Car Mods

[seasonalskier2006]

This might be the wrong forum but what the heck. Does any one know of any mods i can do to my car in the garage that wont cost a ton of money and will help to increase my fuel economy and my horsepower?

Any Help is appriciated!

PS: would a cold air induction help? and how much would i be spending on a 94' taurus 3.0L V6.

[sv650s]

you can't have the best of both worlds....when you increase horsepower your engine's gonna work harder therefore use more fuel.

to gain horsepower: just start off with intake/headers/enxhaust/underdrive pulley


if you want both the best way is to just decrease weight off your car

[302exploder]

supposedly the tornado, throttle body spacers, mass air flow spacers, and things like that will increase mileage, but i haven't tried them. also, some of this doesn't come cheap. there isn't really any cheap way to get miracuously high mileage or everybody would be doing it.

[Drewet88]

Originally Posted by 302exploder

supposedly the tornado, throttle body spacers, mass air flow spacers, and things like that will increase mileage, but i haven't tried them. also, some of this doesn't come cheap. there isn't really any cheap way to get miracuously high mileage or everybody would be doing it.

The "tornado" doesn't work just search the forums its been proven many times that it would cause more harm than good, you wouldn't get better mileage and you would lose horsepower. I'm guessing everything else would do more harm than good also but I haven't heard of them before now...

[Drewet88]

hold on this thread is hella old....

everyone just forget that i responded in it...

[C2Z06]

Consumer reports proved the tornado doesn't work. Increasing overall effinciency is the key here. You can gain both to a point. After which you'll keep gaining mileage and start loosing hp or vice versa.

A motor is essentially a vacuume. The less work to suck in air and fuel the efficient you're going to be. Lets say a 4-banger motor has a 180hp potential @ peak efficiency (least gas used for most hp gained for this argument). You put head on it and you loose 45hp. Air intake system and loose another 10hp. California exhaust and now the car is putting out 115hp.

The numbers are crude, but the biggest drain on power in any car is in the heads. Simpliest thing to do here so that you don't have to purchase any new parts or retune the car is to port and polish the heads. It's been known to boost hp and fuel efficiency by up to 30% in some car but typically a rough 20% increase from my experience. That means your 115motor is now putting out 146hp @ 20%. Let's say it's an early 90's Accord that was getting the 115hp since that about what they had, they got 27/28hwy. If you were getting 27hwy, how you're getting 32.4mpg hwy. Plus your power band (range of engine speed in which your motor puts out the most power) has also increaed.

A good machinist could that the head work for you.

[GreyGoose006]

just be careful, a head-job can easily ruin your low end torque if done wrong

[C2Z06]

Originally Posted by GreyGoose006

just be careful, a head-job can easily ruin your low end torque if done wrong

Very true. I have a friend who's been doing auto interiors and classic restorations for over 20yrs. Whenever I have a project other than some minor work, I take it to him, let him take it to the shops he networks with, and even though he offers to do it for free, I pay him for his time. Here's his website.

www.InteriorsbyDean.com

[seasonalskier2006]

Originally Posted by C2Z06

Consumer reports proved the tornado doesn't work. Increasing overall effinciency is the key here. You can gain both to a point. After which you'll keep gaining mileage and start loosing hp or vice versa.

A motor is essentially a vacuume. The less work to suck in air and fuel the efficient you're going to be. Lets say a 4-banger motor has a 180hp potential @ peak efficiency (least gas used for most hp gained for this argument). You put head on it and you loose 45hp. Air intake system and loose another 10hp. California exhaust and now the car is putting out 115hp.

The numbers are crude, but the biggest drain on power in any car is in the heads. Simpliest thing to do here so that you don't have to purchase any new parts or retune the car is to port and polish the heads. It's been known to boost hp and fuel efficiency by up to 30% in some car but typically a rough 20% increase from my experience. That means your 115motor is now putting out 146hp @ 20%. Let's say it's an early 90's Accord that was getting the 115hp since that about what they had, they got 27/28hwy. If you were getting 27hwy, how you're getting 32.4mpg hwy. Plus your power band (range of engine speed in which your motor puts out the most power) has also increaed.

A good machinist could that the head work for you.

but how much would an average head work job cost?

[C2Z06]

Depends on the motor size, if they have to take it off of the motor (if so, how much equipment is in the way) or if you hand deliver the heads. I prefer the latter. You get the enjoyment of taking it apart and putting it backtogether with your friends, learn a few things along the way and save some $$$. It would also depend on the metal used. Cast iron heads are far harder and stronger than aluminum so will run you more. Example, stock 454ci heads around $4,000 for this local guy while aluminum heads are around $2,000. But that big block has two heads to be worked on and both have to match eachother. I believe he did the heads on a 240SX for around $800. Being aluminum and smaller dropped the price since there's less labor.

Let's say if you spend $150 a month on gas and the head work increases your fuel economy by 20%, it will take you 26.6months to get your money back in gas savings. If gas prices continue to rise. It will take you less time.

There are other bonuses to head work. 1) At a constant speed (70mph), your engine is working less so there's less wear and tear on the motor, 2) you get a broader powerband, more torque and HP = more

[seasonalskier2006]

well, i have a v6 (3.0L) ford taurus wagon, so i aint to worried about the whole speed thing because it is a grandma, and unfortunatly i cant afford a new engine to put into it so i am trying to make this one last and be as affordable as possable (a teen on a very small paycheck). Any ideas on how much it would cost me to have this done to my car?

[C2Z06]

For that car...go to a local car store, purchase the best set of ignition they have, make sure they're better than factory specs, BOSCH seems to be having some issues with corrosive wires, sparks plugs blowing up inside of cylanders etc. For that reason I'd say go with NGK.

NGK V-Power for your car. Any more of a performance oriented plug and it may burn to hot since you run 87 octane and low compression.

Wires however...you can run as high quality of a wire as you want. All it does is lower the resistance for the charge to flow. The less resistance, the less energy waisted and so on. Again...NGK product.

Air Filter...K&N air filter.

I can't see spending nearly a grand to do head work on a Taurus wagon. Plugs, wires and airfilter should keep you under $150 and you should get the difference for the improved parts vs OEM back within 3months and all the rest is savings. 10-15% increase, depending on the car. A vehichle that already has his quality parts (Acura, BMW), not much of a gain (5% at best).