First Mods of the HHR and Impressions
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Joined: 07-12-2009
Posts: 66
From: SoCal
First Mods of the HHR and Impressions
Trifecta Tune
Definitely a night and day difference of driving the car off the line. No hesitation like it does stock and makes me go without any issues. Still feel that when it shifts into 2nd that I lose that accerlation of first on light throttle. However, on medium throttle is smooth through the gears. I can't light up the tires, but this isn't a muscle car. [
] I switched from 87 to 89 octane and I got better mileage with the tune and more power. I saw on the gauge that I gained 3 MPG.
KN Box Filter
Bought it used, and I got to say its a lot easier to change a filter than what they had before. Engine is throatier and I did feel the difference slightly. Mileage went up like 1MPG with mild performance gain.
Progressive Rear Sway bar
Installed it Friday and I got to say it helps on the aggressive turns and it seems to make it point and shoot better on turns that I felt the the tail kinda lagged behind. Overall a good mod. Just a very small slight road feel but still worth the change. I may go with springs later but I don't think I want to do that.
Overall
I may have some doubts on the KN as I want to keep my warranty and seeing a big KN box might give some doubts on dealerships around the area as I have some issues I might need to address (not engine related). When I started stock around the city I was getting 20MPG on a 2.4 Auto. Now I am sitting around with 25-26MPG city which overall is a GREAT improvement. I was starting to have doubts on the car with the crappy mileage but these changes helped ( I went from a GP GT was getting about 20 in the city and 28 highway).
Definitely a night and day difference of driving the car off the line. No hesitation like it does stock and makes me go without any issues. Still feel that when it shifts into 2nd that I lose that accerlation of first on light throttle. However, on medium throttle is smooth through the gears. I can't light up the tires, but this isn't a muscle car. [
] I switched from 87 to 89 octane and I got better mileage with the tune and more power. I saw on the gauge that I gained 3 MPG.KN Box Filter
Bought it used, and I got to say its a lot easier to change a filter than what they had before. Engine is throatier and I did feel the difference slightly. Mileage went up like 1MPG with mild performance gain.
Progressive Rear Sway bar
Installed it Friday and I got to say it helps on the aggressive turns and it seems to make it point and shoot better on turns that I felt the the tail kinda lagged behind. Overall a good mod. Just a very small slight road feel but still worth the change. I may go with springs later but I don't think I want to do that.
Overall
I may have some doubts on the KN as I want to keep my warranty and seeing a big KN box might give some doubts on dealerships around the area as I have some issues I might need to address (not engine related). When I started stock around the city I was getting 20MPG on a 2.4 Auto. Now I am sitting around with 25-26MPG city which overall is a GREAT improvement. I was starting to have doubts on the car with the crappy mileage but these changes helped ( I went from a GP GT was getting about 20 in the city and 28 highway).
Thread Starter
Member
Joined: 07-12-2009
Posts: 66
From: SoCal
The trifecta tune may be a tad expensive, but it helps on take off as I am used to old cable throttle and this gives the same feeling with the change. As for the mileage that is the extra bonus which I am glad I got.
As for the intake, it is a good intake, but I just want to cover my bases and there is no CARB number for it (seems to be a trend with KN these days).
As for the intake, it is a good intake, but I just want to cover my bases and there is no CARB number for it (seems to be a trend with KN these days).
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