Hello,
First post here. You all seem to have impressive magnas... I'll cut to the chase. I joined this site to gain a few opinions and knowledge.
I have a standard auto 98 TF Exec Magna. Its a beautifully smooth ride, but lacks balls.
Right now it pulls 9sec 0-100 which is respectable I spose for a standard first car....
Let's pretend I know absolutley nothing about mods. Where do I start?

Right now I want the car to just be a little bit faster... I don't want to go ape **** here and whack a turbo or supercharger or some v8 in etc. Can we get it down to 8 secs perhaps... hell maybe even 7? (is that a pipedream?)
I don't want this car to be a street car, I just want to pull off from the lights a little bit quicker when my bro sticks his finger up at me in his commodore. OK?

I'm interested in your opinions. (be specific :confused: )

Cheapest and fastest way to gain some quick power is intake and exhaust, remove the standard intake snorkel and replace it with some piping, pvc or flexible whichever pleases you down to the bottom bumper. Secondly get an exhaust, cheapest option is just change the rear muffler like I did or you can fork out for extractors etc :) But I've had dynoed differances from these changes and they cost me around $100 all up :P so fire away.

Matthius - Muffler is worth it for sound alone

what commo he driving? auto 3L should give enough trouble to a commo upto VX series if they using a 3.8l ecotec, gotta nail the launch tho if only short drags, longer the run the more the commo runs outta breathe

i've said it before and i'll say it again, the first 3 mods i would consider for an N/A car is Intake, Exhaust and a Chip, get the thing breathing and tuned better will see better fuel economy and better performance

Intake:
-Pod ($220) or a Panel filter ($120), not much different (if u wanna read the debates search for "pod vs panel" threads) just get the air flowing better into the intake if you go a pod make sure you shield it off from the hot air of the engine bay

-CAI (Cold Air Intake) Get cooler air from the bumper up into the engine bay (search for CAI threads) theres is a DIY Kit which is $100 without a pod filter (is designed for a pod)

-Flowed Throttle Body, just to get the throttle body air in a little quicker, doesnt make your car faster as such but make the air move better and the throttle response is better... i think its $100 or so dollars including exchanging your stock throttle body, contact EZ Boy


Exhaust:
The magna exhaust is already a mandrel bent system but restricted to 2.25" so you have some opions

-Replace rear muffler with a straight thru design, this will release some ponies most people go for Lukey, Redback, Magnaflow, Xforce mufflers also Cannons are popular (cost vary from $200-$400 depending on muffler and labour costs of the shop)

-2.5" cat back piping for some extra flow, should only cost around $100?? extra ontop of the installation of the muffler, will get the air moving better form exhaust

-Extractors, few companys that do them, RPW, Pacemaker, Genie, Wildcat. Pacemaker seems to be a favourite because of the price ($400 or so then another $100 for installation) RPW cost alot nearly twice as much but you will only gain maybe 1-2kW over Pacies, Genie and Wildcat not as well known so i cant comment on them

- Last option is a full exhaust done, which is bascially everything redone using 2.5" mandrel bends (if u go press bent make sure its say 3" so the diamatre is really 2.5") extractors in one whole hit (this is the option im looking at) mr_mbquart is the only person who springs to mind who has had a full exhaust done (By RPW) gains seem to have been had from getting it done, tho whether it was worth the extra cost... i have no idea on the price BTW

Chip:
-3 main chip that are used, G-Reddy, Unichip, Haltech. Steer clear of things like Powerchip or any 'pre-programmed' chip because it wont yeild anywhere near the results of the ones i mentioned above
- Will cost around $1200 all up for the chip/software/install/tuning, might be al ittle less if it picked up second hand

thats all i can think of for now, after all this u can branch of into other areas like cams and porting and polishing but that starts getting REAL expensive

Thanks guys that is quite helpful. My bro has a VS commodore... so hopefully after a few little changes here and there it will be me sticking up the finger!

VS vs TF

mate, chuck a pod on, extractors, and redback exhaust

probably 1k all up, installed !



you'll take him down no worries !

u should be able to pace a VS, VR and VS's are the hardest one, some seem to be rockets because they are lighter then VT's

']u should be able to pace a VS, VR and VS's are the hardest one, some seem to be rockets because they are lighter then VT's

i would agree, i would say VS would be the faster one seeing as it had the 147kw ecotec version of the buick 3.8l as opposed to the 130kw version in the VR with about the same body weight..

ive had a few runs with my mates VR with exhaust done, hes beaten me but coz my launches suck lol i just spun the wheels, since then ive been pracitcing launches, should run him again :P coz iv beaten other VR's and VS's before, VN and VP are easy

I see so I'm looking at around 1K and double that if I want this power chip. The next question I have is where do I get this kind of stuff... Its a lot of money so if anyone could list a few places I could shop around in the uni break and get some intel.

My bro's car has got a pod and an exhaust, no extractors tho I don't think.... This should be interesting.

Ooh, I just thought maybe I'd check ebay for the hell of it and typed in Magna Exhaust and look what we got here... Is there anything wrong with this exhaust system...

Ok, I don't know if this link will work so if it doesn't check out Ebay, and search for Magna Exhaust:

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=50140&item=4552477280&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW#ebayphotohosting

what city do you live in

might help us in guiding you in the right direction

A full system is best done in one hit if your considering it, it does cut down on labor costs. as long as your exhaust guy doesnt suck, you should probably end up with a good result.

Oh right this might help :doubt:
I live in Melbourne. Dingley suburb.

Yeah getting it all in one hit does sound more logical. maybe get a deal...

if u wanted to race u should have bought a manual (it's only a peaky short stroke 3.0L pulling 1470kg through a high geared 4 speed slush box)....but if ur stuck with it go straight to forced induction...or a manual conversion....
For cheap mods get a....
-Lukey AL4-5597 muffler for $150 from your local exhaust shop, get an additional hotdog resonator (to stop droning)...
-Get a K&N Panel filter & cut part of the bonnet seal (blocking the intake snorkel) and remove plastic panel behind grill (also blocking intake).
-NGK Iridium spark plugs & low viscosity oil (ie Castrol Formula R 0W-40).
-Sounds like u need new tyres...dont get the stock size 205/65 get 215/60 (ie bridgestone Grid 3)
-Get your throttle body high flowed from EZboy...(will help u get off the line better)
Cheers

Hi Green, I don't want to race.. not skilled enough.
I just want to get a bit more performance out of the engine I got. In your opinion Green, you reckon its worth getting a new exhaust with extractors? Will there be a significant gain in performance?

if u wanted to race u should have bought a manual (it's only a peaky short stroke 3.0L pulling 1470kg through a high geared 4 speed slush box)....but if ur stuck with it go straight to forced induction...or a manual conversion....
For cheap mods get a....
-Lukey AL4-5597 muffler for $150 from your local exhaust shop, get an additional hotdog resonator (to stop droning)...
-Get a K&N Panel filter & cut part of the bonnet seal (blocking the intake snorkel) and remove plastic panel behind grill (also blocking intake).
-NGK Iridium spark plugs & low viscosity oil (ie Castrol Formula R 0W-40).
-Sounds like u need new tyres...dont get the stock size 205/65 get 215/60 (ie bridgestone Grid 3)
-Get your throttle body high flowed from EZboy...(will help u get off the line better)
Cheers

Actually it's not peaky at all, the torque curve is strong from idle to 5400 :) only a 20nm variation, makes an ls1 chevy look very peaky.

see here
http://www.aussiemagna.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=9482

Matthius

Hi Green, I don't want to race.. not skilled enough.
I just want to get a bit more performance out of the engine I got. In your opinion Green, you reckon its worth getting a new exhaust with extractors? Will there be a significant gain in performance?
exhaust will give u a nice improvement but nothing spectacular...just dont spend up big on a complete cat back system...as mentioned just get the bolt on Lukey muffler and Pacemaker extractors....
Get yourself a high flowed throttle body from EZboy...
also get the rest of ur ride running smooth as well...ie Low viscosity oil / Iridium plugs / remove the seals & plastic bloking the intake snorkel and a get a K&N panel filter..
(also a higher stall converter will help get your revs up @ launch but no one with an auto is hardcore enough to get one)
Lukey $160
Pacemaker $550 (installed)
Throttle body $100?
Panel filter $120
cheers!

Thanks for all the help people. I'll hunt around, and post when I get something.