Cheapest way to get more power from an NA engine?

[BlackSupra]

Forgive if I sound like I'm getting upset but I'm tired of reading this. For the hundredth time I have planned a conversion for later down the track and money is being saved away. I just want to enjoy the car a bit more now you see.

You will look back and hate yourself for spending your money on it. Don't let me say 'i told you so' next year.

How do i know this, because i've done this with an MA61 already. Just ask Draven and Ed_jza80 and they will both tell you the same thing with their 61's.

I'm sorry its not what you want to hear about how to do something in the short term, but as most people say 'listen to your parents, they know best', its because they have been there and done that.

Spend $1000 on your 5me now and sell it for $300 next year.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

[Billzilla]

Gees' guys... let it go!!!!!

the flywheel is going to make 5/8ths of F*#% All at the end of the day so is fiddeling with the timing and mixtures your talking about gains of only a few kw's

No, a light flywheel can make quite a big difference. I've done it. You'd normally expect to only notice the difference in the lower gears, but when I went from the stock 7kg 4AGE flywheel to an alloy 3kg I could really notice the difference in 4th and 5th gears.

[RObErT_RaTh]

Spend $1000 on your 5me now and sell it for $300 next year.

This is what you aren't hearing.... I would never spend $1000 on my 5ME, 200-300 at MOST. I'm saving 1-2k for a new engine, not stupid enough to spend that on a 5ME.... Hence the thread title, 'cheapest way'. And since it looks like I won't be able to get much further for cheap (because I already have the mods) then I only have a couple things I can do and then I'll leave it at that.

[Vios-GT_07]

u're looking at 2 topic really..

1. cheapest way to get power out of an NA engine

2. cheapest way to get out of the 5M-E engine...

as for the 5M-E.. if the common stuff doesn't work then yeh dump it.. dun even bother modding it, IMO crank up the timing, fully sik poddy and cannon zorst.. and stomp harder on the gas pedal.. and away we gooOOoOO!! 300 bucks can account for something on the new engine e.g. BOV, Intercooler, set of bigger injectors, piggyback ecu etc etc..

[YelloRolla]

N2O is your friend. It will cost you more than your $300 but you will be able to take it with you.
3" exhaust on a 2.8L 6 pot - I simply would not do it. Step it up out of the collector, at least one pipe size, and live happily ever after. However I don't know what you can get done for $300. I think that is what a cam re-grind will cost.

[RObErT_RaTh]

as for the 5M-E.. if the common stuff doesn't work then yeh dump it.. dun even bother modding it, IMO crank up the timing, fully sik poddy and cannon zorst.. and stomp harder on the gas pedal.. and away we gooOOoOO!!

Got the pod, got the non-ricer zorst at the moment (no cannons for me thankfully), sounds like I just need to up the timing a tad.

300 bucks can account for something on the new engine e.g. BOV, Intercooler, set of bigger injectors, piggyback ecu etc etc..

Next engine will hopefully be 1UZFE or 2JZGE so no turbo parts required

[EldarO]

ill jump the gun and tell you straight out that 1-2k will not get you anywhere near a new engine.

i spent in excess of $2k just replacing a blown 7MGTE with a new one, and that wouldnt have happened if a friend didnt have alot of spare parts i couldve used.

basically, all we're saying man, dont even try to get anythign out of it, just use it for what it is, a reliable runabout, albeit slow.

Eldar.O.

[RObErT_RaTh]

ill jump the gun and tell you straight out that 1-2k will not get you anywhere near a new engine.

1UZ - $1500
2JZGE - $1000 (plus 250-300 for ecu and loom?)

How will that not get me a new engine? I know that it won't come near to covering the cost of the conversion but the engine itself won't cost me 2k

[Starfire]

You can do an engine conversion reasonably cheaply but your best bet is to keep it in the family if youre on a budget.

Swapping a 5ME for a 7MG(T)E will keep the prices the lowest as you can basically unbolt one and chuck the other in the empty hole.

If you want to go for something exotic be prepared for custom fabrication and exotic parts. Depending on how much of that work you can do yourself it won't be cheap.

Hell I'm doing a 3AC to 4AGE conversion on a Tercel at the moment and even that is working out reasonably expensive with unexpected issues.

[ed]

This is what you aren't hearing.... I would never spend $1000 on my 5ME, 200-300 at MOST.

A few (10-15) kw is all I need to be happy with it

DREAMING

dude - what YOU arent hearing is that its NOT doable

a light flywheel will cost you $350-600
then get a clutch to suit

a CAI will net you 1rwkw. so will a tail wind

raising compression with a head shave and crank up the timing might find you 5ish rwkw but unless you do it all yourself, and convince the machninist that your valves dont need cutting and grinding, youll still be hard pressed to escape under 200-300

that kind of money buys you oil, spark plugs, a new air filter, a tank of 98 gas and a few bottles of redex and carbie cleaner...

the afm trick, and another 5deg timing on stock cams and compression will get you nowhere....there is NOTHING in your price range worth considering mate.

just keep the godforsaken anchor running untill its time to replace it in a planned fasion. 91rwkw - fuck, just close your eyes, pretend the dyno wasnt over reading that day, smile and be happy with what youve got

and 2k on an engine conversion?? hahhehehahaheheh..... oh grasshopper...

cheers
ed

[RObErT_RaTh]

dude - what YOU arent hearing is that its NOT doable....there is NOTHING in your price range worth considering mate.

Fair enough

and 2k on an engine conversion?? hahhehehahaheheh..... oh grasshopper...

Please read above Ed.... I said 1-2k for the engine alone. NOT the conversion. Besides thats a whole different topic of disucssion which has already been had

[ed]

dear urantia, your neg rep has been duly noted for future reference. thank you for that. and thank you for your contributions to this thread so far, further supporting the foundation to your encouraging comments in my rep log...

you find me 10-15rwkw of improvement out of a 5me for $200-300 and ill buy you a case of beer.

[Norbie]

that kind of money buys you oil, spark plugs, a new air filter, a tank of 98 gas and a few bottles of redex and carbie cleaner...

Ed is on the money here, you'd be surprised how much of a difference basic maintenance can make on an old engine like this.

If you've already got that sorted, spend your budget on a home-made CAI setup. That's about the only worthwhile modification you can do with such a low budget, and even then you won't see much of a gain.

The sad truth is that NA mods are very expensive if you want to see any noticeable improvements. This is why so many people play with turbo engines these days - you can easily double an engine's power output with relatively inexpensive bolt-ons. Try doing the same thing NA and you're looking at a cranky, noisy, fuel-guzzling monster on a stratospheric budget.

[ed]

...NA and you're looking at a cranky, noisy, fuel-guzzling monster on a stratospheric budget.

yeah baby!! bring it on!!...........

[Joshstix]

Lets live in the real world here. I think you may be getting mislead by the fact that you're only looking for 10-15KW and think that's not much. In your situation you're talking about 16.5% increase in power at the wheels for $2-$300. Even in a turbo car the only way you're going to do that is with a budget exhaust or a boost controller.

You're not going to see a noticable improvement from spending $300 modifying a 5ME. You may well see a noticable improvement from spending $300 fixing problems with the engine but that's about it.