Help! Should I upgrade or save $$$

[teikyo30]

My Eclipse is the 01 GS, and after 3 years of beating on it I'm tired of people asking me "is it fast?" and would like it to actually be fast. Thank god I bought the manual version or it would really suck. Against most normal 4 cylinder cars, I can make them eat dust (probably largely due to the fact they can't shift right), but I keep seeing Evo's and STi's out there and I'd like to at least be able to keep up.

I just came into a little bit of money, just over $4,000 and while I can't spend it all on the car, I need some suggestions on where to begin. I'm buying a new body kit, a spoiler from Wings West, an AEM cold air intake and a few other things. I imagine the only thing there to get me any gains would be the intake.

A friend of mine says he has an extra turbo if I want it. I think he said something like a T-4 or TR4 turbo. I'm not big on turbos, as I want the off-the-line power I hear superchargers give you, but he swears you can time it to do the same thing. Of course this means getting the intercooler and a shitload of other stuff.

What do you think? Can I get this car to a respectable 0-60 (say under 6 seconds) for not too much money? The most I would be able to devote to this project over the next 6 or 7 months is like $6,000 and that's if I leave the drums in the rear, don't touch the interior, and swear off rims for a while.

Help.

[johnnyBgood]

Well, you can buy a turbo kit for your car. They range from $3100 making 2000whp (up from the stock 117whp) at 5psi to $4650 making over 300whp at 11psi. And there is an 8.5psi kit which gives 265whp. That kit is $3900.

The type of superchargers available for this car are the centrifugal type and do not make max boost at a low rpm, but at redline. Check the links below to learn some more.
http://fiautosports.com/centrifugalchargers.html
http://fiautosports.com/positivechargers.html

[Sleepr awd]

not 2000 but 200whp 200 is more than enough for someone and leaves room for upgrade at a later point

if you don't want to do FI, definitely invest in a very good suspension and tires even possibly 17" stock GT/GTS rims (not to expensive used) to get you off the line w/ less roll and less roll b/t shifts, stiffen the chassis, intake (read AEM reviews on neweclipse.org), exhaust, downpipe, exhaust manifold/headers but DEFINATELY stay away from a body kit, because if they are asking how fast u are now they'll be asking more when the kit goes on, and u'll wish u hadn't done it, stay away from wings, but weight reduction like carbon fiber, Limited Slip differential (Quaife), depending on whether or not u condone spraying, nitrous is an option, but without careful use it will destroy your engine tahts the best i have, after that invest in FI, the results will most likely kill any car you encounter (with the exception of exotics)

thats all i got, good luck! and thatshouldn't break the bank, butit may be close

[teikyo30]

I hate the GT/GTS rims. I will definately be getting rims, but I want to shop around and see what's out there. If I can get a decent set for around $1500, preferably chrome, that's what I want. Right now, because I am using my money in other areas, all I am doing is adding an AEM cold air intake, and getting a sweet sound system. I'm not sure if that will make much difference in hp, but it's just the first of a few things I'd like to do. In the next few months, this is what I was planning on doing:

OEM double-sided carbon fiber hood, and bullet style front fenders from bodykits.com

TC Sportline body kit, AEM Tru-power pulley kit (alternator and water pump), AEM air bypass valve, 2 AEM cam gears, magnaflow performance exhaust, and front strut bar from andysautosports.com

Wings West Bullet Series spoiler, and ANZO Carbon Fiber Altezza taillights from namotorsports.net

With what little money I have left, I want to get some body work done and get the kit parts painted.

That stuff probably won't add too much hp, but then I can go onto other stuff.

What do I need to add a supercharger?

[Sleepr awd]

u need the same amount of money or more than the turbo kit

sound system is the last thing you wantto do if your going to be fast, running subs and larger speakers is weight added to your car which will slow it down,
There is a guy in my town sells 18" rims for 1200-1300 w/ tires (missouri's largest tenzo distributor)

there are certain things you do for show and other things you do for go, the pulleys won't help much at all and may net less than 1hp gain, later on they will matter, but not now.
my question is why do you need 2 cam gears? aren't the 4g64 Single overhead cam?
good luck w/ it, can't wait to see some pics of the kit on the car

[teikyo30]

I have some pics of the kits and how they should look, but not sure exactly how to post them in the message as opposed to putting them in my personal gallery.

I got quoted $3600 to do the body work and painting to get my car back to the way it looked when I got it from the factory. My Eclipse is silver. I personally hate that color, but I needed a cosignor and my dad wouldn't go for any other color. Turns out he was right about key marks, dents, etc. They barely show. I'd really like to repaint the whole car a different color, but I was told that would be about $6,000 to do it right. Way too much for me to bother.

How much do you think it would cost to paint the body kit, fenders, and wing?

If I go for a supercharger, how much would that cost, and how much for the other stuff like the intercooler (if I need one?), headers, etc?

[eclipsed4utoo]

if you want a supercharger, you are looking at about $3600 for everything that you need. but you will also have to get headers. you can get those for $400-$700. for $4000, you can get the supercharger with methanol/water injection which acts like an intercooler but gets the air much colder which will add more horsepower. you can get more information from www.rippmods.com . they are the only company so far (that i know of) that makes a supercharger kit for our cars. hope this helps out

[Sleepr awd]

the custom body work guy here does the kit install and paint match for 600$

[teikyo30]

From that website, which stage supercharger is the best, 1 2 or 3? Also, the water/methanol thing sounds complicated. You have to realize I don't know a thing about cars except that I want mine fast. I can build a computer and tell you what everything does in detail, but as for cars, changing oil is as far as I go. I'd like something that is relatively easy to use once installed. This water/methanol thing, how is it regulated? It looks sort of like you have to manually fire it when you hit a certain level, and it has to be refilled all the time? Is there some sort of fuel guage for it like with gas? The intercooler you just fill once and check every now and then like normally, right?

[teikyo30]

Oh yeah, with headers, how's that work? If I get the magnaflow exhaust, are headers part of that or is it something extra I need to buy?

[Sleepr awd]

the meth cooler u fill every month to 2 months for 3$, (there's a formula u can buy at auto parts stores) it just works when it needs to, to give you the power and not run excessively hot air, you could do an air to air one, but it won't be as effective.

Headers are the first part of the exhaust system, they go from the engine blocks' outlets and guide the air to the catalytic converter (may include a catalytic converter), after the catalytic converter, will be your cat-back exhaust (magnaflow)

[teikyo30]

Where do I get good headers to go with the magnaflow, and how much do they cost? It's too bad the exhaust isn't bolt-on, or I would try to do the thing myself.

[eclipsed4utoo]

first, the methanol/water injection is controlled by a the "black/grey box" which is supplied by rippmods. its a stand alone engine management computer. it will tell the ecu when to inject the methanol. rippmods also does all the tuning, so theres no outside tuning required. its one reason that some people choose superchargers over turbos, b/c you dont have to be a rocket scientist to control it.

second, i think there are 4 companies that make headers for ours cars. Hytech, rippmods, XIRacing, and AMSS. these companies make headers for the V6, so im pretty sure they make them for the 4cyl.

third, from my understanding, the magnaflow exhaust system is bolt-on. i have the GReddy evo II exhaust and ive heard many people say that it was easier to bolt on the magnaflow than it is the GReddy.

[teikyo30]

How easy is it to put the supercharger on? And is the stock exhaust on my car right now bolt-on for easy removal? I'm talking to a girl on yahoo im who's telling me I should do all this stuff myself, and I'm trying to explain I don't know shit about cars, but she seems to think it's easy to do.

[eclipsed4utoo]

as you have stated that you dont know much about cars, then i would recommend finding a professional to install the supercharger.

as for the exhaust, yes the stock exhaust is bolt on too, so it is real easy to get off. all you have to do is unbolt like 3 or 4 bolts that hold the exhaust to the catalytic converter, and remove the hangers, and the exhaust comes right off. if you have air tools and some way to get the car off the ground safely, it shouldnt take you more than an hour to install the exhaust