Bolt on bad boys:I do love a myth

As for air filters and cat backs,panel filters,cones,boost valves and an endless stream of so called solid mods its all basically a lot of tosh imo.

Not exclusively an opinion i tag to every solitary item or just think everyones wrong lol.Far from it.I hold the concepts in high regard and the science is solid for the best part.

What annoys me is the sheep aspect of modding a car or specifically an engine.
We know the limits of a n/a engine so why on earth waste money on very small bolt ons when the real restrictions are SCREAMING at you!!!

The amount of times ive read 'i just bought a full cat back system so i reckon thats another 5-10bhp'......ay???? since when??

Maybe the case on a turbo car cos any restriction at all is magnified 10 fold when you rectify it but on a n/a engine,pathetic panel filters DO NOTHING!!!
cat backs do reliatively sod all either so by all means by a system,dont full yourself into thinking its anything like 'full' and enjoy the 304 grade stainless,gurantee and a nicer exhaust note.

A panel filter is 90% of the time a pony idea.flawed by the box and flow restrictions already in place.The box usually large and plastic,is being heated up a fair amount and will stay this way with or wihtout a panel filter thrown in with k&n written on it somewhere.

the overall draw rate from this small enclosed environment means you havent actually changed anything that can be measured for purposeful gains.

This is exactly why compeition teams all around the world make custom carbon fibre sections to open up the breathing space to something twice if not 3 times the area and using a cone filter with cold air ports fed straight to it.

SO when you see this winning formula,the first thing you do??? keep it strangled and add a pony upgraded panel filter.
And people think im mental when i say i can feel the difference when using different fuel and the same bunch think a panel filter can be felt lol...sweet jesus.

Your expensive system is missing a vital part and thats a one off manifold where a majority of the restriction is taking place.Most modern cars now have the cats sitting quite close to this and somer are very intergrated like the 220 is.

You would need a good £700+ to get this manifold made spot on and decatted with the best lenghth primary and secondary sections worked thru for opimum torque/bhp balance depending on your exact spec and requirements.

But a bolt on cat back and you want this to make power? how exactly?
It will share the same bore as the OEM system and just uses slightly different boxes.
Ok so the wadding and baffle pipes have come a way since the older systems,but most OEM's arent actaully that bad anymore.

Unless you have a system that reworks a flawed shape and get it straighter,you have to ask yourself,where do 'you' think the improvements were made???

most OEM exhausts arent restrictive as you think past the cat.A minimal required amount of backpressure is usually well balanced and maintained.

So we have a panel filter and cat back....well like i said,IMO this = no power .
At best its a couple of bhp so dont sweat it.

If you do go for a cone,then bear in mind the rules of encloser and cold air feeding.
With this in mind,im after a K&N apollo filter which is indeed very large and fully enclosed with a direct fed front mounted cold air feed.Completely sealed no less.

Im using a bluefin re map which despite my overall doubts has proved useful.Is it anything like a full custom map? no and it was never going to be,but for what i expected for £230,it has given me what i asked for.

really expensive plugs and leads...now theres a hotbed.does a iridium plug and veryr well shielded set of leads for £100+ do anything? IMO no not a lot.
if you mismatch the heat rating of a plug you can do more harm then good.
massively overlooked and i think always will be.but again,OEM is nearly always the best option in this area too.


so what does work then?

cams,gas flowing poorly cast heads,port matching for the same reason,proper management,one of manifolds,correct fuel mananement and this doesnt mean a power boost valve or a fuel pump much more ferocious than you could ever need nor does it mean crazy over sized flow rate injectors.

im rambling so im off,but im sure i will word this better when im not massively tired but the basics i do stand by.
The man on the street is trying way to hard and expecting much more than he can ever attain.
buy the car,afford the budget and think big.you might end up divored and dissalusioned but at least you will have a basic concept of tuning and why it costs works teams hundreds and 1000's in development alone.