Im starting to look into some light/mild mods for my 03, and have a pretty good idea of thr route i want to take, at least for the time-being until I can get another daily driver. If you all could, just give me your advice/opinions on some of the things I have in mind.

I want to keep the stock turbo for the time being, so I will not be upgrading that; i am however looking into a set of GSC S1 cams and keeping the stock cam gears, a header (but I cannot decide what to get, not sure what would be best...get Buschur's ported and jet coated or the DC stainless tubular???) I will be getting the modified 10.5 hotside and o2 housing from buschur more than likely. As far as an intake, I was thinking of trying the Cobb SF intake kit. A 255 fuel-pump is obiously going in, and would i want to go with maybe some 680 injectors? I have heard the duty cycles on the stock injectors are damn near maxed out (i dont know...). My intercooler looks like it has seen battle and barely made it out alive, so I want to get an ETS kit. other than that, I have a guy down here around me who I think may tune it (after I talk to him some more), but I just want to get some thoughts from you more experienced evo "tuners" out there and see what ya have to say. Thanks to all in advance...

 

Sounds like you are on the right track.I would stay away fromt he DC sports manifold.Too many people have had the DC manifold crack on them.Ive heard that DC is making a stronger manifold.The stock turbo manifold is probably your best bet.You can always upgrade to a EVO 9 turbo later.Good luck!

 

I would definately stay with the stock manifold. Send it over to Buschur and get it ported and coated. I would also buy the fabricated O2 housing instead of having the stocker ported. Other than that, most of your choices seem really good. Another thing I would suggest is a lower intercooler pipe. The stocker is pretty restrictive. Also, you didn't mention anything for a tbe or anything. Definately upgrade your exhaust. A nice 3" with a test pipe or free flowing cat will do miracles. The only other thing I would suggest is to maybe get some bigger injectors than you are planning. I would go somewhere in the 700-800cc range. The only reason I suggest this is because if you ever decide to upgrade to a FPgreen or buy a 9 turbo to have converted by Buschur or FP, you may need a little bigger than 680cc injectors to get peak power out of it. Good luck with the future setup.

 

Sorry, i didnt mention the fact that I already have a 3" TBE. Thanks for your thoughts, i am kind of skeptical about the DC header, so I may just stick with the ported and coated stocker from buschur. As far as the intercooler, I plan on getting the ETS intercooler, but im not sure which piping I should get that will work with the stock battery set-up. I dont want to re-locate it and I also do not want a mini-battery, so any thoughts?....thanks again for the help

 

Forget about the Cobb intake...

I'd suggest a K&N drop in, or other brand drop-in filter. The cone-style filters are LOUD and really become annoying after a while.

If you'd like to still get a cone filter i'd recommend the Apex'i Power Intake. It improved my driveability when I switched from the AEM cone filter...it's supposed to be designed to play nicely with the MAF. In either case, I am quite happy with it. But it still can be annoyingly loud at times.

Otherwise...seems like you've got it figured out pretty well...I think having the stock manifold ported and coated is the way to go!