Thread: Hi, I'm the new guy...here's my list of upcoming mods & some questions...input needed

Scrap the idea of a downpipe with that list... go straight for headers and be done with it.
Pontiac Performance Racing Products for International Sales from SSAutochrome Inc.
^ Are the cheapest good quality ones, any of the others is just for the namesake and $$$. These work, you just need better band clamps, some copper RTV, and use good exhaust gaskets and you shouldn't have any leaks from them.

Throttle body spacer would be a waste, and the heat shield I wouldn't worry about either. Money to go towards better mods is a wiser choice.

As far as PCM, you really need a good custom drive-in tune, but where about in ND are you located, there may be someone in your area that could help give an idea of where to go vs buying a canned tune that may or maynot work with your plans and mod list.

If your going to pull the motor and go thru all of that, the best bet would be get a full stack intercooler while your apart and really help your build. It would most likely allow you to drop to a 3.2 or even a 3.0 pulley with the rest of the mods and really turn out a good hp/tq number. The original 96 GPX was built with a intercooler and a 3.0 or 3.2 pulley, headers, intake and a tune and was faster than the C4 vette so they had to dial it back down. It helps more than most will admit. Do it if you can, you won't regret it.

http://www.grandprixforums.net/safel...car-17482.html

BTW ^^^ has all the good info you would need to mod the car safely. Read it and learn well, then go back over your list of things you want.

Don't do the downpipe, tb heat shield, tb spacer, or rod bearings. Do headers for sure. I'm on the stock motor and trans in my car with 215,000 miles on it running great.

Dont ever touch the bottem end.

Ever.

Originally Posted by Fivefingerdeathpunch

Dont ever touch the bottem end.

Ever.

ill touch your... bottom end... wait what?

TB spacer, TB heatshield are both wastes. neither really do much for heat soak. I'd agree on doing headers vs the other stuff. Your choice. I spent double the money I needed to because I pretended I wasn't going to mod. Therefore I put one little thing then the next on until I hit a certain place and discovered I had modded the car heavily and was continuing forward.

It was ridiculous how many gaskets I swapped etc as I did all this crap.

Originally Posted by thomas mcnulty

i have already burned through a motor at 150k, bought the car from an eldery man and 300 miles later rod knock. so i would say if that is something you wanna do, i would not stop you

Probably because the lower intake was leaking coolant into the oil and screwed the rod bearings. 150K is nothing for a 3800.

Mine did that at 83k. I replaced the LIM Gaskets at 74k and did about 4 oil changes in that 9k miles... but still siezed a bearing while going down the highway... sux but P/O can be harder on the car than they will admit and we get stuck with the problems. but as you said, new motor moving forward.

While the new one is out, this makes for a good time to do alot of mods. I needed the car as a DD so I get to play hardball with the car when it comes to my modding.

Good luck

Originally Posted by JustanAlias

First off, this is me http://www.grandprixforums.net/you-e...ain-62729.html

I have a 2002 GTP and am ready to start modding. Here's what's happening in the next few weeks:

Terra 1.9 rollers/pushrods
LS6 lifters/springs (thanks Billy)
Manley retainers
fenderwell intake
3in. off-road downpipe (considering headers)
colder plugs
PCM Tune *
throttle body spacer
throttle body heat sheild
180 stat
new belt
3.4 pulley
new rod bearings (133,xxx..to be safe)
poly dogbone bushings (considering shortened dogbones)

Ok, now for a few questions...

I need to opinions on who I should have do my PCM?

Headers, of what's still available, who's have the easiest install and less prone to leaks?

I'm considering a ported TB....again, who?

Machined lower intake, intercooler, ported s/c....thoughts?

Long term...over the winter the motor's coming out for a full performance rebuild and head work, (Machined lower intake, intercooler, ported s/c) performance trans/converter/gears. Doing big brakes, suspension rebuild/upgrades, paint, and cosmetics (SD hood, halos, LED tails, wheels/tires, tint).

Any and all input is VERY welcome...thanks for reading!

I don't believe anyone has the Yella Terra 1.9s and I don't believe they're making them any more. They've been on eternal backorder. ZZP still has them listed so maybe they have a few sets. We're all out though.

I'm going to recommend the 105lb springs over the LS6. They're a bit more money but put less overall stress on the valve train despite their higher spring rate.

A downpipe is easy to install and gives solid gains but if you plan on going for headers down the road, just bite the bullet and do it now. There are a bunch of eBay brands out there that require some finesse to make work. Most people don't like doing that and for those people there's Pacesetters. They're mild steal but they're only $369. For stainless steal headers that bolt in with no trouble, I think we have the cheapest, easiest to install kit but it's still significantly more expensive than the ebay stuff.

I'd recommend us for the PCM but I'm hardly objective so take the advice of other people here. Canned tunes aren't the devil but they were meant to be used on cars that had low miles and were all pretty much starting at the same baseline. Now that they all have higher miles we see cars that are in stock condition and well maintained and cars that are hardly running. Make sure the car is mechanically up to par and a canned tune is going to be just fine until you start to get more serious.

Ported TB, there's not going to be any difference between vendors.

Intercooler, ours is the cheapest full kit out there.

Transmission, We can set you up. Otherwise ZZP and Dave Norris make them to order. Dave Norris is pretty popular.