I'm looking to add some extra power to my 3.5 and I would like to go on a budget of around $5000. I've been through so many threads with so many different products and I'm still clueless. I guess headers, exhaust, manifold, chip and a light cam would be the best bet but what products do I get and what else would I add to this list?

Thanks.

First stop would be a manual conversion IMO. If thats not an option then I would go:
Extractors
EZBoy Streetfighter Manifold
Exhaust
Stage 1 cams
Piggy back ECU

Then just keep going till you run out of money, but hey its 3.30am so ive probably forgotten something.

Kieran

EDIT: wow it really is 3.30am, I just repeated exactly what you just said :P

Get a raptor supercharger fitted..... more mumbo than all of that put together... haha and you get the piggyback with it. then possibly the EZYBOY manifold and exhaust.

you wont need anymore than that.lol

Well

There are sure some upgrade paths you could go and I certainly don't know them all but often suss out the best bang for buck combos

Extractors (Hurricane brand) and a decent cat and exhaust combo is FIRST, I believe this mod has value because everything else you do will rely on this being made first anyway. Price of this ...... dunno say $1600


A Streetfighter intake and Prosequential tuner package. On the FWD car this should touch 140kw at the tyres providing the above exhaust package is in place. Cost I think roughly $1600. I said a while ago this combo would come good and the dyno charts are certainly showing the gains

Then, I dunno about cams and the like, quite a bit of labour to fit etc and gains don't come unless you got the ECU piggyback. Could add up to plenty dosh, bang factor may be not so great

Then further down the track, a Raptor ProStreet supercharger kit, easier to fit than cams/cam upgrade and huge power gains. A few hrs to fit and you are king of the road! :D If you already have the ProSequential tuner then this package is just $4700.


What do the more experience people here say??

First stop would be a manual conversion IMO. If thats not an option then I would go:
Extractors
EZBoy Streetfighter Manifold
Exhaust
Stage 1 cams
Piggy back ECU

Then just keep going till you run out of money, but hey its 3.30am so ive probably forgotten something.

EZBoy flowed throttle body
cold air induction
Barry's gasket kit, earthing kit and fuel rail kit
cat back exhaust (there's more to be gained out of changing the rear silencer than almost anywhere else for the money)

Beyond this we are talking more than 5k all up, but next steps would be heads and pistons.

Another good way to spend 5k is to just give it to me...

I'm looking to add some extra power to my 3.5 and I would like to go on a budget of around $5000. I've been through so many threads with so many different products and I'm still clueless. I guess headers, exhaust, manifold, chip and a light cam would be the best bet but what products do I get and what else would I add to this list?

Thanks.

Sell your car. Add the 5g to the sale price of your car, and buy something thats quicker from factory.

as mentioned, exhaust, intake, then tuning...

but no one else has mentioned brakes and/or handling.

I'd spend about $1500 on a decent exhaust, a couple of hundred on intake mods (filter, throttle body), another $1000 or so on a chip and getting it tuned.

then go for a rear sway bar, upgraded front sway bar, strut brace, upgraded springs and shocks, and AWD/Ralliart (or 380) brake upgrade.

that should get you to $5K.

cheers,
.wook

You could always look into a 2nd hand sprintex, i got mine 2nd hand as well as a couple of other forum members and with an auto even without a retune you get 150+kw atw and gives you a good base to build upon.

Is there any before and after power figures for the throttle body's? How much they cost?

They are popular amongst other makes also but ............

I wouldn't be putting anymore money into a 1997 TF Executive ....:confused:

Plenty of ways to spend 5k, it all comes down to what your goals are. If handling is your priority, I'd look at:

- King Lows + Koni Sports = ~$1700 fitted (less if you fit yourself).
- Whiteline anti-lift/castor kit, F & R swaybars, camber bolt kit = ~$1000?
- 380/ralliart/awd front brakes - price varies greatly depending on what rotors/pads, where you get the calipers etc.

The leftover could probably fund a manual convertion, or at least go towards a good portion of the cost. Which for an auto IMO is the best bang-for-buck performance mod you can do.

If performance is your main goal, then do a manual convertion, and put the change towards a good exhaust system. Then the leftover cash can go towards a decent NA build or FI setup (e.g raptor or second-hand Sprintex), depending on what you wanto do.

Either way, unfortunantely 5k is a relative pittance if you wanto mod your car seriously - is 5k the total budget, or just for now?

The most sensible option would probably be to sell, and use the 5k and the money from the sale to buy something quicker/better suited to bang-for-buck modding, e.g something like a CA18DET-engined 180SX goes pretty cheaply these days. But try telling that to myself and many other members here :P



Is there any before and after power figures for the throttle body's? How much they cost?

They are popular amongst other makes also but ............

No need, flowed TBs improve throttle response, not WOT power. Except in the odd case where the factory TB is a restriction.

97 exec? do what i just did, buy a VRX :P

If you had $10,000 you could get a VR-4 Galant grey Import from Japan with 206 killer bees and AWD Series 1 :cool:

My exec isn't standard or anything, I have a brand new engine in there, leather interior and kit, why would I sell. I have a family and I'm young so anything turbo, supercharged or a coupe is out the question.

Handling isn't what I'm really after, I'm a slow city cruiser too lazy for spirited hills driving. A manual conversion will come when I can find the parts cheap.

I am just interested in N/A performance modifications that do not break the budget. Thanks for the input so far.

Check out my link, in my sig, as there is a link to the mods i have done and the power they give you, i dont know if this helps you in any way.

Put up some pics ....

First stop would be a manual conversion IMO. If thats not an option then I would go:
Extractors
EZBoy Streetfighter Manifold
Exhaust
Stage 1 cams
Piggy back ECU

Then just keep going till you run out of money, but hey its 3.30am so ive probably forgotten something.

Kieran

EDIT: wow it really is 3.30am, I just repeated exactly what you just said :P

The is the worst idea in the world. It would make a horrible car to drive, terrible on fuel for about 20kw extra power! Sorry to be harsh but its the truth.

It needs to go forced induction for any real gains. Centrifugal supercharger for a cheap option with a perfect power extra injector kit or something simple.

The is the worst idea in the world. It would make a horrible car to drive, terrible on fuel for about 20kw extra power! Sorry to be harsh but its the truth.

It needs to go forced induction for any real gains. Centrifugal supercharger for a cheap option with a perfect power extra injector kit or something simple.

why is it the worst idea in the world?
seems ok to me :confused:
theres acouple of things there that people normally do first
the others are normally when people want abit more from there engine
i cant see how it would make the car horrible to drive tho :confused:
if tuned right the car should be fine

but anyways back on topic
if it was me i would do some handling mods first
like already said, kings lows or superlow/low combo, some koni reds or KYB shocks, whiteline strut brace and rear sway bar
all these can be fitted yourself to save you some monies
maybe some rims too?
then maybe look at a brake upgrade?
once thats done then look into engine mods
oh and grab yourself a K&N panel filter too ;)

The is the worst idea in the world. It would make a horrible car to drive, terrible on fuel for about 20kw extra power! Sorry to be harsh but its the truth.

It needs to go forced induction for any real gains. Centrifugal supercharger for a cheap option with a perfect power extra injector kit or something simple.


You couldn't be more wrong could you i have all the mods listed apart from the ECU and manual conversion and my fuel economy is the exact same if not a little better as it was when it was stock. and with a piggy back you would probably get a little better economy.

and also the drive ability is great not to harsh at all.

look in my profile, i have all these mods plus more and my fuel economy is no different. i also have lumpy case, and there is only a small difference.

mike

The is the worst idea in the world. It would make a horrible car to drive, terrible on fuel for about 20kw extra power! Sorry to be harsh but its the truth.

It needs to go forced induction for any real gains. Centrifugal supercharger for a cheap option with a perfect power extra injector kit or something simple.

did you just totally miss this post?????????:nuts:

My exec isn't standard or anything, I have a brand new engine in there, leather interior and kit, why would I sell. I have a family and I'm young so anything turbo, supercharged or a coupe is out the question.

Handling isn't what I'm really after, I'm a slow city cruiser too lazy for spirited hills driving. A manual conversion will come when I can find the parts cheap.

I am just interested in N/A performance modifications that do not break the budget. Thanks for the input so far.

You obviously dont know what your talking about:nuts: sorry to be harsh but it's the truth.

O.P, If you keep the auto and want cams stage 1 or two are the way to go, but unless you have a real handy grind for low down torque, have some cam gears installed and have the cam timing advanced to shift the power down to the low end. If doing it in stages, cams should come in with piggy back after the intake exhaust mods are completed. My mods did not change fuel economy under normal daily driving, gained around 33kw at the fly, and is a pleasure to drive.

did you just totally miss this post?????????:nuts: .

I dont think he read the first post to be honest.

Everything seems straight forward, what headers should I get and what cams?

Pacemaker extractors is what i got, although they get to a certain point in modifying where they are to small. cams depends on what you want. stage 1 cams are a good basis and if your not going to do alot of mods, but if you are going to do alot of mods in the future, and like it lumpy, go stage 2 which is 262 duration :). im the only auto who has done it and i love it.

I run RPW headers which are just pacemakers re badged and tighe stage 1 cam 252 duration there is a link in my Sig of my car idling if you want to see how lumpy it is.

Sell your car. Add the 5g to the sale price of your car, and buy something thats quicker from factory.

I like the way this man thinks.


My exec isn't standard or anything, I have a brand new engine in there, leather interior and kit, why would I sell. I have a family and I'm young so anything turbo, supercharged or a coupe is out the question.


Dont mean to be the bearer of bad news, but perhaps you should spend $5000 on something your young family may benefit from? Pouring 5k into a 97 Fagna thats worth maybe $4000 (And Im being generous to you here) will make your car worth....$4000 (again being generous) mods arent worth squat and its still a FWD auto so its only gonna get so fast....

Just my $0.02, you can either ignore it or become a keyboard warrior about it...

I'm not going to keep going in the future, so I guess stage 1 is the go, it's still a car used often. Where would I get these cams?

If you saw I said I just put in a brand new 3.5 engine, I will not sell this car.....ever. I just want to know what performance mods I should do, I don't want a lecture.

the cams you can get from tighe or rpw, there are other places which i cant think of right now.

There dosnt seem to be many guys here that mod magnas, and are happy with the time/money result of small gains.

Most of the big boys do wish they had gone down a different path.

With say $10, you will probably be able to run a low 14second pass, possibly, high 13s (not many magans are in the 13second bracket), however, you will still have a FWD, entry level magna, which jack all resale in both the mods, and the car.

If your after a larger car, perhaps a trade in, and a move towards to XR8, or SS would yield better results both now, and in the long term. And dont worry about their fuel economy, once you start going for cams, fuel economy does increase.

Why don't you pay attention.

I don't want to sell my car

Stop sending this thread off-topic for gods sake.

Brand new custom grind cams are good but expensive. What I did was get some 2nd hand ralliart cams, had them reground to what my builder wanted, then case hardened, then the rocker gear was shimmed up and different valve springs were usedn to accomodate the massive gain in lift. All up that was under the price of brand new tighe or RPW (tighe cams + a mark up.....) cams.

My first mod with your $5k would be a manual conversion, auto magna's are sluggish, the manual box would be the most worthwile mod you can do in your budget. Well it would be the fist thing that's done in any budget. With that manual conversion you'll want a good clutch to PM a user on here called Megatron and you'll want either a billet flywheel made up $500 approx or get your original one lightened and rebalanced.

I guess while the gearbox is out the exhaust will be off mostly for space reasons. Fit some pacemaker or hurricane extractors, modded with a 3" outlet, then into a 3" metal cat, then dual 2.25" pipes with resinators and mufflers out the back, the rear bar might have to be cut and plastic welded depending on tips for that mod.

I'd do a little bit of suspension work then, superlow front springs and low rear springns, that makes the wheels look even to the wheel arches. I'd then go for some ralliart magna Koni struts, there complete items and you can get any suspension shop who deals with Koni to get them for you.

There's more but for now that'll suffice

A Manual conversion is a must of course but it's not included in the 5k budget, I'm just waiting for the box and parts I need at a good price. When upgrading the cams do I need these valve springs and gears?

A Manual conversion is a must of course but it's not included in the 5k budget, I'm just waiting for the box and parts I need at a good price. When upgrading the cams do I need these valve springs and gears?

Ah cam gears, I forgot to mention those, I had mine orignals modded with vernier gears added to them.

I needed the valve springs in my top end because the lift of the cams were way more than the maximum lift avalialbe from ralliart valve springs, so the cyl head shop went hunting around and found some valve springs from a honda motorcycle that go right in and allow for the lift needed.

The cams you get from Tighe do have much more lift than standard but more duration so original valve springs are ok, but having said that, if your going to get cams done, you get them with more lift and longer duration, like having your cake and eating it to lol

97 exec? do what i just did, buy a VRX :P

Exactly!!!

I run RPW headers which are just pacemakers re badged

No they aren't - not even close. But anyway...

Sorry to go off topic but is it worth while getting after market extractors on a VRX?

No they aren't - not even close. But anyway...


Sorry thought they were as looking at both close i.e two cars next to each other and they looked identical

Sorry thought they were as looking at both close i.e two cars next to each other and they looked identical

Pacemakers are very different to Liverpool exhaust extractors. Do some research on both and you'll find a big difference

You can spend any money you want on your car, but be prepared to still face its limitations.

If your willing to spend more money on a magna, than a similar vechicle, then thats your choice, and im not going to convince you otherwise.

With the money you spent on your car with the Ralliart kit, and 3.5 conversion, and the soon to come manual conversion, it would of been better for you to buy a VRX or something to begin with.

You have to understand that Magnas arnt quick cars, and neither are they fantastic around corners. A good cruiser they make, but your aiming to a bit of an oxymoron. Engine work, while still keeping good drivability.

Dont forget the car will be of the road for the mods, and anything else that happnes to break during that time.

You can spend any money you want on your car, but be prepared to still face its limitations.

If your willing to spend more money on a magna, than a similar vechicle, then thats your choice, and im not going to convince you otherwise.

With the money you spent on your car with the Ralliart kit, and 3.5 conversion, and the soon to come manual conversion, it would of been better for you to buy a VRX or something to begin with.

You have to understand that Magnas arnt quick cars, and neither are they fantastic around corners. A good cruiser they make, but your aiming to a bit of an oxymoron. Engine work, while still keeping good drivability.

Dont forget the car will be of the road for the mods, and anything else that happnes to break during that time.

I dunno, for a family car the vrx is pretty quick and with suspension, strut brace and anti sway it takes corners pretty nicely

Don't listen to everybody trying to tell you to sell your car and buy something quicker. For some of us, the fact its a magna and not a falcadore/skyline/200sx is the reason people drive and mod them. Being different than all the other sheep is a good thing IMO...

Anywho, your best bet would be to change the rear muffler to a Sports/VRX straight through jobbie, this should net you around 7-8kW at the flywheel. Then go with extractors, maybe Hurricanes or RPWs. Honestly, changing the rest of the piping would be pretty useless on a mild NA engine. The next thing would be one of those whizz bang Streetfighter manifolds and a piggyback ecu, like the moristech or similar. Then maybe change the cams, either Ralliart spec or maybe Tighe stage 1 or 2, depening on what you want to spend, either way, you really should change the valve springs at least to the Ralliart spec nitrided ones.

Well, thats the plan I have any way. So good luck with the Magna!

I dunno, for a family car the vrx is pretty quick and with suspension, strut brace and anti sway it takes corners pretty nicely

yeah it really depends on what your comparing it with, against commondores or falcons the magna is a step ahead, but things like 200sx's wrx's and so on they mop the floor with magnas. But yeah since you are doing the 1 mod that is the best bang for buck (manual conversion) full exhaust/CAI of some description/Cams/piggyback will yield the best results without going FI or tearing the block apart.

Put up some pics ....


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v622/moparcm6/DSCF7390.jpg

yeah it really depends on what your comparing it with, against commondores or falcons the magna is a step ahead, but things like 200sx's wrx's and so on they mop the floor with magnas. But yeah since you are doing the 1 mod that is the best bang for buck (manual conversion) full exhaust/CAI of some description/Cams/piggyback will yield the best results without going FI or tearing the block apart.

Yea I agree, manual is the best upgrade you can do along with K&N filter and a straight through back muffler.

Is that yours above harzdy? looks good

Yeah thats mine, thanks Will.

I have got pacemakers but my car was so low I have destroyed them. Is there any difference between Hurricane and the RPW race headers? I'll defintely be getting a ez boy manifold on the next run.

Yeah thats mine, thanks Will.

I have got pacemakers but my car was so low I have destroyed them. Is there any difference between Hurricane and the RPW race headers? I'll defintely be getting a ez boy manifold on the next run.

yeah i think the rpw's are rebranded hurricanes from memory but yeah not entirely sure to be honest im sure that hurricane is cheaper then the 630+ postage that dave wants.

Yeah thats mine, thanks Will.

no worries, i thought people might stop the "better off selling" comments if they actually seen the car, its one of the neatest 3rd gens getting around!

very neat third gen man i ad. keep that car man do not sell it, ignor everyone else. :)

For what they are, ie, a large family barge, the Magnas can be made to handle half decently for little outlay.

Now, for $5000, including labour prices, I would probably do the following.
Pacemakers + custom 2.5inch flex pipe + 3inch high flow metal car + 2.5inch catback. Approx $1300 fitted.

Whiteline rear swaybar. Approx $170, diy at home
Custom ground cams, around RPW Stage 2 specs. Approx $700 for the cams.
For real gains from the cams, some decent headwork should be done. Magna heads respond fairly well to headwork. Approx cost $1300.
While the heads are apart, you should add some new valve springs to ensure the cams are doing what they should be doing. Approx $200.

Labour for the head + cam install is a pretty big job. Timing belt has to come off etc. Budget about $1000 for labour.

Last step is to get an piggyback ECU, and a custom tune. Approx cost $1200.

As you can see, getting power out of a magna isnt the cheapest thing in the world, taking short cuts in one area leads to a overall loss of power, ie, if your getting cams, atleast get something along the stage 2 lines. Cams, even mild ones wont show much of a power gain without some decent headwork. Dont forget to factor in that your car will be off the road for a few weeks.

The above combo should give you approx 140 - 150fwkw depending on the grind of the cam.

That said, it will give a nice solid torque curve, would sound fantastic under wot, and probably, would show half decent fuel economy figures (talking 14-15l-100km)

When you say head work do you mean having them port and polished?

People are always telling me they've had head work and Im usually just nodding and smiling going 'nice work mate' when really in my head its a bit more of "What the hell is he on about?"

Raptor SC non i/c kit

yeah i think the rpw's are rebranded hurricanes from memory but yeah not entirely sure to be honest im sure that hurricane is cheaper then the 630+ postage that dave wants.

Call Liverpool Exhaust in Sydney, they make them.

Yeah I'm in the same boat, I have no idea what headwork I should do and what custom grind I need to do to my cams.

Is there a certain setting people use for custom cams cause I have no idea..

What piggyback ecu are people using these days, is it still the E-manage or is there better products out now?

For what they are, ie, a large family barge, the Magnas can be made to handle half decently for little outlay.

Now, for $5000, including labour prices, I would probably do the following.
Pacemakers + custom 2.5inch flex pipe + 3inch high flow metal car + 2.5inch catback. Approx $1300 fitted.

Whiteline rear swaybar. Approx $170, diy at home
Custom ground cams, around RPW Stage 2 specs. Approx $700 for the cams.
For real gains from the cams, some decent headwork should be done. Magna heads respond fairly well to headwork. Approx cost $1300.
While the heads are apart, you should add some new valve springs to ensure the cams are doing what they should be doing. Approx $200.

Labour for the head + cam install is a pretty big job. Timing belt has to come off etc. Budget about $1000 for labour.

Last step is to get an piggyback ECU, and a custom tune. Approx cost $1200.

As you can see, getting power out of a magna isnt the cheapest thing in the world, taking short cuts in one area leads to a overall loss of power, ie, if your getting cams, atleast get something along the stage 2 lines. Cams, even mild ones wont show much of a power gain without some decent headwork. Dont forget to factor in that your car will be off the road for a few weeks.

The above combo should give you approx 140 - 150fwkw depending on the grind of the cam.

That said, it will give a nice solid torque curve, would sound fantastic under wot, and probably, would show half decent fuel economy figures (talking 14-15l-100km)

mate i got most of that and more and my fuel economy sits around 10ltr per 100km.

for details on what i did to mine click in my sig, there should be some info about what i did to the heads there as well. there are a few options, you can get the combustion chamber port and polished for around 400 inc labour. or get a whole new heads, port and polished with tri flow valves, for about 1100. or you can get your heads on your car port and polished. hope that makes sense.

lol :bowrofl: 5 grand pimp it out put a spa in there:D

all depends on who you know in the bussiness..

i've covered this many times.. 5k i could easilly twinturbo my verada, with a unichip fitted and tuned, with extra money to burn on what ever

BUT if you don't know how to do anything with your hands, as mentioned you can pay over a thousand bucks to have a set of IMHO not that great extractors 'fitted' for you..

it's all about how you spend it, and what you can do yourself.. someone that shops at autobarn and pays retail for everything could burn 5K in a weekend..

I don't know much about engine work, theres some things I could do like headers but internal work is a little beyond me. I'm in Adelaide, you don't hear about many places doing superchargers, turbo's etc.

Headers arnt as easy as you first think. Bit of an annoying job to do at home on the garage floor due to lack of space, lol.

Fuel economy depends on how you drive, but be prepared, once you start doing some engine work, fuel economy will increase on whatever you are currently getting.

Is your timing belt due soon ? Because if it is, do the belt at the same time as the heads + cam to save some labour costs.

might be worth giving Rhemac Motors a call, sure Gawler isn't the closest place for you, but i've only heard good things about their work

http://www.rhemac.com.au/pages/list.cfm

they do a lot of drag, drift and boat motors, but i'm sure a magna wouldn't be too left-field for them to give it a shot!

a mate recently had his VT Clubsport worked on there... head work, cam, exhaust and tune got 270kW atw!

last chance... the next member who spams this thread with something like:

"buy another car"
"something other than car mods"

etc...

gets a weeks holiday from AMC.

the OP has stipulated what he's willing to do (and what he's not willing to do). respect that and offer advice or :gtfo:

...and yes, I'm grumpy this morning.

Thanks Will, I might check them out, I have 2 spare 3.0 engines I might pull them apart while they are in the garage and get one of them worked and chuck it Karens car, can take all the time I want and learn a thing or too.