I recently bought a Silver 2004 Dodge Stratus SE 2.4L I4 DOHC. Until I bought it on Labor Day, I didn’t know anything about cars and their engines. I know there is an entire world out there dedicated to modifying cars. After reading stuff on the internet for the last several days I have become familiar with the workings of my car and the recommended mods. I would like to modify my car over the next 6 months to accomplish four things: 1) Extend the life of my engine 2) Increase fuel economy 3) Increase performance 4) Keep my car street legal. What I would greatly appreciate is any advice on the following issues.

Note: I live in NYC and expect to drive the car between 10,000 to 12,000 miles a year.

Motor Oil
From all I’ve read Synthetic is better than “Dino” oil, which seems kind of obvious to me. My question is which Synthetic is better? I’ve seen a lot of info out there about Mobil1 vs. AMSOIL, but still can’t figure out which is better. What about synthetics from other companies? What I would like to do is extend the drain to 6 months / 6,000 miles. Do I need an extended drain synthetic motor oil to accomplish this or would a regular synthetic do just fine? In October I would put 5w30 in for the winter and in April change to 10w30 for the summer, does this sound right?

Air Intake
Apparently very few make these for my car, but I know F-5 Performance does. From what I’ve read about oil the Air Intake Filter is very important in keeping the “junk” out of my engine. Is the filter provided by F-5 the same or better at filtering than the stock Intake setup? Is K&N’s filter better or worse than the stock filtration or F-5 filter? What if I add the K&N Airforce Pre-cleaner foam filter wrap, would this still provide a performance boost while providing increased filtration? If I change the air intake will that affect my cars ability to pass inspection? Do I get the Short Ram from F-5 and a foam wrap or do I just try to get a higher quality filter for the stock air intake?

Ignition/plugs
I'm going to get the MSD Ignition Coil and Wires from F-5 and NGK IX Iridium plugs from sparkplugs.com. From what I understand this is going to increase performance on the low end, but should also provide a better burn and thus better efficency, is this correct? What affect will the better spark have on the oil in the engine, will I have to change the oil sooner?

Exhaust
All I know about exhaust is that I should consider having a shop make me a custom muffler using a Magnaflow, but I'm not sure what improving the exhaust system does for me. Plus, I'm not interested in making my muffler louder, if anything I want to make everything quiter, except for the audio system. What does improving the exhaust system do for me? Are there mufflers that improve performance, but are quiet?

Summary 1
As I understand it the above changes will combined to do the following. The synthetic oil will provide better protection and smoother operation within the engine. The increased air flow and better spark combined with the better lubrication should lower my RPMs thus improving fuel economy as well as better performance at all speeds, correct?

Suspension
Don't know too much about this yet, so if anybody knows of a website that explains this stuff please post it.

Spoiler
Currently I do not have one. I was think about getting the stock spoiler. Will this help or hurt my fuel economy? What else will it do for me, if anything?


Currently I have the stock tires (205/65R15), but I'm going to change before the snow starts falling. I'm thinking about getting bigger rims, but nothing too big and flashy, probably 16" or 17" rims. I'm also trying to decide if I should get a wider tire. What affect will having a larger/wider tire have on fuel economy and traction? Anyone have a suggestion for rims, I would like them both bigger and lighter then basestock 15" rims I have.

I appologize for such a long post, I just thought I'd get all of this stuff out there in one shot. If there is anything else that I should know or look into please let me know.

Thank you in advance for the advice.

 

hmm...where to start..

Motor Oil
....synthetic...castrol. period

Air Intake
Whoever makes one, but make SURE that on the end, it has a K&N filter, and that you read the directions prior to installation.

Ignition/plugs
i run stock ignition and wires, but i would look into NGK iridium plugs

Exhaust
any aftermarket muffler, including magnaflow, will make the car louder. if you go with a catback system, which is legal in NY for emissions, you will gain a little power, but ive never seen a performance muffler that doesnt increase sound.

Suspension
unless youre going to race this car, i wouldnt bother...i DO race mine, and my suspension is all stock

Spoiler
unless youre going to go 200mph, a spoiler will do Nothing.

tires
DO NOT get wider tires prior to winter. if youre going to buy new rims, buy snow tires to put on your stock rims, and buy summer tires to put on the new rims. when buying new rims and tires, dont get crazy with changing sizes because it may actually hurt the performance of the vehicle, as well as hinder it ability. going to a larger rim may mean more weight, which means more drivetrain loss, and less performance. i dont know what kind ot wheels you have now, but say that you have 15 inch steel wheels, and you go to a 17 inch steel wheel, it will almost certainly be heavier,which will slow you down. also, if you go to a taller tire and rim package you effectively lower your gear ratio, thus further hurting acceleration.

 

BadStratRT, thanx.

 

Motor Oil- I'd say synthetic is the way to go, though there's nothing wrong with conventional oil if you do oil changes at the appropriate time. Synthetic supposedly may even give you 1 horsepower. Overall I'd go with synthetic since your car's newer and maybe it'll help more over time. I'm not sure though whether I'd go 6k between oil changes though. That might be just a little too long. I'd rather oil conventional oil with oil change intervals at 3k, then synthetic with 6k intervals.

Air intake- THere's a company on ebay that sells intakes for our car with authentic k and n filters cheap. This appears to be the best deal. An intake wont make you fail inspection. It may give you 1 or 2 mpg as well. Dont expect a whole lot of horsepower increase but obviously it'll flow better than stock. Filtration on a K & N will meet OEM filters as they are a very reputable company.

Ignition/plugs- In general a stronger spark does help you with gas mileage and gives you some extra power. This is why people use ignitions on such cars as Mustangs, camaros, etc. But I really doubt that these parts would be as helpful on a new car but they wont hurt either. Personally I believe iridium plugs are a waste of money. They dont last as long, cost more, and wont make your stratus any faster. Spark plugs in general wont affect your oil. So as far as ignition goes, keep what you got. If you end up going turbo or something crazy fast, then look into these things.

Exhaust- To tell you the truth an exhaust will not be what you're looking for. It's kinda stupid to have a stock exhaust manifold, then "high flow" muffler unless you just want sound. There probably wont be a performance gain. Think about it this way. just say your garden hose is 1.5 inches in diameter. And you attach a hose 3 inches in diameter (this is the end the water would come out). Do you think the water will come out of the 3 inch end as well as it would've the 1.5 inch end. it wont. You cant go from a small pipe to a large because it was small in the beginning. If you're still interested in exhausts, you need a header and a full exhaust. This will give you a gain, but will be expensive. You have to outweigh whether the price of the exhaust will be worth it.

Suspension- I like suspension upgrades. I dont race my car everyday, but I do take turns everyday so this seems more useful to me. A decent lowering springs kit will help and make your car look alot nicer.

Spoiler- Like what was already stated, a spoiler wont really help you in any way but if that's the look you're going for then you should be able to find one semi-cheap.

Tires- A wider tire will give you way worse traction in the winter and lots more traction in the summer. But too much traction's a bad thing when you arent making lots of horsepower. It'll just bog you down a little, which turns into a somewhat slower launch. Since your cars not fast to begin with tires and a lowering kit would make your car look amazing.

 

hmm...ill have to differ with the comment on exhaust there...

for instance, my other car has 1 5/8 inch headers...if i ran 1 5/8 inch exhaust, it woud bottle the exhaust up so bad that the car wouldnt get out of its own way...so i have true duals...this is the same reason that removing the cat on most cars improves performance...while smaller engines do need some backpressure, that can usually be provided by the piping when only increasing to a slightly larger system. my car only has mounts, catback, CAI, a thermostat, and tires, and i have cut almost a full second off my stock ET.

 

I agree with you. You really only should go a little larger on the exhaust. Obviously you dont use aftermarket headers, and then a 1 5/8 inch tubing. I was talking about the ricers with stock headers and a 3 inch exhaust. That's just ridiculous. As for the part about removing your cat. I removed my cat on my Z and it was a couple tenths slower than with the 3 inch in/outlet cat I bought. I cant' give a firm reason why this happened, but I do know it sounded a hell of a lot better. Not louder, better.
You cut a second off your ET, which is great. But I'd contribute half a second to the tires alone. Obviously I dont know this for a fact because I've not driven or seen your car, but in my experience tires have always been a huge part of lowering your ET. I ran a 14.2 stock, and then ran a 13.8 with drag radials alone. My CAI knocked off another tenth, full SLP stainless exhaust another 3 tenths I believe. Granatelli MAF sensor helped a tenth, JET Stage 2 chip a tenth, underdrive pulley maybe half a tenth, full MSD setup 2 tenths, "built" trans with stall and shift kit was 2 tenths. I know this crap doesn't necessarily relate to Stratus' just posting it anyways.

 

1) synthetic all the way. the properties of synthetic oil are that much more superior then dino oil. It cools,cleans and lubricates better. whick is oils 3 main purposes. If you look at dino oil when it is magnified it contains dirt particles which synth. doesn't. As far as brands go I personaly like mobil1 or red line oils. Castrol is a good oil itself but i don't like the fact that it was Grandfathered over when the rules changed for synth. and it still contains organic base stock to it.

2) As for cool air intakes. f-5 makes some quality stuff and every one of the intakes he makes are hand made not mass produced. The most i think I would exspect form a cool air set up is to free up a couple hp due to the fact that it flows better. In general stock systems are set for mpg not performance. you have a trade off with more air flow and power and that ussaly results in a slight drop in mpg. what does it take to make more power. more air equals more fuel due to your ecu trying to keep the right ratio of fuel and air.

3) as far as exhaust a slight up in size from say 2.25 to 2.5 would make a difference in flow. after market systems do offer better flow, but will offer a little more sound over stock. Of course if you increase from a 1.5 inch to a 3 in you will lose flow because it would just be over kill. If you increase the pressure through the hose which will give better flow? of course the 3 inch because the 1.5 would choke the flow.

4) as for iridium plug i have not personaly run the but i have read alot of good result from people who have run them. If you have the means the msd system then all means run one. the increase in spark will help burn the fuel mix that more efectivly giving you a bit more power due to the fuel charge that is not wasted with every stroke.

5) as for suspension this is totaly up to you. the lower center of gravity produced by lower your car not only will it look good but it will also handle better. but with a stiffer lowered susp. be ready for a bit harsher ride then stock.

6) as for tires you can only really go so wode with out issues. I run 225/55/16 on my strat with good results in handling but on the other side of it you will see an increase in friction between the road and tire this is where the improved handling comes from. with the improved handling and friction comes a slight loss in power. when i change my tires again i will be going down to a 215 from the 225 just to not reduce handling by much but will reduce rolling friction.

 

z28, that stuff that you changed on your car helped because the stuff that you took off was restrictive, so you were freeing up hp...the strat's dont have any hp to free up...

bone stock my auto RT ran 17.1..exhaust, CAI, thermostat, and pulling the spare and such dropped it to a 16.50 or so...i then added a system, and got the smaller tires for the front, and to counter the weight of the sub box which is a Nightmare to remove, i remove the passenger and rear seat....i have no added solid motor mounts, as when the car ran a 16.1, the mounts were torn so badly that you could move the motor by hand, and when i remove the mounts, the rear was torn, but the front was ripped completely free...when i pulled the bolt out, the center of the mount literally fell out...so with the solid mounts, it should give me a much firmer launch...

 

Bad Strat-I still agree with you. That really sucks a$$ that your RT only runs a 17.1 stock. I dont want to tell you because this is a Dodge forum and I love my Stratus, but a stock Accent with 100 hp run times between 16.6 to mid 17's stock. I am not trying to start an argument. There were some VW guys coming into the Hyundai forum talking crap for a week, it was pissing everybody off. But anyways, what I'm probably going to do this winter is put a 140 hp 2.0L Elantra/Tibby in my 2200lb Accent. This combo is good for low to mid 15's. Stock vs stock I could've sworn my 04 Stratus would be able to take my 00 Accent, but if you're running 17.1's in an RT, then my 2.4L would have to lose to the Accent. They have a completely different feel. The accents a light, 5 speed car, and the stratus is a tad heavier but with 60 more HP, and an autotragic transmission. Maybe I'll have to race my wife to see which is faster....lol.

 

well, i ran 16.1 with two broken engine mounts, and the car feels Much better with the solid mounts, so it will be interesting to see what it runs now. my concern, oddly, is that it wont get traction now, but we will find out this weekend...im running both cars at a national event this weekend
but all in all, i didnt buy the RT to run big QM times...thats what the mirada, the ram, and the turbo daytona are for...

on the other hand, the RT will stomp pretty much any non-V8 car on the highway (not governed) and some V8s too...especially bigger V8 cars,when aero's take over at high speed