Hooniverse Asks- What's the Best Cheap Performance Mod?

By Robert Emslie Jan 15, 2010


We’d all like a little more go in our cars, but a lot of modifications can be wallet-draining exercises. Forced induction, re-calibrated ECM chips and suspension upgrades all cost a king’s ransom. So, what’s a hoon on a budget to do?

Death Rides Shotgun

If you’re tired of the factory-installed performance of your ride, what’s the best investment in go-faster or corner-quicker that you could make? Is it tires? Intake-mods? Have you made any of these mods already, or are you planning on some? So many questions, so little money.  How can we hoon on the cheap?
Image sources:[thegasmisers.com, clubxb.com]

0 thoughts on “Hooniverse Asks- What's the Best Cheap Performance Mod?”
    1. You also gain 2-3HP by draining a quart of oil from your engine. This is according to one of the dyno guys at Ford. Not recomended if you want to keep the car, but maybe if you have a rental or a lease.

      1. Excellent idea! And think of all the other fluids… what the hell is that empty weight doing in the coolant overflow? Brake fluid…… there's a couple extra ounces in there… the list goes on and on!

        1. As far as I can tell, the brake fluid serves only to slow the car down. That's a dealbreaker, ladies!

    2. Exactly: adding lightness is the cheapest upgrade possible. Depending how much comfort you are wiling to do without you could even make money by selling the parts you remove!

  1. Have to go with tires. Especially if you can squeeze shorter/wider rims on your car at the same time.
    Also, a tip from my suspension design days: there is almost as much return in going to a stiffer set of sway bar bushings as there is as installing a stiffer swaybar. Stock rubber bushings allow tonnes of movement and reduce the effective stiffness of the bar.

    1. Fail for not reading the rest of the question:
      Putting Yokohama S-drives on on my Protege 5 boosted cornering prowess massively… the $600 or so bucks I paid for the tires wasn't Cheap-cheap, but the difference on a twisty road is probably more than stock tires and a turbo.
      Replacing all of the stock rubber bushings on the RX-7 with urethane equivalents has tightened the car up unbelieveably. All the metal (springs, sway bars) in the suspension is stock, but with the harder bushings, lean is reduced and turn in is quicker. I think the whole car was $200 + a weekend's labour.

    1. Ah yes, the Lotus 7 route, works well. Anybody remember which car magazine did the sawzall trick with a malaise era Cadillac? They ran the quarter intact at some laughable time, then proceeded to unbolt, cut and torch off as much non-structural material as possible. It ran pretty quick if I remember right. MIght have been C&D.

    2. I have been curious about this for a while; would the above (with roll cage et. al.) be acceptable for Lemons? I recall that the ghettocharged miata was this plus a windshield. This might allow more vehicles to run (full size vans and trucks etc.).
      To remain germaine to the post, I think this was a sentra in a tuner magazine that went from 17's to 13's in the quarter.

    1. I used to do that when I drove Mom's '78 Monte Carlo. Made the gutless v6 sound a little more arrogant. Bonus points for it being easily reversible.

  2. Wash it. It always seems run better after a day at the car spa. Or maybe I just drive it faster because it is so clean.
    I am a bit scared of "on the cheap" mods to go faster. Then again having a car that scares me can be a good thing….

  3. Quality suspension bushings. Usually around $100 a set and can make a huge difference in handling and ride quality.

  4. For a eta BMW E30 at least, swap out the 2.91or 2.79 open rear end for a $60 junkyard 3.25 limited slip rear end out of an E28. Totally transformed the character of the car. Went from barely able to get out of its own way to sort of fun. Higher rear end gears have instant paypack on acceleration, but at a cost to fuel economy and top end.
    Tires would be close to the top too.

  5. Make the wife drive separate. In fact, take out the passenger seat and weld the door shut. It makes for a quieter ride, too. Even after you remove all the sound deadening and carpet.

    1. My old Boss has a speech he gives to his high-school age children whenever they head out on a weekend night.
      "Never get in a car with a drunk-driver, and never get in a car with a wing."

  6. The performance of your headlights is mighty important this time of year. If you can't see, try washing the lenses the next time you get gas. If you are still using those $10 sealed beams, step it up to something more modern or powerful. HIDs aren't cheap at all but there are usually some good halogen options.

    1. gonna have to step in here: HIDs ARE cheap these days. $40 will buy you a set of two "plug-and-play" ballasts and bulbs, shipped to your door from Hong Kong or wherever. Yes, quality components like Phillips still cost a grip, but that's not what you said. ;P
      As a sidenote, generally speaking HID bulbs in halogen housings throw light everywhere and blind oncoming traffic, or at least according to some. Personally, IDGAF – but the socially correct among us will find it prudent to tell you how it's "not an HID retrofit" unless you're retrofitting housings/reflectors/lenses designed for use with HID components rather than halogen -it DOES make a significant difference.

  7. If you park your car overnight in the wrong part of town, this guy comes by and removes restrictions from your exhaust system*! And it's free, unless they have parking meters.
    *When I say he "removes restrictions," I mean he uses a Sawzall to steal your catalytic converter, which he will then sell to buy heroin.

    1. Yep! That's been happening, in broad daylight, in the city closest to me… seven cars so far, I think, in two different non-sketchy places (back lot of a hospital, then behind a manufacturing plant).

  8. Right now, for me, the best cheap performance mod would be removing and hollowing out my catalytic converter.
    It's getting plugged, and legally, I can (no emissions testing pre-'96 here). So hurrah.

  9. A set of wrenches and screwdrivers.
    Why?
    Because you can use them to remove the whole interior, making your car 200 lbs lighter.

  10. I was unaware that this item was tucked away in the Ciao cafe, and when I discovered it, I thought that I’d share with readers a really important component of my life and how I make my living because all of the downfalls I have created in obtaining successful might assist some would-be writer to turn out to be a published writer.

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