<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Jerstillman @ Mar 7 2008, 03:17 PM) [url=index.php?act=findpost&pid=30702]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/url]</div>
so what other breather elements can i upgrade? like throttle body and so on?[/b]
Well, "breather mods" are mostly just what I consider intake & exhaust mods to be. Here's a short list:
-Intake to include piping & filter. You already have a CAI, so mark that off your list.
-Cat-back exhaust. The exhaust piping from the cat to the rear of the car. I'm assuming that's what you mean by "exhaust" in your sig. This would be to include all piping behind the cat as well as the mufflers, but it would appear you already have a cat-back.
-Header/exhaust manifold. A lot of stock manifolds have short, unequal length runners, often times with a cat built into them. Picking up an aftermarket header can free up a few horsepower, sometimes a good bit more than you'll get from either a CAI/SRI or cat-back. Taking out a cat always helps, as well as replacing your existing runners with equal length tubular style manifold, can new you some decent gains. Although, there's also a chance you'll throw a CEL if you remove a cat.
-Mid-pipe/test pipe (if applicable). I don't know how many cats your car has... if it has 2, 1 in the exhaust manifold, and another shortly after, getting rid of the 2nd cat can only help.
-Intake manifold. Replacing your stock intake manifold can help see gains if it's well designed to fit your application, although there's a good chance no one makes a upgraded intake manifold for your car, and if they do, it's not cheap.
-Ported throttle body. Just like it sounds, if you're good at porting, over the years people have seen small gains porting out the throttle body as well as removing material from the butterfly. Typically not good for too much power, but can help slightly with throttle response if done correctly. If you're not familiar with porting, do not attempt this, as I would hate to see you damage your throttle body.
-Coolant bypass mod. This is a small trick that can help bring down your IAT's ever so slightly. Most modern cars have a coolant line running through the throttle body. The purpose of this is so the warm coolant can help to heat the throttle body during winter, to keep the butterfly from sticking. You can connect the incoming & outgoing coolant lines & close off the passage through the TB. This will keep the warm coolant from passing through your throttle body, which has been known to take down the TB/air temperatures slightly. Cooler/denser air makes more power, although probably not more than about 1hp, and you will no longer have protection against a sticking butterfly in the winter.
^^^Those are just a few ideas. If you're planning on staying NA, beyond that, to make more power, you'll be looking at opening up the block. If you do all of this, and still want more power, I suggest a set of mild street cams, with a little more lift/duration, without going overboard. Beyond that, you'll look at building both the bottom and top end, porting the head, oversized valves, higher compression internals, possibly increasing displacement ect ect... or, you could just turbo/supercharge it, which ultimately becomes cheaper... but then you have more risks involved, and it's probably time to start thinking of getting a more powerful car. Anyway, hope this helps.