Let me say that this forum looks somewhat promising, and I am glad that I finally found a forum that actively and frequently has posts regarding daewoo cars. I have read over various posts, and despite a few instances of squabbling, most of the frequent posters here seem pretty knowledgable on the cars.
I have owned the car for two years now. 2001 Daewoo Lanos 1.6L 16V DOHC 4dr Sedan, automatic. Bought it with 28,000 miles, now has 83,000. Pizza Delivery as a second job has shown its wear. But now I finally have a job in my target profession, and one that provides for me fully. (Tip your pizza guy!)
I have only been through one major repair, which involved taking off the entire head, and resurfacing the valve ports. One day I just turned on the car and it was running only off of three of four cylynders. This happened around 80,000 miles or so.
The only thing that I have done to the car is put on a custom exhaust. Everything past the first cat has been removed; the resinator, second cat, and new magnaflow muffler. Cops that were in the rural town I used to live in gave me fix-it tickets all the time. But sob stories to the judge work wonders. I guess it helps that I look and dress like Clark Kent.
I also put a system in my car. The only thing that people were willing to undertake during the dark times of daewoo. Also, I got 16" ICW white racing rims with nitto tires. They are exactly like the ones that are pictured in another member's avatar on this board.
But what I am wondering is this. I would like to plan out a roadmap of upgrades that I should do to gain maximum performance for my investment. Please keep in mind that I am a person of the computer profession, and while I am not a complete idiot when it comes to cars, but one would say most of my knowledge came from playing need for speed underground.
- Small maintenence issues and minor upgrades - I suppose I should start off by replacing parts that are due to be replaced. I have already done the spark plug thing (72,000), transmission service (60,000), cooling system flush (48,000), timing belt (68,000, didn't do water pump), I put the fuel additives in a couple of times, replaced the air filter when it got dirty, and the routine oil changes.<BR><BR>I need to know if there is any other maintence issues that I should attend to, because I like to be more proactive than reactive with my cars. Also, I was wondering if there were any small performance upgrades that I should do, such as that chocolate chip thing people are all talking about.
Finish the exhaust system - Next, instead of going cat back, I would like to go all the way. Get a custom racing cat to replace the stock one, and get some headers in there to compliment what I already got. What parts do you guys recommend for this project? Also, that brings up another issue: People have told me that custom exhausts burn valves... is this true? Recent repairs might have pointed to the truth in these statements.
Intake - I definitely want to replace that ugly airbox with something a little more breatable. I was thinking of either having a short pipe, and direct the cold air with some duct work up from the fog lamps, or just going with a full cold air intake. The latter solution is probabbly more complex and less supported. Any suggestions in this area would be helpful.
Suspension - This will be my next step. Found threads on this forum that will help a lot regarding this subject.
Car Electronic Controls - Maybe it's me, but information regarding ECU upgrades and onboard computers for daewoos seems a bit thin. Is there a product out there that you guys recommend? I can just feel the limits the cars computer leaves as it tops out at 118mph.
Electrical - I am working on a wireless mp3/movie server to put in my trunk. (The ssid will be "catchmynetworkifyoucan" The playlist will be controlled by a laptop with a wireless connection. I am also looking for a 15' or 17' that would be suitable to hook up to the server, that will be flip down from the roof. I am not very keen on spending thousands on specialize car lcds, so I am going to look for a suitable computer screen that I can take a dremel too, and have some mexicans do some custom upholstry work. Mexicans are usually pretty good at that type of stuff. Anyways, all this stuff is going to put quite a strain on the electrical system. As it is, my current audio system makes all the lights (including the headlights) dim when it hits. I would like to know where I could find a performance alternator that would supply enough juice, as well as a solution for putting in extra batteries for more power capacity.
Braking - Next, I would like to upgrade my braking system that uses all four discs. The thread I found on braking will help out a lot, but any recommendations here would be helpful as well.
Engine Swap/Turbo - Should I consider doing this? When should I do it? Will it make all my previous upgrades moot? What engine should I use? If I plan to go turbo, should I do it with an engine swap, or is there one that comes for the stock daewoo motor? If I do an engine swap, will I get a more reliable car out of it? Will I have to get a whole new tranny?
As far as how I ended up with a daewoo? I used to own a 79 mustang indy pace car version, had it all fixed up and running good. Got jacked, never saw it again. $5,000 and a daewoo was the solution to a quick replacement. I plan on financing either an m5 BMW, or a Mitsu evo 8, but want to keep my daewoo as my second car.
