Petty Cash, Petty Performance
Written by Christopher Ihara Monday, 20 February 2006 19:00
Articles
Save your nickels and dimes.
{mosimage}Many people nickel and dime themselves into mediocre performance, adding a $100 - $200 part here and there as their budget permits. After a year or two they have a bunch of bolt-ons and only modest gains to show for it. If they had instead pooled their money they would have had enough to pay for upgrades that provided BIG returns.
Another important thing to remember is not to fall into the trap of "ricer-math." A 5 horsepower Cold Air Intake and an 18 horsepower cat-back does not equal a gain of 23 horsepower. Realistically each additional modification only adds a portion of its advertised gains when combined with other parts. So the net gain might only be about 20 horsepower for those two mods. A set of Stage II Fox Lake Ported heads runs about $1800 and adds about 60 horsepower, so this will be our "budget."
Our shopping list is below and has the approximate horsepower gain of each component if it were added by itself to a bone stock engine and an estimate when added with everything else. These estimates are based on past experiences with these type of products on various cars. Prices are the starting point for each component, higher priced models are available and would probably work better, but we're trying to be objective.
CAI (5 HP/2 HP) - $120
Cat-Back (18 HP/15 HP) - $450
X-Pipe (18 HP/10 HP) - $400
Shorty Headers (15 HP/5 HP) - $280
Throttle Body (3 HP/1 HP) - $130
90mm MAF (3 HP/1 HP) - $176
Chip (15 HP/5 HP) - $300
===================================
Total Cost - $1,896
Ricer-Math Gain - 77 HP
Actual Estimated Gain - 39 HP
Cost per Horsepower - $49 per HP
Now, compare this to the cost of a set of heads at around $1800 that will add a solid 60 horsepower. This yields a cost per horsepower of just $30.
If you're on a budget you want the most bang for the buck that you can get. Don't nickel and dime yourself into a car that won't live up to it's performance potential. With a little financial discipline you can have the car with the horsepower you dream about.
