I was reading in another thread and some guy on here said he'd upgrade exhaust first, or is a CAI more important to upgrade first. I plan on getting an 08 SS-Turbo next year and my bro has a 5speed LS Silver Coupe and he's considering this upgrade for xmas?

what would you guys do first for each car?

CobaltSScrazy:)

CAI is cheaper, Exhaust will net you more power gains.

id go for the cai cuz its cheaper but its just one unit. like exhaust you need header and downpipe to make the exhaust complete. and thats like 800 bucks and cai is only like 250 so intake would be first unless you want to spend the money first for exhaust if you want your car to sound nice then go for exhaust im getting everything so it dont matter. haha

ryman.

in both case's i'd go with exhasut first.

the turbo car will make huge gains from a freer flowing exhasut as far as spool time and HP gains.

the other car will neet larger gains as well from an exhasut when compared to a CAI.

I'd ditch the cat in both case's they cause nothing but issues. they plug up and rob power.

id go for the cai cuz its cheaper but its just one unit. like exhaust you need header and downpipe to make the exhaust complete. and thats like 800 bucks and cai is only like 250 so intake would be first unless you want to spend the money first for exhaust if you want your car to sound nice then go for exhaust im getting everything so it dont matter. haha

ryman.

Ha.....$800 for exahaust and header??? Not in this lifetime. The exhaust i'm getting (the ARK N2) which comes out mid November (I got mine reserved at a local tuning shop :) is $722 alone......and the CTI header/custom CTI downpipe i'm getting is $700.......alot more than $800. Anywho, I say intake first. Its alot cheaper, easy to install, and will not only give you a bit more power, but it'll give you a little bit better fuel economy. The other reason is you don't want a loud exhaust drawing attention to your otherwise stock ride. Go intake, then exhaust, so then if someone does give you crap for your loud exhaust on a stock seeming car, and possibly wants to race you, then at least you'll be packing a little bit of extra heat under the hood. :)

I don't have any clue about turbo cars, but for the SS/SC.....

Get the exhaust first. The exhaust has been dyno proven to gain almost 12 whp on stock SS/SC in some cases, while the CAI is netting somewhere around 2-6hp (mostly because of the hi flow filter)

Dont get me wrong, the CAI's sound AMAZING on the SS/SC, but the GMPP sounds great AND you are gaining significant power.

yeah, but if your like me, you won't care about which mods gets you the most power right away if you plan on getting them both eventually anyways. I wanted the intake first b/c it dosen't draw so much attention to my nearly stock car. AEM and Injen dynocharts for the SS/SC got nearly 20hp gains, not 2-6hp gains......and even the 2.2/2.4 models got about 7hp gains from the cold air intakes. If you'd rather wait until your car is actually moderately modified before drawing a ton of attention to yourself, then go intake first.

Not trying to be a douchebag here, but Injen and AEM's dyno charts don't mean caca to me. I have seen blatan scams such as "turbonators" claim 35 whp with dynocharts.

Don't get me wrong, AEM and especially Injen are both well respected aftermarket companies, but they are trying to sell a product so they are of course going to be a little biased.

I have not seen a dyno of a CAI gaining double digit numbers on any SS/SC as of yet, even highly modded ones! The stock intake is already well engineered, thats why many people just do the "air-box" mod or just intall a K&N filter.

Ask any decently-modded SS/SC owner, the CAI is great, but is not a significant hp gain.

yea i agree. definatly do exhaust first.then grab a cold air intake.

Your car already has a CAI. Why would you buy another one?

I think I would get some better mounts or some drag radials and lightweight wheels... harness the power that is already on tap...