What were your first 3 performance additions on your stock motor?


What gives you the best bang for your buck?


Besides turbo, supercharger, NOS


M

 

On a stock motor it would be headers cam and carb. For performance of the vehicle it would be after these three, converter gearing and tires.

 

My first three performance changes when I was young, were different than what I've done later in life, as I felt more comfortable with engine work.
As a young rodder, I felt comfortable swapping carbs, and exhaust, and even an intake. But the thought of cracking open an engine scared me. So a carb, headers, and intake manifold were my idea of performance upgrades then.
Now my first three would be doing a carb and intake as one. Then cam, and headers/exhaust system.

 

cam, intake, exhaust assuming the carb you have is tuneable

 

One thing to keep in mind on engine performance upgrades is making it all work together. Think of your system like a plumbing project. You can't start out with 2" pipe coming in, and 2" pipe going out, but a piece of 1/2" pipe in the middle. Whatever the one restriction is, it wont run any better than the one restriction will allow.
If you only choose 3 performance upgrades, you may feel a bit more HP, but going through the entire intake and exhaust system is best. Carb, intake, heads, cam, and headers/tail pipes. Changing all of them, and making them all match up, will end up with the best end result.