Dollars per Tenth Improvement

[SpeedRacerX]

Thought I'd put together a fun list to show the following:

1) Performance modifications for the G8 that yield time improvements in the 1/4-mile
2) AVERAGE cost to buy the products
3) AVERAGE improvement in the 1/4-mile, and then
4) Ordered ranking of each modification by Cost in Dollars per Tenth of a Second Improvement in the 1/4-mile.

*Assumptions: 1) traction is not a problem, 2) installation is not included, 3) there are no factors applied regarding reliability or safety, 4) I have my own personal preferences for mods but none of that is reflected here, 5) people need to make up their own minds about mods and possible warranty issues, and 6) times and costs are coming from just personal experience through the years, reading, and recent research.

**NOTE: I am FARRRR from perfect - I do not claim to know everything - Sooooo, feel free to add anything or let me know about any corrections and I'll update the list. If anything I tried to be conservative on the times...

I thought this might help some newer people who might be trying to figure out what to do and possible best bang for the buck.

Here we go....let the corrections begin:

[13 QTR]

AAhhh hell......add one more tenth to the rear diff. I lowered my et by 0.5..consistantly. Also it only cost me $1300 shipped to my door and $100 for the install...total...$1400


all in all....I like the work put into that.....

[wreckwriter]

My blower has yet to yield even a full second, much less 1.5. Some of that is traction related I'm sure.

[SpeedRacerX]

My blower has yet to yield even a full second, much less 1.5. Some of that is traction related I'm sure.

LOL - I'm sure. My first "note" assumed traction not an issue - Yeah right.

I should have put another note that said something like: "average" times assume an individual mod. In this case 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 does not necessarily equal 4 when it comes to the cumulative affect of mods ESPECIALLY (as you pointed out) as traction becomes a major problem.

If the blower was the first and only mod, a person may see more of a net drop in 1/4 time than adding the blower on top of, or with, all their other mods.

Dimishing returns...

Interesting, so then the cost per tenth improvement gets WORSE as these mods pile up UNLESS you can solve the traction problem.

PS: I started with the worse cost per tenth mod you could - Borla/Catback exhaust. Why? Cause I love the sound - nothing to do with tenths - totally irrational & personal.

[wreckwriter]

yea, agreed. Diminishing returns for sure.

[fiveoh]

Where can you buy headers and cats for 950?

[stonebreaker]

Unless you're using a very mild converter, you should be seeing AT LEAST half a second improvement in the quarter. With a 3500 stall Yank, my impala improved 8 tenths of a second over stock.

[SpeedRacerX]

Where can you buy headers and cats for 950?

First, as I clearly stated, these are averages. Some will cost more, some will cost less.

Second, as an example, I can buy Kooks mid-length Headers with High-Flow cats that bolt-up to my Borla catback exhaust for under $800 (coated) from Maryland Speed (site sponsor).

[norm8332]

I think this is a pretty good idea. Looks like you may have done your research.

[Defeater]

We have an intake, H-pipe, straight-through exhaust, ported TB and a tune which knocked 0.58sec off of our stock ET - 13.50 to 12.92, so take that for what you will. According to your chart it is pretty optimistic (CAI -0.2, Tune -0.25, Catback -0.2, TB -0.15 which should yield -0.8sec, or a 12.70 ET... which it could feasibly be doing based on trap speeds).

We got a LOT of our stuff at a knockdown rate from it being secondhand, knowing a guy, etc., so it is definitely not worth mentioning how much any of it was. In fact it would probably make you rage.

You should probably add in an "Average RWHP Gain" for even more theoretical laughs.