Alright so if you are a red blooded American man (and women) like me you too more than likely get fired up seeing a sweet whipped out ride ready for the streets. Personally i drive a 1998 mustang cobra convertible with an aftermarket supercharger, upgraded transmission, aluminum drive shaft, lightened flywheel and a whole bunch of other parts that put down well over 500 whp so that i can tear a little asphalt off the streets every now and again....What i want to do here is create a good base list of aftermarket performance parts that anyone who loves cars and would love to go faster on the street or the track could use to source out the parts they need to hook up their own ride. In this list i will try to find the most competitive prices and the best links to these products and or vendors sites for your benefit. If there is a specific vehicle that you would like explored please feel free to comment and let me know how i can help. And as always this is a free to you service so please feel free to drop a little donation if you find the info helpful....Thanks and here we go.
OK so i start off with wheels because personally it is the first and fastest way to get your car street worthy, both in looks and in functionality although it's not technically what i'd call a street racing part... As you start adding some horsepower to your ride you are going to need to add some extra traction and the easiest way to do that is by throwing on some bigger wheels. A good starting point is probably something in the 18x9 range with some good sticky tires..
Next i go to brakes...i know,i know who cares we want to go fast right???? What good is going fast if you cant !STOP!? No matter what kind of racing you enjoy, whether it be street racing, track racing or just a spirited ride, you cannot underestimate the safety and stability gained from a good set of brakes.For the purpose of making this a reasonable upgrade you truthfully don't have to look very hard. There are many sites out there where you can buy upgraded rotors and pads for around $200 bucks for the set. When looking try to find something a little bigger than your factory setup, and preferably something slotted and or drilled. this helps to produce more friction thus helping you stop...you guessed it QUICKER.....Honestly the simplest way to find rotors for your whip is probably EBAY
Care to drop your ride a bit??? This helps with not only looks, but also functionality. Drop your car between 1-3" to see a noticeable improvement in control,cornering,as well as traction. If your serious you can make the switch from stock to something a bit more aggressive and go with a set of regular lowering springs,coil over springs or a complete race shock and strut coil over package just be aware that they perform better as your selection increases but so does the price. All in all addressing your suspension will help to ensure that your car looks clean and performs mean in order to keep your tires firmly planted on the asphalt.
Easy breathin ain't just for you. If you want your car to start sucking down more air and by extension make more power than you need to think of bolting in a cold air intake, aka CAI, or just intake for short. These can usually be found in the $300 or less range with a few that might be a little more expensive if you want something extravagant. Usually though the cheaper versions will work just fine as it is basically just a metal tube with a filter and these are perfectly suited for the guy looking for street racing stuff on a budget. The main point to consider is that it will help your engine to breath better and thereby allowing it to operate more efficiently, and improving fuel economy and horsepower. Big brands are AEM, K&N, Injen,mac,and B&M. With this little tube you can expect to see a decent 10% increase in power.
There is nothing more satisfying on your street car than adding a brand new shiny exhaust system. The robust sound and the rev of the motor is just mesmerizing with this little add on. You can make sure everybody on the streets knows that you mean business and you come packing some serious heat. A good exhaust system will usually consist of piping from your cats or "catalytic converters" back to the rear exit of your car and depending on your setup my consist of single or dual tips. Average price for this upgrade will be less than $500 bones and can be expected to increase horsepower from 15-25% depending on your application. Your throttle response will also be affected as acceleration will usually increase. If you are considering this upgrade you may also look into race catalytic converters as well as maybe a good crossover pipe if applicable. Good brands can be found from Greddy,Apexi,Megan Racing,UPR,Mac,SLP,Flowmaster,as well as many others.
Headers would be the next upgrade on my list as it kinda goes hand in hand with the exhaust modifications. With that being said, it would be good timing to go ahead and address this while the exhaust is being worked on. Performance gains are moderate usually around 10% increase but you would need to consider this upgrade before any serious power adder was employed anyways as it allows your exhaust to flow better and relieves stress form the motor. Also the stock headers are usually a thinner steel material and typically crack under higher horsepower situations. One would benefit from looking for some ceramic coated or stainless steel headers, these are usually available Fromm the makers of the exhaust systems and can range from $350-$750 depending on the grade and style of the header.
Performance tuners are a fantastic way to improve your vehicles performance and fuel economy. Anyone wanting to get the most out of their motor should consider this upgrade. Usually these will "re flash" your stock computer thereby changing some vital parameters that limit the amount of power and emissions your car can make in stock form. You can find programmers that are either "piggyback" or complete "stand alone", meaning that you control ALL of your ecu's parameters. Typical gains will increase 10-20% depending on your application and will run anywhere from $300 to well over $1200 on stand alone race car setups. Good manufacturers are Greddy,Apexi,Diablo sport,SCT,AEM and Fast.
The importance of a good tune up cannot be understated, without it you wont be doing much street racing or any other kind of racing for that matter. If your car is not running optimally then why are you spending so much money on upgrades??? Get a GOOD set of aftermarket plug wires from Nology or Msd, and get some good spark plugs. Change your fuel filter because I'm sure you've probably forgotten your car has one and make sure you keep good clean oil in that motor.
Ignition systems need to be upgraded if you want your car to operate at its optimal levels. The way your cars fuel is spent is directly related to how much horsepower you can maintain, wasted fuel is wasted power. Look into getting an aftermarket ignition box from companies like MSD, Crane, Fireball, Or Nology and if applicable get a new set of coils, coil pack, and or distributor to keep the spark up in the stratosphere. Expect to pay somewhere in the $500 range, and make sure you do this before you get into heavy modifications.
Now would probably be a good time to suggest a good engine builder because things get a bit more hardcore from here. Choose someone reputable for this task as you don't want an engine failure on a brand new rebuild. Good companies are Fox Lake, DSS, Titan motor sports, and CHP. You may also have some good local shops that would be willing to help with this one. Look for pricing from $2000 for a short block to over $6000 for a long block. Horsepower increases here are usually nominal but if you make sure to use forged internal parts i.e. pistons,rods and crankshaft you give the engine the ability to "handle " copious amounts of horsepower over the stock settings. Now is also the time to figure out if you will be remaining naturally aspirated or will you be running boost and or nitrous in the future. Depending on which direction you choose you will have to select pistons set to s certain compression ratio so choose wisely. Now you are ready to turn her into a real monster.
That brings me to Cylinder heads, these are the parts that let your motor rev and rev hard. They also house the camshafts and valves that help keep your reciprocating assembly reciprocating. With a good set of machined heads you can create anywhere from 20 to 50 whp and allow your car to rev higher than ever before. You will also want to take This opportunity to address the camshafts as you can employ several different cam grinds to suit your future endeavors. Stage 2 port and polishing should be more than adequate here as most of us aren't going to be traveling at 190 mph to work. You should expect to pay around $2000 for a good head or set of heads. Camshafts, valve and retainer upgrades will set you back a bit more though.
Now that you have a bulletproof engine its time to move on to forced indution...Aka boost. We'll start by looking at superchargers, and typically in todays market you'll deal with either "Roots" style blowers or "Centrifugal" superchargers. The first type roots blower is a supercharger that sits atop the engine in place of the intake manifold and feeds boost directly into the motor. These are great for moderate power increases and are a good choice when you have ample hood clearance and not alot of room around the engine. The drawback here is that they depend a bit more on engine power and are usually a little more parasitic. The good news is that they usually run a little cheaper than there counterparts and usually start in the mid $3000 range for a full kit. Centrifugals are a great choice when you have room in the engine bay but no hood clearance, you also have the ability to add an aftercooler or intercooler to the kit for added performance whereas the roots style blowers have one integrated into the system or not at all. The centrifugal type also allows for some room for boost to build wich can be good if you have any low rpm traction problems and usually reah full boost in the higher rpm ranges. You also have the choice top employ a system that provides anywhere from 650hp all the way to 2000hp, whereas your roots style blower usually tops out around 800hp. The drawback here is that to buy a full kit you should expcet to spend anywhere from $3700 to well over $6000 for the high powered race kits. All in all both choices are fantastic and fun to play with so you really cant make a bad choice. Good products are made by Eaton,kenne belle,procharger,vortech,whipple,magnacharger,and paxton.
Turbochargers are the other direction that you can take if you want to build some boost. These are very simular to centrifugal superchargers except that they do not use a belt drive. In fact they are driven by the expended exhaust gasses released by your engine and therefore do not require any horsepower to produce power. They usually mount side engine and can range in size and power output. They can produce anywhere from 450hp to well over 2000hp and can range from $3000 to over $6000 for twin turbo systems. These systems have been popular in 4 and 6 cylinder engines for years and are also now gaining popularity in the domestic 8 cylinder markets. The only drawbacks to systems like these is that they require a dedicated oil drain line and usually always require an intercooler option to cool the boost. Providers of these kits are Greddy,HSK,turbonetics,mitsubishi,granatelli,Hellion,and sts.
Intercoolers are a very cool and very useful upgrade to consider for any forced induction endevor. Nothing looks more ominous than that big shiney intercooler in the front air dam when ctuizing down the streets, that look just says "BAD". The benefits for intercooling are dropping charge temps thereby producing power. The cooler the temps of your boost the more efficiently you engine can perform. Usually the temps will be dropped enough to make about 40hp more than non intercooled, and in some cases even more. This works both in turbo and supercharged applications, the only exception being some roots style blowers. There are no drawbacks to using intercoolers so feel free to bolt one of these badboys on right away. You kind find good coolers all over the place ie...Greddy,HKS,Spearco,Ebay has a ton, and Treadstone.
If you are really crazy and want that winners edge you can take a look at Nitrous. This stuff aint just for drilling teath anymore, you can make some serious power pumping this through your ride. Kits of this stuff come in all shapes and sizes from wet to dry, and staged to single. You can easily make from 50 to 1000 hp with this stuff so dont worry about not having enough. This is easily the best bang for your buck add on as it starts at around $600 for a full kit with the option of up to 100 extra ponies. Make for sure that your engine can handle it though especially in forced induction applications as this stuff has to have the right mix of fuel and timming to be "safe". Nos,Nitrous Express,Venom,Edlebrock,and Zex make kits for anything and everything.
Now we get into the fun stuff. What good is it to have a car that is blisteringly fast but doesnt look the part????? Lets make that baby shine, start by adding on some Carbon fiber pieces or maybe a sweet bodykit, hood or new wing maybe. It is no fun haveing a butiful piece of machinery under the hood if the package its in looks like crap...it just doesn't do it justice. This is the stuff that really makes your ride stand out on the streets and makes people take note of the rolling piece of art that you have created. Well now you have a list of parts get started, build that monster and own the streets or track, get that blood pumpin and have fun doing it. If you need any help comment and let me know. And i have added some links for some businesses to help you get started, so feel free to hit them up for parts.
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