Euro vs US

Mike you have to consider the coin you are planing to spend on it (I'm not 1 to talk, ha ha )

Whats a murf going to cost? 8 ...9 large

Then the air you pump in you need to get rid of or you will have problems.

If I did a SC, then I would include the price of a good exhaust.
Now as James mentioned, this is useless, unless you can tune it.
Performance = a good tune

What I mean is say you do a Murf for 9 grand and dont do exhaust
you may squeeze 4.5 to 5psi boost down it, get 375hp and burn the valves and rattle the hell out of the pistons (worse case)

But the same SC with a good exhaust and a good tune may give you a dependable 450 hp


This is why I started by removing the cats (gain 15-25 ) then I removed what can't be fixed on the road and made it tunable with a tec-4 gt ECM which gave me a new harness and a dependable ECM, no distributor caps or MAF to fail, but a GM MAP sensor, and new plug wires.
Then I pulled the engine and went through it and not only replaced the old weak gaskets but mildly ported to help the intake breath (Another 50-75HP of found and made HP . . . maybe . . Maybe) which was (ECM kit & gasket Kit, knock sensors = $5000) BUT WAY MORE DEPENDABLE

Now I can get nuts if I want.

but If I was you I would read on which exhaust worked best and have one made at the local shop.(think its a single 3 inch) Buy a X-pipe from Roger or who ever but do the research first on them (cost vs performance and which one rust first)

While you are doing this you can decide on the engine you want and where you want to go with it.
Think of it like building a house, first you need a plan and the coin to make it happen.

What ever you decide, we will be here for you.

Brad

Great stuff guys and considered opinions as always! I hear you Brad. (sorry about giving Stan the credit Malcolm..)

I think I will start backwards,,,,from the rear HA, and just do the new y-pipe and hi-flow cat. I have a feeling that I am probably going to think a well tuned engine that can breath well may just be what I want for now.

When I had my SVT Focus it was similar (great little car). There are SC kits, but I found if I just used a better air filter and added some new aluminum pulleys that kept the same serpentine belt, that it ran as fast I wanted and got a little quicker response. I am not hung up on HP numbers, I just want it to feel like I want it to feel you know? Like Ferdinand would have wanted it to feel

Here we have to have a Cat if it was sold with one, but we do not have emissions tests....yeah a pain. So if I take the cat out completely I will have to close off that smaller SS pipe going to the cat from the block, then possibly have to put a cat on anyway depending on who inspects it. So I will likely just use one of the hi-flows I found, they seem smaller than the factory so maybe I can put it in the original pipe near the back seat are and not have to cut the new y-pipe! Will have to research and make sure there is room.

Hey guys you forgot about option 4 - BUY a nice EURO......we will have to see huh? I want to finish my US 83 first...as my wife says.... it's the journey