Simple DIY Performance upgrades

[Rohnan90]

Hi all,

This may seem like a silly question, but are there any cheap DIY performance upgrades i can do to my 5s-fe celica?? I have already installed a cold air intake, running 98 octane fuel and advanced the timing at the dizzy a little. Anything more i can do to release a couple more ponies, without it costing more than say $500? Less if possible...

Cheers :)

[st182er]

Strip the car down, remove rear seats and spare tyres

everybody knows red calipers ad 25kw :P

[Rohnan90]

Lol so its street legal. well put tho :D

[trentmeyer23]

A catback exhaust but don't expect too much in the way of gains.

[Rohnan90]

Yeah looking into that. i have a friend that can do a full exhaust 2 1/2 inch with extractors and high flow cat for 600. Should give a bit more power. how hard are aftermarket internals to find for the 5s-fe?

[trentmeyer23]

Yeah looking into that. i have a friend that can do a full exhaust 2 1/2 inch with extractors and high flow cat for 600. Should give a bit more power. how hard are aftermarket internals to find for the 5s-fe?

Not easy and way out of your $500 price range.

[Guest]

no point in doing the internals without supporting mods either.

You could go get high comp forged pistons, but without a new ecu, ported and polished head, extractors, exhaust, etc it would be pointless.

Likewise you could get low comp and turbo, but you still need supporting mods.

or, if you dont give a sh*t about the life of your engine/clutch, you could dodgily turbo it (like i did).

All of this is well over $500 though.

[Rohnan90]

Oh ok. i kinda figured internals were the first thing to change if i wanted to add a turbo and other mods. i guess ecu upgrade is next ony my list lol thanks guys

[Guest]

It depends.

If you want to turbo your engine (properly) you will need both.

[Rohnan90]

Yeah true. if i put a small cheap turbo on, what are the chances of it going wrong? i read in a magazine that if u buy a cheaply made Japanese turbo, ur better off with a larger one on low boost (8-12psi) as they are a little more robust and less likely to throw a bearing or spool.

[Guest]

cheapest option is to use the CT26 from a GT4 celica.

[Rohnan90]

Ah ok. that would be the safest option too i assume

[Guest]

define safe.

Regardless of what you do, adding boost without supporting mods carries risks.

If you have done the supporting mods, then any turbo will be 'safe' (pending on boost levels, etc)

[Rohnan90]

Very true. But i figure being as its a standard type turbo it wouldnt be as agressive or even as powerful as some of the aftermarket ones. I'd only want 10lb boost for street use

[JDM-GTFour]

A standard GT4 only does 9.. it's small in number only.. I'd listen well to what Trent and Mick are saying. :)

[Rohnan90]

Dont worry i am :) thanks for the advice everyone. awesome help :)