easy increase

[my97tbird]

I have recently taken over my wife's 97 tbird 4.6 v8. I've loved this car since the first time she brought it home back in high school. Well she is nearly ten years old but with only 98k on it she is still a virgin by my usual standards. Over the last two years I've noticed a slight decline in performance ie. acceleration, power, and fuel economy. She is still stock everything, just looking for some inexpensive performance boosters, am a college student right now so funds are tight. Any ideas?

[97Bird]

Start with a can or two of injector cleaner and then a complete tune-up. (plugs, wires, filters)

[my97tbird]

thanks for quick response 97bird, I did a full tune up about 6 months ago, and typically run fuel injector cleaner through around every other month. I'll run some more through next time up and maybe some octane booster on the following tank. thanks for the advice, if you have any more I'm all ears

[my97tbird]

hey does anyone know of any mods that are easy enough to install for a non gearhead to figure out, I was thinking about air intake, does changing to a high performance air filtration system make a noticeable difference? I was also thinking about replacing the exhaust system later when I have money, any suggestions?

[reekor]

octane boost is a sure way of burning out your o2 sensors. Get yourself a can of seafoam and dump it down the pcv house as directed, you can use it in your tank also to clean the injectors.

Originally Posted by my97tbird

thanks for quick response 97bird, I did a full tune up about 6 months ago, and typically run fuel injector cleaner through around every other month. I'll run some more through next time up and maybe some octane booster on the following tank. thanks for the advice, if you have any more I'm all ears

[reekor]

Stay away from the oil filed K&N air filtration systems, they will only gum up your maf sensor and light up your check engine light. You can step up the rear end gears that will give you better take off and get you into the engines power band faster and save you some gas while city driving, On the highway you wont see much of a change in gas mileage with the od tranny.

Originally Posted by my97tbird

hey does anyone know of any mods that are easy enough to install for a non gearhead to figure out, I was thinking about air intake, does changing to a high performance air filtration system make a noticeable difference? I was also thinking about replacing the exhaust system later when I have money, any suggestions?

[intrcptrbird]

An aftermarket Air intake is a GREAT way to get noticable mileage improvement. that accompanied with a cat-back or header-back exhaust could get you about a 3 gallon increase (thats literally what i got when I did mine). I find that the properly oiled K&N or Fram filters flow far superior and filter far superior to the other fiber elements. Non-oiled fiber elements dont filter as well due to the fact that there are naturally many holes in the fibers and dirt flows through those holes since there isnt anything to grab it (i.e. the oil). And I think everybody will agree that paper elements just suck.

[97Bird]

[QUOTAE=intrcptrbird properly oiled K&N [/quote]
The key is properly, as intrcptrbird stated. Don't leave too much oil in the filter!

[overl0rd]

And make sure it gets oil, they don't filter well without it.