hey all, im a bit new here so i figure i should tell you all a bit about myself first. currently working for defence, living in wagga wagga. car history - recently bought my third magna. first was a '94 se which met an unfortunate end i am sad to say, second was a '96 te which i still have but will be selling as soon as i can. and my latest a 2003 TL AWD with 107,000km on the clock which i got for $8600 :) i am loving the AWD it just feels so much more solid, both in the body and how well it sticks to the road.

i've never really modified any of my previous cars [mainly due to money or lack there of] but this time i am hoping to do some work to it. i've been reading this site and others online for information over the past few months. i have found alot of usefull information here especially but have a few questions i am still unsure about.

i know that the general concensus is that the first mod for the AWD is a thicker rear sway bar. but ive heard that the TL came standard with a thicker rear bar already and as i will mostly be using this car just as a daily drive and am currently more than happy with the little amount of roll that the car has would you advise that i still look into this? i know i wouldnt need an adjustable bar for my needs.

secondly exhaust. im going to be keeping it NA, and have been looking at the exhaust options available. ive noticed there are several header options available - pacemakers, hm etc - are these all available for the AWD or are there any AWD specific? and is there an agreed type as to which give the best performance boost? i am mostly looking for a boost to low down torque seeing as i never really expect to use my top end much and to alot of driving in mountainous regions. as well on the exhaust what are my options for rear mufflers? would the straight through lukey be the best option? and should i change anything else on the exhaust or is headers and muffler enough? how do the rest of the piping perform?

i would also be interested in any other suggestions you all might have. still new to all of this :happy:

Welcome. I'll let the AWD owners comment on the rest.

Hey there Raziel.

Welcome mate and well done on a great choice in car. AWD's are dfinately the pinacle of the Magna/Verada line up.

If you are happy with the rear sway bar then you may as well leave it alone.

As for the exhaust, there are are a few options.

As you said, you only need to upgrade the headers and rear muffler. Leave the rest alone as it is more than adequate for the job and also he AWD's have a tendancy to have a horrible exhaust note if you mess with the mid section of exhaust. Trust me mate, i have had over a dozen combos of mid sections and rear mufflers to try and get a respectable note out of the AWD.

As for headers, there are a few different brands. Mainly HM's, Hurricanes and RPW's.
People seem to sat that the Hurricanes have the best low down torque where asthe HM's seem to have more mid to high end power. I have HM's on mine and am more than happy with the improvment over the whole rev range. I also have one of the higher outputs from an AWD on the dyno with HM's.
The bonus of HM's is that they bolt straight on with to mod's needed and the heat shields go straight back on which is good and makes it all look genuine.
HM's were the genuine headers on the Ralliart so they have some inside knowledge there.
Other brands need cuting and welding of exhaust components to get them to fit and you loose your heat shields.

And yes, headers are very diferent for AWD's to FWD's.

As for rear mufflers, I would highly recomend a factory/genuine sports muffler(straight through).
They bolt straight on while having a decent sound/note as well as giving as much power out of them and any after market one. As mentioned before, i have messed a lot with them and i ended back with factory due to nice note and quieter operation. AWD's also sufer from massive cabin boom with the wrong muffler.

As fo any other mods, the best bang for your buck and also the most sensible things to do are ralliart/380 cams if you can and if able, get a Steve knight tune done in Adelaide.

Thats all you can/really need to do mate. Don't waste your time with aftermarket air filters or cold air intake as results are questionable.
Some say tha the stock air intake with a stock paper filter give best results.

Just as an example, i have done the folowing to my AWD all at different times so can comment on results:

HM headers (increase on torque/power over whole range) Probably most noticable mod.

Hi flow cat, (no real change)

Rear muffler/mid section pipeing(slight difference)

Ralliart Cams, (big increase in torque low down and revs hard all the way to 6800rpm. No loss in power over 5600 like stock cams)

Steve knight tune (big increase in low down torque)

Hope this helps mate.

Good luck.

Yes, what FamilyWagon says. And welcome to the family.

BTW, mine with the sports mufler as standard droned a lot. However, after fitting the HM Headers, the drone disappeared. What is left is a nicely noticeable burble. Also, just to show you how bad the stock AWD headers are when fitted with the Sports muffler:

Std FWD power is 155kW
Sports/VRX/GTVi FWD is 163kW
Std AWD power is 154kW
Sports/VRX/GTVi AWD power is 159kW.

Fitting the sports muffler and the HM Headers to the AWDs should yield a final power that is a couple of kW more than 163kW.

As for rear mufflers, I would highly recomend a factory/genuine sports muffler(straight through).
They bolt straight on while having a decent sound/note as well as giving as much power out of them and any after market one. As mentioned before, i have messed a lot with them and i ended back with factory due to nice note and quieter operation. AWD's also sufer from massive cabin boom with the wrong muffler.


would a TL AWD VRX rear muffler that i currently have for sale bolt straight up to the lower spec AWD's? if so i guess i have the rear muffler this guy may want..

PM me mate if your after a genuine sports muffler for an AWD.. cheers

ok so the HM headers seem to be fairly popular from what i hear? and i've been reading a bit about them on their site and it says their designs work from 1800 rpm + which is where i would be driving most of the time, so above that point i could expect them to give me a little more grunt and more than likely better fuel economy. bolting straight on without losing my heat sheilds sounds like a plus to me as well. although the HM headers look shorter than the others?

i've heard that the RPW headers are the same as the hurricanes? is this true? i remember reading that the main pipe on the HM headers was a smaller diameter than the standard pipe and the rest of the exhaust. wouldn't this cause a restriction pretty early on in the system?

i will probably be changing my cams later on down the track, perhaps early next year. are the ralliart and 380 cams the same? and how hard exactly are they to track down?

also. i could indeed be interested in that VRX muffler if it does bolt straight on to the TL system. does anyone know if i would need to change the rear bar or anything to make it fit?

also. i could indeed be interested in that VRX muffler if it does bolt straight on to the TL system. does anyone know if i would need to change the rear bar or anything to make it fit?

yeh rear bar would be the issue i think.. someone else you probably answer this though (it may somehow fit)...

worst case though would be to have the factory vrx tip cut off and a pipe facing down welded on... i had this done on a mates TJ exec a few years back when he fitted a vrx rear muffler to that.. cost him $50 to do.. then he sold the vrx tip

yeh rear bar would be the issue i think.. someone else you probably answer this though (it may somehow fit)...

worst case though would be to have the factory vrx tip cut off and a pipe facing down welded on... i had this done on a mates TJ exec a few years back when he fitted a vrx rear muffler to that.. cost him $50 to do.. then he sold the vrx tip

2 options:
1. Cut off the VRX tip and weld on the sports/GVTi droop tip
2. Use a sharp knife and carefuly cut a section out then seal the cut edge with those rubber trims from Clarks which slot onto the plastic.

Not sure if the hurricanes are the same as the rpw.

Don't base your decision on diamater of the pipes. Biger is not always better.

I asked the same question when looking at HM's as they looked smaller than the others.
The response i got was they were able to achieve the best increase in power/torque with that particular size pipe. They tried all combos and went bigger and were loosing power. Backpressure plays a role in gains as well so thats the reason they are the size they are.
Remember mate, i acheived higher gains than others with HM's than others with other brands, while the rest of the car(s) mods were the same.

Hey gremlin, that muffler would bolt straight on other than the tip as you guys said. Cut n weld, easy job.

Hey Vlad, someone in the know on here said they HM's were good for 10kw in the AWD's. Credible person in the know.

As for cams, yes, Ralliart and 380 cams are exactly the same. They have different numbers printed on them. Ralliart is No 7 and 380's ae either no 13 or 15. Cant quite remember, but they are identical.
As for tracking them down, not easy to find a set of second hand ones around as everyone wants em. You can still buy them new from Mitsubishi at a price. For memory, it wasnt that unreasonable the price they were asking.

Hey mate and welcome to the club.
I'm in defence also, but based in Oakey.

The guys have pretty much covered the exhaust side of it, so, other worthwhile mods and a recommended one it to put a Transmission cooler on. Even if you don't do any towing, it helps increase to longevity on the tranny. And a flush wouldn't go astray either.
Check out the guys rides in Members Machines for any ideas you might think of.

I've had my AWD fro 3yrs now and haven't looked back.

my car has just had its 100,000km timing belt change/service about 2000km ago so all the fluids are nice and fresh. luckily the last owner payed for that, i hear it can be $1000+. how much would i be looking at for a transmission cooler? and should i be looking at any specific size or make/model?

with the headers i suppose the HM pipe may be a smaller diameter to create a higher velocity flow through the system to aid in scavenging? what would be the easiest way to buy a pair of these? ebay, local exhaust mob?... repco?

I got a PWR cooler for mine and from memory, it cost me about $120 and is suited to a 6 cyl.
I know that the some guys have used the stock 2nd gen external coolers that you can pick up from the wreckers. If you get one from the wreckers, make sure you give it a good flush before installing.
When the service was done, did they do a Tranny flush also?

my car has just had its 100,000km timing belt change/service about 2000km ago so all the fluids are nice and fresh. luckily the last owner payed for that, i hear it can be $1000+. how much would i be looking at for a transmission cooler? and should i be looking at any specific size or make/model?

with the headers i suppose the HM pipe may be a smaller diameter to create a higher velocity flow through the system to aid in scavenging? what would be the easiest way to buy a pair of these? ebay, local exhaust mob?... repco?

Checkout the HM website for info under Perry's the parent company. Bolton is an HM approved eBay seller of HM headers and is by far the cheapest I've found but they put their prices up mid year, was $495 delivered earlier then up to $625. But I just bought my second set a couple of months ago and put the squeeze on over a few weeks for $575 delivered. He wont give it up easily though.

Make sure you get the AWD ones as he often mixes the pictures up on his listings and dont buy the HM/Perry's sport muffler performance package as the muffler is pretty pricey and he cant guarantee it will bolt up with the rear AWD pipe. If he doesn't list any AWD ones just contact him and ask as he gets them in from HM anyway.