back to the basic!

ever wonder why when you need to overtake some vehicle, your car feel sluggish and it seems like overtaking a vehicle takes you forever? and when you need to feel the adrenalin rush, but you car cannot provide that feel of satisfaction? ok. i have some tips on improve your car performance with some very basic modifications (i mean really basic). there are a few things you can take note of which are intake, exhaust, ignition and pulleys.

1. Ok guys, let us start with intake first. Intake system is how your breathe. Better air flow provides better breathing for you. There are 2 types of basic intake modifications which are drop-in and open pod system. Drop-in is a direct plug&play item which just swap with your current paper air filter. It's a good upgrade for those who are not aggresive type of driver and it remains the stock look. For open pod, it needs proper piping to attach the air filter to the throttle body or carburetor. However it is good for those who love high rev (partly due to the induction sound). But it requires cold air intake for it as car performs better with cold air. What determine the type/brand of air filter you should look for? it's depends on your driving style, future major modifications (some prefer open pod), level of filtration, amount of air flow, reusable/washable and reliability. There are some brands you can scout for like k&n (i'm using the drop-in type), Blitz, HKS, and Apexi. Price wise from rm150-rm400.
2. Then we move on to ignition. The basic ignition modifications is choosing the right spark plugs. Spark plugs provide sparks for combustion and better sparks=better power. There are a few types of spark plugs such the commonly used copper plugs, platinum plugs and ever popular iridium plugs. Lifespan of spark plugs depends on the types of spark plugs (copper,platinum,and iridium). This trend also applies on the performance and the pricing of the plugs (rm20-rm300). Choose the heatrange and gapping size which recommended by the car manufacturer. Also, custom side-gapped spark plugs have better power (slight) compare with plugs without custom side-gapped.
3. Pulleys. You can find a few types of pulleys in your engine and normally camshaft pulley and crankshaft pulley are the those you should concentrate on. For camshaft campulley, most aftermarket pulleys are lightened and adjustable which means you are able to retard(better top end power) or advancing(better low end power) the engine timing. This is altering the engine powerband. Normally adjustable cam pulley is paired with aftermarket camshaft in order to get the powerband you want. If without aftermarket camshaft, improvement of installing it on twin cam engine(requires 2 adjustable pulleys) is more significant than in single cam engine. Brands like Arospeed has adjustable cam pulley for various rides with price from rm150-rm300. Ok let's move on with crank pulley. Most of aftermarket crank pulleys are lightened. Some are with harmonic dampener while some do not have it. Most of these pulleys are made of high quality aluminium(some kononnye lah). It's advisable to go for dampened ones as it protect your crankshaft for long term but of course this type of pulleys are more costly (twice the price of those withour damper). It improves the low end power which is good for traffic jam and city driving. Price wise varies from rm200-rm600. The famous brand is Mythelogy.
4. Lastly, exhaust system. This minor modification is the best bang for bucks. The most common and cheapest way to increase your HP. In exhaust system, we have extractor/exhaust header or manifold, piping, center bullet/box, and rear muffler. The most vital part of the system is extractor(header/manifold). There are generally 2 types of extractors which are 4-2-1 or 4-1. 4-2-1 is 4 pipes into 2pipes then into 1 while 4-1 is from 4 pipes straight into 1. 4-2-1 is mainly for daily usage (reasonably power throughout the powerband) while 4-1 is mainly for high rev beast (high end power). The pros or cons of an extractor is depending on whether the length of each pipe is properly tuned or not and whether the extractor is mandrel bent(constant inner diameter for better flow) or not. So choose a tuned length and mandrel bent extractor. Ok let's talk about piping size. Piping size is important and it's not always the bigger the better. Choose the size wisely and the bending of the piping should opt for mandrel bent. Use back original route as straight piping is road illegal and dangerous (right underneath the fuel tank). Center bullet/mid box are called resonators (if i'm not mistaken). Main function is lower down the noise emission and provide swirling effect. Then, muffler is the rear part of the exhaust. There generally 2 types which are straight flow and s-flow. Straight flow muffler is good for pick up but top end wise might lose out a bit while s-flow muffler provides better top end which good for frequent highway users. Generally, straight flow muffler are louder than s-flow muffler. For auto transmission rides, it's advisable to use s-flow muffler to maintain the backpressure. There are generally 2 types or materials which use in exhaust system which aluminized steel and stainless steel. Some exhaust system is made up of titanium and even carbon fiber (for muffler). Price wise for whole setup varies from rm500 to rm2000 (local cars, foreign cars might cost even more). Too many brands for you choose but choose wisely. Don't choose cap ayam because what you pay is what you get!

All of the above are meant to improve performance/power for entry level. There are more modifications later on which requires more survey and studies in order to sort out which is suitable for you and your car. Hope you guys have fun while modding your car. Peace out! haha!

ps: all of the above are purely guidelines. pls correct me if i'm wrong. all comments are welcomed! thx~