I am just about done with driving this truck stock. I wanna get some more performance outta my 07 xlt 2wd. Before I do this though I had some questions about some of the mods. The Biggest question of all is which order to get these in. Because I'm probably not gonna be able to buy these all at once I wanna which have to be bought with something else and which alone will be fine.

1.Roush Swaybar kit: no questions, except that it is supposedly for 98-03 so I'm assuming it will fit my 07.

2.Clod Air Intake: I'm pretty sure this is just bolt on for an added 10hp, and I wont need to mess with the stock ECU right?

3.Exhaust System: First of all which one. I hear that magnaflow is mostly for sound, and I want sound but I also want performance. Also will I need to replace headers at the same time, or is stock OK. Ocne again is stock ECU OK?

4.BamaChips Xcallibrator2: My biggest question with this is can I re program the truck before any mods and will it help, or should I wait and BAMA the truck last

5.E-fan: This won't upgrade performance right? The main reason I want it is because I leave for school really early every morning and it takes a while to warm up.

 

I've got all of those, except the headers, and have a Borla muffler.. my 3.0L is pretty peppy now. The sway bars give you much better stability, and traction bars will make the rear end more rigid. None of those will mess with the ECU, except the xcal2, i'd bama the truck last (after all mods) like you've suggested. The E-fan will take a little strain off the engine and get rid of the whirring sound on a cold start, but the truck will still idle at a higher RPM for warm up.

 

you shouldn't need to mess with the ECU when you do your exhaust and intake, headers can be done separatly from the exhaust, no opinion on what brand exhaust since i haven't done mine yet, i will prob use a flowmaster offroad muffler with a home made side pipe, I would say leave the tuner for last, no reason other than the expense and as far as i know they work better on a truck that already has small mods like intake and exhuast

 

Well ive got JBA headers and Dual Flowmaster exhaust with underdog-performance pullies and love it i didnt have to mess with my ecu at all.

 

1) Swaybar kit: The kit will help you some. Before you purchase it though, measure (if applicable) your stock sway bars. Make sure the kit has larger diameter ones than the one you have on your truck (if you even do). My roommate Greg (Scallion02Edge) bought the kit, and ended up using none of it, because the stock Edge one is the same diameter as the Roush kit (and he had a rear one already). So definitely check.

2) Cold Air Intake: I don't believe they make a CAI for our trucks. Hell.. the only intake that would work with our truck (esp your year) is the K&N one. They changed the MAF on the 04+, so the older intakes won't work. Also.. you have a 07.. i don't know they changed that sine the 04/05's. Bob (rwenzing) might have more information here.

3) Exhaust system: I recommend getting just the muffler on ebay and custom pipe it. Here are my preferences... and some will agree with me: Borla > Magnaflows > Flowmasters > Gibsons. I have my flowmasters, and I have mine dumped.. but it's only because I have flowmasters and I offroad sometimes. I would definitely go with the Borla or Magnaflow if I had the money.

4) Bamachip (XCal 2): I would DEFINITELY recommend this one. It's a little pricey, but it's awesome. It totally made my truck feel more powerful than it ever did (even with my stock tires!). I have 32's now, so it definitely helped. It feels as if my truck is more powerful and more 'light' than it ever did when it was stock. DEFINITE RECOMMENDATION. fyi: this is the only thing there that will "mess" with the ECU, as the tuner will reprogram it.

5) E-Fan: I don't know how this will help you with you trying to get your engine up to temp in the mornings. The e-fan puts less strain on your truck, as the mechanical one that is currently in your truck does. I would get this just to save a few mpg's here and there, but that's it.

Hope this helps.

 

when I installed my e-fan (flx-180) I immediately noticed quite a difference is the amount of time it took the engine to come up to temperature. If your running only the stock temp guage, it probably won't move much quicker, mine didn't. With my autometer water temp guage I could easily see the difference. My results may be different though, I had a 2.3L with a bypass oil filter setup on it and depending what filter I was using the truck had anyware from 6 to 8 quarts of oil, compared to the stock 4 quarts. In my case, the oil really didn't heat up any quicker, but the coolant did and I got heat a bit quicker.

 

You might add a james duff traction bar and a limited slip to the list. HP is only as good as the ability to plant it to the ground.

 

as far as the CAI goes, you can always make your own from AutoZone. I did this because I didn't feel like paying THAT much for the K&N CAI. Mine only cost me about $90 and I think it works just as good, if not better than the K&N because of pipe size and cone filter size. Plus, then you can say you have a custom intake.

 

A homemade intake may work better than the stock airbox, but throwing some pvc ect... togeather and saying it's in the same field as a k/n intake is just crazy. It's not just about filter and intake tube size, if you don't get the right velocity, now matter how big the filter, it will not perform. You could hook your MAF directley to the throttle-body and a filter to the MAF and get all kinds of air volume, but it will not have the required velocity and it will run like shi*. Been there, tried that, bottom line is whatever you decide, you will get what you pay for.

 

i didn't feel like droppin a load of cash on an FIPK, instead i found a machined adapter that allows me to clamp a cone filter to the MAF, left it tied down to the lower portion of the stock air box, made a world of difference in power and mpg, by far my best mod so far, eventually i will run some tubing outside the truck and get some fresh air blowing on the filter, overall the mod has only cost me $60

 

are you saying your gonna put the air filter on the outside of the truck? hah, good luck when it starts raining

 

read it again, the filter stay in the stock location, im gettin at something more like a home made ram air system, putting a filter on the outside is just dumb, although i've idiots do that on their civics

 

I agree with every thing Larson said especially his opinion on mufflers.

I'd like to add that Headers are a waste of money unless you have upgraded internals in your engine, power gains to cost ratio is not in the consumers interest at all.

and you wont see gains from just an upgraded air intake, it has to be paired with a exhaust to turn the kind of advertised power increase.

you could wait until spring to do the E-Fan, but I recommend any upgrades under the hood be done before purchasing a tuner, because new tunes are like 50 bucks each.

 

that is true, but whatever I did, it worked!