For under $100 you can noticeably impact the way your car runs/drives/looks etc. With this first article I’m going to touch on the most important thing you can do with the first hundred bucks you use to improve up your car. BASIC MAINTENANCE! That’s right! If you do nothing else, make sure your car is up to date on the basics.
First thing you need to do is pick a quality synthetic oil. Synthetic oil alone has been dyno proven to improve both horsepower and MPG so it’s a no brainer when it comes to oil choice. It really doesn’t matter all that much which brand you choose, but I’ve been very happy with both Royal Purple (pretty expensive) and Castrol’s Edge. I use Castrol Edge with titanium fluid strength technology (that’s the gold bottle). A lot of the import guys like Eneos oils. Make sure with any oil change you also change the oil filter and crush washer. If you go to Walmart or something you should be able to get this whole job done for under 50 bucks.
Second, make sure you have a clean air filter. Now, in the future I am going to go into upgrading to a performance intake, but if you are just tuning up, I suggest the K&N drop in filter. In a dyno test I saw in one of the source interlink magazines (Modified, Super Street, Import Tuner, Honda Tuning... I don't know which) an Evo actually gained a couple horsepower with one. More importantly though, it smoothed out the power band. This shows the benefit of a free flowing filter. If you find the part number for your car’s filter, search for the part number specifically. I found one for my car on Amazon for just $20!
Third, make sure your spark plugs and wires are working well. My car has good wires and the cap and rotor are clean. My plugs could be replaced though. If you find that your cap/rotor or wires need to be replaced make sure you take care of these as soon as possible. These things can effect gas mileage and power. Now, for plugs, you can go with the classic copper plugs. I prefer the iridium plugs though. For 30 dollars you can get a plug that will improve power! I’ve seen reports of between 1 and 3 hp just by swapping the plugs! When you do swap them, make sure you index them to get the best performance out of them. You can get a quick how to on indexing right HERE (courtesy of Advance Auto Parts). Indexing plugs is basically pointing the gap of the plug toward the intake valve. This can be done by fitting plugs in different spots or adjusting with washers of different thicknesses.
For around $100 you can bring your car back to the level of power it had when it rolled off the show room floor. If your car didn’t have synthetic or iridium plugs, you may have a couple more HP! Congratulations! You’ve improved the power and longevity of your car and laid the groundwork for bigger and better improvements. That's what I'm talking about!
First thing you need to do is pick a quality synthetic oil. Synthetic oil alone has been dyno proven to improve both horsepower and MPG so it’s a no brainer when it comes to oil choice. It really doesn’t matter all that much which brand you choose, but I’ve been very happy with both Royal Purple (pretty expensive) and Castrol’s Edge. I use Castrol Edge with titanium fluid strength technology (that’s the gold bottle). A lot of the import guys like Eneos oils. Make sure with any oil change you also change the oil filter and crush washer. If you go to Walmart or something you should be able to get this whole job done for under 50 bucks.
Second, make sure you have a clean air filter. Now, in the future I am going to go into upgrading to a performance intake, but if you are just tuning up, I suggest the K&N drop in filter. In a dyno test I saw in one of the source interlink magazines (Modified, Super Street, Import Tuner, Honda Tuning... I don't know which) an Evo actually gained a couple horsepower with one. More importantly though, it smoothed out the power band. This shows the benefit of a free flowing filter. If you find the part number for your car’s filter, search for the part number specifically. I found one for my car on Amazon for just $20!
Third, make sure your spark plugs and wires are working well. My car has good wires and the cap and rotor are clean. My plugs could be replaced though. If you find that your cap/rotor or wires need to be replaced make sure you take care of these as soon as possible. These things can effect gas mileage and power. Now, for plugs, you can go with the classic copper plugs. I prefer the iridium plugs though. For 30 dollars you can get a plug that will improve power! I’ve seen reports of between 1 and 3 hp just by swapping the plugs! When you do swap them, make sure you index them to get the best performance out of them. You can get a quick how to on indexing right HERE (courtesy of Advance Auto Parts). Indexing plugs is basically pointing the gap of the plug toward the intake valve. This can be done by fitting plugs in different spots or adjusting with washers of different thicknesses.
For around $100 you can bring your car back to the level of power it had when it rolled off the show room floor. If your car didn’t have synthetic or iridium plugs, you may have a couple more HP! Congratulations! You’ve improved the power and longevity of your car and laid the groundwork for bigger and better improvements. That's what I'm talking about!
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