Good advice; the tires do tend to make the biggest difference. However, I
did find that improving the shocks also made a big difference (1-2 seconds
faster) on my RX-7. The stock shocks were so soft that reducing the squat,
dive and roll made an improvement comparable to the R tires. Stiffening the
adjusting the coilovers on my Panoz also improved my times, but not as much.
As for catback exhausts, it's probably worth it only for turbocharged cars.
With most turbocharged cars it's cheaper and more effective because you can
go without mufflers, get nice power gains and they won't be too loud. But
with normally aspirated cars it's probably not worth it because the gains
are more modest, and you will need mufflers.
Assumuing you have a turbocharged car and you want to do it, don't go out
and get the expensive HK Greddy or whatever. The best and cheapest way to go
is to have a muffler shop build a pipe for your car from standard aluminized
steel. 60mm pipe is a standard size they use and plenty big enough for most
cars. Total parts & labor can be as cheap as $100, maybe up $200 if you want
a nice looking chrome tip welded to the end of the pipe. Emmanuel's Mufflers
in Alameda built a custom pipe for my RX-7, less than $200 and it gave the
car 25 horsepower on the top end with a lot more midrange punch. That
equated to about a 10% improvement in power throughout the RPM range. Even
so, the tires & shocks helped the car more than the extra power.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-ba-autox@autox.team.net
> [mailto:owner-ba-autox@autox.team.net]On Behalf Of james creasy
> Sent: Friday, March 08, 2002 7:38 AM
> To: J C; ba-autox@autox.team.net
> Subject: Re: Geez! (was: Going Downhill)
>
>
> id vote against the cat back and brake pads for autox. you dont gain much
> power from just a cat back (although you can lose some weight)
> and they can
> be noisy and expensive.
>
> you dont get your brakes hot in autox, so street compound pads
> will work the
> best (more friction at lower temp, get into the heat range faster)
>
> kinda the same thing with struts- wont help you that much until you are
> faster.
>
> r tires however are a different story. they make your car much
> faster than
> doubling the horsepower (for example), and its a new world of skill to
> learn.
>
> -james c
> OSP #74
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "J C" <veloimpreza@yahoo.com>
> To: <ba-autox@autox.team.net>
> Sent: Thursday, March 07, 2002 8:56 PM
> Subject: Re: Geez! (was: Going Downhill)
>
>
> > I think I'll pass on the Geez and put my next upgrade
> > into the driver's skills <grin>. Getting a co-driver
> > sounds like a good idea and I have someone in mind as
> > well. As for spending money on gazillion dollar
> > shocks... <grin> I'm not touching my car until next
> > season at the earliest (I believe I can do R
> > compounds, adjustable struts, brake pads and cat back
> > in stock... I imagine R compounds would be more than
> > enough to keep me happy for next season). This sport
> > is extremely hazardous... to one's bank account. One
> > of these days I'd like a house (or something that
> > kinda looks like one).
> >
> > Cheers, Joe
> > Try FREE Yahoo! Mail - the world's greatest free email!
|