50+ HP Gain on 04 Lancer

So here is the deal.

I am an old school motorhead with a long history of Carb'ed V8 work.

I've been wanting to get my hands on a little tuner action for a while, but the biggest deal was "what if its not my thing"...I'll have a car with some money in it that I can't get back and I don't want...

I just scored a 04 Lancer with almost no miles on it and I thinking that, since it cost my almost nothing, I can make backa couple if I put it into it and don't like the result.

So the question is: 2 litre 4G94 Inline 4. What I have seen (and what it feels like behind the wheel) is that this puts out a stock 120 hp.

If I remove some junk and get its curb wieght to 2500 or so, and I can get its base horsepower to +175=-ish, than I have a pretty good power to wieght ratio. At least for a little, fat Mitsubishi.

Anyone out there have any expirence working with this motor?
I'm looking to do base upgrades and I don't want to spend more than 2500 if I don't have to. At least not yet. Like I said, I'm not in love with this 4 cyl tuning thing yet.

Any response would be awesome. Thanks.

Basic mods - free flows, cold air intakes, increased throttle body etc might give you a 20 - 30% increase in bhp considering the base you are working in. The weight reduction might increase the power to weight ratio but it wont affect the power.

the problem with the lancer other thAn the rally and the evo the car isnt made to go fast. and to gain some power you can invest in a cold air intake ,cat back exhaust,(flowmaster sounds the best and gives more than the rice burner type),throttlebody spacer,and you can always do some injecter work for less than 2500

full exhaust, intake, under drive pullies, short shifter, throttle body, and cams.. then tune it.. should be much better.. guessing with all that you'd probably be in the high 14 sec 1/4 range.

Best bang for the buck is a turbo setup.