Just purchased AP

Me too.

I want to get an intake, but there are so many choices.

What if I choose the wrong one? Can I return it?
 
im so lost...

ok....tuning 101 lol

AFR - Air fuel ratio - if its high (>14.7 when driving around town) car can go boom. When you floor it, the car adds more fuel so this number goes down. at WOT (wide open throttle) this should drop to somewhere around 11-11.5, if it goes to 9 you are running rich and can bog down (not bad just annoying and less power)

KR - knock retard - This is when the car pulls timing (doesnt ignite the spark when it thinks it should) because the fuel is igniting on its own. this is bad. the number displayed is the degree of timing being taken aka 1.0 means the spark will ignite when the crank is 1 degree later than it would normally. excessive knock leads to detonation and car goes boom

LTFT - long term fuel trims - the car is constantly monitoring your afr's. if it consistantly see's a lean/rich condition it will store it in its memory. example - at 3000rpm at wot, i should inject X amount, but every time i do i need to add 10% more because its always lean. so from now on i will automatically add 10%. if any of these % are above 8%, positive or negative, the tune needs to be tweaked, if you go over 20% you will get a CEL (check engine light)
 
lots and lots of reading. i lurked around these forums for quite some time learning all this before taking the plunge. and yes it will make gobs of power.
 
Me too.

I want to get an intake, but there are so many choices.

What if I choose the wrong one? Can I return it?

Just pick a major company, you can't go wrong. It's a pipe with a filter on it. The power gain comes from removing the restrictive stock air box.
 
Will an AP make my car ferocious?

I mean, by making up for the poor tune that I keep reading about.

That depends on what is ferocious to you.

For me, no it's not ferocious. But it is a nice gain. I was going to sell off my ap and drove without it for a week or so. I put it back on for a weekend drive and realized that I didn't want to sell it anymore ;)

But still there is only so much you can do with stock turbo and engine. I'd conservatively say my car has about 300hp, and no it's not ferocious in a 3200lb car.

Honestly I think this is the wrong car to learn about modding with. I'd go with something more robust, and simpler. Keep it simple, add an intake, maybe exhaust. The ECU is way too complex, and the fuel system too sensitive to take any chances.

Maybe I've just grown accustomed to my mods so the car doesn't feel fast to me.
 
haha just trying to be realistic.

Rushing headlong into modding can be an expensive lesson.

Take it slow, learn about each step you take before you take it.

Modding is addictive though, once you start it's all over.

I'm just spoiled - I've been in a lot fast cars, and ridden some fast bikes, so this level of power is just not that exciting anymore. What I love about this car is how great it is at the track. A little extra power and some handling mods make it that much better. Taking the car to the next level of big turbo and built engine just wouldn't make sense for me and my use of the car. I'd rather put that money into an actually fast car for straight line work - I do want a car I can use to hit 200+mph in the standing mile.

god I ramble on when I have too much coffee :)
 
That depends on what is ferocious to you.

For me, no it's not ferocious. But it is a nice gain. I was going to sell off my ap and drove without it for a week or so. I put it back on for a weekend drive and realized that I didn't want to sell it anymore ;)

But still there is only so much you can do with stock turbo and engine. I'd conservatively say my car has about 300hp, and no it's not ferocious in a 3200lb car.

Honestly I think this is the wrong car to learn about modding with. I'd go with something more robust, and simpler. Keep it simple, add an intake, maybe exhaust. The ECU is way too complex, and the fuel system too sensitive to take any chances.

Maybe I've just grown accustomed to my mods so the car doesn't feel fast to me.


i think each car can use the term ferocious in each category. you wouldnt say this car is ferocious when racing vettes and vipers, but other cars in its category (ie. srt-4's, cobalt ss, wrx etc...) with some tuning and modifications, yes, this car can be a beast. what some people lose track of is this car is made for the middle 20's to upper 30's guy who needs something useful for their everyday life but wants something quick. its an econobox. its not made to produce 400 hp like GTO's. although its very capable of hitting 12's without so much tuning or mods. throw a set of slicks on it and its totally ready for 12's, nearly stock. add modifications on street tires....12's become the drivers skill. you just need to know....certain times and numbers in each car has to be taken into consideration what the car is capable of. 320whp on this car...thats great. 320whp on a roush...not so great. lol. you get the idea im sure.
 
I agree, it's all relative.

The car is good, and it responds fairly well to mods. AP included.

but as you stated....not a car to learn on. im trying to learn a lot here and thought i knew quite a bit. but i never dove into anything like the atr software. now along with each mod i put on i watch every parameter very carefully for a while to see how the cars reacting. if something goes wrong i ask questions and try to learn the part of atr i need to know to fix each problem.
 
yea well....ha!
 

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does anyone know a good place to tune a MSP 03 in the STL??

your better off going to the regional boards and asking there, the generic ones are for everyone and if you look where were from, 95% of us are nowhere near you. If you wanna drive 1500 miles to NY i can point you in the right direction
 
there is a lot of good info here.

can anyone explain the stages to me and why there isn't a stage 3 or 4 like my friends srt4. are we just limited in hp or something? his stg 3 srt4 makes like 413whp i think the last dyno was.
 
there is a lot of good info here.

can anyone explain the stages to me and why there isn't a stage 3 or 4 like my friends srt4. are we just limited in hp or something? his stg 3 srt4 makes like 413whp i think the last dyno was.

We just dont really call it that. once you go big turbo your at stage 4
 

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yeah haven't really seen it described in stages either.

Partly perhaps because the aftermarket is not that well developed for this car, and may well never be.

The SRT-4 is a much more moddable car when it comes to power upgrades, and has much larger aftermarket support and development.
 
make sure everythings running the way its supposed to, dont tune and forget, thats how things break.

Prime example - Me

Car started running slower than it used to, nothing major but just not as responsive, did a datalog and my butt dyno was right. I wasn't holding boost, my afr (air fuel ratio) was in the 16's (really really really really bad) and my fuel trims were all ****** up (stft went as high as +60%) turned out my MAF went bad (the sensor in the intake). At this point if i didnt monitor and wasnt anal about how my car is ( i almost always drive with the radio off just listening) and kept driving i probably would be on the blown engine threads

Is it common for a MAF to go bad ? Did you find out what happen to yours ?
 

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