SL...needing more speed...

[GTO4Life]

ive been driving manual SL for almost a month now, but i feel like i need more speed!!!!!! what do i do? go for a VR4? or add stuff to the SL?

[Nesryn]

Lol you're in the same boat as me. But I've had my SL for about 2 years now. Getting a VR4 is a good option, but they're more expensive and hard to find in good condition. Plus everyone mods out VR4's, you could always go the rare way and mod out an SL But AWD and turbo's are always nice to have. God damn I'm not being any help. Ok. If you can get a VR4, get one. They're always worth it. But if you can't, then mod out your SL. You can get intake, custom exhaust, a lighter flywheel, an LSD... or you can just get turbos. But if you're not planning on keeping your SL and ultimately would like to have a VR4, then just enure the SL for now, and save up for a VR4 later. But Teazrsnow would prolly be a good person to ask, since he modded out his SL.

[GTO4Life]

thanks alot ^_^

I dunno i really find myself in the need of more speed...

[Nesryn]

Heh I completely know what it's like. Are you able to get a VR4?

[GTO4Life]

im gonna try to some day, im just thinking about it tho...

[NightRiderGT]

I am also in the same boat. i was thinking about getting an exaust system and then see what i can do with the wheels. Mybee all-wheel drive instead of more power. it'll give u an edge when racing. it would be much easyier to jump off the line.

I dunno but thats what im gunna do.

[Nesryn]

It would add too much weight, and no more horsepower.... =\

[yourlostduck]

AWD would indeed add too much weight to an SL. What the SL has going for it over the VR4 is the fact that it weighs 400-500lbs less than a VR-4.

AWD *will* give you a better start off the line, but you'll lose top end speed and overall horsepower because instead of losing 15% HP due to drivetrain loss on a FWD, you're losing 25% HP due to drivetrain loss on a AWD (rough numbers, correct me if I'm wrong).

Someone on 3si decided to turn his SL into a VR-4, which involved not just doing turbo work but also swapping his whole tranny for a AWD one. I believe it worked out great for him since he got the power of VR-4 (possibly even more because of the higher compression engine on the SL, 10:1 opposed to 8:1), and was able to manage it with the AWD.

TT FWD's are notorious for spinning their front tires all to way up to 60mph or something silly from what I've heard, since they have 300+hp going to the FRONT wheels and not enough traction/weight up there. RWD's another story.

If you do decide to mod up the SL, its a good way to go too. If only you had a SOHC it'd be a prime candidate for a supercharger, but you can look into doing a single turbo conversion, and the basic BPU stuff. A single 9b or other small turbo would give you low lag, and probably avoid a lot of the traction issues until you start nearing the 300hp mark.

-Michael

[Nesryn]

The only thing that's stopped me so far from modding out my SL is that... I dunno how much power I can give it before the FWD starts to become a disadvantage to me... I have a hard enough time with it now sometimes, so I don't think more power will affect that in a good way....

[yourlostduck]

Nesryn, SLs shouldn't have too much trouble until they start topping the high 200 marks, maybe around 280 or so HP? Its a rough estimate since I don't have much experience with heavily modded SLs, but I'm confident that's a safe number to stay *under* if you do plan on doing upgrades.

Traction issues are always going to be present on any car that's not AWD, whether FWD or RWD. Its just worse for the FWD models..

Here's a couple of tips - lower the car a bit (so less weight gets thrown all to the back of the car when you take off from the line), get stickier tires and perhaps new rims, do your basic BPU, and if you really want a turbo or supercharger.

Basically after your changes, as long as you didn't over do it, you just have to learn how to drive the "new" car in a sense. You won't be able to take off from the line like you used to, and you probably won't be able to accelerate *initially* as hard as you used to in the past. But I can say that once you get rolling and those wheels got the traction on the ground, you're going to get some amazing speed - and a higher top end to boot.

Don't be afraid to mod a bit, you just have to learn to "finesse" the car afterwards.

-Michael

[Nesryn]

See... But I don't know if I want that kind of restriction for power that I can put into it. But that just goes back to my not knowing whether to keep the SL and mod it out, or wait and get a VR4 =\

[yourlostduck]

If you're looking for all go right off the line, save up for a VR-4. And honestly there's nothing hotter than a girl driving one of those beasts.. =)

Think a bit more about what you want, then you should be able to clearly say "I want this!".

-Michael

[Nesryn]

Well... I know what I want...
I just don't want to have to wait...
But I guess it'll be worth it *repeats to herself*

[yourlostduck]

You can always think of it this way, you know what you want and you probably realize the fact that if you do heavily mod the SL, you might not be happy with the results.

So, if you mod the SL and spend money that way, you'll have less to spend on getting a VR-4.. then you'd have to wait more.

So yes, maybe it'll be worth the wait. And the wait will definately be shorter if you know what path to take.

There's my 2 cents. =)

-Michael

P.S. You think we've hijacked this thread?

[Nesryn]

Yeah that's probably what I'll end up doing... Just waiting to find something that I know I'll be happy with. I guess my SL will have to tide me over for now...

And yeah we did sort of take over it. Feel kinda bad. The guy who asked the original question had the same prob as me though. So maybe he can figure something out from the convo...