Non sports car performance upgrades
 

ok, so i recently purchased a 98 jeep ZJ with the 4.0 i6, and am.... ahem, sad i didnt get a 5spd, as every car i have owned pryor to has been... however, this isnt my current quarrel.
im looking to get the best bang for my buck when it comes to performance, and spending under 1500 for upgrades.... im looking to get a cold air kit with no less then a k+n filtercharger, borla, or magnaflow exahaust, and a replacement, re-flashed, or piggyback chip to gain much more torque.
the stock jeep is 185hp, and 225 ft.-lb, which is suitable for non gear-heads.
if i were to imagine with a proper system i described above, i should get at least 40 more hp/ ft.-lb.
any sugestions of brand chip i should go with?

also, 4wheel low doesnt want to engage easily, (no success yet) any ideas with the zj

not to be a bummer or anything, but someone needs to tell you.....



....you wont get 40 hp from the mods you have mentioned....and chips are close to worthless unless they are tuned specifically for your engine(as in, they sit at the dyno with you tuning it) and even then it's not an enormous gain. and then if you ever add mods or take em away you have to get it retuned.

oh really, im sorry you have such a small engine to have such low gains.... and since my post, i have researched various chips to find dynos for a chip alone puching 25 more hp and 33ft. lbs. built specific to a WELL devolped and established motor, and adding a free flowing cat, and borla exhaust wont puch much more by themselves, other then gas milage, which is why the chip is tuned to these specifics.
besides, if a 5.7 vette can be increased in power by hp96/92ft.lb with intake, exahaust/chip..... whats to stop mine from approaching 40/40??

thankfully, my long length intake runners give my (heavy) car decent pulling power.

albiet, your car is likely *quicker* then mine, id much rather have any naturally aspirated motor to mod up then a turbo (i owned a tuned saab 9000t) methinks i asked the wrong person for tuning advice..... i wouldnt doubt id be able to win under any weather conditions if i did the previous mods, and a ported and polished heads...... let alone i had a single garret T3/4 hybrid running off my motor.
the main thing i dislike about my engine is the fact it isn't a v8, where in any vehicle, HUGE potential awaits the proper tuner to have a trans to match it.

in case you didnt notice, hp is a figure of the difference of rpm, and torque.... so, in the real world, that is what matters most..... a broad torque curve... or line if the case could so be.....
well, im ranting on
l8er, and good luck with your engine tuning knowhow, and enginuty

I'm with brijoel... I doubt you can have a 20% increase in power with just the mods you listed.. maybe a 10% yes.. ok I'm not really into big engines, but still, to gain hp is difficult and BTW... the same mod on a car can give maybe a 20 hp increse when on an identical car the result could be a mere 5 hp...

IMO to be sure to have 40 extra horsies, chip, filter and exhaust are not enough

this isnt a matter of displacement alone man. ive helped people with everything from 1.6 liter mr2 motors to ls1's. i have never seen or head of an ls6 gain nearly 100 hp from exhaust intake and chip alone....please post a link or something at least, and not some manufacturer's website either, we all know thats purely selling ploys. hell, the 5.0 mustang boys dont even make 40 hp from what you are talking about, and that is a horribly low tuned engine for what it should make, and you want to compare your 4 liter 6 cyl to a higher performance 5.7 liter v8.
you feel sorry for me having one of the most overbuilt, well responding to mods, turbocharged, 4 bangers in the world eh....lol, low gains....do you realize given the ported head and larger turbo(what you spoke of for your jeep) on a 3sgte tuned properly....and you'd be making close to 400 whp on stock internals....which has been done MANY times. you'd be lucky to make 250 whp on stock internals on your big bad 4.0 6 cyl....lol, how's this? i feel sorry for you for having a weak internaled, slow revving, oversized paperweight of a 6 cylinder motor.
you would rather have an n/a motor to tune, but talk about turbocharging your jeep..... to beat me in a race.....lol. sorry, ive done the n/a thing, waaaay more expensive, and less results. also, v8's arent the only way to make power as you seem to think. i may drive 2 imports, but i can appreciate other vehicle's performance, and my first post was not to try and put down your car or tell you to not do anything to it. it was simply meant to tell you not to be dissappointed when you dont get as much out of it as you were hoping.
and lol, you challenging me to a race or something? i have a hard time believing your jeep even turbocharged would keep up with a 280whp mr2.....
i also realize hp isnt everything, but also in REAL WORLD conditions it takes hp to actually accelerate on, torque is nice to pull off the line, but you have to be making some hp to match. there is a reason race motors generally are setup to make a whole lot more hp and not be so concerned about bottom end.
believe what ya want about how much power you will make. i just ask that you go get it dynoed and give all of us a looksy when you get those modifications done. :roll:

Jesus Brijoel I think you hit a few nerves.

hehehe .......... :agrue:

it would seem that way huh..........lol. :roll: :wink:

brijoel, sorry to have lashed out a bit harsh...... i suppose im just a bit attatched to my current vehicle to let it take some flack. albiet i am not a fan of most japanese imports, a car is linked to the person who owns it, and i would love racing the import as much as anything, weather i win or (loose ~i have a heavy suv for cryin out loud) it is just as much fun to meet other people who love to accellerate. its all about the fun.
you are cirtainly correct in that with specific mods on a unique basis, i would need to dyno it with the computer map properly adjusted.

perhaps a better question would be recomendations to get hp/torque gains of that nature, what would you do?
and yes, id love to race anybody, or take it way off the road in some trails and 2-tracks

http://tstarproducts.com/tshome/index.do
485 hp zo6

eh..... in my absence of thought, i left out many other upgrades id need to affix to my engine, eg boost controlers, injectors, fuel pump/pressure regulator..... and others....
anyway, my jeep is obviously not a race car, but id like it to do its job with a bit more pull
ty for the words of wisdom TT, brijoel

well...forget what they say .....

if u had some cash ...just transplant a BMW M5 engine to your jeep ...i am sure that will really be a wolf in sheeps clothing ...dont u say ?? :P :P

if you really wanted it to do its purpose with more pull, id say the usual intake exhaust stuff just to give room to breathe later. dont bother with a turbo if you were looking for forced induction i'd rather go supercharger, aftercooler, injectors and fuel pump on a low boost setup for off-road with the linear power feed of a roots s/c. and maybe get a decent fuel curve tune at a reputable dyno house. that's really the only way to get a nice big power increase(for a smallish amount) without doing a rediculous amount of head and valvetrain work, making the car feel like crap down low. none the less you will end up spending sooo much more doing n/a over supercharged and be lucky to get half the ability.
my other suggestion......do a v8 swap, perhaps the v8 from the grand cherokee? massive torque, not much more hp, but it will feel faster with your butt dyno. ive heard of several other options. no matter what you choose though, get a better torque converter, that would be essential to a performance setup as well.

my final say, wait until you have a better platform to work off of if you want a lil more speed, or if you want to stay offroad, stick with the jeep, they truely are one of the best offroaders you can buy, and maybe try to get a safe small boost.

Just read a book on modern engine tuning. You might want to read up on one written by a pro to explain the details. Not all mods are useful, and it is not about branded stuff that work. Everything is about pulling the potential from your present engine. BUT..... that is a long dry book to read though, haha....