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YACT: Son wants to do "bolt-ins" on his car. Any suggestions?

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Originally posted by: 91TTZ
Originally posted by: mAdD INDIAN
this would be a good opportunity for both you. You can teach him about cars and their parts. There's nothign wrong wiht putting on bolt-ons on a Cougar as long as he understand what each part does, why it's needed, and how it improves the overall performance.

You could always do suspension bolt-ons, they are affordable and do make a noticable difference to the car's ride.

There's nothing wrong with modifing ANY car as long as you are doing it because you genuinely want to, and you learn something from the process. On the other hand, it would be pretty dumb to mod your car just because you friends are doing it.
Click to expand...

I bolded the part that matters.

Some cars are useless trying to mod with bolt-ons. A turbo car is worth it, and big displacement cars are worth it. Putting bolt-ons on a Civic just seems to make the car louder. And you're still stuck with a 15-16 second car. This Cougar won't be much different.

If you look at the results from a lot of these parts, you'd see that they don't do much at all. Most are just gimmicks that people buy because they're stupid. (fart cans, tornado intake, electric "supercharger", ebay "performance" chips, etc.
Click to expand...

my civic has bolt ons... and an engine transplant.. 😛

runs 14's.
 
Originally posted by: 91TTZ
Originally posted by: mAdD INDIAN
this would be a good opportunity for both you. You can teach him about cars and their parts. There's nothign wrong wiht putting on bolt-ons on a Cougar as long as he understand what each part does, why it's needed, and how it improves the overall performance.

You could always do suspension bolt-ons, they are affordable and do make a noticable difference to the car's ride.

There's nothing wrong with modifing ANY car as long as you are doing it because you genuinely want to, and you learn something from the process. On the other hand, it would be pretty dumb to mod your car just because you friends are doing it.
Click to expand...

I bolded the part that matters.

Some cars are useless trying to mod with bolt-ons. A turbo car is worth it, and big displacement cars are worth it. Putting bolt-ons on a Civic just seems to make the car louder. And you're still stuck with a 15-16 second car. This Cougar won't be much different.

If you look at the results from a lot of these parts, you'd see that they don't do much at all. Most are just gimmicks that people buy because they're stupid. (fart cans, tornado intake, electric "supercharger", ebay "performance" chips, etc.
Click to expand...

Hmmm...so what aren't gimmicks?
 
First thing I would do is a suspension and wheel/tire package. While probably the most expensive, it will probably be the only thing that would give a decent increase in (handling) performance as well as aesthetics. His buddies will notice a 1-2" drop and a nice set of 17's a lot more than a intake under the hood.

For a NA car, all an exhaust is going to get you is a different sound, and a different look. I say that because if he picks some sh1t can exhaust it will look and sound worse than stock. Look for a cat-back with an actual full size muffler as part of it. You can get a nice, deep, good sounding tone instead of the raspy and tinny sounds of the "N1" style. Then again, since he's not going to see much of a performance gain, might as well save some $$ and just get an axle back exhaust.

Based on the platform he's working with, I say go with mods that are more aesthetic, as boosting power is going to be tough.
 
Originally posted by: timur
Originally posted by: mAdD INDIAN
this would be a good opportunity for both you. You can teach him about cars and their parts. There's nothign wrong wiht putting on bolt-ons on a Cougar as long as he understand what each part does, why it's needed, and how it improves the overall performance.
Click to expand...

That's exactly why lol

It gives us something to do together to bond and he has a fun time instead of being bored and getting in trouble lol
Click to expand...

Well keep in mind that if you do mod his car, you will be giving him a means to get into even more trouble.
 
Originally posted by: timur
Originally posted by: 91TTZ
Originally posted by: mAdD INDIAN
this would be a good opportunity for both you. You can teach him about cars and their parts. There's nothign wrong wiht putting on bolt-ons on a Cougar as long as he understand what each part does, why it's needed, and how it improves the overall performance.

You could always do suspension bolt-ons, they are affordable and do make a noticable difference to the car's ride.

There's nothing wrong with modifing ANY car as long as you are doing it because you genuinely want to, and you learn something from the process. On the other hand, it would be pretty dumb to mod your car just because you friends are doing it.
Click to expand...

I bolded the part that matters.

Some cars are useless trying to mod with bolt-ons. A turbo car is worth it, and big displacement cars are worth it. Putting bolt-ons on a Civic just seems to make the car louder. And you're still stuck with a 15-16 second car. This Cougar won't be much different.

If you look at the results from a lot of these parts, you'd see that they don't do much at all. Most are just gimmicks that people buy because they're stupid. (fart cans, tornado intake, electric "supercharger", ebay "performance" chips, etc.
Click to expand...

Hmmm...so what aren't gimmicks?
Click to expand...

a new engine
 
Originally posted by: 91TTZ
Originally posted by: mAdD INDIAN
this would be a good opportunity for both you. You can teach him about cars and their parts. There's nothign wrong wiht putting on bolt-ons on a Cougar as long as he understand what each part does, why it's needed, and how it improves the overall performance.

You could always do suspension bolt-ons, they are affordable and do make a noticable difference to the car's ride.

There's nothing wrong with modifing ANY car as long as you are doing it because you genuinely want to, and you learn something from the process. On the other hand, it would be pretty dumb to mod your car just because you friends are doing it.
Click to expand...

I bolded the part that matters.

Some cars are useless trying to mod with bolt-ons. A turbo car is worth it, and big displacement cars are worth it. Putting bolt-ons on a Civic just seems to make the car louder. And you're still stuck with a 15-16 second car. This Cougar won't be much different.

If you look at the results from a lot of these parts, you'd see that they don't do much at all. Most are just gimmicks that people buy because they're stupid. (fart cans, tornado intake, electric "supercharger", ebay "performance" chips, etc.
Click to expand...

all the mods you mentioned are all power adders.

There's a lot of suspension/chassis goodies that he could do that would significantly improve the car. Plus he gets taht satisfaction that he controlled the entire process and ended up with a better-performance.

 
Originally posted by: Rent
Originally posted by: timur
Originally posted by: mAdD INDIAN
this would be a good opportunity for both you. You can teach him about cars and their parts. There's nothign wrong wiht putting on bolt-ons on a Cougar as long as he understand what each part does, why it's needed, and how it improves the overall performance.
Click to expand...

That's exactly why lol

It gives us something to do together to bond and he has a fun time instead of being bored and getting in trouble lol
Click to expand...

Well keep in mind that if you do mod his car, you will be giving him a means to get into even more trouble.
Click to expand...

not neccessarily. Maybe hte OP and his son can enter auto-x's together (you can enter two drivers for one car) and they'd have a great time and maybe get some father-son competition going as well.

It is entirely possible for the kid be responsible of the car's performance and use it wisely. Especially if he took his time and his money to make hte car better. He wouldn't wanna trash it on a whim.

I think its a great idea and the father should encourage his son's enthusaism, as long as its genuine enthusaism.


Also since hte Cougar runs the Duratec motor its entirely possible for the SVT Duratec motor (making 220hp) to fit in there. Sure it's not feasible at this point..but down the road..could be a fun swap. I wonder if there are any Mazda peformance parts that work on the Cougar.

Hmmm...
 
do the mods. it will help him learn about cars, instead of wasting away BS'ing like being on ATOT!!

i don't follow the domestic scene so read the previous posts on what to do. at worse, he's learning something. 😉
 
OP, please don't let your son to modify his cougar. he needs to sell his cougar for a better modifiable car.
 
Originally posted by: 91TTZ
Originally posted by: timur
My son has a summer job and want to do "bolt-ins" for his car and he ask for my help. He's paying for it himself and I think it a good thing to keep him busy--instead of going out and getting in trouble lol

Yeah, I know about cars a little but only for maintenance lol. What do all the "cool kids" think are the bolt-ins car guys can do.

lol
Click to expand...

Most of the "cool kids" do mods which do jack squat for performance. That's because usually the "cool" kids are also the stupid kids.

Putting a 5" exhaust tip on the end of your 3 cylinder Geo Metro's exhaust straw doesn't help you any.
Click to expand...


Namely because HP is created by backpressure in the engine. Alotta kids are putting universal exhaust tips on, not realizing that for performance they have to replace the entire exhaust system.

Anyhow, with a car like that there isn't much point because you won't get much more power out of it.

Maybe he should get a CAI, a spring kit, but thats it, anything else would just be overkill.
 
Originally posted by: 733SHiFTY
Originally posted by: dxkj
adding NOS!!!
Click to expand...

NITRO TANKS = WIN

(he needs at least 3)
Click to expand...

Big ones.. for tonight.

Your son will live his life a quarter mile at a time, and for those 12 (or 19 in your sons case).. he will be free!


:laugh:
 
Originally posted by: mAdD INDIAN

all the mods you mentioned are all power adders.

There's a lot of suspension/chassis goodies that he could do that would significantly improve the car. Plus he gets taht satisfaction that he controlled the entire process and ended up with a better-performance.
Click to expand...

You're probably still young and learning, so I'll go easy on you.

Since when is a "tornado" intake a power adder? It's a gimmick that fools people who know nothing about cars. The electric superchargers are also gimmicks, because if you look at the amount of power the electric motor draws, you'd see that it isn't NEARLY powerful enough to do anything. Take this for instance, those motors are probably about 100 watts and spin about 5000 rpm with the fan. A turbo/SC sucks up probably 10 or 20 HP in order for it to give that power back. 10 hp would be equivalent to 7,460 watts, and that would be a very weak SC. Typically they'd use about 20-30 hp, which is 15,000+ watts. And unlike the fan spinning at 5000 rpm, my turbos spin about 150,000+ rpm.
 
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