Modifications

[Fordo97]

Hey everyone! New to the site so thought I would ask a question... Is there any mods that you guys just can't live without? Or the best bang for the buck? I know the CAI and Tuners are pretty common but was just curious about what everyone has to say! Thanks (I own a 2011 Fusion Sport FWD fully loaded) (and no my parents didn't pay for it) ?

-aj

Edited October 16, 2015 by Fordo97

[Bman505]

Hi Fordo,

 

I have not put any mods on in any of my cars to date so take this as opinion and not experience. I think that most modern cars do not have "much meat left on the bone" when it comes to performance. I get the feeling to be competitive with other manufactures anything they can do to increase performance they would do if the cost was reasonable or didn't sacrifice day to day livability or reliability. With that out of the way, lets move on to your situation.

 

I would not start with a tuner as your first mod but I would recommend it for others. Explaining this further, I think the tune really only helps as a first mod if your car is turbo/super charged, as most tunes as far as I can tell take advantage of wastegate/BOV control and change the point at which the car lets out excess, or holds the PSI longer. I think a tune can help a N/A car to reprogram the car's air/gas mix ratios to take advantage of other mods you may do to your car.

 

My personal opinion on CAI is that it will change the sound of your car. I think in some cases you may gain a few HP but in a majority of cases of CAI I've seen CAI gains is snake oil. Now my thoughts behind this opinion is that most modern cars already are sucking air from somewhere around the wheel well and piping it through the air box and other various intake pieces. A lot of CAI I see on the market actually have the filter cone inside of the engine bay next to all of that hot air from the engine so it would seem to do the exact opposite of what you want. I think people BELIEVE that they give you more power because the intake sound is louder and any true gains are probably from the change of the air filter to one that is less restrictive. But they sure do look flashy right? Again this is my opinion and not backed by any kind of fact/proof. If someone wants to show me a before and after dyno sheet I would gladly change my stance.

 

On that note, air intakes like K/N and others change the restriction on the air filter therefor allowing you to put more air into the combustion process. There is a fine line of performance and letting more particulates through into your engine. I am not touching that one as it has been the start of many forum flame wars. How much more air is let in is the big question? My opinion is, not that much not enough to make a big difference. Full disclosure is that I do have a K/N performance intake on my motorcycle but I think the increase is far more drastic on a 650cc engine that revs to 12000 RPM generating much more suction on a bike that weighs 400lbs total. Even in this application I think the increase is only a few HP, ft/lbs but you feel it more due to the motorcycles superior power to weight ratio.

 

Modding exhausts: I have seen many people in honda forums start to burn oil from eliminating backpressure that is needed in the operation of those engines. I don't know what the story is for these fords but I myself don't like this mod.

 

Sway control bars, suspension mods, etc. I think these mods work and are well worth the money if your going to be doing cornering. I think most daily commuters such as ours have a lot of room performance here because car manufactures think consumers don't want a car that has trouble getting over speed bumps, or driveways, and has a spine jarringly, spleen busting ride. If you want to stiffen/lower your ride I think you will get gains in performance.

 

This is getting long, but things you can do that will give you proven engine performance are expensive and not easy.

 

Bore/stroke your engine: There is a saying, "There is no replacement for displacement" if you have a N/A engine changing the volume of your engine will give you more power. This will be costly and probably beyond the skill of the auto hobbyist.

 

Turbo/super charge: Proven increases here if your start with a N/A engine. again it is substantial work for your everyday person.

 

As far as the best bang for your buck and probably the mod that I think nets the biggest gains, Lighten your car!, the only thing this costs you is your time. There is another saying "You want your car to go fast in a straight line, put a bigger engine in it. You want your car to be fast everywhere, make it lighter." If you can sacrifice the day to day livability, pull out your A) back seat air conditioning C) all interior trim D) entertainment system E) sound deadening material Your car will be very noticeably faster. Most people don't want to do this to their daily driver though, so you typically only see this in track cars.

 

Anyway so there are some things that you will probably find not so helpful, but perhaps you might understand why I never did any mods to this point. Since I have a car that is already turbo'ed I might look into the tune. If I ever do it, I will make sure to post before and after dyno runs.

Edited October 18, 2015 by Bman505