TechSmurf

Favorite cheap mod for my v6 was probably cutting out the underside of the airbox.. however, I've got a cheap wanna-be-blower electric fan setup in the intake now that I swear to *** somehow adds power.. bumps idle about 200 rpms and judging by the exhaust note lets my engine rev a good 500 higher while still producing power.. I don't care to try to explain it, I was bored, but it does qualify for this post.. so..

Electric wanna-be blower (25 off ebay, no cost to me)
3" to 4" rubber hose coupling adapters from Home Depot: 7 bucks each
Wiring/relay: 5 bucks (again, no cost to me)

Camaro_nut

My favorite cheap power mod is the CAI setup.

I think it looks so much better than the stock setup.

Total cost was around $50. :lala:

wlsmoku

That actually makes sense, so sorry if I came across that way

I don't post much on this board, but I have over 2000 an another board, and almost everyone gets along great, so i'm not used to people snapping like he did. anywho, sorry again to post in the v6 thread

TomP

Don't worry about it; we welcome v8 postings... hell, everything non-engine applies to v6/v8/whatever, and 90% of the v8 TPI system is the same as the 85-92 MPFI v6 injection system. I have a question open on the TPI board about the cold start injector, and it took a while for it to get answered- I assume it was because the v8 guys assume the v6 system is different. Even the guy that answered thought I didn't know how to diagnose my fuel system correctly! But fact is, it's the same setup as the v8 guys use.

Like I said, we just get touchy sometimes

86BirdSE

I had a 78 chevy truck air cleaner on my shelf from ol GasGuzlr78. I bought a new NAPA gold Air Filter for the truck and used my Bird's air cleaner base. I have about $15 total, and it added 1.5MPG, makes a nice engine sound above 2500 with secondaries open and will pass a smog visual inspection!!

89IRO

Hey guys, if I bypass the coolant line going into the throttle body, how am I going to plug both ends (the throttle body end and the heater valve thing end?) Also, is there just one coolant line to bypass going to the throttle body, or is there more than one? Thanks. -89IRO

Xophertony

89iro, why did you post in such an old thread?


and what does cia mean?

89IRO

Why NOT post on an old thread? 5-13-03 really isn't THAT old IMO. I did a search, and this one seemed to have the most knowledgeable people talking about the coolant bypass thingy so I thought I'd give it a try. I hate to start new posts when there is info already out there. Anyone? Thanks. -89IRO

Doward

it's one line... incoming and outgoing. gotta cap 'em both, or run a line right from one to the other. I went that route.

Doward

When did I pass 1k posts? Sweet. :sillylol:

89IRO

Doward- I'm confused. Are you saying I have to cap the throttle body inlet as well as the heater valve inlet? If so, what kind of "caps" do I use, and where do I get them?

"or run a line right from one to the other. I went that route"- Can you explain this? Thanks. -89IRO

Doward

water follows this path -

from block, to tb, from tb, back to block

Either cap/plug the two blocks, or the easy way is to 'bypass' the tb... go from block to block.

clear as mud?

89IRO

When you say go from block to block, can I run a line from the heater valve thing to the manifold? I read those directions on that tech page and it is a little more clear now. So will I still need to cap the two ports on the TB to keep dirt and crap out? I wonder if I can just run that line over the water pump or in that area....I guess I need to go look under the hood before I get any ideas... -89IRO

Doward

It's just a chamber under the TB... I actually unbolted and removed mine. Excess weight, yanno...

89IRO

O.K., can you just tell me if what I described above will work? Thanks. -89IRO

dennis6

Drive your car off a cliff, it'll go faster, and it's free to do! :P j/k

I think the best cheap mod to do is a used s-10 carb/manifold swap. That way you can port out your heads and add a wilder cam later and not have to fiddle with the computer forever. Plus carbs give a cleaner look and sound better.

89IRO

Dennis6-- I think I'll pass on everything you said. Thanks! -89IRO

Xophertony

FREE MOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ok, first strip your entire interior, back seat front passenger seat spare tire, speakers, dash seatbelts carpet, center console guages(just for llooks annyhow) headliner, windows, weld the doors shut, pull all the iner door workings, strip the doors remove the back hatch, pull off the hood, mirrors, take out annythig else not engine or neccisarry drivetrais/brakes. you get the idea, WEIGHT REDUCTION!!! this might shave off 300 lbs if your lucky!


Note: this is a joke^

in all seireosness, weight reduction is a good thing, do you realy need 700 cds in your car, does the ac even work? if not, get rid of it.

ready, heres a Ri(eR joke::
also look into carbon fiber windshield wipers, in adition to cutting weight they add three horsepower each!!! maybee som sponsership stickers for stuff you dont even have!!!



Note: sorry guys. i saw an awfull lot of "import showcar/daily drivers" *cough*R_I_C_E*cough* cars today, sorta put me on "honda killer " mode....

89IRO

I heard a few NOS stickers all in one big cluster is good for at least 40 HP if you're lucky. I don't know how stickers can give you HP though. I'll have to try it after I do my KNs, airfoil, and other free intake stuff. Later. -89IRO

Purple Monkey

i can't believe nobody said "Home made AFPR" That was probably the easiest thing to make ever, all you have to do is pull off your upper plenum and yank the PR then drill and tap the housing right on top and put a little hex head bolt in it, then set your fuel pressureto 46-48 uncapped. It did amazing things for my part throttle torque, and made me a little bit faster too. That with a home made cai, cat delete, andf nice muffler has to be the cheapest way to get some extra go power.

Project: 85 2.8 bird

you've been looking at my cars' progress haven't you :nono:

Firebirdjoe

A pair of fuzzy dice for the rearview mirror!

If I were to get technical, my cheapest mod would have been buying my car to begin with.... DAMN PIECE OF CRAP!!

MrDude_1

ok, actual cheap mods:


express down window switches from other GM cars... scrounge the junk yard...

misc interior pieces from the yards... vents, sunvisors, whatever your car needs to make it better.

poly sway bar end links. ($9.99 for just the bushings, $16 for the endlink set)

new shocks. yes. cheap shocks. because you are a broke bastard and new monroe, air rides, or whatever is better then the blow POSs that are in there. by the time you get the cash for konis thoes will be ready to be replaced anyway. just do it. you cheap bastard.


on a budget? junkyard is your friend.... hows this for ideas:

V6 cars are rarely touched underhood.... you v6 guys should be able to have fun with that.... heck pick up a spare intake top for $5 and polish/paint it or somthing. theres alot of them out there.


want a v8 for $50? yes im serious. there are yards where the engine is a set price. thing is, most v8s are stripped before the car can even make it to the yard.... except fullsize vans. for some reason, people dont strip fullsize vans... i mean, comeon... from what i understand, some even have 4 bolt mains.


add features to your car... want a power trunk/hatch release? go to the yard and get the parts off of a car...


paint and bodywork..... that paint chip that everyone points at and laughs..... get some duplicolor paint and whatever else you need (sandpaper, primer, whatever) and take care of it..


looking for a bit more stereo umph? $50 gets you a used sub or a small amp...if you're willing to goto a pawn shop... they tend to have alot of stereo equipment... cheap.

buy some stuff to detail your car out with... and do a good job cleaning it... splurge the buck fifty for the q tips so you can clean that crevice...

polish stuff! the materials needed to really professionally polish stuff is cheap if you already have a drill or buffer..

get some wire, connectors and relays and make your headlights brighter... wanna be really cheap? get the connectors and relays from the junkyard.


and of course, theres regular repair stuffs... from windshield wipers to oil changes to coolent flushes, to the new O2 sensor and fuel filter.




im not really a cheap bastard btw.... just broke.

anyway, $50 can go a long way if you apply it right... or it can just goto ****

86BirdSE

More free/cheap mod ideas...

Indexing your spark plugs. Nice easy starts now, along with slightly better fuel economy.

I know it's a v6 board, but for the v8 guys that see this (and even the v6'ers looking or a new rear) Hands down the best mod I've done to the car is the 3.42 gear ratio. Gears alone help put my stock motor up with the near stock/warmed over 350's that run 2.73's. Most pick-n-pull yards sell rears for $50 or less. I scored mine for $5 at a yard where it's $10 for all you can carry over the orange line ( also got a coolant reservoir tank that trip)

100% New or rebuilt brakes, ceramic pads/shoes and fluid all around... can reach over $50, but well worth the work!

B&M trick shift oil/filter change $30 if you do it yourself. Definite seat of the pants "mod"

MrDude_1

actually if you think about it..

the V8 cars have more weight bias to the front.... so if they went off a cliff and a identical V6 car went off teh cliff, the V8 car would have a more nose down attitude, therefore less wind resistance...



so the V8 car in freefall will still be faster then the V6 car.

camaro_junkie

I wouldn't say that's entirely accurate.

"Indexing sparks plugs..." someone wanna explain that?

FbodTrek

I think he means "re-gapping". Anyhow, free and cheap mods:
Exhaust cut-outs-45 bucks add 2 clamps and a hacksaw....
Underdrive pullies-they actually do "something" just let the motor rev up faster
Lightweight flywheel-shop around, they exist
1.6 rockers- there are also cheap ones out there
Custom intake-get some Square tubing, borrow a mig welder and enjoy.

Maverick H1L

iTrader: (8)

Actually, they overall weigh more, so they will fall faster. Doesn't advancing the timing have a little effect on horses?

Not sure of the weight difference between the two, but put some foam rubber carpet underlayment (used in bathrooms) under the carpet instead of the jute. I at least think it is a little lighter. I couldn't tell because my jute was in a garbage bag and soaked...

Nixon1

If I remember my old science classes......weight has no effect on free-fall speed, only aerodynamics.

And yeah, timing advance is a nice cheap way to get some extra haul butt.

Gumby

Cheapest mod is to wait and let you fix up your car and steal it.

Gumby

Indexing spark plugs came about after they stopped using side / open gap plugs. You basically want the plug gap pointing towards the intake valve so it sparks off the fuel quicker.

You would use shims of some sort to get it pointing the "right "way which is just better when tenths of sec counts.


Indexing your distributor can help as well. You may need to pull it out and do some work getting it in order but take and old distributor cap and drill a nice size hole over a contact point.

Sometimes you can find that from tweaking, worn timing chain or what ever that the car is in "good" time but the contacts do not like up the best. It could be off allot in either direction and by all accounts you would have good time but a flaky spark.

MrDude_1

thats right.

in a vacuum, both cars would fall at the same speed.. regardless of weight or orentation.

however, going off a cliff, theres air.

the car will want to balance with its heaviest load facing down. along with whatever has the least aerodynamic drag...
so both cars will eventually be nose down until they crash into the ground, unless another force does somthing otherwise, (like makes them spin or twirl or somthing)

the reason i say the V8 falls faster is that the weight diff from center(where its pivoting) is greater. so it will get a nose down attitude first, before the V6.

thereby, it has less drag on it.. the V6 had slightly more drag for longer before it went nose down.
therefore, by reasons of aerodynamics, the V8 crashes first.








anyhoo back on topic.

dont advance your timing unless you have access to a scan tool.
if you advance it too much, it pings, the computer pulls timing, and you make LESS power.
easist way is to go a lil at a time, and drive it till its hot... then see the ping count.

Maverick H1L

iTrader: (8)

Actually, the car with the greater MASS, the V8, will fall at a faster rate due to a greater gravitational attraction towards the bottom of the cliff:
final velocity^2=initial velocity^2 + 2 X (acceleration due to gravity X distance). Therefore, if the V8 car has a mass of 1700 Kg and the V6 car has 1500 Kg and the cliff is 100 m, you get for the V8 car 1.83 Km/sec and for the V6 car 1.71 Km/sec. So the V6 falls at a slower rate no matter the grav force of the body (Earth) or wind resistance (calculated as minimal/none) or height of the car above the ground.

And yes, take the piece of jute padding off of the back of the hatch latch cover and replace it with the foam rubber carpet padding like I mentioned and there is a weight difference. There is also an added benefit of less air flowing through the padding (you can look through the jute in spots and see what you are looking at, whereas with the foam padding you can't), so it also makes a good insulator for the cold winter.

camaro_junkie

Thanks for the explanation. I hadn't thought of indexing the spark plug before, but I had thought of lining up the distributor properly.

As for which will fall faster, the V8 or V6, it's pretty complicated. What if one car spins in the air, and one doesn't, or one more than the other. The one that spends more time nose-down will have the least resistance and will fall faster. Also, if one guy polishes his car more often, that might help the speed also.

fatass

I put Amaco Gold in my tank, cost like $25. I'm a really broke college student. Then I went to Wendy's, which didn't help my car so much as it helped me.

MrDude_1

go look at a highschool physics book again.
objects fall at the same speed REGARDLESS of mass.

this one has a great visual pic... lol... http://www.physicsclassroom.com/mmed...laws/efff.html

if you still doubt me, a basic search will show ya..

http://www.google.com/search?num=100...=Google+Search

Maverick H1L

iTrader: (8)

Oh, excuse me, you are almost right. I posted one of the two or three equations used to find the answer. I did an improper calculation and have to find the proper one to prove I'm right, given any circumstance.

camaro_junkie

Easy there cowboy! This is a thirdgen forum, not an intelligence contest.

Gumby

Well but isn't the two objects falling thing depend on them free falling from the same point with no velocity???

Two car driven off a cliff at 50 mph.
Wont the V8 will have more velocity because of mass. and either go further or maybe nose over and flip. And then aerodynamics will have an effect if the car nosed over and flipped, creating drag.

Drop an elephant and an open umbrella of a building at the same time. the umbrella will float down much slower than an elephant.

The laws of physics are never set in real life. To many variables can be introduced.

What if there is a 40 mph side wind? The stone could in fact gain lift where the elephant would feel no effect from its larger mass.

CamaroRS385hp

yeah but you don't factor wind or any of that when you're working on a problem. you need incredibly advanced formulas to factor that kind of thing in. if you drove a v-6 and a v-8 camaro off a cliff, there was no wind, and they both had the same drag coefficient the whole way down, they would hit the ground at the exact same time, regardless of speed. if the v-6 was going 5 mph and hit the ground 4 seconds after it went over the edge of the cliff, then the v-8 that was going 140 mph would also hit the ground exactly 4 seconds after it left the edge of the cliff...simple physics, this is stuff you learn in physics 101

and.....wow this is an old topic i forgot i ever made it, and wow this has gotten off topic

Gumby

But that is not realistic. In real life there will always be 100s of variables to affect the out come. Why its flawed to even think you know the right answer. Real life does not work like that.

There is no true right answer.
Unless you live in some fairy tail land where you control all the variables.

In real life the V8 would hit first.
In fair tail land anything can happen if you control the variables.

That is where science is flawed. They assume you can remove the tough variables that are to hard to figure out and they will still come up with the right answer. But they don't.

Why science is on that new string theory.
Cause what we know now, doesn't work out when you "add" it up.

Julius Sumdermiller was the best. [bad spelling on name] I loved how he proved you can not walk forward without the earth beneath you moving backwards.

camaro_junkie

Why don't we end this argument. I'm calling for V6 and V8 owners to volunteer to drive their cars off a cliff so that we can settle this. Who's in?!?

coolrimsatleast

custon air intake is my cheapest/best mod. $45

Also driving south (since we're hooked on physics now). As the earth rotates the centrifigual (spelled wrong) force is trying to throw things off the planet at the equator. If I remember right, something that weighs 100 lbs at the poles will weigh 98 at the equator. Also everything will have a slight pull towards the equator. Like a ball filled will a little water (or maybe a ball with it's own gravity with water on the surface, if you spin it fast enough the water moves to the outside. Anyway you'll be pulled towards the equator and get more power and better mileage.

:hail:

and white faces guages add more power........sort of

Gumby

no arugments here just talking engines.

physics is what makes our engines move. talking about any part of the car involves physics. It just a hard topic cause really no matter how much we think we know, we no nothing.

I love physics. And I love exploring how things work.

Julius Sumdermiller [bad spelling on name] the old sweaty guy on PBS was the best. He used toys to demostate most things. And sometimes never gave you the right answer so you would try it your self. as the expected out come is not allways true. Life adds many many variables.

That how our teacher taught us egines in school, with physics.


-------


What if someone did the "dual" intake like we see in most of the examples but cross up the tubes for the longest runner possiable?

left side of the engine feed off the right inake and so fourth.

MrDude_1

called the crossram, crossfire, Edelbrock SY1, offenhauser crossram(diffrent then GM)

oh, and the one im making is similar to that too.

Gumby

That crossfire was one of the best tricks GM ever pulled on the EPA.

FAST RS

my fav cheap mod was the tb coolant bypass cost 5 dollars for the little hose. I even tried hooking up funnles so it would cool the TB the funnles made a nasty whistle sound

FAST RS

Wait i take that back i paied 40 dollars for my fast chip stage 2. When 3.1 Firebird was sellin his car a while back. I also paid 45 dollars for my pullys puls 20 for a gatorr back belt.