Alrighty...
So far after tickering w/ lifts I finally fit 245/75/16 goodyear MTRs pretty well

As these tires are 10 ply E rated tires, w/ the GV 16x7 rims I picked up, the total weight of them are close to 70-80lbs each

From going from 25/75/15 on stock 15x5 rims to these new ones, I have not noticed a "significant" power loss except for going uphill in 5th gear on our road with speed limits of 100km(62mph)

This is likely due to the fact that when my speedo says 91ish, the RPM count on my 2.0L is reving at about 2500 rpm
If I drive just a bit faster and push the rpm to 3000, it's fine but... I am breaking the speed limit by at least 11%

So... my proposal was the following:

Intake mod -> snorkle? will it acctuality give me a "ram air" effect?
Exhaust mod -> removal of cat and do a 2" w/ one resonator/muffler

Gears -> 5.12? that I have calculated moving up from my stock 4.88s will give me roughly a 5% increase... somehow I don't think that is really significant until I move on to 5.38s

If I do move to 5.38's and propose the slight breathing mods
Will I start running into issues of breaking Axel shafts?
If so, is there any aftermarket stronger ones, or perhaps is there a way to lets say, convert the rear axel's into free floating ones so that I can easily replace them on the fly?

Well, I would start with at least a K&N filter, and NGK Iridium IX sparkplugs.  Never owned a snorkel, so I don't know about getting more power from it.  The iridium plugs have definitely given me a boost since putting on my 245 75 16 MTRs, not to mention a couple of miles per gallon better.  I'm eventually going to do the gearing change from 4.30 (I have the 5 speed) to 5.125, but it'll be a while.  My wife's gonna kill me if I spend any more money on this thing right now!  Furthermore, I'm getting up there in mileage, and I'll soon be fixing things that really are broke, not just making improvements.  I'm hoping to do the 2.7L engine swap in a few years, if I can find someone qualified to do it.  Good luck.

Dave

if i put on  some big rubber i would fit extractors and full sports exhaust pipe, replace air filter and get snorkel.

i had a 2L vitara softtop with 225,75,r16s, the poor thing had to build up the speed ,but once the exhaust was fitted the car would jump off the line again.

the snorkel i have fitted now and i know it makes a difference once u have some speed up to create the ram air effect , so it feels better when going through the gears, it might not be much but if u can get all 3 at the same time and u will be surprised!!

extractors?

i think the local term is manifold  maybe!!, you know the pipes that come out of the engine and become the exhaust.

when a better one is fitted it makes a big difference evan if u dont replace the rest of the exhaust.

ah yes.. a manifold

unfortunately I haven't found anyone who has did the required R&D to manufactor a product for my J20...

I'm thinking of picking up the NGK plugs and a snorkle soon
The 2" exhaust is likely to come in a few months and gears well... I'm trying to make up my mind on whether to go with the 5.12's, or higher to 5.38's as I am planning on running even larger tires once my MTRs wear (thinking of 25/85/16's)

I have a question though... should I do my body lift before I install the snorkle? does that affect where I should be drilling into the body?

extractors?

Headers

the snorkel bolts onto the same spot on the car evan if the body is in the front yard and the chassie is in the shed!

what u do have to watch for is the air box pipe that goes into the wheel arch, this might be affected if air box sits still and body goes up!!

will have a look at car tonight.

on the exhaust subject i just went to an exhaust place in an industrial area and said i want extractors ( manifold, headers ) and they made them up.

most of the time those guys have to custom make exhausts for all kinds of equipment...

Intake mod -> snorkle? will it acctuality give me a "ram air" effect?fly?

The test I saw found that a ram air intake, specially designed to maximise the effect and minimum length to reduce losses, began to give measurable benefit at 125 mph.

The only benefit I can see from a snorkel is to keep water out of the intake.  And it should point rearwards to minimise drag and rain entry.

I can not find headers for the 2.0L I have a friend with a 2.0L and we may be building a set of headers.

Best bet for power on the stock air box get a drop in K&N and on the lower intake the piece that goes into the fender port it out and jb weld it ill post pics. on the upper lid make the baffel lines go left to right. Get rid of the intake rubber pipe and go one piece alum.

Post pics of ur engine again .

Josh

the fact is a engine needs to breath.

if u put a air pod on inplace of air box, the engine will breath better evan if the enginebay is full of hot air.

if you put a snorkel on it will breath better!( cooler, less dust , force air into pipe )

and as i have said before , the car feels better through the gears!,  it dosent get of the line any quicker ( extractors do that ), it dosent feel faster or have lower rpm when on the freeway.

it maybe .085 or 5 more hp but the fact is the acceleration feels crisper through the gears , you might want to call it torque

in the end i have the air ram  and not the one piece unit so i can only comment on mine,
the snorkel gets air into the engine better and cooler than stock, which is only a by product of its original purpose

to keep engine running when u are in deep water!!

A opening depending on the size will creat above atmospher pressure at about 120-160km a pound of pressure. Only prob with a air filter under the hood like a cone is when u are going threw water crossing ur gonna suck water watch my vids .

Im gonna have intakes for the vitaras with velocity stacks in them soon

Josh