Continued
Ok so now you've installed your air filter, changed your exhaust and still have bucket loads of cash to spend, what's next?
Personally I would recommend something that requires very little maintenance and doesn't take much time to install, so I'd suggest to work on the chassis or car body first. Several things can be done to improve performance :
Lighten the car. This will help with acceleration, handling and may be the only difference between winning or losing a drag race. Compare a VW Golf GTI with an Evo VIII, both are comparable in horsepower, both cars are crazy powerful, but the GTI's curb weight is 300kg more heavier than the Evo, imagine a drag race between the two, the GTI would literally have a penalty weight equivalent of about 4 grown men in the car!
How do you lighten the car? Two words : Carbon Fibre. Or Aluminium. Or Fibre. Or by removing it completely. The most common of the lot would be carbon fibre (CF) and the most readily available option is CF hoods. If your car already has a very lightweight hood like in the case of the Evo, then this probably wouldn't make much of a difference. Note from editor - generally speaking if you're already driving an Evo you wouldn't be reading this post! But if you're driving a humble Iswara and you switch to a CF hood, the weight savings is nearly 20kg! Swapping out the fenders, doors, boot and bumpers with CF would significantly help reduce weight too. A carbon kevlar or CF seat is also very much lighter than the OEM seat, get that swapped out too.
If you don't carry passengers take out those rear seats! And if you have the time, remove all sound dampening materials like bitumen and carpets from your car. These are heavy weight penalties! You can literally feel the difference just by test driving the basic model Wira Sedan or the Vios J vs their more kitted out counterparts the Wira Sedan with accessories and the Vios S. The agility can be instantly felt in the lighter basic models whereas the full accessory versions are more sluggish and heavier.
Changing your original glass windscreen and rear window to perspex is illegal in M'sia unless you buy a Lotus Exige S which comes straight from the manufacturer with a perspex rear glass. Note from editor - But if you owned a Exige, you wouldn't be reading this post either!
Lastly, lose weight. There's no point reducing your cars weight by 100kg when you weigh 120kg.
(Just joking here. Unless you're modding a go-kart then take this advice seriously.)
Change your rims. Yup, you read right - change your rims. Not to any rim, but choose a lightweight alloy rim and get a suitably sized one. Unsprung weight is one of the main factors that affects your cars performance.
Essentially 'unsprung weight' is whatever part of the car that's not supported by the cars suspension, meaning brakes, rims, and tyres, so these parts are susceptible to road shock and cornering forces. Reducing unsprung weight will give you more steering feel and in some cases improve your cornering ability. Also, by getting lightweight rims, you reduce rotational mass therefore improving acceleration and even braking!
A simple example would be my own Wira SE. The Wira SE comes stock with 16" JRD rims and 205/45/16 tyres. That's kinda wide and large (and heavy!) for a car that barely weighs 1.1 tons. After changing to lightweight 4.6kg 15" rims running on 195/55/15 tyres, the car accelerates and brakes better. Changing directions was significantly crispier and faster.
According to some, alloy wheels also help (to some extent) cool the brakes faster because of the heat dissipation properties. I can't confirm or deny this.
Next up - When are we gonna work on the engine? I want more powerrrrrrr
