Thread: 2001 GT Upgrades

Before I rant on I'm going to specify that I want to be able to get from 0-60 faster to begin with (i.e. just casual driving around and getting a win), Then move up to overal better performence from there on.

Okay. So I'm 17 and I've had my car for about a year and a half now. Its a 2001 Grand Prix GT. I was going to get a GTP for the supercharger, but when I found this car, with only 45,000 miles on it for $3,000, I ended my search for a car right there and then. I have since added only visual modifications to the car. Such as a new hood, paint, interior, I've polished engine parts, painted the plasics, etc. I really haven't done anything to boost the performance of it. Although I'm 17 I make quite a considerable amount of money to pay for parts. I understand that you cant get effective, realiable parts, for little money. I've been doing most of everything on my car either by myself, or I'll go down to the car shop and get some advice from the mechanics there, then come back home and go about my buisiness with their help and this site's. I've read things about CAI's (And really what is the difference in MPG for hot intake and cold intake, is it really that big of a deal?), headers, filters, pullys(another subject I'm outrageously lost on), bladdy bladdy blah. Its all running together. I was hoping if someone could just kinda walk me through with the most effective upgrades or the easiest to do. I know adding a supercharger would help, and I'm wondering if someone could give me the pro's and con's of adding all these things, what brand, how to do them, and where to start. Any, ANY help, even a link to another article on the site That i've overlooked. Thanks for at least taking the time to read this post. It's extremely Aprriciated.
Sincerely,
-Forrest

i have an underive pulley on my waterpump, as well as a 3.0 on my blower!!!!
what are your plans for the car? how fast are you looking to go?

Originally Posted by Sabrewings

To help on the confusion, pulleys are for superchargers.

And I do believe you are my hero....

So, I'll only worry about those If I get it supercharged.

Anyways, in response to 'Where I want to go with my car' I just want something semi-casual....If you want to call it that. I want to be able to be good at taking off from a stoplight or backroad and being able to pull infront of the guy. However, everynow and again, I go to the speedway (I live 1 min. tops from the Daytona International Speedway where they host the 500) and a few guys host a drag race event on the backstretch, where again you pull infront of the guy before turn 3. I've beaten a few cars, and even then, not by much. Its just a 20 dollar entry with the chance to win some extra money and have a good time. And I'm willing to spend a good hunk of money on the car, and I want it to be able to go as fast as possible for a cost/speed ratio. like, I dont want to buy a part for an ungodly amount of money to only get me an extra .1 seconds over a product of the same quality and half the cost.

So.....I just read the sticky at the top of the page about the top swap...So, "top swap" means changing out everything but the engine block itself? And should I do that first and upgrade to the supercharger to eliminate paying for 'double' parts from upgrading a N/A engine and upgrading a SC engine, or are there upgrades that can be used for both?

Originally Posted by Bio248

you are correct on the top swap. it is everything from the block up, plus a few other odds and ends. its really not something to get into unless youre good at working on cars or you can pay someone else to do it. you can get it done with patience and time, but the likelyhood of you messing something up goes up exponentially with your lack of experience.

if you wanted to save yourself some money and skip the N/A part of your modding, go for it. i wish i would have, probably would have saved about $500 on that end of things.

but if youre looking for something to be a little quick and just for something to drive daily, being supercharged isnt really necessary. is it fun? hell yes. if you feel like coming over to the dark side, let us know and we can tell you all the stuff you need to know to get there.

Well, I am actually quite thrilled about possibly doing a top swap. Just in the few hours today I've decided I'm going to go ahead and try to start working on the parts. And I have a few friends/a car shop I can go to for help. I called them and they said I could leave it there, do the stuff I can do, then when I get to a part I need them for, let them take over, and that way pay minimal labor fees. I was looking at the parts list thats stickied in the 3.8 N/A forums, and I noticed that there wasn't really a ~price, or any brand names, which would extremely help >.<

Originally Posted by Bio248

if youre good at sourcing parts you can get this stuff for ~$500. if youre not, expect somewhere closer to $1000.

also, since youre N/A right now your compression ratio is higher. youre going to want to add a few mods while youre in the process to make sure you dont knock from the boost. a stop GTP will knock without mods, so you definately will. look into headers as a first step as well as an intake, thermostat, and colder plugs. if you dont want to get into headers, look into a downpipe and front powerlog. those will pretty much get you to a cheap set of headers..just something to think about.

it is a good feeling once you finish. i did it, but made a mistake that cost me a block. make sure youre doing everything correctly.

So by colder plugs you mean......
And your saying the supercharger will put so much stress on the headers on the NA that I'll need to get new/stronger ones to take the punishment more or less?
And I was assuming go with a CAI, unless you recomend hot air intake...
And the purpose of the downpipe is....

Originally Posted by Sabrewings

No. You need higher flowing parts to keep your engine from blowing up, to put it mildly.

Okay, I can understand that bit :P
And to get the new headers get some off of ZZ performance or w/e or take some off an old GTP if I run across one from a junkyard? Or do you sugest otherwise?

Originally Posted by Bio248

nope, headers are an aftermarket part so if you find them at the junkyard then youre one lucky SOB.

colder plugs: the stock spark plugs are too "hot" for a supercharged application. you need ones that have a "colder" spark to keep knock down.

intake: do whatever you want. they all do the same thing, just dont buy one. it is intensely cheaper to make one on your own with PVC and a 3" cone filter.

downpipe: connects the exhast manifolds (stock) to the catback. this is the most restrictive part of the car and will wake it up the most out of any other part.



what you need to do is to tell us what you want to do with this car first, then we can tell you the parts to get you there. these cars can go into the 500+ whp range with enough money and work.

Okay, so headers are a deffinate neccessity. Also, there are several TPYES of superchargers, like Eaton, which is positive displacement I think, dynamic, and one other type. Is there any SPECIFIC supercharger I need? or just get like, a Gen5 supercharger?

and the colder spark plugs are the 104 things I keep reading so much about?

Also, do you know of any diagrams for the downpipe? or do I need to just take all the parts to a mechanic and just put it infront of him and say 'Here, have fun, call me when your finished' ? I understand not all things I can do, but like the COI, I could do that myself, so I want to obviously save as much money as possible. I'm just trying to learn more about the system to get a better general understanding of what I need and what I can do myself thats more or less just 'busy work' if you will.

And I don't need the baddest of the cars out there, I just wanted to do the top swap and maybe a little more here and there. I dunno if thats all the way or not, but thats what I was hoping for.

Originally Posted by Sabrewings

Eaton is the factory supercharger. The Gen III came on Series II 3800s and the Gen V came on Series III 3800s.

So I get a Gen III? Considering its the series II?

So from what it sounds like, I should save the top swap for later. right now I should get an intake, downpipe, headers, spark plugs, and ahve it tuned.

Yes? No? Maybe so?

Anything else?