[cgjohnst]

Hey everyone. I hope I'm posting in the right section. I'm on my phone, so it's been a little hard to navigate my way around. So I apologize if it's the wrong spot. Please don't start a flame war on me!

Anyway, I have had my 2003 sonic blue gt convertible for a couple months now. I put a k&n intake on it yesterday and is currently the only upgrade. Do you guys have any suggestions on what else to do for cost-effective upgrades? I have heard gears and a chip tune are great start. I would like to get a new exhaust and body kit. I'm not sure which ones, though I was looking at the roush kit and side exhaust. I've heard a lot about turbos, and I'm not interested in superchargers or nitro. I don't plan on doing any track stuff. I just want it to look good, sound good, and have the ability to go fast. Thanks for any help.

 

[asiansensation78]

Hey, welcome to MM.

What you're asking depends on 2 factors: how fast do ya wanna go and how much money do ya wanna spend?

Give us an idea and we'll help you out.

 

[330CubeGt]

Welcome, sounds like a nice car you got there.

How much money are you looking to spend, Basic bolt-ons and Exhaust and Gears would make it a fun peppy daily driver and if thats all your looking for i wouldent worry about a power adder but if you want to go with BOOST and Turbo is what you want On3Performance.com has a nice Budget friendly turbo kit for your car.

 

[~C~]

Welcome.

Boost is probably the best bang for the buck.

You should or may want to do the exhaust first, either cat backs or mid and cats. It will sound much better. CAI might be a good start as well. Either way, get a hand held tuner. You dont really want to chip it. A hand held will allow you to change parameters over time based on upgrades. Diablo and the xcal are great tuners.

 

[dcook_14]

I'd also recommend boost as the best bang for your buck power mod. Don't know why you're against superchargers though, they do the same thing as a turbo, except they are simpler and more user friendly.

Get a good catback and midpipe, a short throw shifter, a set of gears, and a handheld tuner. Then go from there.

As far as a body kit goes, I hope you meant cobra, roush, or saleen and not wings west, shogun, or blitz.

 

[cgjohnst]

Thanks for the quick replies everyone. For the price range, I'm willing to go maybe 6-8k in, though not all immediately. I saw the roush kit is under 900, as is the exhaust on the roush site. I don't know anything about the prices and difficulty of installation though. I talked to a guy at a local shop and he has a Diablo tuner for 399. He said they sell 3.73's for around 180 and has a friend who will do a same day install for about 220-240. As far as the gear size to go with I have no idea, but I'm sure ill get some ideas after some searching on the site.
I will definitely check out the Turbo on that site suggested. I'm against superchargers since they always run and wear out the engine faster.
This is going to be my main car driving around so I don't want to kill the gas economy.

I was thinking maybe gears, Diablo tuner, roush side exhaust, roush body kit, and a Turbo. With that, I think it would be pretty stylish and fast, while keeping decent gas economy. I don't know a lot about cars, but I'm trying to learn!

EDIT: I checked out the Turbo. It looks like around 3400 plus shipping and installation. And you can tune pretty high too. I think it said 425ish. If I could run with a stock cobra or get somewhere close I would be extremely pleased.

 

[pyschopath76]

get some gears (4.10 or 3.73 your choice) a good mid pipe/catback, and your body kit you looking for and that will run you about the full price your looking at after installation/paint blah blah blah. dont skimp if you get a new body kit though, paint your entire car. i learned that lesson the hard way, so get your whole car done in the process. good luck and post up them pix bro and good luck with your build.