Thread: little... or big mods for improvements

car: 2002 grand prix SE with about 120'000 miles on it and a LIM gasket since about 110'00. the larger spectre air intake just slapped onto the end of the MAF, new super duper high end mega ultra bosch iridium plugs and wires (got them for a deal so i figured they couldn't be worse than the stock plugs/wires which would have cost more) and a flowmaster super44 exhaust (again got it for cheaper than the stock exhaust and it needed replacing)....

what i want: little (or big of its not too much $, dont care how many hours of work it would take since i enjoy playing with my car) mods i could do to squeeze out a little extra HP, willing to put endless hours of work but not looking to spend too much money since this car is only going to hold me over for a few more years until i can get me a nice 3800

what could i do? solid wishbone bushings/motor mount? where could i get them from? should i get rid of the stock air boot and put a hard pipe? should i get a difference performance air filter? wrap my crossover pipe? should i pipe the intake into the fender and wrap the intake pipe? where can i get everything i will need for these types of mods? do any of these mods actually improve performance/mileage/reliability?

basically: i want to improve my little engine but not put a heck of a lot of money into it, i just want to be able to enjoy this car until i can afford a nice 3800 super charged or a v8.... all help is appreciated

Originally Posted by dpzelenak

really the only way to get alot of power out of our motors is to boost them or start swapping parts around,, basicly the only thing you can do for little money is flow mods, like intakes and exhaust..manifolds too
Milzy Motorsports - American Muscle, Reborn Homepage for WOT-Tech - WOT-Tech
look around on these sites and see what you might like to do then get all the basic stuff ready for when you want spend alittle more money on it

hey you posted in my intro thread, how would i go about doing the top-end swap? i tried googling and going to a link to a write-up on 60v6 but that link is dead

okay now that the haters have arrived how about someone just point me to where i can get some hard mounts for my wishbones and engine mount? i am also planning on keeping anything stock that i take out and just putting it back when i get rid of the car and using it on my next car (since mounts would be the same size i feel like it would be a wise thing yo change out)

edit: a bit surprised that the spectre haters haven't showed up yet.... considering its a k&n knock off

so i would just flip the big bushings 90 degrees and thats it?

Originally Posted by dpzelenak

yea theres a thread on here that talks about it just put it in the search on top

dunski! seems to have the desired effect, engine doesn't turn as much when i rev it while im in drive and on the brake (didnt take it for a ride yet)... and these are exactly the types of improvements im talking about, nothing big but little victories here and their, this one turned out to be free but im will to spend some money on other things if they are going to cause slightly more of an improvement

and if you do a top end swap with a 3400 doesn't that mean you would be able to put a supercharger in it as well?

Originally Posted by dpzelenak

no not really, im sure theres one out there that'll work, but it has to be a custom kit and all the other stuff that goes with it, turboing is better then supercharging these motors and just about all the turbo kits are universal so it may be easier..i plan on turboing mine but not the 3100

you plan on turboing your gtp i assume? that will be quite nasty! i wish i knew more about turbos and the like! what brands of turbos are good? what size parts should i get for a 3100? do they sell and decent turbo kits/combo type deals? i dont plan on doing this for a couple weeks but i would seriously like to look into this some more... how much do you think a complete turbo install would run? a friend of mine has ocy-acetaline torches and a mig welder and an arch welder so exhaust work will not be a problem

Originally Posted by dpzelenak

no no no god no i dont have a gtp or a gt i have a se with the 3100,,,i hate the 3800 and will never have one, as for your questions,
i have no clue about turbos just bit and pieces ive picked up, there threads about turbos and even a turdoing section, but none for a 3.1/3.4/3.5, just the 3.8,, i guess it would be the same parts and pieces...theres a turbo kit for a N-body with the 3.4 but i think its like 1k-1.4k something like that, you could buy that and modifiy it to work on an W-body..in the early 90's the 3.1l came stock with a turbo.. maybe copie that setup?..not sure

hmmm something tells me i will have to do a lot more research on this subject.... back to the top end swap lol any 3400 top end can be put on my 3100 top end?