Level One Upgrades- waste of money?

[Ferarri2007]

Hi guys! I've been thinking of getting a intake-header-exhaust upgrade. It's the so-called level one upgrade for the purposes of souping up my Lancer. I saw mixed reviews, with many saying it's a waste of money. This site shamelessreviews.com , in particular is opionated against it
Your thoughts?

[mazdamazda]

IF done right it isn't a waste of money IMO.

The problem is that a LOT of people would "upgrade" their vehicles in the wrong manner.

For example the air intake. Most would opt to buy the cheapest open-type filter out there without consideration for its placement to minimize hot air absorption. The problem is that these el-cheapo filters are so poorly made that they let in small dirt particles. Then there's the matter of properly servicing them, there's a dedicated cleaner & recharge oil for these filters but I've read that a some uses a regular detergent to clean them and use motor oil to lube them again. :shocked2:

[mbeige]

Are the headers going to be a larger diameter to free up the flow? If so, you'll need to port-match the exhaust ports so the flow will be continuous. If you want to get a larger intake, same thing to do so that the turbulence inside is minimized.

Like M2 said, do it properly.

[Si 06]

For intake get the original K&N drop in because the CAI is metal and will soak up the heat e di na cold air intake yon unless balutin mo ng insulation to keep the heat out. Fernan sa Speedlab halos lahat inaalok sa akin but Gono in Autoplus exhaust system lang. Punta ka dun sa hindi ka lolokohin

[ssaloon]

it also depends on the base engine you will be upgrading. if you're gonna slap IHE on a 1.3L carb car, VERY minimal ang gain. it's best to save for an engine swap, wherein the cost is not that far off from a mandrel bent IHE setup. no offense to 1.3L car owners.

[vinj]

As aforementioned there are a lot of factors and one factor also is "how restrictive is your stock system"? In the case of the Sentra GA16 engines, the basic bolt-ons (w/ local crush bent headers at that) have been proven on the dyno to give around 10 wheel hp (+/-)....

Research first and ask around for the best i/h/e set-up within your budget; cross-check with other owners with the same ride.

[empy]

depends on your expectations. as others have said, 10-20 hp gain is reasonable for an economy car with a fairly restrictive stock breathing system.

decent gain, but if you're expecting a huge improvement you'll be very disappointed, especially since quality parts are not cheap...