help me out
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Joined: Sep 2006
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help me out
Back in March my sister gave her 98 mirage 1.5 de for a 1000$. It pretty stock beside da fact it haves some 15s. I like the it but its slow and I want to improve the proformane and the styling of it. What should be the first affordable to do to improve the the car? I was on Ebay and I saw Evo5 full body kit for like 150$, then some for 500$ witch one should try to get and where can you get racing seat at for mirage. How much does Catback Exhaust System Cost. More then anything i just need some advice on any thing about it.
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 456
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RE: help me out
make the car faster because its gunna cost the most even more that its the 1.5L but if i was you i would worry about the preformance first, IMO thats what i would do, www.andysautosports.com try that, they have lots of parts
Senior Member
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 3,366
From: Boonville, MO
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 728
From:
RE: help me out
Ok (cracks nuckles). Another Mirage convert ready to be reformed. This has been discussed several times before, but I'm a nice guy, so I'll do it again. Is your car an auto or 5spd by the way?
It really all depends on how crazy you want to get with your car. First off, have a plan for your car. This is a place where so many people screw themselves because they just jump right into tuning without planning ahead. Know what you want, have a plan of how you'll save your money to buy the parts, how long it'll be between mods, and what you want your end result to be.
Here's what I would suggest for starters:
1.) Intake & Exhaust - You have a few options here. You can go with a Short Ram Intake (SRI) or Cold Air Intake (CAI). There are a few differences between the two, most obviously the size. A Short Ram intake is realativley small, inexpensive, and takes about 5 minutes to install. It will net you a gain of 2-4hp, add a little to bottom end torque and will sound like a jet. I had one on my otherwise stock 1.5 NA mirage (this was a while ago), and even with the stock exhaust it sounded mean. Cold Air intakes are much more pricey, but you will see more top end power from a cold air intake, and there is no company that I know of that makes one for a Mirage. So if you want CAI, you have 2 options. (1.) Buy a CAI for an 02 Lancer ES. This will bolt up with a few modifications, nothing big. Probably a 1-2hr job depending on how thourough you are and how long you take removing the big ugly stock air box. Or, (2.) Build your own. You can go to Home Depot, Lowes, Ace, basically any hardware store and purchase all the required materials for under $50. It won't be as pretty as a pre-fabbed CAI would be, but it'll save you money and will pretty much do the same thing. A CAI places the air filter away from the heat of the engine bay, usually behind the front bumper cover just before the wheel. When chosing which you want, keep in mind where you live. How are the roads? Is there a season that is extremely rainy? How bad are the winters? If there's a chance your filter will be exposed to a lot of water, could take damage from stone or ice, get taken off if your car falls into a pot hole (there's a few of those around here lol. they're more like craters than pot holes), ect ect, you're better off with a SRI. If roads are pretty well maintained, and you're reasonable confident you won't have to worry about sucking in any water, then go with the CAI.
2.) Exhaust- Now when I say exhaust, I'm not talking about a pointless 3A Racing fart cannon. There is a purpose to an exhaust other than just to be noisy. With an intake, you've freed up some of the restriction in the air flow up stream. But when it exits the engine, it's blowing it out of a 1 5/8ths inch pipe that is essentially a bendy straw. Take your car to a reputable muffler shop, and have them bend you a 2-2.25" Cat-Back exhaust. This eliminates a lot of the back pressure caused by the restrictive factory exhaust and will make way for future mods. It will net you roughly 5hp at this point, but will amplify further modifications to the engine (not to mention it's essential if you've got big plans for your car), and you'll love the low rumble you'll get as long as you've got a quality muffler. The key is just finding the right muffler. I'm partial to the N1, but that's just me. Depending on what state you're in, the next step would be a High Flow Cat (otherwise known as a test pipe). Check with your local laws about emissions though, if you're in an area that does emissions testing, keep your stock catalytic converter. Next, and finally, is the exhaust header. There is only one company that makes an exhaust header for the 1.5 Mirage, and that's Race Performance Works based out of Austrailia. Plan on spending a minimum of $350 for their base unit, and upwords of $500 for their Race Design header. These are rare and hard to come by unless you go straight to the source, in which case you can plan on spending some bills and waiting a while to get it.
3.) Suspension- Here is where the Mirage is a wonderful car. The factory suspension is befitting of it's econobox nature, but with the right set up, your Mirage will handle like a dream. First thing's first, dump your stock springs in favor of a set of sports springs. Eibach, H&R, Tien, and Intrax all make kits for our cars and are all very well built. Again, know what you're looking for here. Are you planning on AutoXing your rage? If so, get something that will drop it low. Want to just improove the handling and apearance a little without too drastic a drop? Go with a kit that will give you around a 1" drop and you'll get that happy medium. You'll probably want to upgrade your shocks if you want to maximize your handling. KYB, Tien, and Blistein (sp?) all make good stuff. Next you'll want to get strut bar braces, and lower arm braces. A brace at all 4 points will improve the handling and will add to the appearance as well.
So there you have it, the beginnings of a good street car. You won't be beating mustangs or camaroes, but it'll still be a fun little car. From here on in, things get pricey and complicated. If you want to go futher than this...........well, take one step at a time. Get some of this stuff on the car and see how content you are. If you've got the tuner bug bad, it won't be, and you'll be searching couches and pay phones for all the loose change you can find. Turbo is fun (i'm running a 1.5 at 9psi and it's got some get up and go to it), and nitrous always brings a smile to ones face. Just know what you want before you get to far in.
It really all depends on how crazy you want to get with your car. First off, have a plan for your car. This is a place where so many people screw themselves because they just jump right into tuning without planning ahead. Know what you want, have a plan of how you'll save your money to buy the parts, how long it'll be between mods, and what you want your end result to be.
Here's what I would suggest for starters:
1.) Intake & Exhaust - You have a few options here. You can go with a Short Ram Intake (SRI) or Cold Air Intake (CAI). There are a few differences between the two, most obviously the size. A Short Ram intake is realativley small, inexpensive, and takes about 5 minutes to install. It will net you a gain of 2-4hp, add a little to bottom end torque and will sound like a jet. I had one on my otherwise stock 1.5 NA mirage (this was a while ago), and even with the stock exhaust it sounded mean. Cold Air intakes are much more pricey, but you will see more top end power from a cold air intake, and there is no company that I know of that makes one for a Mirage. So if you want CAI, you have 2 options. (1.) Buy a CAI for an 02 Lancer ES. This will bolt up with a few modifications, nothing big. Probably a 1-2hr job depending on how thourough you are and how long you take removing the big ugly stock air box. Or, (2.) Build your own. You can go to Home Depot, Lowes, Ace, basically any hardware store and purchase all the required materials for under $50. It won't be as pretty as a pre-fabbed CAI would be, but it'll save you money and will pretty much do the same thing. A CAI places the air filter away from the heat of the engine bay, usually behind the front bumper cover just before the wheel. When chosing which you want, keep in mind where you live. How are the roads? Is there a season that is extremely rainy? How bad are the winters? If there's a chance your filter will be exposed to a lot of water, could take damage from stone or ice, get taken off if your car falls into a pot hole (there's a few of those around here lol. they're more like craters than pot holes), ect ect, you're better off with a SRI. If roads are pretty well maintained, and you're reasonable confident you won't have to worry about sucking in any water, then go with the CAI.
2.) Exhaust- Now when I say exhaust, I'm not talking about a pointless 3A Racing fart cannon. There is a purpose to an exhaust other than just to be noisy. With an intake, you've freed up some of the restriction in the air flow up stream. But when it exits the engine, it's blowing it out of a 1 5/8ths inch pipe that is essentially a bendy straw. Take your car to a reputable muffler shop, and have them bend you a 2-2.25" Cat-Back exhaust. This eliminates a lot of the back pressure caused by the restrictive factory exhaust and will make way for future mods. It will net you roughly 5hp at this point, but will amplify further modifications to the engine (not to mention it's essential if you've got big plans for your car), and you'll love the low rumble you'll get as long as you've got a quality muffler. The key is just finding the right muffler. I'm partial to the N1, but that's just me. Depending on what state you're in, the next step would be a High Flow Cat (otherwise known as a test pipe). Check with your local laws about emissions though, if you're in an area that does emissions testing, keep your stock catalytic converter. Next, and finally, is the exhaust header. There is only one company that makes an exhaust header for the 1.5 Mirage, and that's Race Performance Works based out of Austrailia. Plan on spending a minimum of $350 for their base unit, and upwords of $500 for their Race Design header. These are rare and hard to come by unless you go straight to the source, in which case you can plan on spending some bills and waiting a while to get it.
3.) Suspension- Here is where the Mirage is a wonderful car. The factory suspension is befitting of it's econobox nature, but with the right set up, your Mirage will handle like a dream. First thing's first, dump your stock springs in favor of a set of sports springs. Eibach, H&R, Tien, and Intrax all make kits for our cars and are all very well built. Again, know what you're looking for here. Are you planning on AutoXing your rage? If so, get something that will drop it low. Want to just improove the handling and apearance a little without too drastic a drop? Go with a kit that will give you around a 1" drop and you'll get that happy medium. You'll probably want to upgrade your shocks if you want to maximize your handling. KYB, Tien, and Blistein (sp?) all make good stuff. Next you'll want to get strut bar braces, and lower arm braces. A brace at all 4 points will improve the handling and will add to the appearance as well.
So there you have it, the beginnings of a good street car. You won't be beating mustangs or camaroes, but it'll still be a fun little car. From here on in, things get pricey and complicated. If you want to go futher than this...........well, take one step at a time. Get some of this stuff on the car and see how content you are. If you've got the tuner bug bad, it won't be, and you'll be searching couches and pay phones for all the loose change you can find. Turbo is fun (i'm running a 1.5 at 9psi and it's got some get up and go to it), and nitrous always brings a smile to ones face. Just know what you want before you get to far in.
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