Cheap Performance Upgrades????

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97TurboTaur

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Hey, I'm new to these forums, so I dont know what has already been discussed, but I was curious to know if there were any sort of cheap performance upgrades I could do?

I know about exhausts and such, but Im used to my brother being able to drop 500 into his GTI and getting a rediculous kick in that ass from it.


Also, kinda off topic, does anyone here use K&N's on their V8? I was just wondering because i just put a Fram filter in there because it told me not to use oil impregnated filters, was just curious if anyone has run with them and experienced any problems.

Thanks for any help and I hope to frequent these forums to learn up on my baby :biggrin:
 

NebraskaSHO

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I have a K&N drop in filter, with a 3" PVC pipe running into the inner fenderwell.

No, there are no cheap bolt ons, besides mufflers. And even those will run $100 each for S/S models.

Other ideas are to get a hand held tuner programmed for your car.
 

1993MTXSHO

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cut out you're 3rd cat, thats free, well whatever it costs for a pipe to replace it anyway:cool:
 

Dedragonknight

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cut out the 3rd cat, add some mufflers, get an offroad y pipe (check ebay) if you do not have emissions in your area, and get it tuned :)
 

97TurboTaur

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Alright, so if I cut out my third cat, that wont throw any codes? Also, I unfortunately live in New Jersey which is the worst state for doint anything to your car (they failed my brother because his stearing whell was too small in diameter).

Also, and not to sound like an idiot but i probably will here, what does getting it tuned do and where would i possibly be able to do that?
 

shogansta

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Taurus sho is the car with no easy bolt on mods...... but they are fun! Get a k&n drop in filter or a cone.. Cone= more sweet noise! Do the exhaust and call it a day.
 

stephen newberg

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A cone that draws hot air from the engine compartment will actually hurt your performance. If you are going to alter the intake, do some form of 'porterization' that skips the current sax intake and brings in cold air from the wheel well. This can be done simply with some 3 or 4 inch rubber rad hose, a rad clamp or two, and a saw.

There is a good deal of debate as to if exhaust modifications of any sort (cats, mufflers, pipes, etc.) do anything past altering the sound. If that gets you off, you should consider the mufflers, obviously, though from an emmisions standpoint, it might be good for everyone if you leave the cats. Plus its legal, which removing them is not in most places. But do not expect any alterations on the exhaust side to net much in the way of power gain.

pax, smn
 

97TurboTaur

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Alright, I replaced the air filter like, a week ago with just a regular fram non oil-impregnated because it says on my throttle body that if i put an oil-impregnated one in there it will void my warranty. Granted, I know I dont have a warranty anymore, but is there a reason for them saying that? Will if give me EGR problems or something if I do put a K&N in there?

Also, I would love to put an exhaust on there, so does anyone have any suggestions to what type of mufflers i should use for the best sound?
 

NebraskaSHO

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I have Borla ProXS mufflers, full S/S construction, sound great to me. Not incredibly loud but very deep and mellow.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/BORL...020QQitemZ300144273975QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

IMG 1142

This isn't a WOT run, but it gives you an idea
http://s24.photobucket.com/albums/c44/pcross_53/Taurus SHO/?action=view&current=ScannedPhotos014.flv

Outside, you can hear my crazy whistle sound from under the hood. I still haven't figured that one out besides maybe a bad alternator bearing.
http://s24.photobucket.com/albums/c44/pcross_53/Taurus SHO/?action=view&current=ScannedPhotos011.flv
 
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66goat

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I have had a KN drop in panel for 12k no issues The danger is over oiling the filter which can foul the MAF & cause related problems.
 

Motoman991

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You could bore the butterflies, bt I'm not really sure how much that would run. And does anybody know if that would require a tune afterwards because I am thinking about doing that since I have another set of butterflies and won't have to have any down time on my car.
 

Motoman991

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I need the cams welded on this engine I just had installed so I could put my painted intake that is sort of ported and polished on
 

SuperHO

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The only way a K&N air filter's going to harm your engine is if A: you leave it out for some silly reason and suck up a chipmunk or B: Your an idiot and overoil the shit out of it when you clean it.

Otherwise, performance is slightly improved, as is fuel economy. Wanna make a V8 SHO fast? Make it last.....get a 100k done on it (assuming it has over 100k miles), get the cams welded, and get the tranny beefed up.

Still wanna dump some money into to make it fast? Big Bore Butterflies in the lower intake manifold, underdrive pulley (SHOBrosGarage has these, right?), get the final drive out of a Ford Windstar (or is it the vulcan powered taurus?), have NESHO tune it and spray the shit out of it with N20 (dry shot, of course).

If you have money practically falling out of various orifaces, Ford Performance Specialists can supercharge it for you, or if you're creative and know how to fabricate, throw a turbo on.

Forget about cams, headers (which I don't even think exist for the gen III), boring or stroking, or really much of anything along the lines of internal mods. The cams are already really agressive, there's been MUCH debate over bore and stroke (do a search), and I don't think there are aftermarket pistons available....even if there was, it'd be kinda silly, since the SHO pistons don't allow much room for improvement.

Good luck!!!
 

Silvapain

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No one currently makes a V8 UDP. I've heard rumors that one will be coming out soon, though...

The 3.99 gears are out of a Duratec Taurus. The Windstar parts are obsolete and unavailable.
 

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