Ok, welcome to the RAV4 speed section. But their is one thing that I would like to tell you about. It has to do with your 16 beautiful years you have lived on this planet. Driving and speed are a synonymous to power. With power go responsibilities that you must take into consideration everywhere you step on the hammer. I'm 47, excuse me 48 [last week] I love speed. But I know their are loved one that depend on me. Speed is Cool, but remember with speed goes hand in hand responsibility. I've scraped too many of my students and friends from the road already.
That said, the first thing is safety. I've seen this error to many times. A lot of power in the engine and no brakes. Try to check your RAV4 from front to rear and from top to bottom. Here is a check list.
0. Insurance and paper work, is it in order. Who is the legitimate owner of the vehicle? Straighten that out first.
1. Disc brakes [what condition are they in]
Power Stop http://www.powerstoprotors.com/ and
Brembo http://www.brembo.com/ENG have performance disc brakes that are a must for safety. Pads, Toyota OEM are cool unless you do the Power stop disc brakes, they also sell performance pads.
2. Brake Lines are they rubber? If so get them out. I have an address that will make them in metal. For $47.00 pair
3. Suspension, Toyota installed some very cheap shocks, get them out and go with
Bilstein http://www.autocarparts.com/cars/Toyota/ALL/Bilstein ,
Koni http://www.koni.com/ . We never said they are cheap. Don't take short cuts doing old cheapo.
4. Springs,
H&R http://www.hrsprings.com/ and
Eibach http://www.eibach.com/cgi-bin/start.exe/eibach/index.html make springs for the RAV4 96 to 2000. I'd preferred the H&R. They give you the most lowering for the buck. They are excellent.
4a. TRD Front Anti-sway Bar, sweet. I'll have to thank Kelly for that one. The rear anti-Sway Bar is Addco
http://www.addco.net/
5. Bushing and suspension.
Energy Suspension http://www.energysuspension.com/ has a kit to change all of your suspension to polyurethane bushings. This will make your RAV4 stiffer in curves. You love them when you are cutting curves, but they'll give you a stiffer ride. Most people don't like that.
6. Tires always have a good set of performance tires installed. Yokohama are my recommendation. Try
http://www.tirerack.com.
Once you have the suspension squared away, now you’re going into the engine. The suspension is done for safety. It is a lot better vehicle to ride and to do a lot of surprising maneuvers on the road, with excellent stopping power.
Engine.
I started to check with TRD
http://www.trdusa.com/ . What do they have for the 3SFE? Not much. I got these.
TRD Radiator Cap, it lowers the engine temp keeping the engine cooler
But it needs also the TRD Thermostat
These two parts work very well together especially in hot climate.
The electrical system. These engine are running computers, the more power they have the better they role. I've installed a few electrical enhancement parts that have really made a difference
http://www.msdignition.com/
These are Pivot Ground Kit, Pivot Razin electrical stabilizer [little blue box on the battery]
http://www.pivotusa.com/ . If you still have the OEM battery, get ride of it and do the Inter State Battery search, they have three excellent batteries specifically for the RAV4. Oh well, here it is
CLICK HERE
Change your Battery terminals
http://www.speedwaymotors.com have EXCELLENT battery terminals that work great, and they are cheap.
Header, Pace Setter
http://www.pacesetterexhaust.com/ . If you have the 3SFE engine, use the Celica 86-89 Header. It will fit but don't stop there. Do the pipes also.
Bosal had a cool exhaust kit but discontinued it
Here it is
Here is my setup
It works great. That is the Pace setter Header, The flexer [you will need one], A performance Catalytic converter from Performance Tech [Summit racing], Magnaflow muffler, and Borla double tip. Sounds great. Some where in this forum Kelly was kind enough to paste it sound.
Hidden stuff :wink:
Next Level Performance Module
http://www.nextlevelracing.com/
BTW, you can also see the TRD shortShifter. Regarding the NLP module, some people say it doesn't work. I say it does. Ask all the idiots who have been reading my license plate in the last month or so.
This my secret weapon
I might never install it, because I'm seeing a lot of good information regarding this engine.
It fits the RAV4 like a glove. Tight, but is will work.
I have a lot of other stuff installed that I haven't said. But I guess you get the over all picture. It is not cheap by all means. These parts will make your RAV4 Rooor. Time will tell :wink:
Next. :wink: