a cold air intake is what i'd suggest first

you can buy one for a coupld hundread bucks, or you can make one for under 50$

you could also start saving up for a supercharger...

 

How does one go about making a cold-air intake? I'm all about the DIY stuff... I'm not very good, but I like to learn stuff If I were to buy one, is there a certain make/model that I should look at?

About superchargers, how much do they cost and what should I get?

 

if you search for cai, or cold air intake you can find tons of information, i think there's a link in the camry faq/sticky, and probably in the hardcore/tech ultimate sticky as well

rippmods made a supercharger, i think its around 3000$ for the complete kit, and you get tons of stuff, 190 wheel horse power

 

You should first get the cold air intake. Injen makes short rams. Second, the ECU upgrade can help alot in boosting up HP.

 

ECU upgrade? Tell me more!

Anyone know whem AEM is going to come out with a CAI for the '97 4cyl?

 

yea, anyone hear anything about that tornado thing?

 

garbage

 

Ya, read about the tornado things, they're a buncha crap. Some independent company did 3 sets of dynos to prove it. They're junk.

 

this is why you guys rock haha
:thumbup:

 

ECU upgrade? Tell me more!

Anyone know whem AEM is going to come out with a CAI for the '97 4cyl?

ECU upgrades don't really upgrade much. I'd type more, but I'm sleepy The Camry/Solara FAQ should help you out a lot...

 

Performance:
-A new intake system? Suggestions?
-I thought about getting one of those tornado things, but I hear they're crap.
-new muffler and/or exhaust? Remember, I DO NOT want a car that sounds like rice.
-Plugs, wires, cap? Any point to getting "performance" versions of these parts?
-A performance chip? These things are damned pricey for me, but if they make a real difference in my 4cyl, I may just take the hit in the pocket to feel my ride take off again.
-Any other possibilities I've not mentioned? I'll do just about anything to this car as long as it doesnt kill the lifespan.

Looks:
-16" rims at least... probably one of the last things I'll get around to
-Carbon dash kit? Saw pics of one of these installed on a Gen4 somewhere, looked pretty sweet to me.
-Indiglo guage cluster thingy... Suggestions on what's good would be great! I don't really like the idea that my dimmer knob won't work anymore though... Not that I use the damned thing anyway.
-Sooner or later I'll find decent headlight/tailight assemblies to make my car look more unique, if they're out there now I'd love to know about it.

cai if they offer it, if not a sri will hold you over...you just gotta remember, intake/header/exhaust will not make you unbelievably fast...
if you just want looks, a muffler will do (they don't add hp)...if you want a little more go up top, 2.25" mandrel bent piping with muffler should free up a couple of ponies...i know that they have headers for the 92-96 but don't know if this is available for the 97 or not...
plugs, wires, caps...don't bother going performance on these, they won't do much unless for some reason you need mad spark, which you won't since you don't seem like you wanna go all out on this car...
don't believe in those performance chips, :thumbdown

18's at least, screw 16's...you'll be a lot slower however, but hey, at least you'll look cool
the dash and gauges are up to you, they aren't my cup of coffee but if you like the way they look, it's your car and money
there's and hid kit available somewhere on this board, try group buy or sell/trade/blah...dj something started it, read around and you'll see who i'm talking about...he has your gen camry with hid's and diff tails, you might like it

if you want your four banger camry to run like your 3800 taurus...you're gonna either have to go fi or trade it in for the v6 model...sorry bro, but there's no real easy way to make power (note: i did not say the 5sfe does not make power, just not as easily as some people want)

 

sarg is probably the one that posted the most pictures/questions about it recently so i'll refer to his threads, they were littering the landscape for a while

in fact i'm surprised he hasn't spammed all over this thread just kidding bud...

http://toyotanation.com/showthread.php?threadid=22198

pages 3 and 4 of this thread have a gazillion pics of it, and he rambles on somewhere in between

http://toyotanation.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=22048

here's the imagestation link

http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4288806825


i know he has a gen 3 and you a gen4, but its the same engine and the same general idea

 

Has anyone checked out the new DPS systems yet? Sounds interesting, but $250+ is a bit to blow for me before knowing if they actually work.

http://www.automotiveforums.com/dps.php

Looks like Injen makes a CAI for my engine, I may go that route as well.

Are there any ECU upgrades out there that work and are worth the money?

 

Has anyone checked out the new DPS systems yet? Sounds interesting, but $250+ is a bit to blow for me before knowing if they actually work.

http://www.automotiveforums.com/dps.php

Looks like Injen makes a CAI for my engine, I may go that route as well.

Are there any ECU upgrades out there that work and are worth the money?

probably garbage, and i doubt any upgrades on ebay would make much fo a difference

 

sarg is probably the one that posted the most pictures/questions about it recently so i'll refer to his threads, they were littering the landscape for a while

in fact i'm surprised he hasn't spammed all over this thread just kidding bud...

http://toyotanation.com/showthread.php?threadid=22198

pages 3 and 4 of this thread have a gazillion pics of it, and he rambles on somewhere in between

http://toyotanation.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=22048

here's the imagestation link

http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4288806825


i know he has a gen 3 and you a gen4, but its the same engine and the same general idea

:lol: You jokes Oldman! Thanks for tossing up a link for everyone! I hope it helps ya! If you have other questions please feel free to ask, and if you want the best quality parts shoot for about $75-100 bucks and you will have one hell of an outcome! If you live in a rainy area be sure to buy a daymn bypass valve!!! :thumbup:

 

Yay! Another question from me!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=33591&item=2442498362

Does one of them bars actually do anything? Seems on the cheap side, and you generally get what you pay for...

So, the net net is, w/o a turbo/super charger, I'm never going to make my 4 banger Gen4 move like my old Taurus That's fine I guess, didn't really expect I'd be able to get it to that level anyway. If I were to add a CAI, am I going to notice a difference at the pedal? I don't care for all the fancy noise one way or another What other relatively inexpensive changes can I make that'll make a noticable difference in my car's power off the line?

Thanks all for the infos thus far

 

Yay! Another question from me!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=33591&item=2442498362

Does one of them bars actually do anything? Seems on the cheap side, and you generally get what you pay for...

So, the net net is, w/o a turbo/super charger, I'm never going to make my 4 banger Gen4 move like my old Taurus That's fine I guess, didn't really expect I'd be able to get it to that level anyway. If I were to add a CAI, am I going to notice a difference at the pedal? I don't care for all the fancy noise one way or another What other relatively inexpensive changes can I make that'll make a noticable difference in my car's power off the line?

Thanks all for the infos thus far

first of all use the search button for these types of questions. second that bar is called a strut tower bar and what it does is add a better handeling when you are driving through turns and traffic.for the intake u most likely wont feel the difference at the pedal that much, but what it will do is add better topend and mid range power for your motor. so if you were to do any traffic light to traffic light racing with another car with the same amount of hp you would have a better advantage because that cold air intake will give u a slight upper hand in racing. plus it sounds so tyte.

 

first of all use the search button for these types of questions

Contrary to popular belief on this thread, I've been reading everything I could find on the subject for a couple months now. Including searching this forum, and reading the faqs, and things linked from the faqs, etc.

I'm just relatively new to the whole idea of performance mods, so of course I'm gonna have a few noob questions

With that said, yet another "noob" question! Can someone recommend a muffler that doesn't make my car sound like rice, and would make gains in performance? Once again, yes, I read the faq...

2. Muffler available? TRD for Gen4/Solara, universal for all other gen.

Does this TRD muffler make my car sound like a bee fartin in a tin can? Does it make it go faster? If I had to listen to the bee after a good burrito, which one is going to give me the most bang for my buck?

Also according to the FAQ, there's a "catback" available for my Gen4. So... wtf is a catback? :lol: obviously something to do with the exhaust system, but beyond that I can't for the life of me discover what exactly it is

 

I also have a gen 4 camry. I've also been looking everwhere for performance mods for my car, especially exhausts. Cause I don't want my car to sound too loud, but loud enough so that you know there's a differenance.

A catback is the muffler/exhaust and the complete piping underneath the car. It starts from the end of your headers and finishes off with whichever exhaust you wish to put on.

If anybody else can help describe the catback further in detail, please do so, cause I'm sort of a noob in perfomance mods. I know a bit, but not too much either.

Anyway, I found a catback for the gen 4 camry, but didn't like it so what i'm doing is going to a near by performance shop and getting a custom catback w/dual exhausts. :banger:

 

correct me if i'm wrong but isn't a cat-back system just everything behind the catalytic converter so after the cat you get new piping and new muffler and everything after the headers is called a full exhaust system?

a short ram intake probably won't do much other than making your car sound faster than it is but it can't really be worse than stock as long as you try to shield off heat from the engine.

 

correct me if i'm wrong but isn't a cat-back system just everything behind the catalytic converter so after the cat you get new piping and new muffler and everything after the headers is called a full exhaust system?

yeah

 

with a cai, you'll most likely lose some torque down low but you'll gain a few hp up top

a muffler does nothing but add sounds

a catback is exactly what it sounds like...an exhaust system from the cat on back...some exhaust kits include the cat (which is what a few people have told me, i've never seen this in my life) while generally, most kits just offer the piping and a muffler...a high flow cat may give you a few more horses

intake, header, exhaust...minimal gains but with the three together you should be able to feel a little difference, even if it's mental...some universal exhuasts have silencers so that may help with the noise level if you're worried about that

and those bars just help handling, though getting a nice set of springs and shocks would help a lot more