Potential buyer from Fremantle needs info on mods

[Madhav]

Hi all, I did a bit of surfing online to find info on the VR4s and came across this forum. Seems very friendly and informative, so I thought I'd throw a few questions out.

I'm actually in India and will be returning to oz in a month or two and am seriously thinking to arrange to have one of these beasts waiting for me when I arrive. Can't yet decide between the galant or the legnum... manual or auto...

Anyway my main question is:

How well do they respond to modifications?

I mean bolt on mods like exhaust, intercooler, boosting turbo boost psi, ECU, air filter etc etc. Maybe even a bigger turbo! Who knows?
And how much more power can one realistically expect to gain from these without destroying the drivetrain.

I would like to have something fast and wondered if anyone here has successfully done any mods, what they did, how well they went and approx costs.

Thanks for your help and great forum

Madhav

 

[Madhav]

Did I break some unspoken taboo?

 

[gilly]

strange that nobody has welcomed you yet! Normally 5-10 people are onto it within hours!

Anyways, welcome to ozVR4!

 

[J-B]

Welcome to the forum

As for how they stand up to modifications, they seem to handle them pretty well but the pest people to answer that question would be Gly or Bradc

 

[SiliconAngel]

Or Valmes

Welcome to the forums

 

[bradc]

It is very easy to get a big increase in midrange power with an exhaust, air filter and a boost controller. Then you tend to go for something to control the fuel, and a bigger intercooler and you've got yourself a very quick car that will still only produce about 320-340hp but produce a massive amount of power throughout the revrange due to the small turbos.

 

[hawks]

Welcome madhav

Here is some answers from a previous post by Gly

pod = waste of money unless you are doing cold air intake/box/tuning

IMO

get a hard pipe kit made, remove all the fexible crap mitsi supplied.
all standard size 2.5"

600x300x76 core size cooler with reducers if needed

a panel filter in the stock airbox

a boost controller,

aftermarket BOV, as the foctory one leaks.

a turbo back exhaust system.

this will bring you some where in the 180-190kw atw on factory ecu.

IMO there are the best bang for buck upgrades you can do...


you could go further with an ecu, piggy or full, (more moeny and tuning)
this will bring you into the 190-225kw atw mark...
with will depend on intake mods (cold air box/intake, better flowing intake pipes)

225kw atw is the limit of the factory turbos.

then it just gets expensive/hard with custom turbo setups and full pipe work

Hope this helps

 

[snickells]

Hiya Mad, sorry about the slow reply mate! Didn't mean to make you feel like you'd done anything wrong

As for all the modding questions, it's just that most of us who actually have cars on here have only just got them! So we really haven't had much of a chance to get stuck into all this craziness. Luckily though there is clubvr4 and there is a mountain of information on what can and has been done to change these crazy little numbers into ridiculous beasts.

Good luck with your hard choice re: Galant vs Legnum too!

Steve.

 

[Madhav]

Hey Thanks a lot guys, all the info really helped.

I had suspected that the engine being a turbo would respond well to mods, however I wanted to be sure someone had done it before I invest my money in one.
The info supplied is very encouraging, and I can tell you 340hp sounds better than my last car, (1.6lt volkswagon combi,) although the combi was good for camping, just not good for trying to get out of second gear up a hill.....

So I have sent an email to iron chef to get the ball rolling. 1st pref being a manual galant, as factory standard, they're supposed to be the quickest of the lot. I'm not gonna be too picky on colour, should be able to find a silver or white one pretty easy. Blacks are hard to get I hear? But I found two on the prestige import site? See the links, actually I think one is a silver, and the other is a black.

http://www.prestigemotorsport.com.au/dealerstock.php?carID=24877

http://www.prestigemotorsport.com.au/dealerstock.php?carID=42134


Anyway, they all have the same engine, which is what I am more interested in.

I arrive into Perth by late Jan, so this leaves 2 months for the whole import process, could be enough time? From there it seems this dude from RPW could be a good bloke to meet up with I hear. Did he end up finding a car to play around with in the end?

Thanks all, keep you posted

Madhav

 

[SiliconAngel]

Jeebuz, 2001 black manual Galant now THERE'S a rare beast indeed! Shame it's a type V, but then I suppose that's about the only reason it hasn't sold yet!!

 

[bradc]

I don't think I've ever seen a manual type s facelift galant - just a thought.

 

[Madhav]

Do u think that black one is a good deal? Interior got graded a c I think.... how much landed u reckon it would be? I would prefer it to be checked or at least seen by someone in the flesh before I bid though....

 

[hawks]

I don't think I've ever seen a manual type s facelift galant - just a thought.

I haven't seen one either during my journey through the internet.

 

[SiliconAngel]

Mad this is an EXTREMELY rare car, I'd worry about getting it on my doorstep first, and the interior condition later! You might NEVER see another one of them... Besides the Prestige boys will look after you - give them a call and have a chat about it.

 

[Madhav]

Trev, I'm more worried about the price first. How much do u think is a reasonable price for this?

 

[hawks]

820,000 yen is about $8600 plus about $7500 for compliance, transport and brokers fee.

About $16100 plus tyres, rego & insurance.

 

[Madhav]

I'm in India now, so calling is difficult, bad phone connections here, just sent an email, hopefully they'll respond soon...

 

[hawks]

Be sure to double check the costs that I have said.

Mine was a rough guide only.

 

[Madhav]

16k u think? ohhhh.... my max budget was around 15k....hmmm....u really think this is worth it though? I wanted to leave 5k or so for mods, but this will leave me almost nothing for mods....

 

[hawks]

My best advice would be to not buy the first one you see as a better one might be around the corner.