I am looking for ways that are cheap (from $0 to $150) to boost performance of my engine. I know one of the main ones is the air intake, which I have done the cheapest thing possible. I just want to know of other ways to get power for cheap.

 

Is the car stock?

 

as far as I know, bone stock except the shift improver kit in the tranny.

 

Well I would go for a new intake manifold,carb spacer and a new exhaust(headers,catback,muffler).I know you said $0-150 but those are the first things to upgrade.

 

Intake manifold and carb spacer are a waste.

The first and foremost thing is a complete exhaust; every piece, starting at the heads, and proceeding to the rear bumper.

Before messing with that, I'd suggest fixing your other car, so you have something to drive; rather than disabling 2 cars in your parents' driveway and have to walk everywhere.

 

Your crazy the intake is good for 10-20hp and add that with a complete exhaust to make everything breath better your talkin a 25-35 hp gain total. And a carb spacer is atleast a good 5hp.

 

start with a complete exhaust and all the easy mods. If and when the time comes and you want a good set of heads you can replace the intake with something better, otherwise it isnt going to do much.

 

Ya make sure you leave that cast iron crap manifold on there until you get some heads. That makes a ton of sense when you put a better exhaust on!

 

If you've got a cast iron manifold, you're one of the odd ball ones. Supposedly some of the export models came with iron. Stick a magnet to yours, you may be surprised.

 

I've heard stickers are worth 5hp a pop too if positioned correctly.

 

If the engine needs it, an intake or carb spacer may give up some power. Not on a stock engine though. The stock intake and Qjet can support alot more airflow than the stock exhaust system will allow. The engine will not take in more air than it can push out, so changing the manifold and adding a spacer (which there probably wouldn't be room for anyway) will raid your wallet and give you no gain if you have the stock exhaust still on there.

 

Why is this guy allowed to post? You are joking right? On a stock motor you think those gains will happen?

 

Dont forget the cast iron hood scoop you will probably need with the carb spacer. Dont worry though it's well invested, hood scoops add anywhere from 10-15hp.

 

This guy doesn't need to be tearing into his car and disabling it over stupid crap that will accomplish nothing. If he wants to, that's his own business; but sending him on left turns down dirt roads like carb spacers isn't doing him any favors.

To the original poster:

If you've got $150 to spend on his car now, what you need to do, is SAVE IT. Keep adding to it until you've got enough for a set of GOOD QUALITY headers (NOT the cheeeeepest thing you can find that says "headers" on the box), a cat, and a cat-back exhaust. Don't let your money burn a hole in your pocket: just put it away and don't touch it. In the meantime, LEAVE YOUR CAR ALONE, JUST DRIVE IT, AND DON'T TOUCH IT. Nothing else will do a damn bit of good until you fix the exhaust.

 

That last bit is sound advice.
The only thing I can add - is to make sure it's running well. Change fluids, do any maintenance that's past due (belts worn? hoses cracked? old ATF? old antifreeze? leaks? old plugs/cap/rotor? need an air filter/fuel filter?). ie, make sure it's running perfect. By that time you'll be broke and you can start saving up for your exhaust, or SFC's, or.... etc etc.

 

Sonix brings up a great point. Alot of people start modifcations without their cars running top shape. Adding horsepower just brings your weak points into view alot quicker and more fierce.

Save your money and buy Hooker 2055's and some sort of 3" catback.

You are looking at $700ish but you will have the best of the best (within decent cost reasons) After exhaust you come back here and we will make sure to point you to the path of torque.

 

totally agree with the last posts.

If thats all the money you have now, your better off spending it on fixing up all the little gremlins before they come back to haunt you!

Then when you have something good to build off of, save up some cash and you can do it right!

 

well I think Im going to put some new plugs and wires on, Ive owned the car for a year now and havent done em yet, they look to be in good shape, but you never know. I can get a custom exhaust made for very litle, the guy I bought my car from just got a machine that dos mandrel bends, Im gonna have him do a complete exhaust for me. I cant afford headers yet so Im going to have to wait on those.

I should be able to get that part of the exhaust done within the next month

Edit: About the 2055s, should I be concerned that every site says 86-90 when I have an 85? Are there any differences?

 

http://www.chevyhiperformance.com/pr...e_fuel_system/

I guess these guys dont know what there doing either.

 

Might want to read what you reference next time. From the ChevyHighPerformance article:

"Up to this point, we’ve added an intake manifold, a dual-snorkel air cleaner, a stronger mechanical fuel pump, and an after-cat exhaust. The Camaro responded with minor e.t. and speed improvements, but what it really needed was headers and a gear.

It’s tough to make power if the air and fuel gets in but can’t get out. Last month, we added an intake manifold and air cleaner, enhanced with a larger after-cat Flowmaster exhaust system. Unfortunately, our little 305ci engine was still trying to exhale through stock iron exhaust manifolds, a 2-¼-inch Y-pipe, and the stock replacement catalytic converter. The first order of business was a set of headers."

Which appears to say the same thing that Air_Adam posted:

"If the engine needs it, an intake or carb spacer may give up some power. Not on a stock engine though. The stock intake and Qjet can support alot more airflow than the stock exhaust system will allow. The engine will not take in more air than it can push out, so changing the manifold and adding a spacer (which there probably wouldn't be room for anyway) will raid your wallet and give you no gain if you have the stock exhaust still on there."

And that's the essence of what Sofakingdom and 1badrocZ posted. And we're still arguing?

Weird...

 

magazine horsepower maybe just like a kn filter is worth a good 5-10hp

 

And in my first post I said he should go for a new intake and complete exhaust and the carb spacer and I didnt say in which order to get the parts. I will agree the carb spacer wouldnt fit. All I am saying is they work together and In that article it gave the car a decent gain. Thats my point.

 

Do the tune-up stuff first, maybe I'm weird but whenever I get a new (old) car the first thing I do is go out and buy ALLLL the tune-up stuff (plugs,wires, cap, rotor, thermostat, a can of carb/throttle-body cleaner, Seafoam, PCV valve, fuel filter, air filter, etc.). It'll run ya ~100+ dollars depending on what stuff you get but its well worth it IMHO. I always suck up half the can of seafoam through the PCV before doing anything else, but then when you've got everything in, its a night and day difference usually.
After doing that, then I'd save up your money and at least buy a set of used headers, a y-pipe, and a cat-back exhaust system and spend a few bucks on a book on how to tune your quadrajet or whatever carb you have. Stuff like that IMO is important and often times looked over, when that kinda stuff will give you a very noticable improvement with how the car runs and drives.

 

I, and it appears several others, inferred that you expected a 10-20 HP gain from swapping the intake alone. I think you erred when you stated that at least one of the other posters was 'crazy'.

It's been mildly amusing though. No worries.

 

The only difference is the flange. One year had two bolts one had three. It really doesnt matter just take off the flange and use a stainless steel wrap clamp $10. That way it is easier to remove anyways.

 

now, all this exhaust stuff could bolt right up to a 350 later, but Im also thinking of a pontiac swap, so what is the resale value of the headers?

 

in what part of the article did they install a spacer?

 

Hookers retain value well. They are super high quality. Obviously the rest due to no coating but You can get $250 for them when you are ready to part.