IMO: Listen to the capn, he knows how to make it happen.

(And he speaks the absolute truth too)

Who the fuck said any thing about a wing? I said drifter kit, and automatically people think I'm not putting any thing into the engine and buying a over size spoiler with a loud ass exhaust.... The stock spoiler is fine, the body kit doesn't come with a spoiler any ways. It has front & rear bumpers + skirts.

An Eclipse is a good car and I think it's fine. Besides, I can't seem to find a 300 ZX with turbo around were I live. I would take one even if it didn't have turbo. But their a little expensive and the Eclipse looks nice and is in my price range.

Plus, the kit is cheep and it doesn't look at shit-plastic infested like most other kits do. It's a simple kit with an air damn that helps direct the air around the car better. That's all I want! I'm not one of those guys that dump $1000+ into a body kit that does nothing except make the car look like it came out of a cereal box. Go look up drifter kits for a Eclipse on the net and you will see what I'm talking about. Its simple and cheep and makes the car look nice. The car looks nice by it's self any ways.

I'm going to put a fare amount of money into the car because I like Eclipses. So that means getting rid of some of the stock body and replacing it with what the body kit has. Also, I have been thinking about a turbo kit that I seen put on a newer ZX. It added tons of power and I would like it for an Eclipse. Besides, most of the little cars I seen on Street Fury and other shows are all FWD.

This is what I want on the Eclipse....

1.) Drifter body kit = $410.02
2.) Vertical doors = $1189.00
3.) ICW Tuner Wheels = $450.00 (Rims only)
4.) Garrett GT Ball Bearing Turbo = $1145.00

I plan on adding a simple sound system with like two 10" subs a pair of 6x9s and 4 1/2 components.

The turbo should give about 500 HP. From what the FAQ said any ways. I'll need a few other things to but that's about it. So far that $3200 for a bunch of stuff. with the car I'm looking at it's $2200. So that makes it $5400 car. I've found an Eclipses for cheaper, so I might look into those instead.

After installing the turbo, make sure you only use premium fuel. They increase the pressure in the engine so much that the fuel will auto-detonate before the spark plugs fire. This will tear your engine appart.

Quote:Original post by xanin
IMO: Listen to the capn, he knows how to make it happen.

(And he speaks the absolute truth too)

when I first started learning about cars, I thought it would be really hard, that I wouldn't be able to figure stuff out. But actually it's really simple. It's like an easy day in highschool physics (of course, I took a college level physics course in highschool... anyway). There's one simple rule when it comes increasing power in any one particular engine (anything else requires replacing the engine): increasing power means increasing the pressure inside the cylinders. Using the ideal gas law (though no gas is ideal, it's a good approximation, and we're only looking for general guidelines), we can see that it's quite easy to increase pressure.
P = pressure
n = moles of gas (not gasoline, but fuel mix, vaporized gasoline mixed with air)
T = temperature
V = volume
R = ideal gas constant, skip it, we'll looking for proportionalities
Ideal gas law:
P = nRT/V

Increasing pressure means:


Increase the temperature of the burn. You can change the air/fuel mix so that it burns more oxygen, or burn something like nitroglycerin, but that's for high-performance custom built drag racers,

Decrease the volume of the cylinders. This can be done by raising the cylinder heads on the cylinder shafts (didn't know you could do this until I reallized that it would be a good way to increase pressure and then researched the possibility)

-Increasing the amount of gas that you have in the engine. This is the number one choice, it's pretty much the easiest.
-A cold air intake does it by drawing the cooler air of outside the engine compartment into the engine. Cooler air is denser than hot air, so it will contain more oxygen per volume. Once it hits the heat of the engine cylinders, it will increase pressure.
-Nitrous Oxide (NOS, though I prefer NO2) is extreme cooling, with the same purpose as the CAI. I don't suggest it, it's like crack for your car.
-A Super/Turbocharger compresses instead of cooling it, this is called Forced Induction. Forced Induction is expensive, only works in certain power bands, though you will get your highest gains from it.
-Increasing the number of valves that release fuel into the cylinders. Because your fuel has an operational limit to how fast it will flow into the cylinder, increasing the size of the valves will allow more fuel into the cylinder. Usually increasing the size of a single value is not possible, but adding more values will increase the total area of the valves.
-Replace the fuel injector with a higher flow-rate fuel injector.

A minor gain can be had by installing a performance throttle body. The throttle body regulates the flow of the fuel from the engine and mixes the fuel with air to create the fuel mix. A better throttle body will ensure that the gasoline and air are mixed thoroughly, which will make the engine run more efficiently (less unspent fuel, lower emmissions, higher gas mileage)

There is one final factor, left over exhaust in the cylinder. Left over exhaust doesn't contribute to creating power, but it does take up valuable space that could be used by fuel.

Getting rid of the exhaust means:
Making it easier for the exhaust to get out by installing headers, a high flow catalytic converter, and installing a racing muffler system. A properly designed muffler (it's different for each car) will actually create negative pressure on the exhaust manifold, sucking exhaust out of the engine.

Forcing the exhaust out of the cylinders by changing the valve timing so that the fuel injection valves and the exhaust retrieval valves are momentarily open at the same time. This is called "scavenging" and is already done to an extent. Because a regular driving vehicle is concerned with maintaining emmissions standards, it does not do it completely, because it needs to asperate a little fuel mix in order to do so. Changing the valve timing WILL decrease fuel mileage and increase emmissions, but it will also give a very large increase in power.


Minimize the rest mass of the vehicle, remove the spare tire, remove noise proofing material, remove extraneous comfort features, remove the rear bench seats (if you're going hard core), replace the hood with a carbon-fiber composite, run with only half a tank of fuel, install alloy wheels with a larger diameter than the stock wheels using a low profile tire (especially do this for the drive wheels) and stop eating at McDonalds.

Minimze the drag of the vehicle, DON'T install a wing, DON'T install a body kit, remove the rearview mirrors (not really an option), repair even minor dents.

That's pretty much it, I can't think of anything else. Once you read over it, it seems pretty obvious. A lot of these upgrades will even increase the fuel mileage of your vehicle and lower the emmissions, so I really recommend them (CAI, high-flow cat, cat-back exhaust, throttle body). They make power by making the engine run more efficiently, which is a win-win situation.

[Edited by - capn_midnight on July 25, 2005 12:14:29 PM]

Oh, you wanted pictures of our cars





2005 Honda Civic Coupe LX w/ 5spd manual transmission. I just bought it a few weeks ago, I haven't done anything to it yet.

Quote:Original post by Ravuya

Quote:Original post by capn_midnight
when I first started learning about cars, I thought it would be really hard, that I wouldn't be able to figure stuff out. But actually it's really simple. It's like an easy day in highschool physics (of course, I took a college level physics course in highschool... anyway). There's one simple rule when it comes increasing power in any one particular engine (anything else requires replacing the engine): increasing power means increasing the pressure inside the cylinders. Using the ideal gas law (though no gas is ideal, it's a good approximation, and we're only looking for general guidelines), we can see that it's quite easy to increase pressure.
P = pressure
n = moles of gas (not gasoline, but fuel mix, vaporized gasoline mixed with air)
T = temperature
V = volume
R = ideal gas constant, skip it, we'll looking for proportionalities
Ideal gas law:
P = nRT/V

Man, this is good stuff. I'd never see any sort of intelligent posts on a ricer forum like this. [grin]

I never really thought about the chemistry aspect, just the physical aspect. I should do some more research into this.

neither have I, they mostly just repeat the same old fallacies that they heard from each other, creating a perpetual cycle of misinformation. Sometimes they get something right, but they never understand WHY it is right. I've had to pull this all together myself.

Honestly, I blame "Pimp My Ride." This isnt some bullshit "video games make you violent" thing either. Have you ever watched this show? All they do is cover a piece of shit car with chrome and a new paint job, without bothering to take care of stuff like, oh lets say, a complete lack of an engine and fuel tank.

Good god, we're applying science and math to ricers.

I can't handle it!

Edit: While we're at it, I hear that adding X "Type R" stickers creates a horsepower boost of X^2 HP. X^2.5 if the "R" is red.

Quote:Silly plastic sidepanels == ppl like me laugh at you - esp when we pass you.

[lol]

I have to agree with adding some extra power to it. If you have enough to do both, then do both. Maybe get yourself a cheap turbocharger or something along the lines to give a boost. If you want the car to actually, you know, move fast, your going to want the power. Of course, you can do body work to it too, like adding carbon kits, removing unecessary parts, etc. Spoilers will give you more grip at faster speeds, but keep in mind that's uselss if you don't have a lot of power. Of course, if you just want to make your car look good, and not have any horses, do it. It's your car! [wink]