kameleon25

I have a 99 GS400 that currently has 200k on the original engine. She still pulls strong and uses nearly no oil between oil changes. I bought her from the original owner who was actually the "little old lady who just drove to church on Sunday" kind of person. The car is not perfect but mechanically it is pretty sound. I have been toying with the idea of trying to get some more power out of her in the near future (once I get my MR2 "nearly" complete). I am thinking of doing it in stages and want to see what ya'll think. First I'll most likely help her breath better, Upgraded airbox/intake and headers w/ full exhaust. Eventually I would like to do some sort of forced induction. Nothing insane, probably less than 1bar (14psi) max as I still want it to be my daily and keep it streetable.

So with all that said I was thinking for when I do the full exhaust and headers I was thinking about ditching the cats, I'm in Mississippi and we don't have smog testing. However if I do that the stock ecu is gonna go nuts so I was thinking go with a standalone. How would that work with the transmission ecu and would I lose anything else? Has anyone else done similar? I figured if I am going to go forced induction later at least I would have the right start by getting a standalone but I don't want it to be something that would make it "race only" or make it not easily streetable.

Any input is welcome.

shwalker07

If you wand forced induction later then I would not waste time on headers and go right for the turbo kit instead. A nice cat back exhaust will help a tad and you can always reuse that if you go turbo. Look into o2 spacers when removing the cats so it keeps the engine light off for those codes.

A standalone will need some tuning and personally for your boost range you want I would not go with a standalone just for that. Look into piggybacks instead so you can keep your factory tune, gauges working, transmission working, immobilizer working, ect... without wiring/hooking up the extra stuff you need for a standalone. I run a ECUMasters standalone on my Supra but I have a manual transmission and also have it for E85. I also made a brand new engine engine harness so everything plugs right into the new ECU and body plugs like factory but it did take some time to make it all new. I mainly needed a standalone for my higher hp range beyond the factory computer limits as I needed to run 1200cc injectors and I needed to run/blend maps between E85 and pump gas as I do not want to run one or the other all the time.


Take your time to put together a list of parts/WHP goal and research, research, research...

kameleon25

Thanks for the input. I am leaning on a paxton or similar supercharger for ease of install and removal if I ever sell the car. Plus easier as don't have to plumb for oil/coolant and all. So the headers could be still used.

I will look into the piggybacks more. I had done a quick search but most searches came back with full standalones. Do you have any links to some good piggyback ones? I have only ever done full standalone (in my 91 turbo MR2) and everything else was a stock ecu within stock limits. I have not gotten a clear picture of what the limits of the stock gs400 ecu is just yet.

firelizard

iTrader: (1)

Centrifugal superchargers still need plumbing for oil.