need more power

[sanantonio]

My 13 stock car doesnt give me enough power so i want to have more power. But dont know where to go? Do you guys know any place who has experience around San Antonio area?

 

[MSMS3]

A place? You do not need a shop or tuner to install a simple SRI or CAI intake. That's your first step. And no, don't ask us which one. Search and read the threads here. Do not fall into the cat back exhaust trap. Your stock CBE is excellent and you'll see no significant gains by changing that. Don't think you can get more power with a change in your bypass valve, either.

Next step would be a tune, either simple plug and play Hypertech, which is very effective, or the more advanced, but potentially dangerous Cobb Access Port (AP). After that, you move to a 3" catted or catless downpipe and midpipe (racepipe). You can install the racepipe alone yourself in about 20 minutes.

With the downpipe and tune, you will need to upgrade the fuel pump internals as you will begin exceeding the pump's output.

The best cheap, quick and safe way to start would be:

1. Simple SRI intake
2. Simple straight racepipe to replace the secondary catted midpipe.
3. Plug and play Hypertech.
4. Manual boost gauge.

These mods will produce nice gains with quick and easy self install and can serve as the building blocks for other mods that might require a shop or tuner to help you if you are not mechanically inclined.

 

[Redline_Tuner]

First AccessPORT + upgraded fuel pump internals. You're in Texas (like me), so you shouldn't have issues finding ethanol. So, after AP+internals, get a good intake and a catless testpipe. Then, get eTuned for an ethanol mix (25 or 30%/volume). At that point you'll have 300+whp with minimal mods.

And I respectfully disagree with MSMS3 about the catback offering no performance gains. At ~300, you'll see ~10whp (I've seen logs that prove it). As I was tuning with my BNR S3 turbo, going full 3-inch exhaust broke through the ~360whp barrier I was hitting. I gained a solid 25whp/20wtq by going full 3-inch (I have logs showing this too). Nothing was different with the tune, just the 3-inch. I had to actually turn the boost down because I was making too much power and didn't feel the rods were so safe anymore. Bang for the buck-wise, a catback isn't the best method of gaining more power. And it's not a major restriction until you start getting 350+whp. But gains definitely are to be had, especially at the 350+ level, but even still at the 300whp level too.

 

[MSMS3]

I think we are saying the same thing regarding the CBE. For a guy running a stock intake and stock tune, as is OP at the present, a CBE makes no meaningful power gain, nor does it on the K04 stock turbo until you are at or above the 300 whp level from other mods. You pretty much have to be fully bolted or running ethanol blends on a custom tune to get there.

I'm at 300-310 whp with my mods in sig below. I've run this car with the CBE attached and with it unbolted from the catless dp/rp. 60 ft, 0-60, 60-100 and quarter mile times both ways are the same within the margin of error.

I have no doubt that if you cross the 300 whp level, adding a 3" CBE will produce meaningful gains. Until then, you are only buying an expensive change in sound.

Redline's solution is a valid one, but far more expensive than the one I propose. It also ties you to a tuner and availability of ethanol. I don't have ready access to it here, and if you travel, you might find it difficult or impossible to find. I'd have to drive over a hundred miles.

An ethanol tune also requires exact mixing to maintain optimal performance which is dialed in the tune to that mix.

I am also concerned about fuel pump damage from ethanol mixes. The so-called "Black Death" pump damage, reported over in the MSF board once the mix reaches a certain point, deters me. No solution seems to have been found, beyond keeping the ethanol percent down.

If going ethanol or going with a big turbo, AP and an expensive custom tune is the route to go.

If a safe and inexpensive 300 whp on the stock turbo is acceptable, my solution may make more sense. BTW I'm about to turn 96,000 trouble free miles and have been running all my power mods since about the 10,000 mile mark. The car still turns 13.2 quarters at 106-107 with my horrible launches.

 

[Redline_Tuner]

Yeah, I think we basically are on the same page. You don't really see good returns on an exhaust until your car really needs the flow--i.e., >300whp. I was just addressing the idea that exhaust is basically just a noise mod. Lots of people repeat this idea without qualification. It's just not true. Not always, anyways. Definitely not at higher power levels, even on K04.

I actually think AP+Internals+Intake+Testpipe and Tune is the cheapest route to 300whp. Get a used AP V2 for $400, Internals for $350, Intake for maybe $250 (for a shiny, new full intake system), OBX or EBay Testpipe for $100 and a $200 eTune. That's only $1300. An we're talking about going from ~230-235whp/250-255wtq (full stock Mazdaspeed) to 300+whp/365+wtq. ~70whp/~110wtq for $1300 is s STEAL, LOL. Actually, some of the really nice catbacks cost nearly that much (to bring it back to the whole catback question--whether or not it'd be a wise investment). I honestly think there's not a dyno-verified cheaper way to even come close to these results. I'd love to be proved wrong with actual dyno graphs.

Black Death is a valid concern. But it's pretty well-known now that the issue only consistently occurs at ethanol concentrations greater than 45 or 50%. And you simply don't need to run that much ethanol to reach MBT timing levels. On a K04 car, E30 (30% ethanol/volume) is way more than enough KR protection to extract max power through timing. I've tuned several local guys on this concentration, and they were all able to run 19 or 20 degrees max timing advance with 0 KR. They have no issues with Black Death. Nor do I at my current E28. I did have to clean my spill valve once when I ran 50/50. From then on I stayed below E40 and have never had a single issue for 20,000+ miles (and counting).

Mixing isn't too hard either, but definitely is a bother for some. The easy fix is to do a 12 gallon mix where you put in 3.5 gallons of E85 and 8.5 of 93 (to achieve ~E30). If you always only fill up when you can put in the full 12 gallons and follow this procedure, your mix won't drift in concentration. It is a slight bother to give up topping off and having to time your fill-ups, but those who have done so consistently and vehemently agree that the performance is well worth it.

TL;DR Ethanol is king, though takes some prep.