have to be at least +10fwhp to warrant making a change. I have not seen the innard of a Comptech muffler but I'd like to. If you can pull a 15fwhp gain from mufflers I would believe it too. But keep in mind that muffler changes on a TL should show an increase in power, but increases will vary by car.
2) Air Intakes
Air intakes are designed around three factors: performance, reliability, and noise. My general rule of thumb is that you can never go too big. Second, some aftermarket air intake solutions are noisy.... Can you live with that? You've removed the stock system and removed the air silencers, can you put up with some droning or whistling. For the most part, most oem air intakes are not designed with 100% efficiency mind, there is always a trade-off typically to do with engine noise and reliability. Some aftermarket air intakes are cold air styled, and may allow some water to get to the filter. This varies by car application. Generally I would not be surprised if a car picked up 5fwhp from a filter swap, and more overall with a swap over to a good CAI. I can see 10-15fwhp from a CAI swap.
3) Plug wires; Ignition Boxes
For the most part these should be avoided, newer car ignition systems are very good. If you were to use nitrous or add forced induction, you might benefit from having more or hotter spark but for a stock engine application that is really not going to be the case.
4) Engine Tuning; A/F Tuning
I have not seen anything for the TL, but I'm sure we'll see some stuff at some point. If you were able to tune your car on the dyno, you might be able to extract some more power by adding timing, leaning out the A/F, etc. It's possible to gain some power from pretty much any stock car by pcm tuning, because the manufacturer will tune cars conservatively so that they will go 200,000 miles.
5) Headers; High flow cats or !cats
Without a doubt there is always power to be had by chaning over to an aftermarket tubular header. You can also find power by switching over to aftermarket catalytic converters, or by removing the cats. Running without cats is illegal of course.
By way of background, I co-own www.ls1tech.com, and have a 98 Firebird that makes 754rwhp with a Vortech YSi Trim pulleyed for 21 lbs of boost going through a stock displacement Z06 shortblock. I have 200 dyno pulls on the car, and have dynoed many different aftermarket parts on the 'bird.
Performance bolt-on's should be defined as... parts that you can bolt on in place of stock parts to enhance the performance of the stock drivetrain.
List of common bolt-ons:
-Air intakes
-Air filters
-Headers
-Catbacks
-Plug wires
-Ignition boxes
-aftermarket torque converters
-aftermarket gears
-aftermarket cams
-ported heads
... And the list goes on.
When you look specifically at the TL, let's use a 2005 6MT TL as the subject, you have a car that makes 270 hp at the crank. The car stock is quiet, refined, and some folks have driven their's stock down into the low 14's in the 1/4 mile.
Let's look at the most popular TL mods:
1) Exhaust
The general rule of thumb is that aftermarket exhaust will perform better than stock so long as the mufflers, resonators and tubing are not more restrictive than stock. Generally speaking baffled mufflers will not flow or perform as well as straight-through designed mufflers. But straight-through mufflers can get extremely loud. After all, you are getting close to having no muffler at all. I think a good gain would have to be at least +10fwhp to warrant making a change. I have not seen the innard of a Comptech muffler but I'd like to. If you can pull a 15fwhp gain from mufflers I would believe it too. But keep in mind that muffler changes on a TL should show an increase in power, but increases will vary by car.
2) Air Intakes
Air intakes are designed around three factors: performance, reliability, and noise. My general rule of thumb is that you can never go too big. Second, some aftermarket air intake solutions are noisy.... Can you live with that? You've removed the stock system and removed the air silencers, can you put up with some droning or whistling. For the most part, most oem air intakes are not designed with 100% efficiency mind, there is always a trade-off typically to do with engine noise and reliability. Some aftermarket air intakes are cold air styled, and may allow some water to get to the filter. This varies by car application. Generally I would not be surprised if a car picked up 5fwhp from a filter swap, and more overall with a swap over to a good CAI. I can see 10-15fwhp from a CAI swap.
3) Plug wires; Ignition Boxes
For the most part these should be avoided, newer car ignition systems are very good. If you were to use nitrous or add forced induction, you might benefit from having more or hotter spark but for a stock engine application that is really not going to be the case.
4) Engine Tuning; A/F Tuning
I have not seen anything for the TL, but I'm sure we'll see some stuff at some point. If you were able to tune your car on the dyno, you might be able to extract some more power by adding timing, leaning out the A/F, etc. It's possible to gain some power from pretty much any stock car by pcm tuning, because the manufacturer will tune cars conservatively so that they will go 200,000 miles.
5) Headers; High flow cats or !cats
Without a doubt there is always power to be had by chaning over to an aftermarket tubular header. You can also find power by switching over to aftermarket catalytic converters, or by removing the cats. Running without cats is illegal of course.
By way of background, I co-own www.ls1tech.com, and have a 98 Firebird that makes 754rwhp with a Vortech YSi Trim pulleyed for 21 lbs of boost going through a stock displacement Z06 shortblock. I have 200 dyno pulls on the car, and have dynoed many different aftermarket parts on the 'bird.
04-19-2005, 06:03 PM
#2
Advanced
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Toronto, Ontario
Age: 51
Posts: 53
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Originally Posted by Pro Stock John
If I may be so bold, I thought I would take a little time and discuss performance bolt-ons in general and hopefully help point out some facts, and also some things to avoid.
Performance bolt-on's should be defined as... parts that you can bolt on in place of stock parts to enhance the performance of the stock drivetrain.
List of common bolt-ons:
-Air intakes
-Air filters
-Headers
-Catbacks
-Plug wires
-Ignition boxes
-aftermarket torque converters
-aftermarket gears
-aftermarket cams
-ported heads
... And the list goes on.
When you look specifically at the TL, let's use a 2005 6MT TL as the subject, you have a car that makes 270 hp at the crank. The car stock is quiet, refined, and some folks have driven their's stock down into the low 14's in the 1/4 mile.
Let's look at the most popular TL mods:
1) Exhaust
The general rule of thumb is that aftermarket exhaust will perform better than stock so long as the mufflers, resonators and tubing are not more restrictive than stock. Generally speaking baffled mufflers will not flow or perform as well as straight-through designed mufflers. But straight-through mufflers can get extremely loud. After all, you are getting close to having no muffler at all. I think a good gain would have to be at least +10fwhp to warrant making a change. I have not seen the innard of a Comptech muffler but I'd like to. If you can pull a 15fwhp gain from mufflers I would believe it too. But keep in mind that muffler changes on a TL should show an increase in power, but increases will vary by car.
2) Air Intakes
Air intakes are designed around three factors: performance, reliability, and noise. My general rule of thumb is that you can never go too big. Second, some aftermarket air intake solutions are noisy.... Can you live with that? You've removed the stock system and removed the air silencers, can you put up with some droning or whistling. For the most part, most oem air intakes are not designed with 100% efficiency mind, there is always a trade-off typically to do with engine noise and reliability. Some aftermarket air intakes are cold air styled, and may allow some water to get to the filter. This varies by car application. Generally I would not be surprised if a car picked up 5fwhp from a filter swap, and more overall with a swap over to a good CAI. I can see 10-15fwhp from a CAI swap.
3) Plug wires; Ignition Boxes
For the most part these should be avoided, newer car ignition systems are very good. If you were to use nitrous or add forced induction, you might benefit from having more or hotter spark but for a stock engine application that is really not going to be the case.
4) Engine Tuning; A/F Tuning
I have not seen anything for the TL, but I'm sure we'll see some stuff at some point. If you were able to tune your car on the dyno, you might be able to extract some more power by adding timing, leaning out the A/F, etc. It's possible to gain some power from pretty much any stock car by pcm tuning, because the manufacturer will tune cars conservatively so that they will go 200,000 miles.
5) Headers; High flow cats or !cats
Without a doubt there is always power to be had by chaning over to an aftermarket tubular header. You can also find power by switching over to aftermarket catalytic converters, or by removing the cats. Running without cats is illegal of course.
By way of background, I co-own www.ls1tech.com, and have a 98 Firebird that makes 754rwhp with a Vortech YSi Trim pulleyed for 21 lbs of boost going through a stock displacement Z06 shortblock. I have 200 dyno pulls on the car, and have dynoed many different aftermarket parts on the 'bird.
Performance bolt-on's should be defined as... parts that you can bolt on in place of stock parts to enhance the performance of the stock drivetrain.
List of common bolt-ons:
-Air intakes
-Air filters
-Headers
-Catbacks
-Plug wires
-Ignition boxes
-aftermarket torque converters
-aftermarket gears
-aftermarket cams
-ported heads
... And the list goes on.
When you look specifically at the TL, let's use a 2005 6MT TL as the subject, you have a car that makes 270 hp at the crank. The car stock is quiet, refined, and some folks have driven their's stock down into the low 14's in the 1/4 mile.
Let's look at the most popular TL mods:
1) Exhaust
The general rule of thumb is that aftermarket exhaust will perform better than stock so long as the mufflers, resonators and tubing are not more restrictive than stock. Generally speaking baffled mufflers will not flow or perform as well as straight-through designed mufflers. But straight-through mufflers can get extremely loud. After all, you are getting close to having no muffler at all. I think a good gain would have to be at least +10fwhp to warrant making a change. I have not seen the innard of a Comptech muffler but I'd like to. If you can pull a 15fwhp gain from mufflers I would believe it too. But keep in mind that muffler changes on a TL should show an increase in power, but increases will vary by car.
2) Air Intakes
Air intakes are designed around three factors: performance, reliability, and noise. My general rule of thumb is that you can never go too big. Second, some aftermarket air intake solutions are noisy.... Can you live with that? You've removed the stock system and removed the air silencers, can you put up with some droning or whistling. For the most part, most oem air intakes are not designed with 100% efficiency mind, there is always a trade-off typically to do with engine noise and reliability. Some aftermarket air intakes are cold air styled, and may allow some water to get to the filter. This varies by car application. Generally I would not be surprised if a car picked up 5fwhp from a filter swap, and more overall with a swap over to a good CAI. I can see 10-15fwhp from a CAI swap.
3) Plug wires; Ignition Boxes
For the most part these should be avoided, newer car ignition systems are very good. If you were to use nitrous or add forced induction, you might benefit from having more or hotter spark but for a stock engine application that is really not going to be the case.
4) Engine Tuning; A/F Tuning
I have not seen anything for the TL, but I'm sure we'll see some stuff at some point. If you were able to tune your car on the dyno, you might be able to extract some more power by adding timing, leaning out the A/F, etc. It's possible to gain some power from pretty much any stock car by pcm tuning, because the manufacturer will tune cars conservatively so that they will go 200,000 miles.
5) Headers; High flow cats or !cats
Without a doubt there is always power to be had by chaning over to an aftermarket tubular header. You can also find power by switching over to aftermarket catalytic converters, or by removing the cats. Running without cats is illegal of course.
By way of background, I co-own www.ls1tech.com, and have a 98 Firebird that makes 754rwhp with a Vortech YSi Trim pulleyed for 21 lbs of boost going through a stock displacement Z06 shortblock. I have 200 dyno pulls on the car, and have dynoed many different aftermarket parts on the 'bird.
04-19-2005, 06:22 PM
#3
Burning Brakes
it is true that the 3G TL cannot have headers due to the fact that the exhaust manifold is welded to the engine.
eal15 - i just purchased the AEM CAI. i will be installing it on Friday. would you like to purchase my K&N air filter (OEM replacement)? PM me if you do.
eal15 - i just purchased the AEM CAI. i will be installing it on Friday. would you like to purchase my K&N air filter (OEM replacement)? PM me if you do.
04-19-2005, 06:57 PM
#4
Car Addict
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Chicago (Lincoln Square)
Posts: 843
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like
on
1 Post
I have not installed my KN filter because I might get a CAI or something along those lines. I have to spend some time looking at the stock setup to decide how bad I think it is.
Then again I might go to the track and try running with the stock filter and then the KN filter to see if there is an obvious increase in MPH.
We really need Subinf to post some sound bites of his car doing a 60mph flyby to see what it really sounds like with those Magnaflows. I'm sure it sounds pretty nice.
Are our stock mufflers aluminized or stainless?
Then again I might go to the track and try running with the stock filter and then the KN filter to see if there is an obvious increase in MPH.
We really need Subinf to post some sound bites of his car doing a 60mph flyby to see what it really sounds like with those Magnaflows. I'm sure it sounds pretty nice.
Are our stock mufflers aluminized or stainless?
04-19-2005, 10:17 PM
#5
One on the right for me
good question on the mufflers...i believe they are aluminized although that is pretty much a guess....im taking the oem muffler to the chopping block tomorrow to see what the inards look like....ill post pics as soon as i get them up. ill work on that full throttle fly by also.
04-22-2005, 02:41 PM
#7
Ak Ting Up
Question ?
I have a 5AT. If the pipe between the factory mufflers and the cat is increased in diameter, will it yield better exhaust flow (more power) without being as lould as a comptech system? I'd love to add a less restrictive exhaust to my TL, but I want my car quite untill I 'get on it'. Generally, automatic cars do not sound good ( to me )'idling' or 'shifting normally' with aftermarket systems.
Great thread.
Great thread.
Trending Topics
04-22-2005, 11:44 PM
#8
One on the right for me
Originally Posted by AcuraVic
I have a 5AT. If the pipe between the factory mufflers and the cat is increased in diameter, will it yield better exhaust flow (more power) without being as lould as a comptech system? I'd love to add a less restrictive exhaust to my TL, but I want my car quite untill I 'get on it'. Generally, automatic cars do not sound good ( to me )'idling' or 'shifting normally' with aftermarket systems.
Great thread.
Great thread.
07-02-2005, 02:18 PM
#10
Team Anthracite Corsa
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: North San Diego, CA
Posts: 252
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Originally Posted by Pro Stock John
If I may be so bold, I thought I would take a little time and discuss performance bolt-ons in general and hopefully help point out some facts, and also some things to avoid.
Performance bolt-on's should be defined as... parts that you can bolt on in place of stock parts to enhance the performance of the stock drivetrain.
List of common bolt-ons:
-Air intakes
-Air filters
-Headers
-Catbacks
-Plug wires
-Ignition boxes
-aftermarket torque converters
-aftermarket gears
-aftermarket cams
-ported heads
... And the list goes on.
When you look specifically at the TL, let's use a 2005 6MT TL as the subject, you have a car that makes 270 hp at the crank. The car stock is quiet, refined, and some folks have driven their's stock down into the low 14's in the 1/4 mile.
Let's look at the most popular TL mods:
1) Exhaust
The general rule of thumb is that aftermarket exhaust will perform better than stock so long as the mufflers, resonators and tubing are not more restrictive than stock. Generally speaking baffled mufflers will not flow or perform as well as straight-through designed mufflers. But straight-through mufflers can get extremely loud. After all, you are getting close to having no muffler at all. I think a good gain would have to be at least +10fwhp to warrant making a change. I have not seen the innard of a Comptech muffler but I'd like to. If you can pull a 15fwhp gain from mufflers I would believe it too. But keep in mind that muffler changes on a TL should show an increase in power, but increases will vary by car.
2) Air Intakes
Air intakes are designed around three factors: performance, reliability, and noise. My general rule of thumb is that you can never go too big. Second, some aftermarket air intake solutions are noisy.... Can you live with that? You've removed the stock system and removed the air silencers, can you put up with some droning or whistling. For the most part, most oem air intakes are not designed with 100% efficiency mind, there is always a trade-off typically to do with engine noise and reliability. Some aftermarket air intakes are cold air styled, and may allow some water to get to the filter. This varies by car application. Generally I would not be surprised if a car picked up 5fwhp from a filter swap, and more overall with a swap over to a good CAI. I can see 10-15fwhp from a CAI swap.
3) Plug wires; Ignition Boxes
For the most part these should be avoided, newer car ignition systems are very good. If you were to use nitrous or add forced induction, you might benefit from having more or hotter spark but for a stock engine application that is really not going to be the case.
4) Engine Tuning; A/F Tuning
I have not seen anything for the TL, but I'm sure we'll see some stuff at some point. If you were able to tune your car on the dyno, you might be able to extract some more power by adding timing, leaning out the A/F, etc. It's possible to gain some power from pretty much any stock car by pcm tuning, because the manufacturer will tune cars conservatively so that they will go 200,000 miles.
5) Headers; High flow cats or !cats
Without a doubt there is always power to be had by chaning over to an aftermarket tubular header. You can also find power by switching over to aftermarket catalytic converters, or by removing the cats. Running without cats is illegal of course.
By way of background, I co-own www.ls1tech.com, and have a 98 Firebird that makes 754rwhp with a Vortech YSi Trim pulleyed for 21 lbs of boost going through a stock displacement Z06 shortblock. I have 200 dyno pulls on the car, and have dynoed many different aftermarket parts on the 'bird.
Performance bolt-on's should be defined as... parts that you can bolt on in place of stock parts to enhance the performance of the stock drivetrain.
List of common bolt-ons:
-Air intakes
-Air filters
-Headers
-Catbacks
-Plug wires
-Ignition boxes
-aftermarket torque converters
-aftermarket gears
-aftermarket cams
-ported heads
... And the list goes on.
When you look specifically at the TL, let's use a 2005 6MT TL as the subject, you have a car that makes 270 hp at the crank. The car stock is quiet, refined, and some folks have driven their's stock down into the low 14's in the 1/4 mile.
Let's look at the most popular TL mods:
1) Exhaust
The general rule of thumb is that aftermarket exhaust will perform better than stock so long as the mufflers, resonators and tubing are not more restrictive than stock. Generally speaking baffled mufflers will not flow or perform as well as straight-through designed mufflers. But straight-through mufflers can get extremely loud. After all, you are getting close to having no muffler at all. I think a good gain would have to be at least +10fwhp to warrant making a change. I have not seen the innard of a Comptech muffler but I'd like to. If you can pull a 15fwhp gain from mufflers I would believe it too. But keep in mind that muffler changes on a TL should show an increase in power, but increases will vary by car.
2) Air Intakes
Air intakes are designed around three factors: performance, reliability, and noise. My general rule of thumb is that you can never go too big. Second, some aftermarket air intake solutions are noisy.... Can you live with that? You've removed the stock system and removed the air silencers, can you put up with some droning or whistling. For the most part, most oem air intakes are not designed with 100% efficiency mind, there is always a trade-off typically to do with engine noise and reliability. Some aftermarket air intakes are cold air styled, and may allow some water to get to the filter. This varies by car application. Generally I would not be surprised if a car picked up 5fwhp from a filter swap, and more overall with a swap over to a good CAI. I can see 10-15fwhp from a CAI swap.
3) Plug wires; Ignition Boxes
For the most part these should be avoided, newer car ignition systems are very good. If you were to use nitrous or add forced induction, you might benefit from having more or hotter spark but for a stock engine application that is really not going to be the case.
4) Engine Tuning; A/F Tuning
I have not seen anything for the TL, but I'm sure we'll see some stuff at some point. If you were able to tune your car on the dyno, you might be able to extract some more power by adding timing, leaning out the A/F, etc. It's possible to gain some power from pretty much any stock car by pcm tuning, because the manufacturer will tune cars conservatively so that they will go 200,000 miles.
5) Headers; High flow cats or !cats
Without a doubt there is always power to be had by chaning over to an aftermarket tubular header. You can also find power by switching over to aftermarket catalytic converters, or by removing the cats. Running without cats is illegal of course.
By way of background, I co-own www.ls1tech.com, and have a 98 Firebird that makes 754rwhp with a Vortech YSi Trim pulleyed for 21 lbs of boost going through a stock displacement Z06 shortblock. I have 200 dyno pulls on the car, and have dynoed many different aftermarket parts on the 'bird.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
MrHeeltoe
1G TSX Tires, Wheels, & Suspension
20
02-23-2023 01:54 PM
MrHeeltoe
2G TSX Tires, Wheels & Suspension
3
09-29-2015 10:43 PM
MrHeeltoe
3G TL Tires, Wheels & Suspension
0
09-28-2015 05:43 PM
