suggestions for a stock 1997 celica gt, let your creative juices flow!!!! no not those juices. Options

[97celiman]

Hi, just recently suscribed to the site and i recently got a 97 gt celica with just over 135k...it is completely stock and im wondering how to get about 20 to 30 extra hp off the stock 5S-FE. any thoughts or suggestions would be great. I am not completely car retarted but there are a few things i dont understand with newer cars (i used to have a 62 ford falcon) i want to get more into modified cars where engine size does not equal hp, i like the idea of making 275 at the flywheel on a 4cyl. im not looking for that much now but its my ultimate goal. anyway if any of these questions can be answered in detail that would be great i will post pics of my car later on my little section of this site. it will be repainted at some point in the future but i plan on having this car for a long long time. i would like to get the hp without compromising to much of the gas mileage/reliability yes i know this is near impossible but i'll give it a shot...anyway here are some questions

what is a good FULL exhaust kit for this car? i want mandrel bent piping from the headers to exhaust tip does a cat-back not go all the way back? where is catalytic converter located on this car? if i do a cat-back is going to be annoyingly loud? if i do an exhaust its going to be the whole thing and not just a coffee can i hate that crap thats just for noise. my friend has a mark iii supra w/ turbo along with a full exhaust and it isnt terribly loud but he does get a tad bit of noise but its deep and throaty i.e. it doesnt sound like a bumble bee and you can still here yourselves talk. i do not know that much about exhaust systems when you see the pics they are one long pipe from the engine to mufflers and im wondering if that is considered a cat-back or not...are cat-backs a cheap fix or the real deal i wanna do this car right.

i would like to do the exhaust then the turbo but both of these things are farther down the list and in sequential order as i believe you need a larger exhaust for better turbo performance.

i do plan on turboing the car for 5-10 pounds of boost later down the road (like after college if i still have the same engine and dont swap for 3 series) and was looking at the burian turbo kit for the 5s-fe. what prep do i need to start doing to the engine to prepare for boost? i.e. camshafts, headers, intake, things like that? any good suggestions on parts or kits for these things would be great.

i do not want to half ass this car but paint and body kits are last on the list... i live by the simple motto "their are two types of car ppl...those who put rims on first and those who don't"

i would like to keep the stock engine please do not just list parts-i need explanations
just so you understand my car knowledge-on my falcon i replaced the fuel pump, carburetor, starter wiring, adjusted drum brakes (manually), fuse box doohickey that i cant think what its called right now my mind just went blank, coil, added/changed all fluids cept trans fluid change.

i can prob do basic stuff like short shifter and cold air intake if i have directions, once we start getting into cams, valves etc. then i start getting questions.

remember this is just a planning stage for me as i have college fast approaching but i am wide-eyed and wanting to learn. so any help is appreciated i also have a budget so only the basics for now that do not compromise to much gas mileage.

thanks,
celiman97
(yes the name is lame but its all they have and i dont really care as long as it was available)

feel free to shoot me an email with suggestions ideas etc.
im located in dallas area if there are any clubs or events related to celicas i'd love to know about them

thanks again.

[bccentaur3]

If you want to go all motor for right now and gain 20 horses. Get your cams regrinded. Obviously a nice exhaust system with header and a cai so the engine can breathe.

But if you decide to go F/I you have a lot of ways to make the power you want. especially with the cams you will make even more power than a regualr turbo motor.

[97celiman]

wouldnt i have to adjust the spacing for the cylinders if the cams were re-grinded...the only reason being they wouldnt be the original specs? is that instantly going to give me 20 extra hp? right now i am really looking for just bolt-ons and any suggestions on exhaust systems would be great

[97celiman]

also...what other prep is needed for 5-10 pnds of boost cams, headers and the like

[Kwanza26]

wouldnt i have to adjust the spacing for the cylinders if the cams were re-grinded...the only reason being they wouldnt be the original specs? is that instantly going to give me 20 extra hp? right now i am really looking for just bolt-ons and any suggestions on exhaust systems would be great

Bolt-ons aren't gonna give you 20-30 hp... maybe 10 if you're lucky. There's NO WAY to make significant power unless you open up the motor, besides boosting. If you want power... boost. Otherwise, it's gonna be drops in the bucket... AND... I suggest you do a bit of research. I imagine you asked about cylinder spacing and cams because you're familiar with pushrod OHV motors. Most imports are OHC or over head cam, so the cams don't affect anything in the block. In fact, even on OHV motors, you don't have to modify anything to install cam regrinds. That said, cams will significant;y improve you're torque curve and give an extra ~15hp at the wheels with bolt-ons.

[97celiman]

alrighty as i said i am new at this yes the falcon was a pushrod... i know that this motor is dohc i just didnt know how that affected it...if i do that/(who does that performance shop?) then add bolt-ons will they help more and obviously if i boost i'll have to open up the exhaust...id like to do full exhaust such as this

http://www.redshiftmotorsports.com/media/l...exhaust%20s.jpg

im assuming that is a full exhaust, i do not understand the purpose of a cat-back exhaust b/c if only half the car is mandrel bent piping and the front half (from the headers to catalytic converter) of the exhaust is still stock piping then arent the gases still constriced in the front part of car? isnt that the most important part?

also i know there are header-back and cat-back im assuming header-back is the full piping version am i wrong? if i do a header-back do you lose the cat-converter? exhausts confuse me in case you couldnt tell

[97celiman]

if i get the cams regrinded and get exhaust with a turbo kit putting out say 5 pounds of boost what kind of numbers should i expect and what else do i NEED to do?