noshoes

just got 2.7 6spd and want to begin building up car with some hp gains. where do i start and what do i expect to get from what i do? are there hp gains from certain exhausts? and what tuninig with computer can be done that is woth while?

E-Swift

Dude, there are about a million different ways to go. First
Exhaust-Apr,MTM,AWE,ect or go custom and save some money( Magnaflow)
Chip- GIAC, APR, REVO, ect...
Diverter Valves- I like FORGE
Intake- Cold Air, S-Flow, ect
that's a pretty good start.

noshoes

localy there is someone who is offering to have the car tuned for me. he says that there is software that he will run through my car by hooking his lap top computer to it and i will gain up to 50-80 hp. if this is the way to do it how much should i pay and how much hp should i really expect to gain. is what he is offering to do the same as chipping the car?
what do i need to spend on exhaust? and what can i expect to gain

Allroady DungBeetle

Make sure he's a reputable tuner - ASP, APR, GIAC, MTM etc etc. $4-600 generally.

Oh and yes, that's "chipping" the car. It's primarily done by flashing the ECU these days not actually soldering a chip on the ECU board.

noshoes

i live in n.y. state and found a few that are apparently reputable. are you in the new england area? if so who have you heard of?
i am going to try to find some info on others by asking people on thi siste where in n.y. they recommend going
thanks,
noshoes

Allroady DungBeetle

Best place i know personally is Axis Motorsport - call Joe he's the bomb. The website is so-so but email or call and he will fix you up. He gets around too. (in a good way LOL) I have no "connection" with Joe except that I like him and he is a straight shooter guy - no BS and sells excellent products.

Tell him Doug sent you and maybe he'll toss me a cookie.

http://www.axismotorsport.com/

Doug

quickaudi:STFA

the classifieds should have an ECU or two that would meet your needs

as for catback exhaust, it's really more about sound than hp, in most cases

quickaudi:STFA

... or someone has a vagcom and thinks they can tune it with lemmiwinks

never hurts to be cautious

robsa6

...LOL! I've seen quite a few in ny talk about being "tuners" I've tuned my car from stock to stage 3 and I've got considerable time invested in learning the maps, the flow of information, and ecu logic used and have a rudimentary knowledge at best. ( I'm not the smartest guy in the world but my car runs pretty good) If your tuner guy is really capable he should be able to carry on a significant conversation with you about your exact platform that is concise, and direct. He should be able to discuss fuel trims, timing variations, map hard limits, ect. I think there are underground people who are capable but I also KNOW there are people who have "obtained" information (files) and don't know why they were modified, or how they're going to act in your specific car. I'd tune your car only if you were willing to log it afterwards and we were able to fine tune it until it was smooth, no timing pull, and re log it. having said that a stage 1 tune isint rocket science either. The commercial tunes are encrypted so the owner cant do in depth logging unless the tuner has a logging program to use and that is the reason I tuned this car. I used apr for a stage 1 on my old one and was disappointed that I couldn't use anything but vag com to see what it was doing and vag is slow. +1 on diverter valves and gutted down pipes as well