Best Performance Upgrades for Little Money - Here's My Vote

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e50095

e50095

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Low budget seems to mean a lot of different things to many people. I saw a story one day on how to build a low budget stroker motor. It was 5 grand. Maybe I'm just cheap, but I believe you don't have to spend a ton of money to improve performance and driveability. I'm fortunate enough to be within driving distance of at least 5 u-pullit yards, one of which still has great prices. My vote for the best cheap upgrade has to be electronic ignition. I pulled a distributor, wiring harness, and ignition module from a 74 or so Valiant. Total cost, $25. I saw a guy there one day pulling an electric fan setup off a Durango. He told me it would work perfect on his Road Runner, provided he get the wiring squared away. At $25, how could he lose. I also remember reading a story where a guy bought a flea market drill and a good grinding bit, and proceeded to port his own heads, removing all the bumps and ridges, and expanding the port a little. With gasket matching the ports, I think he said he only spent $30 total or so. So the question of the day is, what ultra cheap upgrades have you guys discovered that cheap mucks like myself would be interested in hearing about?
 
I still occasionally buy carburetors by the pound. If you have a local scrap yard when they pull the engines on crush cars the also pull carbs and alternators etc and put them in the "dirty die cast" bins. Ask if you can scrounge their dirty die cast and if so you can buy sometimes very nice complete carbs or banged up parts carbs that can supply metering blocks, rods, float bowls linkages etc for $6-$12! I've found complete 500 and 650 CFM two barrels, AFBs and all kinds of Holleys from the 600 vacuum secondary to 800 double pumpers....
 
Usually the best bang for the buck is do a good tune to the engine. Have seen to many times people doing carb and cam changes that didn't get any more than just adjusting timing properly and jet/adjust carb
 
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Along the lines of the OP on ignition and the tune up mentioned... setting the advance curve.
 
on a budget?

trade that old mopar for a chevy...aftermarket parts for those dime a dozen cars are, well, a dime a dozen

[flamesuit on]
 
Well I couldn't think of anything, until, I remembered my fuel filter. It wasn't that cheap to buy, but considering that its been on there since about 2000, in terms of cost per year, it ranks right up there with my Optima battery, which has been in there for about the same length of time.
The filter is an EFI prefilter, with one hose barb and one tube fitting. It's about 2.75 x 5, as I recall. I installed it at the back.I found it in a jobber catalog, in the picture section.Sweet filter.
And then I remembered my TTI system with dual Dynomaxers and 3 inch all the way.. Its been on there since 1999, so it's down to about $75Can per year now.
And then I remembered the GV....
Ok so I'm not a super good bargain hunter.I'm more into the big-picture, kindof guy.
In spite of the mega-thousands of dollars I spent bringing my car back to life, two years ago marked it's official parity with any of my newer cars in terms of years of service per thousand dollars invested. It could totally disintegrate tomorrow and I can safely say it was the best value in a car that I ever owned.
But you just know that ain't gonna happen.A fresh set of quarters and wee bit of paint and away we go again.
 
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A good tune will beat a car with all kinds of whiz bang stuff that is not tuned.
Used MSD 6AL analog box can be found for $75
Indexing spark plugs is free HP.
 
diymirage said:
on a budget?

trade that old mopar for a chevy...aftermarket parts for those dime a dozen cars are, well, a dime a dozen

[flamesuit on]
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Hard as it is for Mopar guys to admit, you're right.

Also as for the electronic ignition "upgrade" being one of the best. If you upgraded to electronic ignition and you car ran a LOT better, something was WRONG with your point style ignition.
 
I loved roaming the junkyards for parts, the cheapest upgrade was putting a 383 in the fastback, hoisted it in and dad fabricated the motormounts from a templet he found in an old hotrod mag. we found every part we needed in the yard, manifolds, headpipes, tranny, 8 3/4 axle, ......... ya get my drift. for the wopping cost of 100 bucks.
the year was 1978. lol those were the days. we built a lot of low budget stuff from other peoples junk.
 
fishmens67 said:
I loved roaming the junkyards for parts, the cheapest upgrade was putting a 383 in the fastback, hoisted it in and dad fabricated the motormounts from a templet he found in an old hotrod mag. we found every part we needed in the yard, manifolds, headpipes, tranny, 8 3/4 axle, ......... ya get my drift. for the wopping cost of 100 bucks.
the year was 1978. lol those were the days. we built a lot of low budget stuff from other peoples junk.
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there ya go

that also brings to mind the old cast iron 4 barrel intake manifold
 
diymirage said:
... cast iron 4 barrel intake manifold
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OEM 4 barrel High Performance carbs
360 heads
360 exhaust manifolds
Disc Brakes
OEM sway bars
8 1/4, 8 3/4 Rears
Station Wagon rear leaf springs
340 Red valve springs (check them on a tester and you will likely find they are still within spec)
383 440 Red HP valve springs (see above)
 
RustyRatRod said:
Hard as it is for Mopar guys to admit, you're right...
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If you count how often you have to replace them and their parts, not so much. I've rebuilt too many and would not have one. Plus you do not have to do as much, to make a Mopar run hard and live for decades. A friend has only spent about $10,000 to make his SBC as good as a SBM. Guess what is original in that motor? Only the block.
 
66fs said:
If you count how often you have to replace them and their parts, not so much. I've rebuilt too many and would not have one. Plus you do not have to do as much, to make a Mopar run hard and live for decades. A friend has only spent about $10,000 to make his SBC as good as a SBM. Guess what is original in that motor? Only the block.
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Agree, and I see a lot of this around the roundy round tracks of late. The SBM engines lasting 3 years and the chevy teams spend 12 to 30 grand a year..
 
memike said:
Agree, and I see a lot of this around the roundy round tracks of late. The SBM engines lasting 3 years and the chevy teams spend 12 to 30 grand a year..
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I wonder if this might be due to the cheap prices though?
if I can build an engine for 500 dollars I might try it myself, but if it will cost 2500 I might have a professional do it
so the cheap entry cost of a chebby attracts a lot of back yard mechanics, while the higher initial cost of a mopar get more professionals wrenching on them?
 
diymirage said:
I wonder if this might be due to the cheap prices though?
if I can build an engine for 500 dollars I might try it myself, but if it will cost 2500 I might have a professional do it
so the cheap entry cost of a chebby attracts a lot of back yard mechanics, while the higher initial cost of a mopar get more professionals wrenching on them?
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The shop that has four race cares and a bundle of doe orders there engines and spend 20 grand on one, send it back for diagnose and buy a new one, each year they get new engines SBC..
 
diymirage said:
I wonder if this might be due to the cheap prices though?
if I can build an engine for 500 dollars I might try it myself, but if it will cost 2500 I might have a professional do it
so the cheap entry cost of a chebby attracts a lot of back yard mechanics, while the higher initial cost of a mopar get more professionals wrenching on them?
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Engine guys tend to be Mopar. Body guys tend to be GM. Ford is middle ground. Being German, I'll pay more to buy something good and be done, rather than get something cheap and have to buy it over and over. Why does Walmart do so well? I won't say what I think where our society has gone.
 
My "u pull" days are close to over with. I recently went over and spent part of the day, met member DionR ? from here, but it was WORK. You have to manually carry your tools in, a BIG block for me. Without better access in/ out, and hauling parts and tools, that is going to be very limited.

So far as "low buck" Hell my entire CAR is low buck. At least low compared to buying new, LOL
 
best performance upgrade? Rear gears. if you want your motor to run better, get a decent cam. bone stock manifold choked 340 I had in my 65 would roast tires, but wouldnt with a 2.76 rear.
 
66fs said:
If you count how often you have to replace them and their parts, not so much. I've rebuilt too many and would not have one. Plus you do not have to do as much, to make a Mopar run hard and live for decades. A friend has only spent about $10,000 to make his SBC as good as a SBM. Guess what is original in that motor? Only the block.
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On the flip side of that, Mopar guys wish they had as much aftermarket coverage.
 
diymirage said:
on a budget?

trade that old mopar for a chevy...aftermarket parts for those dime a dozen cars are, well, a dime a dozen

[flamesuit on]
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unfortunately for the Mopar crowd this is true.
You can build or buy a chevy sm. blk for pennies compared to Most mopar small block builds.
Easily the most popular and plentiful performance build in the world.The 100 millionth sm block
chevy rolled off the assembly line some time in 2012.

as for cheap performance upgrade..no such thing.
 
The two greatest speed tricks for me?
1. A good performance ignition curve - will work on a Race Hemi or 170" slant with any parts they have. Cost might be as high as $25 if you have to buy beer for the guy with the welder.
2. Make sure your tire pressures are close to the max noted on the tires especially on the front. Also has a side benefit of getting better gas mileage and again - works on everything from a lawn tractor to a fuel rail. Cost is free at most service stations.
 
my pick and pull yard has the Chryslers WAY in the back, its a haul to even get back there. And then you find jack in rear wheel drives. Used to be lots of Diplomats and New Yorkers but even those are drying up. Now its all Neons, Sebrings and Cloud cars.
 
pishta said:
my pick and pull yard has the Chryslers WAY in the back, its a haul to even get back there. And then you find jack in rear wheel drives. Used to be lots of Diplomats and New Yorkers but even those are drying up. Now its all Neons, Sebrings and Cloud cars.
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Ours has the Chrysler products all in the back also, but there are quite a few Ram trucks (2 and 4 wheel) and a fair selection of newer Jeeps.
The oldest Mopar there is a 80's Newport I think.
 
It's a real shame all this stuff is getting crushed now. Even things from the 80s. A real shame.
 
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