Thread: What is best for the first mod, 04GTP COMPG

Yup it just bolts in. A CAI would not be a bad first mod either. A 3" dp was my first mod.

I went in this order:


-3" dp w/ hiflo cat zzp
-wizair,overkill pcm, throttle body spacer, throttle body heat shield (all at the same time)
-Autolite 605 plugs
-ZZP Powerlog
-3.6" smoothflow mps (this weekend)


I had just the 3" dp on for about 2 weeks. It seemed my low end acceleration suffered a little while the midrange improved a little. It wasnt really until I got the powerlog on that everything started "working together" and i saw the biggest jump in performance. My pcm is tuned for a powerlog and 3.5/3.6 so im excited to get this 3.6 on this weekend. When i have to change plugs again this spring i will probably go with autolite 104's or the iridium equivalents.

The downpipe cost me $35 to have a local shop install it. it took about 15 minutes if that. Make sure you get the rear 02 extension from zzp because you will need it. also your pcm has to be programmed for it so you wont throw a code. You can get an 02 bung i think but i dont know much about it so that code doesnt show up.

Suspension mods come next. I have gmpp trailing arms already which you should get because they are only 35$ and install is very do it yourself. Will get front and rear strut braces as well as energy suspension poly mounts all around. I wish we had an upgraded front sway bar!

oh and id recommend changing out the supercharger oil which is easy to do and cost $10 or so.

also getting a fluid and filter change. if you want to mod you are going to be adding more stress to the car so you want to keep up and start preventative maint. before you do it. also switch to synthetic oil.

Heres a guide. Its for the Series 2 3.8 engine but its the same thing, same process. You can buy the oil online or get it from the dealership.

Pontiac Grand Prix GTP Eaton M90 Supercharger Oil Change Picture Illustrated Guide

On the intake I went with the wizair because of the insulation it, the build quality is good, its looks great and it gets great reviews. The thrasher would have been my second choice. I decided not to consider the KN because its doesnt completely seal the filter off from the engine bay and it doesn't look good in my eyes. KN is a big company and I would rather support the smaller guys who made the intake especially for this engine (Wizair, thrasher). There are also fender wall intakes which are basically just the intake tube that runs from the throttle body to the inlet hold in the side of the fender inside the engine (you probably can't see it because your stock air box is in the way). Its not hard to find people who are partial to fender wall intakes. I personally don't like them because they don't look good and the air filter will get dirty at lot faster. You can also make your own hot air intake for real cheap, fender wall intake or custom cold air intake and save money. No matter what intake system you go with the supercharger is going to be so much louder.

For the actual air filter itself I went with an Amsoil filter. The Amsoil filters use no oil in them. Some people will say oil is ok other dont like it because the oil could potentially get sucked up and dirty up your MAF sensor. The Amsoil filters take advantage of nanofiber technology, which after some research, I was sold on. Its the same technology that the military uses for filters in their combat vehicles. The filter you would want for the wizair is the amsoil eau4090 filter. That filter would probably work on the thrasher also, you might want to check though. before the amsoil filter i did have a Spectre filter (compareable to KN filters) that I got locally and it was oiled. After replacing it with the amsoil filter I did notice a better throttle response and the supercharge whined louder. The amsoil filters are like $50 compared to the $30 Spectre.

I got an overkill pcm. you can find him under Overkill Motorsports on the vendor section of this website. The cost of the pcm was around $250 if you keep your old pcm also, which i did or you can send him your pcm and he can program it that way and it is a little cheaper. The pcm comes from canada so it takes a week or 2 to arrive. Basically with overkill you tell him what mods you have and he "tunes" the pcm in occordance to the mods, so that makes it a little better than off then the shelf tunes. If you dont want to spend that kind of money I cant remember who else is good. Maybe someone else will chime in. I just know to stay away from ZZP's pcms because they are very hit or miss.

I told overkill that I was going to have a pulley and powerlog but ended up putting the pcm in without the pulley and powerlog. If you do this the car will run a little rich but its not supposed to be a big deal. I just installed the powerlog finally after about 6 months of having the pcm in. wow what a difference it made.

Some people say to change your supercharger oil every year some say 25k the manual says 50k ect ect. I'm going to do it every year because its cheap and you dont want that supercharger to break because its $$$. Better safe than sorry.

For your trans fluid get an official gm/ac delco trans filter either from the dealership or zzp's website. They are supposed to be better than the imported ones you find at the autoparts stores. The actual filters are supposed to be thicker. Our transmissions aren't exactly the strongest componant of the car so don't mess around and get the quality stuff.

hope this helps some more.

Make sure to replace the supercharger oil with the GM supercharger oil. You have to get it at the dealer.

deffently an intake. makes the supercharger come alive then. then exhaust mods, gotta get that hot air out.

for those with a downpipe, does it make the car sound more meaty?? i have headers with the 3inch downpipe and with the windows rolled down it sounds more meaty. wondered if just a downpipe would do that also

standing at the back of the car, slightly. besides that not for me.

cool. just wondering.

what about when your passing a row of cars at WOT?? can you hear it then. god my echos sometimes and not just the supercharger, the damn exhaust, mainly near the downpipe.

Originally Posted by luckyjack04GTP

Do you guys recommened the powerlog from zzp, and if so is it hard to install and does it require welding or just bolts on? Thanks to everybody and there help, so far learning alot about the car and things I can do to improve it.

probably one of the best bang per buck mods. easy install, completely bolt on. just have to take off the stock front manifold and then put this one on.

blowfish,

at WOT all i hear is pure supercharger whine. my **** is loud. at half to 75% throttle i get some engine noise in there but its not very meaty, its just engine. at WOT there is near zero engine noise. the whine got noticeably louder when i put on the amsoil air filter compared to the oiled spectre. im telling you guys that amsoil filter is the cats meow.



luckyjack,

If you dont go with headers the powerlog/dp combo is a must have. the front manifold is very restrictive. the powerlog completely replaces this. it was way mroe effective than i thought it was going to be. it reguires no welding. i didnt install mine but i hear its easy for some and difficult for others. if you are goign to do it yourself make sure you soak the crossover bolts with some of the rust loosening stuff because i hear those can be hard to get off sometimes. basically you have to do some exhaust work if you are going to mod your car. if you are bringing in more air (intake,pulley,rockers) you have to have a way to release it all (exhaust work). You won't need a cat-back exhaust (exhaust work from the end of the downpipe to the muffler tips) unless you are building a crazy street machine or you want to really change the exhaust tone. word of advice: these engines are hard to make sound good so don't even bother unless you have $$ to throw around and actually want to do it. our stock mufflers are supposed to be pretty decent flowing actually.

ZZPerformance
They will all have to be bought separately.