Please help this novice.

[Cheeseheadbob]

Hello folks, I've had my Mauauder for about a year and have done nothing aftermarket to it. I am considering new exhaust and air intake. Since I am not a mechanic, nor do I work on cars in any way, I need some advice from those who do. Will these modifications help with horsepower and off the line response? Also, where would I purchase these items? Thanks in advance for your help.

[Smokie]

I have done both, airbox and exhaust mods on my car, along with tuning, yes they do raise the power and off the line response. The choices for airbox kits and exhaust are about 3 major ones for each. Do you have an idea whose products you are interested in?

[Bluerauder]

Hello folks, I've had my Mauauder for about a year and have done nothing aftermarket to it. I am considering new exhaust and air intake. Since I am not a mechanic, nor do I work on cars in any way, I need some advice from those who do. Will these modifications help with horsepower and off the line response? Also, where would I purchase these items? Thanks in advance for your help.
Bob,
Just a thought. Try to make one of the Capitol Area Marauder (CAM) meets down at Big Bat's on Kent Island. Watch for threads announcing a June meet soon. You can talk to lots of folks with a variety of mods including exhaust, etc. and see the real stuff in action to give you a better idea. :D

[Fourth Horseman]

This is just my opinion, so take it with a grain of salt, but if you're looking for off-the-line improvement you should consider a set of gears, possibly a torque convertor and a tune. I think those will yield more benefit than intake and exhaust.

My .0015 Euros.

[GA-Marauder]

This is just my opinion, so take it with a grain of salt, but if you're looking for off-the-line improvement you should consider a set of gears, possibly a torque convertor and a tune. I think those will yield more benefit than intake and exhaust.
What ^^^^ he said. Gears and tune have yielded the most change IMHO so far. Intake and exhaust, less noticeable (except for the sound, which is VERY NOTICEABLE). Am waiting for my torque converter and shift kit. I'm looking forward to that.:P

[fastblackmerc]

What ^^^^ he said. Gears and tune have yielded the most change IMHO so far. Intake and exhaust, less noticeable (except for the sound, which is VERY NOTICEABLE). Am waiting for my torque converter and shift kit. I'm looking forward to that.:P
I go with the 4.10's, JLT, a tune, underdrive pulleys, colder t-stat & colder plugs. Just my $0.02.

[N40GL]

In my humble opinion and in retrospect, before doing any ECU tune (Jerry W., Lidio, or one of the other fine folks here) the absolute very first thing I should have done was to take the transmission down and replace that stupid snap ring on the overdrive band. It's replaced with a spiral ring that is locked into place - just search around here - there are a lot of stories. There are more busted transmissions around here because that $0.0325 part fails than anything else, and it sure costs a bunch (both time and $$$) to get it fixed. After that, the gears and all that other stuff won't put your transmission at risk (or, for that matter, most anything else).

Had I known this, I think I would have made it the first option for my car, because it's such a simple fix. It's always the cheapest parts that fail.

[Cheeseheadbob]

Thanks for all of the advice. I'll look for the announcement. Any idea when the meet might be?






Bob,
Just a thought. Try to make one of the Capitol Area Marauder (CAM) meets down at Big Bat's on Kent Island. Watch for threads announcing a June meet soon. You can talk to lots of folks with a variety of mods including exhaust, etc. and see the real stuff in action to give you a better idea. :D

[RF Overlord]

Cheesehead:
I pretty much second what the others said ^^^...a tune and gears will give you much more bang for the buck than the exhaust or intake. To maximise your value, my $0.02 is to do things in the following order (YMMV):

1) Chip or tune
2) 4.10s
3) Underdrive pulleys
4) Intake
5) Exhaust

The cost of the chip, gears, and pulleys together (and installation of them) will be less than the cost of the exhaust alone, and will give a much bigger improvement than if the exhaust (and/or intake) were done first...

As far as where to purchase, get your chip/tune, gears and pulleys from Dennis, Lidio, or Innovative Interceptors, the intake can be had from JLT, Paul's, or Metco, and the exhaust from Dennis or Kooks.

[Smokie]

Cheesehead, you have recieved pretty good advise and the only thing that I would add is this; do you foresee in your future a supercharger? If the answer is no, then the path you follow goes in one direction.

If you believe you might S/C down the road, ask yourself this question, is your preference Centrifugal or Roots Kit? It makes a difference what mods best will compliment a centrifugal or roots kit. It is in your best interest to tailor your mods in a way that they compliment a S/C.

Because of the unique ways in which centrifugal and roots S/C develop power, some mods compliment one type more than they do the other, the mods I did to my car are very complementary of the Kit I chose, therefore very little money wasted.

Best wishes on your MODS Adventure. Enjoy the ride.:D

[Haggis]

Bob,
Just a thought. Try to make one of the Capitol Area Marauder (CAM) meets down at Big Bat's on Kent Island. Watch for threads announcing a June meet soon. You can talk to lots of folks with a variety of mods including exhaust, etc. and see the real stuff in action to give you a better idea. :D
Charlie has a good idea, wait til you can make a CAM Meet we have all different setups on our vehicles. Your sure to like one of them and get ideas and advice to help you make your decision.

[dflynn5]

In my humble opinion and in retrospect, before doing any ECU tune (Jerry W., Lidio, or one of the other fine folks here) the absolute very first thing I should have done was to take the transmission down and replace that stupid snap ring on the overdrive band. It's replaced with a spiral ring that is locked into place - just search around here - there are a lot of stories. There are more busted transmissions around here because that $0.0325 part fails than anything else, and it sure costs a bunch (both time and $$$) to get it fixed. After that, the gears and all that other stuff won't put your transmission at risk (or, for that matter, most anything else).

Had I known this, I think I would have made it the first option for my car, because it's such a simple fix. It's always the cheapest parts that fail.

Was this with the 03's only or does it apply to the trannie on the 04?

[N40GL]

Was this with the 03's only or does it apply to the trannie on the 04?

I don't know.

I do know that the '04's have a 4R75W tranny ('03s are 4R70W), but I have not idea what that means in the guts of it. I suspect, because of mass production, they are assembled the same way. Can anyone confirm this> Dennis? Lidio?

[rumble]

In my humble opinion and in retrospect, before doing any ECU tune (Jerry W., Lidio, or one of the other fine folks here) the absolute very first thing I should have done was to take the transmission down and replace that stupid snap ring on the overdrive band. It's replaced with a spiral ring that is locked into place - just search around here - there are a lot of stories. There are more busted transmissions around here because that $0.0325 part fails than anything else, and it sure costs a bunch (both time and $$$) to get it fixed. After that, the gears and all that other stuff won't put your transmission at risk (or, for that matter, most anything else).

Had I known this, I think I would have made it the first option for my car, because it's such a simple fix. It's always the cheapest parts that fail.

I have read of this replacement spiral ring here many times. Can you
tell me if it is a FMC part number or if it's aftermarket where we can get
it. My thought is that if someone has a transmission croak under warranty
maybe they can convince the tech to use the upgraded clip during the
repair.

[David Morton]

I think it best if you make a plan for a final version of what you want to wind up with when you finish with your mods. Are you gonna go with forced induction? If so, supercharger or turbocharger? If S/C, is it gonna be roots, twin screw or one of the hair dryers?

For anything above, including the humblest of N/A strategies a tuner is probably gonna be needed for best performance. It will be required for any forced air induction method as well as gears changes, unless you want to just pay somebody to tune your computer.

I got the Diablosport tuner and chopped a half second off my ET. It saved the factory tune, which I reinstalled when I took it to the dealership for a warranty transmission overhaul (lost 3rd gear), and I will reinstall the Predator tune as soon as I get the car back.

Read the threads after you get an idea of what your final version is gonna be and use your head before you spend money. You might buy something you'll wind-up taking back off later. For instance, I plan to go with tubocharging, so 4.10 gears is not a good idea even though they would still do well off-the-line, because off-the-line isn't why I'm going with the turbo anyways, and I'll probably get a lower ET with the stock ratio over the 4.10s' since the turbos do better with taller gears.

And smack me if you don't like it but my experience as a Master Tech has taught me that colder thermostats and plugs, synthetic oils, friction modifiers and electronic rust-prevention modules don't do anything except lighten your wallet, sometimes at the expense of the vehicles durability. The manufacturer spent a lot of money to make sure your car runs the best temperature and has the correct plugs and knows better than to waste money on that other crap too. If any of that stuff would make her last longer or run better, they would have done it at the factory. It's a case of pay me now and pay me later to fix what "it" (what you paid me now for) broke.

[BillyGman]

I installed the Kooks headers and exhaust system package on my Marauder myself. It's a good kit, and it makes the car sound great if you like that hi-perf sound like I do. It isn't loud at idle, but when you hit the gas, it's nice and rumbly. Off the line you might or might not feel an increase, and if you do, it will be a slight one.Most of the power increase is in the midrange and upper RPM areas. Nothing dramatic in the way of G-force, but then again IMO no modifications short of supercharging will have dramatic effects. You only get what you pay for. But in the way of exhaust, I do recommend the Kooks system. And ceramic coat the headers while you're at it, or you might be sorry(they will turn colors from the heat if you don't). I also installed the "STAGE 8" Locking header bolts, so they won't back off like header bolts tend to do on many applications.