2g Go Faster Recipe

A note before you get started: If your car is not new it is highly recommend that you freshen it up first with a few basic maintenance items. You can read about these in the Maintenance Section (coming soon). Otherwise you are just spinning your wheels making mods while your worn out spark plugs are holding you back.

A note about prices: I am assuming you are going to do all your own work. One of the things that DSM owners take pride in is doing their own work. Besides the obvious cost savings in not letting some monkey charge you $100 to install a filter, you also can take pride in the fact that you did it yourself. More importantly knowing the ins and outs of your car first hand means you will have a better time trouble shooting problems. Because you WILL have problems, that is just a fact when you mod. Also realize that while most of the prices I've listed are on the better side of what is available there are still ways to shave prices even more. Used, group purchases, and custom DIY work can save you tons. So keep that in mind as you read about a mod and then start considering doing it.

At this point we are just trying to give your car that little extra pep. Really it is akin to what a drug dealer does. I give you a bit for a low price, then when you are hooked I start bringing out the big dogs; they don't call us boost junkies for nothing :) Consider yourself warned.

These 4 mods are chosen for their ability to give you rather impressive gains in performance for as little cost as possible. You may not have that hella dope huge open element filter, the pretty Upper Intercooler Pipe, or Phat exhaust pipe, but that won't matter when the hood is closed and you are making mustangs think twice about racing you. At this point you can stop, knowing that you've tasted the forbidden fruit and not had your wallet or warranty raped by the almighty. But should you desire to delve deeper into the dark underbelly of boost induced mayhem read on (sorry I'm in a rather Goth mood as I have Manson playing on Win amp right now)

STOP, DO NOT PASS GO

Before you go any further I have to do some preaching. Do you remember where I said there will be some mods that are mandatory to perform before you can move on. Well you have hit your first (and really only) one. The Blow Off Valve (BOV) is NOT an option. If you haven't already go back and read the BOV link if you are considering otherwise and don't even think of emailing me about your car if you have done any mods but not changed the BOV.

Now if you've been diligently reading and doing some of your own research / meditating to the sweet sounds of a spooling turbo you have figured out that we increased the flow demands of the motor by raising the boost pressure. At this point, the most power to be gained before making the leap to a larger turbo is from reducing the restrictions imposed by the stock intake and exhaust system.

We started already with the high-flow catalytic converter/test pipe in Stage 1 because it is such a huge restriction. In this stage we have continued the theme by further reducing the intake and exhaust restrictions.

So where are we now. You've spent approximately $1000 and you are running high 13 and low 14 second 1/4 mile times. Lets take a quick look at cars you can expect to have fun with on the street.

As you can see you're going to be giving all Mustang GT's a run, and their SVT brethren the scare of their life. You won't beat that Firebird yet but trust me you will scare the shit out of him and gain a good amount of respect. If he can't launch you might even beat him on a short race. Of course the Firebird and SVT are likely to take you on anything lasting longer than a 1/4 mile. As for the other import offerings, like the S2000 you will really have little problem with. As for the Integra Type R you will be eating them up from start to finish and all the way home.

At this point in the mod process you have a choice. You can continue to make modifications with the stock turbo in an effort to squeeze every last ounce of power out of it or, you can go the route of a new turbo. By adding all the other usually goodies, sans turbo, it is possible to get your car going as fast as 13.4 in the 1/4 mile, or even 12.9 if you are a magical tuner and a god-like driver. But the cost to get there will be much more than just getting the turbo. That isn't to say there aren't advantages to doing it this way, and if you do, then when you do get a new turbo the gains will be tremendous. But just understand that it will take a lot to get a T25 into mid 13's, some great driving, and you will be really pushing the turbo to its limits of both power and reliability. Then again when it dies is when you upgrade :).

I am going to assume you choose a new turbo for purposes of this build up, BUT, you can skip onto Stage 4 if you want. They just won't be as dramatic since we are now nearing the flow capacity of the stock Garrett T-25 turbo. Obviously if you get a new turbo and it isn't a stock looking one like the T28/T28 you will have some issues with warranty work. Of course nothing says you can't swap the stock turbo back in :)

The other option is to go all out and get a 20g turbo or larger and try for mid to low 11 second 1/4 miles times. However, if you are going that route you need to consider that a lot of other supports mods really need to be done at the same time rather than incrementally. The focus of this build up is around the T28/T28 or the 16g. The basics are the same even for the 20g but the order and grouping become different.

Most importantly you MUST UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE DOING. If you think you are just going to follow some recipe and make an 11 second car you couldn't possibly be more wrong.

Also note that up to this point the 1/4 mile times have been based on my very own experience and have all been full weight and PUMP gas. With the 16g we can run higher boost at higher rpm and race gas will really start to make the difference on the track.

Turbo ($785 and up)
Port Turbo ($125)
Port Oxygen Sensor Housing ($75)
Ported Exhaust manifold ($80)
Fuel Pump ($165 or $25 to rewire the stocker)

1/4 mile	13.3-13.5 (16g)
Cost	$1230

Here is where we start to make some serious power. This will be the single best modification you do. The reason for not just doing it at the start is you need the car to be ready for the turbo. With the stock intake and stock exhaust you would be choking the turbo, and stressing the engine. You simply would not see the gains from this turbo you should if you didn't also have the opened intake and exhaust. One thing to note is that you run the risk of not being able to control your boost if you don't deal with wastegate flow. This is discussed in the porting links above (coming soon) but I felt it important to mention here. This means you will likely have to really consider performing all the above mods, sans fuel pump, at the same time. If nothing else it is a lot less effort than removing the turbo twice.

This is also one of those areas where sweat equity can really come in handy. If you've done all your own mods up to this point chances are you are starting to feel pretty confident and crafty. You also have likely realized the benefits to owning the right tools. Well all the port work done isn't rocket science. You can actually go a good bit of it yourself for not much more than the cost of an electric die grinder ($50) and 2 carbide bits ($40). Not only will you save money but you will also have yet another tool at your disposal. Another benefit is not having to deal with core exchanges or trying to sell your old parts once you have swapped in brand new ported parts. Best yet, you have the pride of knowing you did the work yourself.

So now we are flowing tons of air and we're pushing plenty of fuel to make it all go BANG. From here you're going to really start dealing with tuning. With all the air you are flowing the ECU isn't going to like it (link coming soon). Your going to be running VERY rich, have poor timing, and likely start hitting fuel cut (link coming soon). These mods can also benefit you just as well before you install a larger turbo. In fact, if you are not ready to install a turbo, for whatever reason, these would be your next steps except for the fuel pump which really isn't needed but that is discussed more in that section.