Cavalier Intake/Transmission Question

Hello,
First of all, this is my first post, so sorry if it's not all in the right section (though it should be from my current understanding), but I have a few questions about my Cavalier.
It's a 2004 Cavalier, Automatic transmission, etc.

Ok, first question:
I heard that adding a new air intake will give you more horsepower and better MPG (which would be great considering how much the cost of gas is going up), and I was curious, if I was to buy this Weapon-R Secret Weapon Air Intake (http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/Product/tf-Browse/s-10101/Pr-p_Product.CATENTRY_ID:2009986/p-2009986/N-111+2004+200728446+600002037/c-10101) would it be a big increase or just a small increase in gas miliage and horsepower? If that's not a good one, what's another one that someone can recommend me that will help (because if theres a better one for cheaper I'm all for that lol).

Second Question:
Is there anything I can do to my car to reduce road noise and get a smoother ride? It's not that bad, but I wouldn't mind making it a little quieter and smoother (due to the fact I live in a rural area.. holes in the road everywhere).

Third Question:
I have an automatic transmission with the whole Park, Reverse, Neutral, Drive, 3, 2, 1 thingy (please don't laugh at my car illeteracy, I'm trying to learn as much about it as I can), and I was told that driving in the 3 mode is just like in Drive only you don't have overdrive and it burns more gas for better performance. Is that true? If so, driving in it won't mess up my transmission?

Fourth Question: Is there any cheap muffler thingy that I can replace the stock one with that will increase performance with? Sorry, I know that's a lot, but any help would be greatly appreciated (even if its just on one of those questions).

Thanks for all of your help!

Ok, starting at the top and working my way down.....

Dont worry about it. I as well own an 04 4dr auto cavy and frankly could spank half the cats on here that are not boosted of course. :lol:

Yes, an after market intake will gain you a touch extra horse but as for MPG not that much as almost 98% of people get a little more heavy footed after the mod because it does have a slightly more agressive tone to the engine and hell, gotta road test new stuff. :lol: As for what kind and what not. Just about any after market intake will get you the same gains. It just comes down to a question of how well said intake is produced and just how you personally like the over all outlook of the intake itself.

New struts/springs will help that alot. Heck even struts you can pick up at autozone for a steal (gabriel struts) will help clean up the ride tons over the stock crap they have there now.

Do not drive the friggin car in third. Its going to screw up your tranny over time and frankly its just pointless. It doesnt do anything performance wise and just makes you look like you dont know what your doing. (No offense)

As for the exhaust...they do indeed make cheap after market cat-back exhaust systems but they are just that....cheap...but add the word crap after that.

Just to sum up everything you plan to do to your car or ever want to do in a few tuner car montras is as follows...

Speed costs...how fast do you want to go?

You get what you pay for.

Ebay is for suckers and morons.

Also dont do anything for anyone else...do it for yourself. If you want to do something to your car and someone thinks its dumb or "rice" screw them. Its not their car, its yours. If it makes ya feel good do it.

Hope some of this helped. Oh...and welcome to the suck.:naughty:

welcome...i have an 03 coupe, pretty much the same as urs. and +1 to about all psycho said.
i do have one point about the road noise though, there isnt much u can do about it seeing as how u drive the cheapest/most simple car chevy made. u can get new shocks and struts to help with the ride and almost anything over stock is a huge improvement.
and +1,000,000 to psycho's last 5 lines. read them, follow, and remember them
"Speed costs...how fast do you want to go?

You get what you pay for.

Ebay is for suckers and morons.

Also dont do anything for anyone else...do it for yourself. If you want to do something to your car and someone thinks its dumb or "rice" screw them. Its not their car, its yours. If it makes ya feel good do it."

Personally i wouldn't spend $230 on that intake because the difference in that Weapon-R intake and any random cold air is basically nothing. Also, a muffler isn't going to do anything and a full exhaust is going to have marginal gains, but if you're looking more for mileage, you're going to spend more in parts than you'll ever regain in mileage. Listen to these guys though....they know their stuff.

sorry to bring back this thread...

there is something that anyone looking to decrease road noise can do. That being from the audio side of things, specifically sound deadening. dynamat TYPE materials will reduce your road noise, the sound your car makes when you close your doors, rattling, etc, but is indeed (at least in my opinion) ridiculous to do purely for road noise reduction. Anyway i stressed dynamat TYPE materials because dynamat itself is overpriced. anything similar works great (i believe brownbread is a decent choice but not positive).

again i shouldnt have brought back this relatively old thread.