Easiest/ most effective mods
 

Hey guys, I was wondering what the easiest and most effective parts are for the protege and how hard they are to install.

If i buy a protege i would be wanting to get atleast 160BHP out of it but i'm not very experianced in car mechanics. Please if ou could list some parts and possibly the average HP gain that would be awesome.

(P.S. Yes i searched and found nothing very helpful.)

such an open/broad question is going to lead to no good searches or easy answers.

the best/cheapest mods are not ones that make power (always).

For instance.

I would say EVERYONE's first mode should be the AWR front motor mount for about $65. Follow that up with an Ebay CAI for $48-60. OBX 4-1 header is about the cheapest 4-1 header you can get thats any kind of quality and it's about $230shipped from SPD. Goldline springs I hear are real good for $140shipped..

easy/cheap mods will not make you much if any power....unless you plan to shell out $400-500 for a nice nitrous kit. Maybe that should be the way you go first.

i didn't say cheap =)

I have plenty of money from working alot price is not a factor, but i was reading that one thread about choosing intakes ( i think it was in teh M3 forum) and someone had said an Injen CAI would get you 10 HP? that sounded alittle sketchy to me.

and like i sadi i'm not a master mechanic so i don't want anything that would cause too much of a problem (like a nitrous kit)

was thinking something like

Intake/exhaust/headers but am not sure if it would make a signifigant gain.

Well if money isn't really an issue you can hit up a Hiboost turbo kit , which seems to be pretty reliable. That'll get you up to around 210 whp, or about 240 bhp. There are plenty of other turbo kits too.
Getting intake, header and exhaust (the simple ones) would probably get you up from 100 whp stock to around 110-115 whp.

i thought P5's had 130 stock?

130Bhp....(brake horsepower) The 2.0L engines typically dyno about 98-100Whp...(wheel horsepower)


WHP is the only number to be concerned with. Just figure that you make about 100whp stock. I estimate my P5 with a header, cai and ms muffler makes about 104.8whp according to my last dyno.

simple bolt-on's are just not going to make you fast. I would also suggest a turbo-kit but if you said nitrous is too complex a turbo kit would make your head explode.

Here's what I'd do if I were you....(someone asked this last week even)

AWR Front motor mount -- $65

OBX 4-1 header -- $230

Ebay CAI -- $48-60

RR Racing Underdrive crank pulley -- $135

J-spec intake cam -- $150-175
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The cam install may be a bit out of your experience but it's probably a bigger gain than both the header and intake combined...however WITH the header and intake it would be a NICE gain.

With those mods expect to make about 120-130whp.

If you'd like some REAL power and don't mind being without your car for weeks and paying for labor...I'd have your head and intake manifold sent off to Extrude Hone for porting and polishing on their AFM machine. Stage2 gasket-matching on both pieces is only about $900 and I bet would make almost 25-30whp by itself....with intake/header/cam it would be VERY nice.

yeah but that would also mean more problems and i wouldnt be able to deal with those since i couldnt install most of that stuff.

thanks for all the ideas I will probably end up buying a different car but i'm not sure since i have a few more months to think about it.

Another thing to take into account, kind of like what Rod just said is that some of the most effective mods aren't just the "power" ones....A lot of people really love the AWR front motor mounts and the kartboy shifter bushings. They just make the car feel a whole lot sportier.

what would mean more problems? P&P on the head?? I would trust Extrude Hone with my first born child....there's no way they could mess it up. If you know a mechanic that you trust they could do al the labor for about $500 and you'd have the power you want all motor and be very quick.

I think if you're looking to buy something thats easy to just slap some parts on you should go buy a generic honda or something...lot of little bolt-ons for them and kids seem to be able to work on them.

yeah i really liked that car when i drove my friends and it was stock. One thing i would replace immidiately is the shifter . It definately needs a short shift kit. The only other thing i would've liked was about 30-50 more HP to play around with but i guess thats out of my experiance range. i still love the car and i would lvoe to get one but i can't find any near me with decently low milage with a stick, it's like all the past owners were soccer moms or something!

which might make alittle sense since they are wagons.. (P5)

Most of the mods he listed really are pretty basic...except for the cams. Any other car you get will probably have intake and header and exhaust as the most basic mods anyway.

yeah, wagons are soccer mom cars.... :rolleyes:

id say get the obx header and 2.5" cat back and womp it. thats what im plannin on doing as soon as im not poor

If those mods are all too tough, then you are in a dreamworld if you think you can buy ANY car and make lots of power with EASIER mods than those mentioned

My "most effective" mods were the first mods I did: Kartboy short shifter/bushings, intake, cams, header, and exhaust. All for about $1k, done in the garage with the exception of the midpipe section of the exhaust that we had to have made for us. This gets you somewhere in the neighborhood of 140-150BHP, depending on how good your base numbers are. I've seen higher and lower dyno numbers over the past 2 years!!