how to improve horsepower?

[mullett]

Haha, another giggle thread

Seriously dude, don't try and make it go faster, it'll be money wasted. Get it running as well as it should have from factory, wind a little more ignition advance into it in winter, and spend whatever dollars you have spare on new shocks, then swaybars, then springs, remembering to replace any worn bushings first. If you really love the car, and keep it for years, you'll never regret the $$$ spent on suspension, and if you really want to go faster you can swap the motor out for a better one.

-R<M

[Cuzzo]

Might be a little harsh on the newbie...?

Original poster: Dont bother making it go fast. Its not gran turismo and spending money instantly makes it quicker.

just enjoy it and try to get it really clean and good condition. the money you may make? or not lose on the car will help you in your next purchase......oh and dont hit things!

[spectre1993]

Lol, you guys are great thanks for your advice, I will look into the suspension and stuff, thats the same advice my bro-in-law gave me he drives a 1988 toyota celica sx hatch. Whats the go with the bonus gearbox with powerchip?... inside joke?As for small things that piss me off there are plenty of those.... rattles,rattles and a few more rattles.
Colour: Amathyst on grey, only offered on the 88' model as far as i am aware. It's only done 162,000 KM which is ridiculous for 22 years. Thanks again for all the help,keep the suggestions rollin' on in.

[Draven]

The best advice I can give is to make yourself a faster(better) driver. then when the car becomes a limitation you start looking at mods. Until you get decent at driving, any money spent is just pissing in the wind, really.

[MWP]

Haha, ignore all the powerchip & gearboxing talk... its an on-going joke.

I think you should just drive it. Give it a good thrashing, have fun
When you get your full license, have had more driving experience, then go about doing power mods, etc.

The first car i had ('77 Corona) i gave so much shit, crashed it a few times, and i had more fun with it than any car better/nicer/faster car ive had since then.

[Silly Rabbit]

..save your money for your first bingle or insurance claim. Heaven knows we all ding our cars up when we first get them. . The more money you spend on it the more jacked you will get with your insurance company when they only offer $2.50 as compensation for a written off car.

[river]

Hi,

Agree with all the above. Forget engine mods at the moment. Just learn to drive and have fun. Money spent on better suspension to improve the handling would be the best idea, if you want to spend money.

seeyuzz
river

[eeeyan]

I think you've got all the advice you need there guy. Kudos for takin our stirring like a champ alot of people would flame on.

Out of curiosity dude have you thought about taking some snaps of the beast and starting a rides thread you'll get lots of feedback on your ideas there too.

[spectre1993]

I have thought about it and i intend to do so. I dug the polish out today and i am gunna give it a thourough going over during the next few days. then whilst she's in her prime i'l take a few snaps and post them. Looking forward to hearing what you all think of my ride. cheers.

[egamirrorim]

As a P-plater I'm gonna go against the majority here and say modify at will. Most of the guys commenting so far would have had their licence long before the current rules were in place so I reckon it would be hard for them to relate to the current licence timeline: It's at least 3 years until you have a full licence, a bit more cuz you're still on L's, and driving a stock 162 (or KH Laser in my case) for that long is a bleak prospect.
I will agree that the car should be returned to a reliable healthy condition primarily, but once that is done mild modifications within the rules are a great idea. My Laser was transformed dramatically after the suspension was changed, extractors/exhaust were next and these have actually paid for themselves over time - I noticed a 5-10% increase in fuel economy after this was done, not to mention the small power increase. Someone mentioned a lightweight flywheel too which I reckon would be the goods. Maybe even a cam kit if you can find an off the shelf aftermarket item thats not too pricey to install.
If I hadn't have done any mods to my car I probably would have sold it and upgraded to something more powerful (yet still P-plater friendly) by now but because I put effort into the project and made it my own the car has grown on me, in fact it has saved me money because I've not chosen to upgrade it.

[gmonkey]

i had 2 non turbo slow cars on my P's (Non Turbo TX3 and a Honda Jazz 1.5 vtec yo)... and you know what looking back my first car was my favourtie, not because it was quick (it wasnt overly at all with the 1.6 but felt raw enough it made me think it was) and it was just fun! youd hit roundabouts at high speed go up kerbs as a joke "shortcut" and be a general douche joking around... just saying you dont need a turbo car to have fun. I dont want to start this arguement of P plater vs the world, but your not a race car driver while in your celica so dont try to be one or it will end badly most of the time.

My 2cents run this car, have fun driving it (talk it up if you have to, if you feel you must race something race something you know you can beat e.g. colts or VB commodores then tell your mates that commodore sounded like it was a v8 etc etc cause we all know people race other to brag) <-- obviously on a track or private road

while driving this car SAVE your money... 3yrs worth of saving just think at the end of it you can buy a mid to late 90s twin turbo supra and then turbo mod the shit out of it anyone who gave you shit for your celica can kiss back end of your supra cause no doubt they wont have any money after spending it on exhausts and drift wings for there lancer "revolutions" best they will get next is a s13 silvia with a million billion kms and a dead turbo... theres always a future car not just the one you got now.



IF you must spend money now, start building something up for when your Ps are done e.g. a 1jz Ra28 celica

[senn]

As a P-plater I'm gonna go against the majority here and say modify at will. Most of the guys commenting so far would have had their licence long before the current rules were in place so I reckon it would be hard for them to relate to the current licence timeline: It's at least 3 years until you have a full licence, a bit more cuz you're still on L's, and driving a stock 162 (or KH Laser in my case) for that long is a bleak prospect.
I will agree that the car should be returned to a reliable healthy condition primarily, but once that is done mild modifications within the rules are a great idea. My Laser was transformed dramatically after the suspension was changed, extractors/exhaust were next and these have actually paid for themselves over time - I noticed a 5-10% increase in fuel economy after this was done, not to mention the small power increase. Someone mentioned a lightweight flywheel too which I reckon would be the goods. Maybe even a cam kit if you can find an off the shelf aftermarket item thats not too pricey to install.
If I hadn't have done any mods to my car I probably would have sold it and upgraded to something more powerful (yet still P-plater friendly) by now but because I put effort into the project and made it my own the car has grown on me, in fact it has saved me money because I've not chosen to upgrade it.

TBH to dodge that reg, if you had the money a 3S-GE BEAMS would be awesome. Or even a 3s-ge with cams etc. The cars i owned the first few years i was driving, pre any restrictions were a tuned TF gemini (so much rust) a tuned AE82 (Weber carbed 4A-C making 94fwhp of FURY) and suspension mods. They were both extremely fun cars for the cost, not super fast, but taught me a lot about driving, and because they weren't super quick, more forgiving than some boosted monster. I honestly think i'd be dead if i had a car with real power when i was that young, i had no respect for it back then. Thats my $0.02

[mattysshop]

OP - can you confirm if it is an ST or an SX

ST have drum rear brakes, 4x100 stud pattern, and 3S-FE engine just to name a few of the differences...


from all the posts i have read everyone has just assumed you have the SX with 5x100 stud pattern, disc brakes all round and the 3S-GE under the bonnet...

[spectre1993]

Matty, I have the ST with drums in the rear and the 3s-fe not 3s-ge. Might I ask about the stud pattern? what is it?
I don't think I need a turbo either, for starters I just don't really want one yet, second I am not allowed one on my p's and third of all I have heard stories of people dropping the 3s-gte into my car and it behaving horribly due to torque steer and whatnot.
as for 3 yrs worth of savings being able to buy me something great, I am ot sure if thatswhat I want, 3 yrs seems like so long, not to mention that I kinda love this car and not just coz it's my first or anything like that, it's the same car as my bro in law and keeping it that way is pretty appealing to both of us. plus I love alot of 80's cars and they are getting to be hard to find in (not to blow my own horn cause it's no thanks to me) as gooder condition as mine.
I hope eveerything i have written makes sense, thanks for all your advice.

[tomvale13]

stiffer springs, lower it, sway bars, decent set of pads, then realise just how little one needs to brake when driving around (on roads that aren't busy, doing the speed limit)


I, like another poster above also had a TF gemmy as one of my first cars, it had a 2.0 litre rodeo motor which was a piece of shit, I don't know WHY someone did that conversion, but they did.

it was this car (and my 3 cly swift) that taught me about maintaining speed, as if you broke and took speed off, it took forever to get it back..

But as usual, don't be a dick in the wet, learn about your car, improve your car as you get to know it more.

Pretty simple, you'll get to spin spanners just doing maintenance and susp upgrades over the duration of your L's and P's period.