There's no "free" horsepower
 

I have noticed lots of posts recently about IAT "mod", EGR valve plugging etc.
Guys, there's no "cheap" or "free" horsepower.
So here some examples-I messed with VAF on Escort GT trying to make my own "cheap" intake. Cost to repair $700 canadian. Cost of brand new aftermarket FIPK-$250 Canadian.
EGR replacement on Corolla-$150 Canadian
EGR removal and welding in metal plate $50 Canadian
Using 12 liters gas/100km instead of 8 for a year-$500 extra
Sold it for $200...
My buddy's PCV pipe-cold air intake $5. Sucking in water and blowing engine $1200 in damage.
Of course, you can say "I can do whatever I want with my car blah blah blah we live in a free country blah blah blah...."

Do not cheap out, do not mess with electronics and sensors, it will cost you $$$$$ and void your warranty. Horsepower gains from all those mods are insignificant and will not allow you to win any drag races.
Alex

Modding the EGR isn't going to do anything 99% of the time. EGR valves most always require a vacuum source to open. At WOT, there isn't enough engine vacuum to open the valve anyway. Under those conditions, it won't make a difference if it's there or not.

that's why in the long run it is cheaper to just spend $3000 on a turbo kit that WILL give you more HP!!! Just add up all the costs of little parts and the headaches and at the end you end up spending more than $3000.

Exhaust $450
CAI Intake $240
Header $400
Cams $300 plus $200 installation.
and so on......

All those parts will not give more than 20 hp if your are lucky!
going n/a is expensive!

Weight reduction = Free horsepower (kinda ;)). :)

Uhhh no. i've spent $370 on ym bosal catback, $180 on my Injen CAI. Getting the cams for $280, install free, HP Racing Header $206, Mazdaspeed pistons and install let's say about a $800. So there by my calculations that's about $1860. ANd I figure I should be able to get around 50 horse from those mods. Far cheaper than $3000. But that's just how I look at it, I dunno I could be completely wrong.

I weigh 130 lb and eat healthy :)
Alex

While I'd love to agree with you, I am in the same boat, and its not going to happen that way. The only way you're going to get 50hp, or the most out of those mods is with a different chip, and that right there brings you up to about the cost of a turbo after tuning etc...

I'm in the same boat though. I have an AEM right now, and am debating header and, exhaust, or just saving for a turbo for when warranty goes bye-bye. I just want 200hp :(.

Chris

All:

First off let me say - good morning! Secondly, I do not want to piss anyone off with this post but I will totally object to the mods you are/have done warranting 50HP. They are great mods and done properly will provide much more HP. However, in my years of exeperience I've owned so many import cars in the past, owned an import shop, and currently own a P5 to say this is not feasible with the mods you have listed - set money aside. I suggest Forced Induction on this car as well and the money in the long run will be cheaper. 2cents. - Brian

yeah, very tunable SR20DE with same mods-pistons+pulleys gained 25 hp at the wheels.
Throw in headwork and chip and you'll get your 50 hp, but it will drive costs couple of G's up.
Alex

Alright well, like I said I only figured, I'm far from an expert. So let's throw in a chip or ECu uprgade or wahtever. Maybe $500 or so? That would still only be around $2300. I dunno, I really don't care if I wanted a fast car in the first place I would bought the WRX I was lookin at. I was just think if I could add an extra (ballpark) 50 horse that would be cool. If I can't oh well, its a freakin protege. I'm not gonna be racing that bitch anytime soon. Those are just the mods that I'm gonna do, I just wanna keep my car all motor.

a chip isn't going to do anything. you will need a full custom ecu, and that will runyou $2000+ to buy, install, and tune.

ARE YOU SHITTING ME?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

nope.

Jesus H Christ man. Why the hell so much? That's stupid. Oh well. Then would it be half-retarded for me to do all those things and without a new cpu? I really don't wanna be throwing chedda down the drain if I ain't gonna get no results. And I refuse to pay that much for some stupid ass computer.

No need to pay that much. Depends on what you want. You can pay list price for something but I never would. I just found a couple Haltech E6K's on Ebay and the guy wants $1150 with buy it now. They are both brand new with software.

Also, Unichip is about $590 plus tuning. If you install it yourself then you just have to pay for about an hour of dyno time. This is a piggyback that maintains the factory ECU.

Simple Digital Systems has a complete stand alone system for $1134. With the knock sensor and a couple other systems that would be good on our cars it's about $1300. It's super easy to tune it yourself and then final tune it on a dyno. So figure About $1500 finished.

M2 Performance is supposed to be reprogramming the factory ECU. They say they will be offering both normally aspirated and boosted specs depending on what you do to your motor. They are talking about $600 approx. That may be the way to go once they are done because they come preburned and don't require any additional tuning. Also they will maintain the factory ECU.