Hey guys,

Im wanting to know what would be some cheap ways to make some more grunt and power to my xr8?

Any suggestions?

im not very into the v8s, but you could fit an explorer manifold from the later model(late el i think, and the au), the headers are crap on the standard 8s so that would be a decent upgrade, can chase some gt40p heads, (wouldnt buy headers until you fit these heads as they may be different but check with a someone whose into their v8s) thats what i can think of
not sure about any cheaper upgrades but i know the above are pretty effective mods

Hey mate thanks for that,

I shouldve put up what i have already done.
I have headers/extractors running into 2 flowmasters,
So a bigger head and cam would be next step?

Good to see you p****d off the factory headers, they are woeful!

Manifold upgrade is a must if your running the asthamtic HO gear. Explorer and if your lucky Cobra manifolds are a good replacement or you can look at aftermarket manifolds such as Trickflow or Edelbrock.

The heads on these motors are crap in stock form, even the GT40's and GT40p's leave a lot of room for improvement. I would look at AFR's or Trickflows if your serious. Otherwise ditch the E7's and go some GT40p's or something. As bry40l said you may have issues with heads/extractor combos but you'll cross that bridge when you come to it.

Lot's of cams around for these, I personally like the TFS-1 cam or the FMS 303 but there a heaps of cams around, do some research and see what you like.

Underdrive pulleys provide a cheap and noticable gain. Lot's of kits around for these both locally and in the USA. If your car is an auto some people have had issue with a flat battery due to the alternator doing less work. I've had 302's with the pulleys (2 manuals, 1 auto) and never had issue but.

Diff gears have long been considered poor mans horsepower, however the bang for your buck value is too good to ignore, just remember your speedo will be out but can be adjusted if you wish. 3.9's are a good ratio for auto's and 3.45 or 3.73 for manuals.

Things like an AU/BA snorkel, high performance air filter, larger throttle body, MAF, coil, etc can also help in giving small gains, but dont expect the world.

Forced induction is the way too go if your thinking of sinking money into the car. You can build a blown or turbo motor cheaper then you probably think and it provides better bang for your buck then the likes of a stroker. Check out some of the builds on a few forums to see good examples of cheap blown builds etc.

One of my persoanal favourites is a manual conversion if auto. The auto makes these motors feel sluggish and lazy when stock, however if you want to stick with the auto (which is a good thing to do if your chasing big power) then a shift kit and a highstall can wake the auto right up. Just remember if you go a big highstall then the auto will go into limp home mode. This can be fixed (don't quote me) in the tune by changing the value of the limp home mode value to something higher then the stall.


Hope some of this helps

Read this thread at the top of the V8 Forum...

"Some basic mods & cost info for upgrading your V8"