Just curious.. I am considering one of the following scenarios for upgrading my 02' C230 Coupe.

Option 1) ASP Pulley & upsolute chip: My only consern here is if my headers and exhaust will cause issues due to not being able to move the exhaust fast enough (or will the chip account for that ?)

Option 2) Headers and Exhaust: Down side here is I don't think I get the same performance impact and its more expensive (headers for a 02' are outragesly expensive!)..

These upgrades are for performance only engine note and sound is not a consern to me.

Thanks for your input
Josh

 

Everyone who is anyone (and some who really are nobodies) is in agreement on this one - the pulley gives the most hp by far of any of the "normal" mods you can do. And if you go the ASP route (I got a Renntech pulley on ebay, so I lucked out), it's very cheap, $ / HP.

Chipping is a much more debated option. As you said, headers are VERY expensive, and exhausts aren't cheap, either. Headers at least give you some add'l hp.

My suggestion is to get the pulley, and see if you're happy with that. And if you don't have a performance suspension / rims / tires, I'd start there before looking again at any hp adding mods.

 

Getting the right programming on your car with a pulley can easily get you 2-3HP across the power band, it's not a waste of time, it may make the difference in the show Pinks, you could lose your car. Don't forget a good airfilter, preferably an ITG if you can get one otherwise K&N, good for 3HP with the chip. The exhaust should be good for probably close to 10HP, not bad, definately something worth doing.

 

Buellwinkle,
I do have a Green Filter (first thing I did to the car).. So now I am looking at what combination to consider next.. although if there is a single component that I "should" get over all else.. knowing that would be grand as well :-)..

Josh

 

Buell - you know better than that! Gets you 2 hp tops.

 

Thats where I stand.

Kinda side questions: Does the pulley make the motor sound any different? Do headers change the sound alone? is it worth doing headers without changing the other components of the exhaust? cat/resonators/muffler?

 

Tommy, that's just a cheeze german muffler, I'm talk about a complete header to muffler solution from SuperSprint. If I remember correctly, Brandon did this on his coupe and got something like 12-15HP. Remember, that's a few grand, new cat, new header, new piping, new muffler.

Jhandek, the pulley will get you about 25HP at the rear wheels, add a few for the aftermarket filter. The chip is mostly worthless, lord knows we tried. The problem is that chips make power by leaning out the fuel and advancing the timing. The problem is with the pulley you are already maxed out on both. What they can do with a chip is find a few ponies here or there in the rev range but it's not worth the money. Like any HP gains, the low hanging fruit is the pulley and air filter. The next fruit in the middle of the bang for the buck tree is to swap out the rear end for more punch off the line, get lighter forged wheels to increase rear wheel HP. For a while there was a lighter flywheel clutch assembly that bought some power but I wouldn't do it because it's going to affect drivability. Lastly, a complete SuperSprint exhaust including headers, new piping, cat and muffler.

 

I am going to subscribe to this thread. just cuz of that little write up.

Buellwinkle, i luv you......

-j0hn

 

Well, if you used the correct phraseology, it would help.

I'd still say that's a little generous; I have a supersprint header (coated), magnaflow cat, and eisenmann exhaust, and would estimate from multiple dynos that the overall increase is more like 6-8. But as I'm sure you'd say, separating out "this mod = X hp" is difficult.

 

go pulley first then add other mods!!!

 

Cool, so you are saying it's better than the 2HP you previously said but not as good as what I though Brandon was getting on his coupe. The key is to do it together with the pulley as the extra boost has to exit somewhere so I would imagine you would get better results with a pulley than without. On my coupe, I got 6 extra ponies by removing the muffler altogether (just for fun, didn't drive it that way).

 

No, I'm saying that the exhaust only (by "exhaust", I mean exhaust) won't generally get you sh*t, unless you do what you did.

I'm glad that Brandon got what he did - I didn't see the same high results.

Of course, my car died yesterday, and was towed to my dealership, so my net gains right now stand at zero. Giving serious thought to selling, and moving on - will be paid off within a month, and thinking a tc would be almost a wash on trade-in.

 

Its been stated over and over and over. Go with the Pulley. So much more power. Most tuners I have spoken to, do not suggest the Chipping.

Ed

 

why not chiping?