So if I wanted to gain some more HP from my 2.4 but not drastically jeopardize my fuel economy, what would I do? My real concern is on changing the exhaust because it might change the back pressure, and inturn possibly fuel economy. Any suggestions would be great.

 

A tune could "wake up" the engine, but with a naturally aspirated 4 cylinder, it takes fuel to make power. Other types of engines find ways around it, with turbochargers, and fuel management (silverado has it where it runs on 4 cylinders out of 8 to conserve fuel while coasting.

If you don't want a tune, a drop in filter, and maybe a hi flow cat will net you a little performance gain

 

Well a slight change, in fuel econ won't really bother me since my last car was a 300 HP nineteen eighty Malibu which only got 17 mpg on a really good day. I just want a little more pep and a slightly more throaty exhaust. I'm also contemplating debadging it.

 

Hey is debadging legal in Calgary ???

I installed a K&N intake and got a Trifecta tune from Vince, pretty pleased with the results, I get the best average mileage with 87 octane ??

 

There isn't really a good way to pick up the "25 hp" that everyone does with a Chevy V8. A few guys are supercharging but that is a lot of work and a good chunk of change. Also I haven't seen any dyno numbers on this site to see if a tune or a tune with bolt on parts is benefiting anything but audible horsepower and lightening the wallet. Maybe some other members out there have some real data to share.

 

In MOST cases factory set engine management keeps the tune on the "safe" side, so more often a "rich" tune. Then what most people do is add basic bolt on mods which allow more airflow and given the parameters in the factory tune lean it out a bit which sometimes actually increase MPG as well as HP.

So as long as you keep your foot out of WOT (wide open throttle). With the VVT motors, i know with Gen 5 camaros can be cranky with adding even a CAI so this is where I will leave it to a tuner to explain but adding a few bolt ons should not be an issue.

The ISSUE I do have is people throwing tunes on cars that are dead nuts stock. Kinda a waste of $$$ unless your tuner is willing to give you free retunes and dyno time (which I doubt).

So think basics when it comes to stuff you can do and things your willing to deal with. I would think a CAI and cat-back exhaust would be at minimum the things I would do before a retune and if your feeling froggy, a header pipe with or w/o a CAT and then have it retuned. At least you can see the progress.

Just my 2 cents.

 

You could add the ZZP Cams for the 2.4, Header and a Downpipe, and HPTuners, or the trifecta tune.

Would pretty much keep your MPG's about the same unless you leadfoot it all the time.

Just adding the ZZP Cams they claim you don't even need a "Tune" to run them.

 

can this be done to a 2.2?

 

The ZZPerformance Cams are only for the 2.4.

But theres plenty you can do to a 2.2. Add on a 2.4's intake and throttle body, add a header and downpipe, get a Tune and that should pep it up a bit.

I think you could get custom ground cams for the 2.2 from one of the major cam makers, but you'd have to contact them and find out.

You could Supercharge or Turbo it as well.

 

Lose some weight (car weight that is) = free HP... who wants to haul around passengers anyway..? lol.. jk