Engine: 2.5: 10v looking for more power

[DmcL]

the engine is fit as a fiddle and only after having a timing belt and some other bits done. not worth pulling an engine with 84k imo. plus thats a bit of a pain in the backside. i bought this as it was cheap and 1 owner/low milage. i dont want to turn it into a project because its wrong wheel drive (FWD lol). i would like to make it a bit quicker tho as its a nice car and ill probably hold onto it till i can get something RWD with big potential.

those ebay variable resistors would actually provide a slight gain along with an intake and exhaust. most u would be talking from adding one of those to a car with an intake and exhaust would probably only be between 1-5hp ontop of the gains for intake and exhaust. also i think the intake is especially important. buy a run of the mill induction kit and u end up taking in warm engine bay air and dont make as much power.. some cars even lose power. from experimenting on previous cars the best intake setup seems to be one with a sealed cold air feed or extended intake hose and relocating the air filter down low behind the bumper so as to get as much cool air as possible. currently i have my sealed BMC intake routed into the standard air feed above the radiator but i will be extending the air feed a foot or so and moving it down to the grill in the front bumper or infront of the ratiator just behind the front grill. not sure exactly where yet as i dont want to extend the air feed too much as i have found longer intakes tend to soften initial throttle response.

after thinking about my options for decent power gains without spending too much and also the fact i will be changing car again at some point im thinking about nitrous. i know the 20v LPT is 190bhp and runs the same high compresion that the 10v and 20v use in naturally aspirated form and i dont see why an LPT car couldnt cope with the boost going up a little to give similar power to a standard 225bhp T5 so im thinking i could get away with a nitrous setup with either 50bhp or 75bhp jets. even playing it safe and using 50bhp jets that would see my 10v around the 200bhp mark considering the intake and exhaust once i get one sorted. if i go for a 75 shot id be in stock T5 territory.

also the NGK plugs i changed to arent the thin electrode type.. they have 2 electrodes. similar to the bosch ones mentioned. i dont like super 4's as i think 4 electrodes is overkill and could cause the plug to heat up moreso than a normal plug with all that extra metal.

since im writing a small novel i may as well add.. my 850 suffers from wheel hop when i launch hard. im guessing its the same on all 850's? guessing its from the weight of the car? is there any tricks to reduce or eliminate the hop? maybe once i lower the car? or could a little toe in or toe out help?