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New 2004 Elantra

2K views 12 replies 7 participants last post by  IUBiff 
#1 ·
Hi, great site. I had no idea there was so much stuff you can do to Hyundai's. We just bought a 04 Elantra about a month ago. Gotta love the deal you get. Anyway, just put in a new stereo and got the windows tinted (20 I think was the darkness), looks great and sounds great too!

Now I'm thinking about tuning up a little. I still want to keep the reliability up...what do you guys recommend? I was thinking a cold air intake but can't seem to find any for an '04. How big of a rim size can you put on with a stock suspension and have no rub/turn problems? I don't want the car to look extreme, simple and sweet with a bit of umph. Also, is there a performance chip or something similar available?

Thanks for the help!
 
#5 ·
Leave the plugs alone, there realy isn't any gains to be made by swapping them out in a stock or almost stock car. The NGK's that come in the car are great.

The ECU needs to be reflashed instead of a chip. It can be done but finding a person to do it locally is the car part. Usually it involves pulling out the ECU, sending it off, and having it done.

If you want to mod, then mod the car but keep it simple. Intake, exhaust and header is usually cheap and and reliable. Suspension mods don't do much to the warranty either. If you don't want to go too low or give up much ride comfort, get Eibach springs.

Either way you look at it, if you want reliability, don't buy the cheap junk.
 
#6 ·
Originally posted by AUTOBOT
[body]
Leave the plugs alone, there realy isn't any gains to be made by swapping them out in a stock or almost stock car. The NGK's that come in the car are great.

The ECU needs to be reflashed instead of a chip. It can be done but finding a person to do it locally is the car part. Usually it involves pulling out the ECU, sending it off, and having it done.

If you want to mod, then mod the car but keep it simple. Intake, exhaust and header is usually cheap and and reliable. Suspension mods don't do much to the warranty either. If you don't want to go too low or give up much ride comfort, get Eibach springs.

Either way you look at it, if you want reliability, don't buy the cheap junk.
[/body]
There isn't many places that can reflash the ecu and keep it smog compliant and without drivability problems. Hyundai has integrated the smog controls into the programming making it very difficult to add headers and other performance parts (it goes into limp mode where you will not get the best engine performance). You can add headers, but you have to keep the ecu happy.

A lot of people with headers do get check engine lights (CEL) because the exhaust gasses are not in the parameters of the ecu programming. 2 problems exist: 1 is the closed/open loop is changed, where the cat converter heats up fast enough and makes the ecu think the gasses are clean enough. The problem lies where the cat is located. The stock one is on the manifold and allows the engine to go into closed within 15 seconds. With a header, the cat is downstream and doesn't heat up fast enough. The second problem is the header and cat configuration usually done does not get the gasses to the level the ecu wants. Most people reuse the second cat (there are 2 cats on the car) thinking it is a full cat. It isn't. You need to get a regular cat to get the readings to the levels the ecu is looking for. I had a XD in my shop with a header and a cel issue that needed to be corrected. We found that the ecu likes a factory like cat, so we used that and no check engine light. The regular cat allows the engine to run clean plus go into closed loop fast enough to keep things happy.
 
#7 ·
Thanks for the replies guys. I think I'm going to go with the intake, new wires (keep the spark pugs but is changing the wires helpful?) and get some new rims as my first steps.

All I can find though is 03 Elantra Intakes...does anyone know if it will fit in an '04?
 
#8 ·
If I'm correct, I believe an intake for the Tiburon with a MAF location will fit, but I don't know for sure, I haven't been on much. The 01-03's have a MAP sensor instead of a MAF so the intakes don't cross over.

In my opinion I would also change the exhaust out to a Catback, preferably custom because they are cheaper, and if you don't a rice can sound I'd go with a Magnaflow muffler or Flowmaster. I believe Magnaflow's are deaper sounding though. As for sparkplug wires, there is really no need unless you're getting bigger gains. The stock wires and plugs work fine, Iridium plugs are way to expensive, so I'd just go with NGK V-power plugs, but they don't really make a difference either. Suspension mods go as follows, first: Rear sway bar, change it out with a 2003-04 V6 Tiburon GT sway bar. Do a search in the forum for part #'s. Then I'd do as Autobot says, stick with Eibach lowering springs.

As for rims, most of us do 17x7" wheels, be aware, most places will say certain wheels won't fit our cars. But, most 114.3x4 bolt pattern wheels will fit, you just need to remove the screws on the wheel hubs, they were installed at the factory to hold the parts together during assembly.

Also for a last performance mod that is pretty cheap and easy I'd do a ground wire mod. The power curve on our cars isn't very straight. I'm not 100% sure on the 04's since they have VVT, but it still wouldn't hurt. Go with 8 gauge wires and connect them to multiple spots on the engine and ground them to the body and battery. Again search this forum for do it yourselfs on this.

Good Luck, I hope you enjoy the car!
:smoking:
 
#9 ·
The ground wire mod should be one of the first mods you do. It prevents corrosion plus gets the power curve the way it needs to be. I noticed before I put it on my car the auto tranny would shift erratically. Afterwards, no problems except you will notice it seems to confuse itself, which is normal for Hyundai. As it upshifts to 3rd gear, it feels like it is going into neutral, which it isn't-- it thinks it wants ti go into third gear, but if the gas pedal isd released, it hangs a bit in second gear before going into 3rd.

If you have the 5 speed, there is a spring you can remove to get the clutch to act like it is supposed to.
 
#10 ·
Best thing to do for the intake is get an EvoFusion/Shark Racing one and just make an extra cut in it for the MAF sensor. Others like to go the cheap route and buy a 94-97 Accord CAI and make it work (you'd still need to cut a spot for the MAF).

All the other suggestions are good too. In case you wanted, 18's will fit on the Elantra, I think 2-3 people are running with those. I think 17's look the best though.

Good luck, and welcome to the fun world of Hyundai aftermarket crap.

EDIT- That's not meant to be a bad thing, I love owning/having/driving/modding my Elantra.

[Edited by SuperGLS on Sep 24, 2004 7:56 PM]
 
#12 ·
The clutch spring mod just makes the clutch grab faster. The spring is installed by Hyundai for comfort, nothing more.
 
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