2002 Black Cavalier LS (First car, I'm 16, I love it)

[NikoM 10+ year member]

Post pics of the tint. I have 5 and 20% on mine. I wish I had done 20 all the way around though. My 5 is too dark!

Will do. Give me a few hours. I'm still in school and have a track practice to go through afterwards.

I'm thinking of tinting my tail and head lights. Don't think it's very expensive.

 

[Brian_smith06 10+ year member]

I'll show you some pics of mine later when I get home from work. It's just a red 04 ls sport. From the outside it looks stock(window tint aside) but I have a pretty nice system in the works

 

[Heeltoeclutch 10+ year member]

Short Shifter and bushings makes you feel like you're driving an $80,000 car. I have an 08 Subaru WRX and my 1990 Civic with a short shifter and bushings felt 20x better to shift than this. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/tongue.gif.6130eb82179565f6db8d26d6001dcd24.gif

Catback for your car would probly be between 2-400. Make sure you get a stainless steel one (all the decent ones are).

Intake and exhaust will get you maybe 10-15 hp. Intake is something shiny under the hood. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/cool.gif.3bcaf8f141236c00f8044d07150e34f7.gif they are uber-cheap on ebay.

 

[NikoM 10+ year member]

Short Shifter and bushings makes you feel like you're driving an $80,000 car. I have an 08 Subaru WRX and my 1990 Civic with a short shifter and bushings felt 20x better to shift than this. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/tongue.gif.6130eb82179565f6db8d26d6001dcd24.gif
Catback for your car would probly be between 2-400. Make sure you get a stainless steel one (all the decent ones are).

Intake and exhaust will get you maybe 10-15 hp. Intake is something shiny under the hood. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/cool.gif.3bcaf8f141236c00f8044d07150e34f7.gif they are uber-cheap on ebay.

Ahh alright, sounds good.

What would the catback do for the car?

10-15hp extra to a Cavalier would be noticable, wouldn't it?

 

[Heeltoeclutch 10+ year member]

Probably //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif Your car is light, any power increase should be noticeable.

A catback will reduce the backpressure of your exhaust system, making the engine have to "work" less to expel burnt exhaust gas. However since it is a N/A car, taking the exhaust off completely would be a bad idea as you need some backpressure or else your car will get really confused and you'll lose power.

A GOOD-SOUNDING catback will make you happy every time you drive. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif Having a manual car that sounds good is something that cannot be emulated. Every time you take off from a light and people look at you, not like "Ew that car sounds like crap! RICER!" but like "D@mn... That's sexy. " that's such a good feeling. Plus you can rev and have it sound good. It's a no-loss mod; you only benefit from it. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif Just make SURE to find one you like BEFORE buying.

edit: plus it lets the world know that you are of the elite group of people who drive stick //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/cool.gif.3bcaf8f141236c00f8044d07150e34f7.gif Everyone can hear you shift.

 

[NikoM 10+ year member]

Probably //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif Your car is light, any power increase should be noticeable.
A catback will reduce the backpressure of your exhaust system, making the engine have to "work" less to expel burnt exhaust gas. However since it is a N/A car, taking the exhaust off completely would be a bad idea as you need some backpressure or else your car will get really confused and you'll lose power.

A GOOD-SOUNDING catback will make you happy every time you drive. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif Having a manual car that sounds good is something that cannot be emulated. Every time you take off from a light and people look at you, not like "Ew that car sounds like crap! RICER!" but like "D@mn... That's sexy. " that's such a good feeling. Plus you can rev and have it sound good. It's a no-loss mod; you only benefit from it. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif Just make SURE to find one you like BEFORE buying.

edit: plus it lets the world know that you are of the elite group of people who drive stick //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/cool.gif.3bcaf8f141236c00f8044d07150e34f7.gif Everyone can hear you shift.

Sounds great man! The first thing I'm getting though is a new head unit. Talking with 'natebarrier' from this forum about it via the private messaging system. Then I'll move into the speakers and whatnot. When I'm satisfied with the system, then I'll be moving towards small performance upgrades.

 

[Buck 5,000+ posts]

Sounds great man! The first thing I'm getting though is a new head unit. Talking with 'natebarrier' from this forum about it via the private messaging system. Then I'll move into the speakers and whatnot. When I'm satisfied with the system, then I'll be moving towards small performance upgrades.

Honestly I wouldn't do performance upgrades. IMO it just makes everything harder to fix and once you upgrade something you have to upgrade everything else to handle the extra wear and tear of more stress on the stock parts.

 

[Heeltoeclutch 10+ year member]

Ha sounds good. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif Have fun and do your research!

 

[Heeltoeclutch 10+ year member]

Honestly I wouldn't do performance upgrades. IMO it just makes everything harder to fix and once you upgrade something you have to upgrade everything else to handle the extra wear and tear of more stress on the stock parts.

Dude intake and exhaust will put VERY little extra strain on stock parts. Now if he were to boost the car or do cams or anything like that, that would be different. Stock parts are usually rated to around 150% of stock capacity. Something like a turbo kit would be enough to do some serious damage, but certainly not simple intake and exhaust.

Now if he wanted to turbo the car, he would probably want forged pistons, new valve springs and retainers, possibly titanium valves, and at least a stage 1 clutch. That's talking about adding 50-ish hp though and increasing the compression ratio drastically. 15 hp is not much stress.

 

[NikoM 10+ year member]

Honestly I wouldn't do performance upgrades. IMO it just makes everything harder to fix and once you upgrade something you have to upgrade everything else to handle the extra wear and tear of more stress on the stock parts.

Even with a short shifter, new intake and catback?

 

[Heeltoeclutch 10+ year member]

There is no way a short shifter and bushings would put ANY extra strain on the car. It's just a lever //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif Intake and exhaust will add some power, but not nearly enough to strain other components in any significant way.

 

[Buck 5,000+ posts]

Dude intake and exhaust will put VERY little extra strain on stock parts. Now if he were to boost the car or do cams or anything like that, that would be different. Stock parts are usually rated to around 150% of stock capacity. Something like a turbo kit would be enough to do some serious damage, but certainly not simple intake and exhaust.
Now if he wanted to turbo the car, he would probably want forged pistons, new valve springs and retainers, possibly titanium valves, and at least a stage 1 clutch. That's talking about adding 50-ish hp though and increasing the compression ratio drastically. 15 hp is not much stress.

Even with a short shifter, new intake and catback?

I haven't read the whole thread, that was my generalized .02. That would be fine, but I thought you meant bigger mods than that. But first you need a big system //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[Heeltoeclutch 10+ year member]

Lol agreed. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif Don't gain TOO much weight though!

jk all your call //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[Buck 5,000+ posts]

Do a wall

 

[NikoM 10+ year member]

I'll show you some pics of mine later when I get home from work. It's just a red 04 ls sport. From the outside it looks stock(window tint aside) but I have a pretty nice system in the works

Was going to take pictures yesterday, but when I got home from track, it wasn't very bright and would give you a bad comparison with the tint and the normal window.

I get off track earlier today, about 4pm, so I'll get a few pictures for you and post them on here.

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Looking at spending about $150 for a different head unit. I was recommended this: http://www.amazon.com/Kenwood-Excelon-KDC-X794-Receiver-Remote/dp/B00392IJ5E/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=automotive&qid=1299544305&sr=8-1