Two Questions

[jcp123]

Biggest bang for the buck is definitely lower gears. No contest there.

[Egg Nog]

2)Basically as much bang for my buck as I can get. I'm on a limited income and I just wanna know where would I get the biggest increase in overall performance in my truck.

If you are on a limited budget, I don't personally think it makes sense to modify your truck. If anything goes wrong, chances are that the modifications may have voided your warranty, and you'll end up paying for repairs yourself. Financially sensible? No

But why do you want extra power if you're going to tone down your driving anyway?

[Raphielh]

Thanks again guys, I'm off to bed.......I probably won't be at this forum again unless I come up with any questions....You all have been most helpful

[Egg Nog]

This has got to be some kind of UCP record as far as the time-per-amount-of-helpfulness ratio goes

[Raphielh]

No, I won't take it out completely...I consider myself a conservative driver....I rarely accelerate quickly unless I need to pass up someone or show off in front of my friends....Well lately, I've just been accelerating fast and whatnot just for the fun of it...I'm going to cut back a little, but overall, I want to power when I need it, and if I ever want to race someone with the same engine as me, I hope I can have a little advantage.

[PerfAdv]

To ensure long vehicle life, change all fluids atleast every two years or more frequently if recommended by manufacturer. Performance mods and longevity are usually mutually exclusive. Might be a waste in cooler running, large displacement engine but invest in synthetic oils for the ultimate in reducing wear and tear.

[jcp123]

Synthetic oil actually got me a SOTP torque gain and saved a little bit of gas too. And while it's twice as expensive as normal oil, it lasts twice as long and help extend the life of your engine as well. It's definitely a sound investment.

[Matra et Alpine]

Synthetic oil actually got me a SOTP torque gain and saved a little bit of gas too. And while it's twice as expensive as normal oil, it lasts twice as long and help extend the life of your engine as well. It's definitely a sound investment.

Watch out.
The oil companies managed to get the consumer bodies of the world to agree that by adding cracked hydrocarbons to oil that it could be called synthetic.
This is a million miles away from the protection of a TRUE synthetic - which will have esthers added.
Stick with Silkolene or Mobil1 and you're 'safe'.
Others need careful comparison on consituents to kniw whether it's synthetic oil or marketed as synthetic oil

[Niko_Fx]

I agree that they won't make much of a difference on a car like your civic

You Bastard

[Matra et Alpine]

New there was a post from our resident "performance oil speciliast" in the Alpine forum.

This guy knows his stuff ...

Hello chaps,

There are only two Mobil 1 grades commonly available in this country and that is the 0w-40 and the 15w-50, the 0w-40 will be way too thin for these engines, the 15w-50 on the other hand will be fine. It is a common misconception that synthetic oils are too thin, this is untrue as synthetics come in the same viscosities as mineral and semi.

As your engines are of older design a thicker oil is preferable, however a 20w-50 is slight over kill, the 20w will provide very poor cold start protection (80% of when engine wear occurs) so moving to a 10w would be better and as thin as I would go for these cars.

There will always be gaines from using a full synthetic. As synthetics were not freely available when the car was built a semi or a mineral was recomended, but these days you can use better.

If it was my car I would be using a 10w-50 PAO/Ester (no petroleum base stock) fully synthetic oil.

Esters assist the additive pack in a motor oil formulation because they are surface-active (electrostatically attracted to metal surfaces), so they help to reduce wear and friction.

They are fluid at very low temperatures and at high temperatures they are very chemically stable and have low volatility (don’t evaporate away).

They also help to prevent hardening and cracking of oil seals at high temperatures making them ideal for tuned turbo engines.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

Guy.

[cossie]

There is also a product from the states called Motor-up which I have put in all of the cars I have owned and have found a huge improvement in horsepower,fuel economy and making a smoother car all round.It is not like slick 50 which is a teflon additive which gums rings but changes the molecular structure of the metal surface so when two surfaces rub together it polishes the metal.I had it proven to me at a car show when they had a spinning metal shaft in an oil bath with a torque wrench which you pushed down on to press another piece of metal like a shoe onto the spinning shaft.You could easily stop the shaft spinning with all types of oil and it would gouge the metal but with this stuff in the oil it was impossible to stop and it just polished the 2 surfaces,even with the oil bath removed.They told me that they put it on a GP500 race bike chain and got 1hp more at the wheel.I also put the additive into my gearbox(T5) which had a slight whine and was terribly rough,shit the box now changes like a japanese one with absolutely no whine,even when cold.I don't like advertising products but for an additive you put in every 25000 miles it's the best performance enhancer and insurance for dollars spent I have done to my car,maybe thats why I got 170mph out of it

[IWantAnAudiRS6]

Different cars do have very different results. Honda's VTEC engines thrive on revs- and so do some larger engines, such as BMW's M engines and Ferraris also love revs. Big, lazy, V8s that are found in vehicles like that may not react at all well to revs, if they're not developed well.

[Matra et Alpine]

There is also a product from the states called Motor-up which I have put in all of the cars I have owned and have found a huge improvement in horsepower,fuel economy and making a smoother car all round.

Sorry Cossie, you may think this an attack, but we had ( and still do ) a spate of 'additives' which purport to do better than oil.

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/1999/04/motorup5.htm took a 1 minute search to find out what the US government thought of the claims.
GOOD oil doesn't need additives. Esthers will 'coat' the surfaces and are present in any real synthetic.

[cossie]

didn't notice
Just stating what I found to be quite a beneficial additive which gave quite a noticable difference to the dynamics of the engine,it was far smoother with more torque & it runs alot cooler.They each state a certain percentage of power increase and I really honestly didn't notice alot more in the cars and mates cars i've driven but they all felt alot more responsive and quicker to accelerate,especially when I put it in the drivetrain as well.The one I first put in was called Activ8 from the UK and after I put it in the oil and fuel consumption also went down considerably.There is a myriad of different additives available but only a few of this type.

[Matra et Alpine]

There is a myriad of different additives available but only a few of this type.

Passing on Alpine's oilman expert input ....

IF you pay for a decent oil it ALREADY HAS all these additives and in the right proportions for your engine use.

If you buy cheap oil then you will almost certainly need this additive - but you also need half a dozen others.

Silkolene (Fuchs) or Mobil1 and save money

Sorry, Cossie, I'm tryign to be careful so you don't feel picked on, but any research always leads to these providng no benefit over decent oil. Take some Mobil1 in to the next test they do and drop it on the roller and get the same results.

Maybe like the carbs discussion we had , you should say which oil you use. if you're on Mobil1 and STILL got improvement then I'm overdue you some respect. If the oil you use is the cheap stuff from Kwik-Fit/Sears ( or even Ford ) then you might find benefit from switching. Or my assumptions may be wrong.