Order of modifications

[Drizt]

Unfortunately most of us don't have the spare dollars (or permission from significant other) to spend a bunch of cash on many mods at the same time. That leaves us with doing a bit at a time. Given the bit at a time approach, if you had a Calais V V8 with single spinner diff to start with, what order would you do the modifications in?

in no particular order, some options are.

cat back
diff (TruTrack)
OTR / Tune
breaks
extractors / cats
speakers
etc

??

[RARASV8]

diff gears
tune/otr
i feel these are the 2 most gains for $ spent.
the rest is really the little bits to gain on the most you will achieve.

Garry

[RARASV8]

im not sure what ratio the manuals have, but a set of manual gears in the auto should make it drive alot better around town. and convert to lsd/trutrack

Garry

[V28VX37]

1. Brakes
2. Suspension
3. More power

I.e. the exact opposite to how most people do it.

[ittwgn]

do diff gears 3.7s if its an a4 and just standard lsd upgrade !!! trutrac while being great I run one myself if money is tight standard tightened lsd is fine !!! then do exhaust even look secondhand then an otr and tune to tie it all together !!!! cheers

[Wonky]

Thanks for the reply. By diff gears do you mean change ratio (to what?) or convert to lsd trutrack.?

Your Calais will have 2.92 gears, same as my A6 ute had. I bought a very low km 3.45 diff from a guy who was upgrading his M6 SS to the 3.7s from a M6 HSV. 2.92 to 3.45 is a pretty significant jump (close to 20%) and it really woke the car up, particularly noticeable when exiting roundabouts. Interestingly had very little or no impact on my economy as with a cammed L76 (DOD removed) with 280+rwkw I have seen very low 9s on a 40km freeway trip.

As comparison, pre cam with 260rwkw and the 3.45 diff it did a 12.83 at 112mph. My previous SSV sedan with virtually identical mods also had 260rwkw on the same dyno and with stock 2.92 diff in very similar conditions at the same track ran a best of 13.17 at 108mph. Don't fall for the common trap of thinking utes are lighter either!

I remember reading a thread a few years ago where someone with a reasonably quick VE A6 ran at the drags with all the ratios 2.92 (Holden A6), 3.27 (HSV A6), 3.45 (Holden M6) and 3.7 (HSV M6) and concluded that HSV had it right - his best results were with the 3.27. A while after my 3.45s were in I got hold of a set of 3.27s and after much debate sold them on again as I decided I was more than happy with the 3.45s.

I have no experience with Trutracks but they add a lot of expense and particularly given your financial situation probably aren't justifiable until you have big power.

[Wonky]

Also, depending which side of Melbourne you're on you could have Chev tune your car now with catback only which will make a big difference and then tweak the tune if/when you get diff/extractors/OTR. Unlike many places he doesn't charge $50 - $100+ for each tune tweak to cater for additional bolt on mods. He does them for free because he believes that's part of what you pay for when you get a tune.

[calais190]

1. Brakes
2. Suspension
3. More power

I.e. the exact opposite to how most people do it.

Funny you should say this, I did:

1. Brakes (Chose the redline for the brembos from the factory).
2. Pedders coilovers
3. Catback exhaust
4. OTR
5. Tune & extractors
6. Heavy duty sway bars
7. Cam and stall
8. Wheels and tyres

[V28VX37]

Funny you should say this, I did:

1. Brakes (Chose the redline for the brembos from the factory).
2. Pedders coilovers
3. Catback exhaust
4. OTR
5. Tune & extractors
6. Heavy duty sway bars
7. Cam and stall
8. Wheels and tyres

Nicely played

Actually, to revise my original list, tyres should come first. The basic idea is Pirelli's 'power is nothing without control' - better to get the control side sorted first before going crazy with more kw's. But that's just my $0.02, each to their own.

[IJ.]

1. Brakes
2. Suspension
3. More power

I.e. the exact opposite to how most people do it.

Always done it this way as well.

[Drizt]

Some great info in here guys, thanks heaps.

[***VX*R8***]

Also, depending which side of Melbourne you're on you could have Chev tune your car now with catback only which will make a big difference and then tweak the tune if/when you get diff/extractors/OTR. Unlike many places he doesn't charge $50 - $100+ for each tune tweak to cater for additional bolt on mods. He does them for free because he believes that's part of what you pay for when you get a tune.

I wish the place that tuned my car would do a touch up for $50-$100. Everywhere I've contacted wants over $400 to touch up the tune

[Wonky]

Does that include the place that originally did it? I can understand others wanting more and in fact the impression I have is most will basically charge you for a full tune as often it's quicker to just start from scratch rather than try to find then resolve problems in a tune someone else has done.

[***VX*R8***]

Does that include the place that originally did it? I can understand others wanting more and in fact the impression I have is most will basically charge you for a full tune as often it's quicker to just start from scratch rather than try to find then resolve problems in a tune someone else has done.

Yeah, that includes the place that originally tuned the car. They are very well known and I don't doubt they do awesome work, just seems a bit crazy to charge so much just for a cai change and diff gears. Maybe I'm just used to import tuners that generally charge by the hour from my experience

Anyway, sorry to go a bit off topic OP

[Drizt]

No probs at all.

Finding a tuner that doesn't charge an arm and a leg for each update is on topic really