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Location:
Sydney
Registered:
December 2003
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Camry questions OR please help an uneducated noob
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Sat, 27 December 2003 11:42
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Greetings folks,
Firstly let me just say.. Be nice. I'm new here 
Now,
I recently acquired myself a 1990 Toyota Camry.
Its a great car, goes well considering its age and is in very good physical condition.
Now my question is.. What can i do to give it that little bit extra power??
I know intake and exhaust is a fairly good start. But i am unsure as to what exactly i should do..
It was suggested that i install a pod filter and cold air induction.. Would this help?? Or is there a better solution for a camry?
Then there is the question of the exhaust.. I am not looking at spending thousands of dollars on the car so I'm really after something that would be real bang for buck..
Can anyone suggest something that would be suitable?
Is there anything else? I am looking at getting some new rims/maybe suspension. But that is going to be a little more expensive so it might have to wait a lil while.
Have i missed something?? Probably. I'll try to answer any questions if you have any.
Thanks in advance.
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Location:
Montrose, VIC
Registered:
May 2002
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Re: Camry questions OR please help an uneducated noob
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Sat, 27 December 2003 11:55
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Depends if you're loaded or not  If so, ditch the 3sfe and get a 3sge/3sgte in there quick smart  Otherwise, it's pretty much a matter of intake, exhaust, etc. as you said, and don't expect it to ever break your neck I guess!
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Location:
Sydney
Registered:
December 2003
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Re: Camry questions OR please help an uneducated noob
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Sat, 27 December 2003 12:11
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| mrshin wrote on Sat, 27 December 2003 22:55 |
Depends if you're loaded or not If so, ditch the 3sfe and get a 3sge/3sgte in there quick smart Otherwise, it's pretty much a matter of intake, exhaust, etc. as you said, and don't expect it to ever break your neck I guess!
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I'm not exactly strapped for cash.. But right now im not looking at spending more on the engine than the car cost me.
Ideally id just like that little extra balls.
You got any suggestions for exhaust??
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Location:
Sydney
Registered:
December 2003
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Re: Camry questions OR please help an uneducated noob
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Mon, 29 December 2003 08:33
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anyone else ??
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Location:
Sydney
Registered:
February 2003
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Re: Camry questions OR please help an uneducated noob
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Mon, 29 December 2003 08:38
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with regards to intake:
get a pod, but box it off from the rest of the engine bay, so it doesnt suck in hot air, and it should be legal.
or just get a replacement k&n filter for the existing airbox
feed it some nice cold air, just be very careful where u mount it, you obviously dont wanna suck up water and objects.
with exhaust, if you want bacng for buck, dont spend heaps on huge shiny mufflers and tips. get a basic mild steel system with a basic high flowing muffler and a resonator, and a set of extractors. dont waste money on a 'cat-back' system.
you should free up some power with minimal cost
[Updated on: Mon, 29 December 2003 08:39]
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Location:
Sydney
Registered:
September 2003
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Re: Camry questions OR please help an uneducated noob
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Wed, 31 December 2003 05:18
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Hey Chimpy, you should get a full exhaust system, front to back from extractors to exhaust then get a airfilter pod. A guy on here named Iceman has done this and Gained an extra 13 kw@wheels making 73kw@wheels, stock camrys make around 55-60kw@wheels. However it will cost you around $700 for the full exhaust system, or you can get 2inch cat back which is from the middle of your car to the back for $300.
SMT 
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Location:
Colac, Victoria
Registered:
May 2002
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Re: Camry questions OR please help an uneducated noob
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Wed, 31 December 2003 07:04
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just remember the main restrictions of a " stock " exhaust are always at the start ..
Extractors would be the first thing id look into - and a decent intake setup to feed the car cooler air..
then work on the rest of the exhaust .. 2 - 2.5 inches would be tonnes on a non turbo motor ..
Oh the cheapest power upgrade i know of is simply run a tank of premuim .. 99.95 % of toyota motors will happily run on premuim with no worries
to make it handle a bit better - throw in a set of say KYB shockers , and some nice springs.
These mods would be the start of upgrading any car .
After that - look at things like the 3sgte swap - swaybars , bigger brakes etc etc ..
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Registered:
May 2002
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Re: Camry questions OR please help an uneducated noob
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Wed, 31 December 2003 12:27
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The biggest power boost would be a full exhaust/extractor system. I have set of genie extractors, hi flow cat, mandrel bent 2" pipes going through a walker turbo muffler, with resonators stuffed in the middle.
As for the intake, do you mainly drive around streets or the highway? Pods are good for highway, not so good for the streets. There is not much room to heat shield it either unless you place the battery in the boot.
If you want to go extreme you can punch a hole in the left inside fender and feed pipe into the emtpy fender chamber, with a pod at the end. That's been done in America. You have to be careful when it rains because water can splash the pod.
I had a ramair setup which had a bellmouth ducted to the stock airbox. Worked well but after hitting a pothole the front airdam got rooted so I gave it up. If you are serious you could punch a big hole in the airdam to fit the bellmouth.
After all that if you are keen you can get some Tufnol and make yourself an insulated intake manifold spacer which will keep the manifold cooler. I think Joel has done this on his 4A-GE.
If you are still keen, get you head ported. Some bonnet vents might also be useful in keeping the engine bay cooler. Also available is an undersized 3S crank pulley. But if you are running a big stereo system than sucks a lot of juice then keep the factory pulley.
Suspension and wheels are fairly easy and worthwhile modifications. Lowered King springs and stiffer shocks would be first, followed by rims and tyres. A stiffer ride also means less weight transfer so you get a slight acceleration increase as the driving wheels gets more existing power to the ground.
Stiff shocks are hard to come by for SV21 Camry. Bilstein, KYB, Koni don't make them. At the time I got mine only Pedders VRD was the closest match. You might also be luck that kmac might make a camber/castor kit.
You can also get a bigger rear swaybar from whiteline. They also make front bars but whiteline only recommend this for offroad as they reckon it makes handle even worse on tarmac.
After all that you'll want bigger front brakes. The better the brakes, the faster you can drive point to point. My car has single piston Celica GT4 brakes. Straight bolt on upgrade. You can also play around with JDM twin piston brakes.
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Location:
Sydney
Registered:
September 2003
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Re: Camry questions OR please help an uneducated noob
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Thu, 01 January 2004 01:15
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| CamryMan wrote on Wed, 31 December 2003 23:27 |
The biggest power boost would be a full exhaust/extractor system. I have set of genie extractors, hi flow cat, mandrel bent 2" pipes going through a walker turbo muffler, with resonators stuffed in the middle.
As for the intake, do you mainly drive around streets or the highway? Pods are good for highway, not so good for the streets. There is not much room to heat shield it either unless you place the battery in the boot.
If you want to go extreme you can punch a hole in the left inside fender and feed pipe into the emtpy fender chamber, with a pod at the end. That's been done in America. You have to be careful when it rains because water can splash the pod.
I had a ramair setup which had a bellmouth ducted to the stock airbox. Worked well but after hitting a pothole the front airdam got rooted so I gave it up. If you are serious you could punch a big hole in the airdam to fit the bellmouth.
After all that if you are keen you can get some Tufnol and make yourself an insulated intake manifold spacer which will keep the manifold cooler. I think Joel has done this on his 4A-GE.
If you are still keen, get you head ported. Some bonnet vents might also be useful in keeping the engine bay cooler. Also available is an undersized 3S crank pulley. But if you are running a big stereo system than sucks a lot of juice then keep the factory pulley.
Suspension and wheels are fairly easy and worthwhile modifications. Lowered King springs and stiffer shocks would be first, followed by rims and tyres. A stiffer ride also means less weight transfer so you get a slight acceleration increase as the driving wheels gets more existing power to the ground.
Stiff shocks are hard to come by for SV21 Camry. Bilstein, KYB, Koni don't make them. At the time I got mine only Pedders VRD was the closest match. You might also be luck that kmac might make a camber/castor kit.
You can also get a bigger rear swaybar from whiteline. They also make front bars but whiteline only recommend this for offroad as they reckon it makes handle even worse on tarmac.
After all that you'll want bigger front brakes. The better the brakes, the faster you can drive point to point. My car has single piston Celica GT4 brakes. Straight bolt on upgrade. You can also play around with JDM twin piston brakes.
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Your a LEGEND , I couldnt have said it better myself.
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Location:
Sydney
Registered:
December 2003
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Re: Camry questions OR please help an uneducated noob
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Fri, 02 January 2004 12:58
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| CamryMan wrote on Wed, 31 December 2003 23:27 |
The biggest power boost would be a full exhaust/extractor system. I have set of genie extractors, hi flow cat, mandrel bent 2" pipes going through a walker turbo muffler, with resonators stuffed in the middle.
As for the intake, do you mainly drive around streets or the highway? Pods are good for highway, not so good for the streets. There is not much room to heat shield it either unless you place the battery in the boot.
If you want to go extreme you can punch a hole in the left inside fender and feed pipe into the emtpy fender chamber, with a pod at the end. That's been done in America. You have to be careful when it rains because water can splash the pod.
I had a ramair setup which had a bellmouth ducted to the stock airbox. Worked well but after hitting a pothole the front airdam got rooted so I gave it up. If you are serious you could punch a big hole in the airdam to fit the bellmouth.
After all that if you are keen you can get some Tufnol and make yourself an insulated intake manifold spacer which will keep the manifold cooler. I think Joel has done this on his 4A-GE.
If you are still keen, get you head ported. Some bonnet vents might also be useful in keeping the engine bay cooler. Also available is an undersized 3S crank pulley. But if you are running a big stereo system than sucks a lot of juice then keep the factory pulley.
Suspension and wheels are fairly easy and worthwhile modifications. Lowered King springs and stiffer shocks would be first, followed by rims and tyres. A stiffer ride also means less weight transfer so you get a slight acceleration increase as the driving wheels gets more existing power to the ground.
Stiff shocks are hard to come by for SV21 Camry. Bilstein, KYB, Koni don't make them. At the time I got mine only Pedders VRD was the closest match. You might also be luck that kmac might make a camber/castor kit.
You can also get a bigger rear swaybar from whiteline. They also make front bars but whiteline only recommend this for offroad as they reckon it makes handle even worse on tarmac.
After all that you'll want bigger front brakes. The better the brakes, the faster you can drive point to point. My car has single piston Celica GT4 brakes. Straight bolt on upgrade. You can also play around with JDM twin piston brakes.
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So much information. Thanks. Like i said before, i really dont want to spend more money on the car than it originally cost me so going extreme is not really an option.
Its times like this i wish i was a car nut not an IT worker. For now this is all just "research". Thanks all for the advice.
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Location:
sydney
Registered:
April 2003
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Re: Camry questions OR please help an uneducated noob
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Fri, 09 January 2004 08:02
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| CamryMan wrote on Wed, 31 December 2003 23:27 |
If you want to go extreme you can punch a hole in the left inside fender and feed pipe into the emtpy fender chamber, with a pod at the end. That's been done in America. You have to be careful when it rains because water can splash the pod.
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this is exactly what i have done, i used 3" piping, though ithink 2.5" would have been better as this is what most people are using. also this means you dont have to hole the metal, the stock hole where the resonator joins the inlet path can be opened a tad wider. i think hydrolock would only be a problem if the filter was/nearly submerged, i'm still careful in the rain though.
| CamryMan wrote on Wed, 31 December 2003 23:27 |
Stiff shocks are hard to come by for SV21 Camry. Bilstein, KYB, Koni don't make them. At the time I got mine only Pedders VRD was the closest match. You might also be luck that kmac might make a camber/castor kit.
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shocks for the SV21 are listed on KYB's website
if you're looking for power you can get away with a good 3s-fte setup like im doing for about $3500, doing the work yourself. may not be entirely reliable though (ie due to overboosting and blowing the engine etc).
[Updated on: Fri, 09 January 2004 08:06]
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Location:
Sydney
Registered:
May 2003
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Re: Camry questions OR please help an uneducated noob
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Sat, 10 January 2004 00:31
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bang 4 bucks ur best 2 either go 4 the 3sge beams engine if you want to stay na or go forced fed with the 3sgte possibly alogn the way covnertign it to 4wd 4 insaine performane and origionality
a few on this site have/in the process of doing this so shoudl be able to give you an outline
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Location:
Campbelltown, NSW, Austra...
Registered:
January 2004
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Re: Camry questions OR please help an uneducated noob
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Sat, 10 January 2004 12:22
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Converting it to 4wd is a pretty extreme option there.
I mean Toyota never made a all-trac Camry for Australia, so you would probably have to source the parts from overseas, as for installing it... well you could be up for heaps.
If you want a reasonable sugestion the get a 2.5 ince cat back system, i know everyone will probably dis them, but i got one (can't afford extractors), and i've got a noticble power boost (not to mention a nice noise) and only for $250!!. Annother thing you might want to consider is Denso spark plugs, these are really good quality (they are sold by Toyota)and make a noticble difference. Other than that try to run the car on premium unleaded and also run some injector cleaner/octane boost through it occasionly.
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Location:
Sydney
Registered:
September 2003
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Re: Camry questions OR please help an uneducated noob
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Sat, 10 January 2004 13:02
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Good to see your contributing camry_omega  .
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