[Fokas]

hey I just bought a 2002 Mercury Cougar Xr automatic trans a couple days ago and i wanted some advice on how to start hookin it up... The first thing i wanted to do was add some HP to it and maybe change the taillights... any advice on where i could start for HP without spending too much money?

 

[rista]

cold air intake, gutted precats, and exhaust. intake and exhaust can be had from www.customcougars.com and you can gut the precats in your driveway following the tutorial in the 'how-to' section. and as for changing tail lights, the only option you have without doing major modifications is the euro lights (not altezzas).

 

[Fokas]

yea i read the newbies forum thing on what to add first but it doesn't say anything about which companies would be best to start out with.

i know i want to start with air intake and exhaust but i dont know which companies will offer the best HP at the best price...

 

[rista]

custom cougars intake is the cheapest and i'd go with a borla exhaust. cheap and gets the job done with excellent hp figures.

 

[DarkSide]

yep..thats my exact intake/exhaust setup...sounds niice...plus i have a high-flow cat too

 

[Fokas]

do you know aprox. how much HP the customcougar cold air complete intake adds? cuz i was also looking at the Weapon R Dragon Complete Package and it says a gain between 12-15 HP but it cost twice as much....

o yea i have a question... sorry its a newb question... what does gutting my precats do??

thanks

 

[ZEXCougar]

There was a dyno done on a similar design of intake and it gained like 8HP over a regular aftermarket short ram intake. The numbers that the Weapon R states are exaggerated. The true cold air extension will perform better. Just think about it this way:

The reason that you buy an aftermarket intake is to increase airflow. Which any intake does simply by replacing the airbox with a cone filter. The filter is still in the engine bay though - and sucks in air that is heated by the engine. Colder air means more HP, so there are designs created that allow the intake to take in cooler air. Weapon R put their cone filter inside a heat shield box to keep some of the engine heat from entering the engine. They also put an extension tube that feeds outside air into the box. So it takes a little bit of cold air from outside and reduces the temperature of the heat shield box kind of like an air conditioner. This is much better than a regular short ram setup because you are reducing the air temperature, but in essence the intake is still in the engine bay. The air is cooler, but it is still being heated by the engine. The extension true cold air intake just puts the whole filter outside and only sucks in outside air. Much colder air = More HP! Oh, and the costing twice as much part... There was a very competitive market for this design a little while ago. That is why the price is so cheap. I got mine when it first came out and paid $149 for just the extension tubes. Keep in mind that I paid an additional $110 for my short ram setup. So this intake cost me $259 total... And it's worth every penny!

For the pre-cats... By gutting the pre-cats, you would be freeing up airflow. It's kind of an inexpensive version of headers. It isn't as good as getting headers, but it is free and is much better than the stock setup. The pre-cats have a honeycomb type material inside them that the exhaust flows through to reduce emissions. You would be removing the honeycomb material to let the air travel through the pipes without restriction.

 

[Neale]

You picked a good car, my friend! You'll be very pleased with your new *****.

As for exhaust, if you want single or duals it's up to you, there are plenty of threads about it, this specific Dual Exhaust thread speaks of just that, Dual exhaust. Keep in mind when getting exhaust, that doing Custom work is generally MUCH cheaper than buying mass-produced kits.

 

[h8beingbored]

be careful with what you do as far as exhaust, gutting precats, and intake . . . you still have to pass emissions to get your tags

-Josh

 

[PREDATOR]

or if your like me and don't have to worry about emissions... you can go over board and not feel bad

 

[Tygerr]

Originally posted by: XtremeCougar
or if your like me and don't have to worry about emissions... you can go over board and not feel bad

Neither do I. But IMO you should at least keep a hi flo cat on. There's basically no diff. in hp, we're not exactly environment friendly in the first place, but the diff. in pollution is greater. Just my .2. Congrats on the coug. Very nice pick IMO.