Thanks for the great info! That gives me some stuff to look into. As for a friend that can weld...well as long as my brother keeps his current girlfriend, her dad builds race cars and works as a welder.

But thanks again, any other suggestions are more than welcome.

and whats an EM?

Exhaust Manifold, the cracks cause KR.

EM is exhaust manifold.

I'm a big fan of simple bolt-ons.

I think the best way to get started is to do what Bill W said: Fix the EMs if there'* any cracks and slap a hi-flo cat on it and get a good CAI or FWI.

IIRC, the Aerolites you're running are pretty heavy, maybe look for some Impala steelies like sandrock did, that could be your "summer/drag" rim set...I betcha that will have to help some.

It wouldn't hurt to remove your spare tire and everything else in your trunk(carpet and liner) AC delete and anything else you comfortable removing from the car. If you can't make more power then loose some weight.

You're talking track prep. We're talking adding everyday power. Let'* stay on topic here, and give the track prep advice when he'* ready to go to the strip.

Now that I have a bit of free time I have been looking around to research this a little further...

So for the Jet Chip, are you suggesting Stage 1 or 2? Or are you leaving that to me to decide, which ultimately I will, lol.

YT I assume is Yella Tera? Looking on Intense they have 'em with the push rods. Is there no real gain by using the new rods and/or springs vs. stock, or did you suggest that to keep the price down? I found just the Rockers on ZZP, doesn't say YT though.I also checked SereisOnePerformace also but they only had 1.72s for $400? (I also read somewhere they haven't been doing so good lately?)

Been looking at the high flow cats for a while now, just never jumped on one...

As for shielding the CAI, The way my pipe is, I would need to find a Single washer fluid bottle to free up room.

also, what about bigger Fuel Injectors?

***1500th post ***

Intense doesn't have any Series I rockers. ZZP does. Your injectors are fine. I'd get the Stage 2 Jet chip.

How much HP and Torque gains are we looking at by installing a JET Chip?

It says on the site adds up to 23 horsepower

10hp at best on a nearly stock car. PCM'* don't really add power. Tbey allow you to add power through other means.
On your car as it sits right now, 5-10hp would be close. The returns come to you later as you mod.