Elantra Newbie (long post)

[liquidtrial]

I bought my 1998 Elantra used at 170k miles :eek:. The previous owner must have thought oil changes were overrated as there was not much oil and really dirty at that when I checked. Also upon inspection of my air filter I noticed it was the original factory air filter. It was close to being black and had an almost rats nest type collection in the air box.

I am by no means a car noob. I have a ford escort zx2 SR with I/H/E and an eagle talon Tsi AWD operating at 20psi. (That is when its working :D). I also am a member on forums for each of those cars. Granted my talon and zx2 are much faster than my elantra I would have to say that the little car has some decent pep. Especially for being an auto with high mileage and some torture. I bought this car as a beater/junker and was going to never look at it again when spring hit. Over the winter months though I found myself enjoying my little beater. The view and limited blind spots in this car is spectacular. Any of you that have ever sat in a 1g talon/eclipse will know where im comming from. You guys got it good :)

Anyway I digress. Like I said I am not new to cars as a whole but I am new to the Elantra and these forums. Ive been looking around and have not managed to find a Elantra mod sticky. The zx2 forums I frequent have a sticky in the newbies section that tells you everything a begginer would need to know about the car. Plus how to start modifications cheap ones for little HP gains. Like intake mod + K&N filter. Knock sensor mods to increase high end torque. Cheap easy little things that are car specific and let the new guys what mods give us the most power.
I thought this car was complete junk. I changed the oil put in a new filter. Turned the OD off and replaced the ignition and it brough new life into this car. Shockingly it keeps dead even with my friends slightly modded 2g talon with the non turbo 420a platform. He hates to admit it but this little elantra has more top end and would beat him in a 1/4 mile race.
Just as a sugestion one of you hardcore elantra tuners needs let us new guys know how we can spend some extra cash and get a few more horsies and some better gas mileage. I dont want to hear get an exhaust or buy a header unless those are very important for gains.
For example an old 240sx can see whp gains up to 15 with catback exhaust.
A zx2 might see 5 or less. I read the dyno sticky and you guys kept talking about ECU resets and seeing gains. Maybe you are talking about dyno tunning or a re-flash with some type of flash tool. Not sure somone should let me know. So basicly if I wanted to get my car running better/faster by this time tomorrow what would you tell me to do. I know alot about the zx2 and am confident I could make a noticeable difference on a stock one with less than $20 in pocket. Also this type of info should be stickied as an example check this out http://teamzx2.com/index.php/topic,10813.0.html. Just by reading that you can know more than enough about your car. I have not seen readily available information about the elantra here yet. Sorry about the rant!

[kylemorg]

There isn't much you can do to gain major HP from the Elantra -- the factory intake and exhaust seem to be pretty much without a "weakest link" that you can swap out to gain anything near 15 hp. You have to do a succession of mods to gain any significant HP (CAI, Catback, Headers).

Typically, some of the mods are in the DIY section, and others are stickied to the top of each individual section.

With the XD (2001+ Elantra) The biggest gains seem to be in handling. Adding a rear sway bar from a 2001+ Tiburon GT yields much less understeer. Combine that with a set of fairly light 17" rims and half decent summer tires and you'll have a car that handles nicely without aftermarket springs or coilovers. A strut brace for the rear of the Elantra Hatchback seems to help, but strut braces on the 4-doors don't seem to make a heck of a lot of difference.

There are some significant differences between the J-series (J1 / J2 chassis code) Elantras (pre '01) and the XD1/XD2 Elantras ('01+), so make sure that any mods listed here are applicable to your J1 before you spend the $. You might want to check with Yamaha -- he has / had a J2 Elantra

[2003GT]

Will a KnN filter in the airbox make a difference or would attaching a Cone right were the airbox should mount make a difference. Also what would it sound like if I removed the resonator or the muffler. BOB

[KeWLKaT]

The stickies are on top of the different sections ;)

We have waaaaay too many to list in one single newbie thread.

That said, welcome, and enjoy your stay :)

[Qyn]

Welcome to EXD, noobs welcome! (Unless you don't search... then Super will kill you)

[smileymattj]

Switching the stock filter to K&N was the first thing i did when i got my car. My stock filter wasn't dirty and I noticed a lot more pep in the car. I left the resonator on. If you want sound get a quality muffler, don't just remove it, do it right.

[2003GT]

Ok So is there much of a difference between the whole intake or just putting a KnN in. I want to hear the air being forced in any thoughts. BOB

[xdforme22]

If you want to really hear it you need to get an intake. The K&N is slightly louder than stock but much quieter than my previous SRI.

[2003GT]

So putting the cone on the end wont really make it much Louder. I will still do it for the performance though. BOB