Best mods to start with.
 

I would like to start doing some performance mods to my car now that i put on my wheels tires. I'm a little overwhelmed with all their is to do. What do you guys think would be the best stuff to start with. So far I have

SLP Loudmouth II
SLP Lid
K&N drop-in

I don't really want to do Nitrous so thats pretty much out of the question. What do you think some other good ideas would be? I'm guessing right now my car is in the low 13's. I'd like to see it in the low 12's. BTW the car is an A4.

Here is the order you should go:
Lid/filter (they are all good but SLP, TSP and whisper fit the best) $150
smooth bellows $30-$45
Port the T/B $150
High flow Y-pipe (NOT SLP!!! It fits like crap!!) $250ish
Cat back $200-$600
Then buy a Z06 MAF ($179) and get the PCM re-flashed by a pro ( I HIGHLY recommend Rapid Motorsports in birdsboro PA, but expect to pay at least $400+dyno time for any full tune and trust me it is worth every penny), easy 50-60RWH. If you are planning on doing internals/power adder or anything like that get some longtubes instead of the Y-pipe. Stock manifolds flow very well so if you aren't at least doing a cam you may actually see a loss from longtube headers in the low end power range (trust me the LS1 needs all the low-end it can get).

I would suggest Magnaflow for the exhaust, I had the loudmouth and the magnaflow put down more HP and actually HAS a muffler. I only gained 2 HP from cutouts over the magnaflow exhaust. I would highly recommend staying away from SLP, I had a car covered with their stuff and now all I have left is their lid. I was not happy with fit and finish on anything, especially their longtubes and Y-pipe. Their stuff is good, don't get me wrong, but there is better for the price range IMO.

If the car has 2.73s, definitely do some gears and like Nick said, get a tune. Mikey will find you nice power with a tune.

:stupid: The first mods you want to do should be to get the engine to breathe correctly. Everything will come after that...

TC, LT's & a mild tune should get you into the mid 12's no matter the gearing.

i already have installed the SLP lid, SLP loudmouth, and the BFG G-Force KDW's, for gearing i have 3.23's. thanks for the info.

personally I'd say a 4000-4200 stall converter...but with you having a LM I dont know how much you'd like longtubes at this point...with just the converter & some sticky tires should get you down to 12.50 or better pretty easily as long as you get your shift points adjusted.

gears!!!! then a TC.
the best 2 bang for the buck mods you can do. drop in 4.10's and a 3600-4000 stall and you will be cookin.
one big thing is don't forget to program. custom tune that thing yourself with www.hptuners.com or have someone around here do it for you (foff667 is good)

later
tim

yeah, with the LM and LT's/no cats i dont think youll enjoy the ugly sound your car will emit

3000th post in E&D Tech :w00t:

a large converter will gain alot more then gears will...and they can make up for a lack of gear... with my 2.73's i gained .6 tenths with just the converter basically.

with a stall that big how does it drive though, that is way up there.

i lost 1-2 mpg around town with my 3500 & 2.73 gears but I didnt have my tuning software at the time to adjust my lockup points lower. Also once you do lock in 4th gear on the highway its like driving with a stock TC...3.23's with a 4000 would be about as tight so i cant see much worse milage if thats what your main issue would be...and considering a stock ls1 makes peak tq between 4000-4500 it would be a very well matched combo. And yes with my 3500 stall I wish i had gone larger.