I got asked? whats the best single mod for my car?

[grumpyvette]

I got asked? whats the best single mod for my car?
well I thought about that, that questions usually asked by the newer guys and guys with a limited budget to spend on the car, looking at the hobby long term, .....I'm going to suggest the smart long term approach, here!
WHATS THE best single mod to DO TO YOUR CAR?
unless you've got a huge bank balance some thought needs to go into your goals
now to me its rather obvious that you plan your build to get to a goal, if its stopping faster you need better tires, bigger brakes and a better suspension, etc. but those mods will hardly be the best choice if the goal is keeping the engine from overheating in traffic for example.
FIRST ,you select a goal and do the necessary research, then you collect the necessary components to reach the goal.
and in many cases its not car parts you need as much as a decent place to work on the car and the tools to do that work.
Id say the first goal, is having some basic tools and a shop manual, and a decent place to work on the car, if you've ever been forced to work on your car in a dirt or sloping asphalt drive way without the correct tools Id think you'll agree that having basic tools and a decent flat section of concrete floor with a roof over it, even if its a simple car port beats the hell out of lying in the dirt, fighting fire ants and having the engine,stand or your jack stands tip as they sink into the drive way surface or working in the rain..

as to tools, a LIFT, is nice but not mandatory, (4) 12 ton jack stands and two floor jacks worked for me for several years ,a decent WELDER, is almost mandatory and a decent drill press sure helps, GOOD STABLE CAR RAMPS, and a work bench with a vise sure won,t hurt!

as you read thru the site you'll eventually notice a trend in the advice given, regarding tools to purchase and safety.
in almost every case you'll find the cheaper tool options, either in tools or safety equipment tends to favor the mid-upper range tools, that's HARD WON WISDOM FROM EXPERIENCE!
buying the cheap tools will usually result in you working harder, under less safe conditions or fighting a job that would be far easier to do with the correct tools.
in some cases the difference in quality is not reflected in the price and at times the more expensive tools are not all that much better or more accurate or stronger, but in many cases the cheap tools are basically dangerous, not up to the job, or basically useless for the intended use.
If I point out that you really need decent 12 ton jack stands, a 3 ton floor jack, rather than a couple 3-6 ton stands and a cheap auto store 2 ton floor jack, its because the difference in durability, safety margin, and stability makes it a total no brainer in my opinion, or if I suggest a a 60 gallon/5hp compressor, over a small portable 2hp/5 gallon design, or a 220 volt/160-210 amp welder as the best value, its because over the years Ive used smaller and less capable equipment and found its not able to do the required jobs or its not really safe to use, under all conditions,.
EXAMPLE

it just does not make any sense to me to spend $200-$300 plus on a 110 volt welder if you will eventually find you need to buy a $500-$900
welder later to get the job done, you can beat yourself up over not having welding skills when its the EQUIPMENT your using thats causing at least 50% of your problem,a good EXPERIENCED WELDOR can make decent welds with MARGINAL welding equipment. at times but a decent weldor can make excellent resulting welds with much better equipment and learn far faster. or to buy $30 6 ton jack stands if $50 12 ton stands are far stronger, more stable, and less prone to failure,its just a P.I.T.A. to find youve purchased a 5-10 gallon/2hp compressor if your constantly waiting for it build up enough pressure,to run tools or buy measuring tools that don,t give consistent readings

heres some examples


viewtopic.php?f=50&t=989

viewtopic.php?f=50&t=1689

viewtopic.php?f=50&t=55

viewtopic.php?f=27&t=26

viewtopic.php?f=27&t=1462

viewtopic.php?f=27&t=969

viewtopic.php?f=27&t=1018

viewtopic.php?f=27&t=24

 

[grumpyvette]

now build with a plan in mind,no matter what you do you'll need a low restriction exhaust, decent performance gearing, a manual trans or a higher stall converter and bigger& better brakes so that's where Id suggest you start, a well designed, low restriction exhaust and headers would be my first suggestion along with matching the drive train, rear gearing and torque converter stall speed, to your goals before even touching the engine, but keep in mind the torque rating of your eventual engines power range when selecting components, then if it seems like the cooling system, suspension and brakes will need to be upgraded those should be given some serious thought before you get into the engine, now that's backwards from what most guys do, but it tends to prevent extended down times or driving a car that's constantly breaking down or having a car with enough horsepower that will have a tendency to get you killed when the rate of acceleration, far exceeds the cars ability to steer and turn, at high speeds or far out performs the brakes, and suspensions ability to stop the car once a decent engines installed.

Id also strongly suggest building a second separate pure performance engine, that can be swapped into and out of the car over a weekend so your never out of transportation for long if that car is your main source of transportation rather than a weekend toy!
once you get into high compression, larger cams, better heads, superchargers ETC, you tend to run into machine shops that don,t return parts as promised and speed parts that need to be modified before they work correctly etc. you sure won,t be the first guy that gets shipped the wrong parts or has a machine shop ruin component
rather than modifying your main, and possibly only cars engine to the point where a break down.(and any car will eventually break down, but high performance engines have a slightly higher tendency, to do so) will put a serious check in your life style.
besides, its always nice to be able to drop the procedure your involved with for weeks at a time at YOUR convenience, family concerns, or if lack of funds, lack of time or just lack of interest , or the local machine shops promised due dates, on returning parts, or the local speed shops back ordered parts, prevent you from finishing some stage of your engine build up.
having the ability to reinstall the stock engine and drive the car without worrying about getting to work or taking trips is a nice option to have on any long weekend notice.
take your time and build a killer combo, but don,t paint yourself into a corner, use your head and plan the steps carefully, you certainly don,t want an 800hp supercharged monster under the hood if the wife needs to use the car to get groceries and you don,t want the dual quads, on a tunnelram a supercharger ,stack injectors , or other really obvious mods sticking out of the hood, if you need to park the car where its not under your constant watch and where its out of the weather and in some place its secure from thieves.
if it looks nice people notice and theres a small number of guys out there that seem to think stealing cars or pouring a chocolate shake down your injector stacks is perfectly acceptable behavior!
you don,t want to get stuck with just building what came under the hood simply because that's what was there either!
do the research,and remember a mildly modified high compression 477-496-502- 540-572 big block will provide a great deal more dependability than a highly modified 283-307-350 with the same hp, without power boosters, and a 383-427 sbc, or even a 396-454 496 etc. bbc with a centrifugal supercharger or a turbo can put out amazing hp levels and still fit under a stock hood, if your really good at fabricating some components and if you give a great deal of thought to the installation, and take measurements before you start selecting the car the installation, will be made in,and components you'll use in your personal cars engine build-up and the drive train that will be used..

 

[Truckedup]

Yes,that's all good advice.I've seen guys read a performance build up in a magazine and all they see is the big HP numbers.Then they build a similar engine,spend a small fortune getting it tuned properly to find out it's a lumpy monster when driving normally down the road which is 95 percent of their driving.

 

[grumpyvette]

theres not much glamor in doing things the reasonable route,
if your building a modern hot rod, that's to be used on the street
the complementary mods Id suggest be done first are
to install headers and a low restriction 3" exhaust,
then go for a 3000rpm stall torque converter(if its an auto transmission)
and a 373:1-to-3.90:1 rear gear ratio and an over drive transmission, like a 700r4,or 4l80e
followed by better brakes, once that's done you can work on the engine , and expect to have a balanced set of components
example
having a low 14 second car the handles and brakes far better than the car that looks so similar to your buddies car,
when his car is running in the low 13s or high 12s because, he went into the engine , in his car first,
rather than upgrading the drive train, suspension and exhaust first, like you did,
sure is hard for most guys to do!
but it pays off later when you swap engines and your suddenly in the low 12s or high 11 second time slot or even faster with a car that's not always in the shop!
especially when your car handles, and runs consistent times and his runs off into the barrier at the end of the track because his brakes suck and he can,t turn well, and you see his engine constantly overheats, and hes consistently replacing parts, parts that failed because they won,t work correctly in the application

 

[grumpyvette]

to quote=76 Malibu " I hate it when,I Suggesting ways to help solve a vehicle's performance issue.

The owner acknowledges that they are fully aware that their car is in need of such improvement.

The owners chooses to follow advise from people who do not have a clue.

The owner makes all sorts of changes to their vehicle, except the specific area in need of improvement.

After following the advise from the clueless, the owner is still confused as to why their car is not performing as expected.

Grumpy, I bet you have seen this many times. [/quote]


almost countless times!

the problem seems to be that most guys can,t accept the idea that a few good(EXPENSIVE) parts that are well matched will produce better results
than twice as many low cost parts, that, and most of us have a problem spending $1500-$2500 on a set of heads or a block when parts that look similar cost less than a 1/3rd of that cost
and when what they think is a screaming deal on the inferior parts comes along they jump on the purchase rather than getting the more expensive components, that they really need.


trust me here,
a decent set of brodix,trickflow,dart, or afr heads, that are carefully matched to your other components, selecting the largest displacement you can afford and matching the cam timing to the cars gearing and compression ratio,for the combos application and a decent dart block stuffed full of quality forged components that are,selected for a certain power range and rpm band are going to produce better power than youll ever get close to with ported stock heads and a stock production block

and yes every time I get almost enough saved for my dream parts list I also have those EMERGENCYs come up and I find I need to spend a good percentage of the car budget on other things so your not the only guy facing that problem