Cheap performance mods?

What are some cheap (as in hundred dollar ranges and stuff) performance mods?

I have a muffler (flowmaster) thats about it

What else can help the car get faster (i have a 97 lumina)

cold air intake?

what about drilling holes into the air filter box? (would the intake render this useless since theres no longer a box???)

new filter?

ehh what else is there?

i don't know what they make for Luminas but you could get a set of headers, intake, cams, turbo, sc.....it all depends on how much you're going to put into it ($$) and what you want to get out of it as far as power......

(i have a 97 lumina)


My dad has a 97 Lumina. It already hauls ass and it's the 3.1. And you're saying you want yours to haul more ass? How fast you trying to make it go?

i say ditch the flowmaster and get a straight through muffler design like a magnaflow.

Id go with a conical air filter like a K&N and build a heat shield to prevent heatsoak.

Optimize your throttle body (i.e. countersink screws, remove shaft on one side of the TB plate, etc)

autozone sell cone filters?

Look the basic issue is more power costs more money. You can toss a few hundred dollars into some bolt-on modifications that will allow your car to breathe better (intake, headers, catback exhaust) but in the end, you really are only going to get more noticeable noise gains. You will pick up a few hp, but in all likelihood it will be too few to actually physically notice.

They are a great place to start, but if you really want more power you are going to have to look into either building up a motor or forced induction, and eitehr way you are looking at spending more than a few hundred...more like a few thousand.

Bottom line, making a car go significantly faster will cost money, and if you just keep tossing cheap mods at it, you really wont get teh results you desire. Not trying to be a prick, just trying to be honest.

I still do think cheap bolt-ons like intake and exhaust mods are a great place to start both modding and learning, and if you still want to, I'd go with them. Buy a $30 intake on ebay (people can argue all they want about $200-$400 intakes being SOOO much better and netting you 10+hp, this is bogus. When you pay that much, you are paying for a $200 name-brand sticker. IMO)
Then go take your car to the local muffler shop and ask them to make you a 2.5" custom catback, this should only cost you $200-$350 including parts and labor. You can stick with your muffler, or order a different one off the internet and take it in to be mounted when you get the cat-back done.

Then you can move onto header(s) and a high-flow cat.

Oh and drilling holes in your airbox does nothing. Hope that helps some.

ehh ya id just stick with my current muffler its only 3 days old im not gonna throw it away already :)

hey what about those computer things? like there around 300 bucks and i guess u plug them in and u edit timings and top speed and all that crap

do those work?

ehh ya id just stick with my current muffler its only 3 days old im not gonna throw it away already :)

hey what about those computer things? like there around 300 bucks and i guess u plug them in and u edit timings and top speed and all that crap

do those work?

A chip is only as good as its tuner. I know when Superchips used to be around, their generic chips weren't worth the money at all. Some had minimal gains. Some even lost hp. But now that SCT is here, and we actually have companies that have dyno tuned numerous Contours with the SCT software on a dyno, mail order chips have become a lot better.

i dunno if we are talkin about the same thing

im talking about things like these

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-O1kEjg5f2c8/cgi-bin/ProdGroup.asp?g=246250&avf=N

i dunno if we are talkin about the same thing

im talking about things like these

http://www.crutchfield.com/S-O1kEjg5f2c8/cgi-bin/ProdGroup.asp?g=246250&avf=N

i checked under 97 Chevy Lumina and they dont make anything for your car.

dont they have like universal ones? like ive seen them at autozone/oreilly's

dont they have like universal ones? like ive seen them at autozone/oreilly's

no, i dont believe so. Generic chips are junk..PERIOD!

ya i did a ghetto 0-60 test, and it fuckin hits 60 after around 12 secs! wtf

i was counting 1 1000, 2 1000, 3 1000, etc, i should probly use a timer

but ya wtf 0-40 its like 3-4 secs, then 40-60 takes like 10 lol

nothing cheap will make this car go noticably faster. if you want bang for buck, then put the juice to it. nitrous is the cheapest and sometimes most damaging power adder (if used incorrectly) anyway, why do it to a lumina? save all that money for gas...

But you've got a family car. Helping it breathe better is great at the top end, but who drives around at 5000 RPM? What would the auto-tranny think of this?
If you want a fast car, buy one. It would be cheaper and more effective.