Thread: Just got a GTP, have a few questions for the experts

Originally Posted by LSXHP

With the 3.4 pulley, how much boost will it be making?

on the normal 3.4 setup youre probably going to be seeing about 10 pounds of boost. probably more in the 9.5 range.

and since no one answered this yet, the front powerlog is a replacement for the second most restrictive part of the exhaust system: the front manifold.

your car will be way faster with a bigger pulley and no knock. i would suggest doing all of the mods but the pulley and see if you like how it runs. for safety sake i might even just stick to a 3.5 pulley. the car will feel about the same and itll save you from knocking just that much more.

I dont know how your buddy ran a 3.25 with only the mods listed and not grenade the motor. Maybe he had some kind of factory freak or something. I have the basic 3.4 setup on my car:

- Stainless Steel Power Log(get the stainless, the mild steel plog WILL crack)
- 3" downpipe with no cat and rear O2 simulator
- Borla exhaust(purely for making it sound better)
- Wizair intake(not necessary, you can make a cheap poopoo pipe intake)
- 180 stat(perfectly fine for these cars, especially for a daily driver, it will help keep the MPG's up)
- Autolite copper core 104 plugs gapped between .055 and .060
- I have PRJ plug wires, but I have heard stock wires are fine far beyond the amount of horsepower you will be putting down, I just like the red color and 10.4 mm size, plus they are made for repeated plug changes, which is nice because I change the 104's out every 6 months or so)
- Mag snout with 3.4 pulley( snout for supercharger that just has a bolt to take off to change pulleys)
- Fuel pump rewire(helps keep voltage up to the fuel pump)
- Digital horsepower PCM(have an Overkill PCM in route to my house as we speak)
- Mini AFC 2.0(goes inline with the MAF sensor to help add a little more fuel here and there go help stabillize long term fuel trims, you cant buy these new anymore, but they can be found on the for sale board from time to time)
- Probably the most important thing is a tuner or scanner or scan gauge or something like that so you can see what is going on with the car. I have an Autotap scanner and an Aeroforce scan gauge. Monitering knock retard is critical for these cars. I have about 1-2 degrees knock when the car is heat soaked. I am hoping the Overkill PCM will help get me the rest of the way.
I also have a few suspension upgrades as well, you may want to look at upgrading the front brakes to 12 inch rotors. The stock set up is marginal at best and this will help. Alot of people have gone with a F-body caliper,bracket,rotor conversion as well.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but you may also want to find an LS1 or Northstar throttle body. I've noticed in many videos and read, without it the CAI creates an annoying whistling noise at idle. That's the only reason I haven't done a custom CAI yet myself. I know that whistle would drive me nuts. But the TB also supposedly provides a slight boost to low end power i think.

Also can someone tell me... do those just bolt right into place with no modification?

Originally Posted by J GTP

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but you may also want to find an LS1 or Northstar throttle body. I've noticed in many videos and read, without it the CAI creates an annoying whistling noise at idle. That's the only reason I haven't done a custom CAI yet myself. I know that whistle would drive me nuts. But the TB also supposedly provides a slight boost to low end power i think.

Also can someone tell me... do those just bolt right into place with no modification?

No, you won't need a larger throttle body until you are very modded. And about the intake...What????? All intake create a whistle effect, supercharged or N/A. You hear the motor more. It is out IAC that makes a "shovel dragging on concrete sound" at idle. I'm still lost at what whistle your talking about. That is a supercharger that whistles. And you think making the throttle body BIGGER would get rid of the sound? Hardly. It makes it more pronounced IMO. As for the "bolt right in place with no modifications"...start another thread.

Well today Me and my friend who had a couple GTP's made a cai out of PCV. Used a 45', a 22.5' to angle it perfect and made the opening in the fender well slightly bigger so the most part of the cone filter sits inside the fender away from the heat of the engine bay. I must say I love the sound improvement snf it def seems to have helped the performance espically up top. I'll be painting it this week so it dont look quite as gay lol and then post up a pic, tell me if it looks like a decent setup.

Originally Posted by superv6

Right on man. I hope u enjoy the sound of the cai and good job doin it on the cheap bro

Yes def like the sound, I had a 91 and a 92 Thunderbird Super coupe back in the day and that charger screamed, those were pushing 16-22lbs tho but this def brought back some memories haha. Yeah I think I spent maybe just over $50 including the spectre filter. Lots better then $299 like they wanted for the FIPK at the store. Thats What I want just some cheap bolt on's for a more entrtaining Daily driver. So far so good.


One question I have for everybody now...what the heck do I do with the pcm just sittin there now? That cant be good for it and I doubt everyone just leaves it sitting there after doing a cai...

Originally Posted by 98SilvermistGTP

I dont know how your buddy ran a 3.25 with only the mods listed and not grenade the motor. Maybe he had some kind of factory freak or something. I have the basic 3.4 setup on my car:

- Stainless Steel Power Log(get the stainless, the mild steel plog WILL crack)
- 3" downpipe with no cat and rear O2 simulator
- Borla exhaust(purely for making it sound better)
- Wizair intake(not necessary, you can make a cheap poopoo pipe intake)
- 180 stat(perfectly fine for these cars, especially for a daily driver, it will help keep the MPG's up)
- Autolite copper core 104 plugs gapped between .055 and .060
- I have PRJ plug wires, but I have heard stock wires are fine far beyond the amount of horsepower you will be putting down, I just like the red color and 10.4 mm size, plus they are made for repeated plug changes, which is nice because I change the 104's out every 6 months or so)
- Mag snout with 3.4 pulley( snout for supercharger that just has a bolt to take off to change pulleys)
- Fuel pump rewire(helps keep voltage up to the fuel pump)
- Digital horsepower PCM(have an Overkill PCM in route to my house as we speak)
- Mini AFC 2.0(goes inline with the MAF sensor to help add a little more fuel here and there go help stabillize long term fuel trims, you cant buy these new anymore, but they can be found on the for sale board from time to time)
- Probably the most important thing is a tuner or scanner or scan gauge or something like that so you can see what is going on with the car. I have an Autotap scanner and an Aeroforce scan gauge. Monitering knock retard is critical for these cars. I have about 1-2 degrees knock when the car is heat soaked. I am hoping the Overkill PCM will help get me the rest of the way.
I also have a few suspension upgrades as well, you may want to look at upgrading the front brakes to 12 inch rotors. The stock set up is marginal at best and this will help. Alot of people have gone with a F-body caliper,bracket,rotor conversion as well.

Yeah I dunno how it ran fine for 10K miles if its as risky as you guys say it is, it ran good too. I watched him stay side by side with a stock LS1 TA from 40-about 85 too so it def ran good. We were talkin about that today his mods were besides the 3.25, CAI,6MM wires,colder plugs,Ubend delete by the rear O2 and maybe a 180 T stat, he couldnt remember. Other then that he just ran Amoco 93 all the time and had no problems. Maybe it can be done? I remember he used to beat the crap out of that car too so it def was put to the test. That also was a 99 if it matters.

Whats a good safe rev limiter on a stock internal motor? Mine seems to shift at or just after 5500RPM. Seems like it just starts to make good power then....shift =(

Originally Posted by Bio248

on the normal 3.4 setup youre probably going to be seeing about 10 pounds of boost. probably more in the 9.5 range.

and since no one answered this yet, the front powerlog is a replacement for the second most restrictive part of the exhaust system: the front manifold.

your car will be way faster with a bigger pulley and no knock. i would suggest doing all of the mods but the pulley and see if you like how it runs. for safety sake i might even just stick to a 3.5 pulley. the car will feel about the same and itll save you from knocking just that much more.

Thanks for answering that, Would you suggest the 2.5 DP or the 3"? I plan to go with the cat-less one. I seen it on ZZP but there are so many to choose form I'm not sure.....I seen a 3" shorty no cat, is that a good choice? Also wanna keep the exhaust quiet im assuming removing one cat shouldnt make it too much louder then stock right? Thanks again for the info.

Originally Posted by LSXHP

Whats a good safe rev limiter on a stock internal motor? Mine seems to shift at or just after 5500RPM. Seems like it just starts to make good power then....shift =(

the stock cam only makes power up until there..probably not even. if you shift anything above 6k then youll need valve springs. it depends on your cam where your shift points should be.

Originally Posted by Bio248

the stock cam only makes power up until there..probably not even. if you shift anything above 6k then youll need valve springs. it depends on your cam where your shift points should be.

Yup...you think you're going faster cuz the blower whines more and your RPM's go up...but your actually going slower IMO. I shifted at 6500 with my XP...and only time it was REALLY faster was on the streets when I would run someone to where they would have to shift.

I shift at 6000 right now. I don't feel the need to go any higher. It makes solid power right up to that point and drops down to the right point on the power band. I'll probably leave it like that for a long time.

Originally Posted by bluegtp91

Hi...good buy...btw...looks like you got a nice 'maro there!!

It really depends on hiw much your willing to spend that way we could help you more from there. If you want a decently quick DD, then you'd be good for a 3.4" + Supporting Mods setup. This includes:

1) Cold Air Intake - Make your own...there are many threads about them
2) 180* or 160* Thermostat - Both are great, but your choice on which one.
3) Colder Range Spark Plugs - Autolite 104's
4) 3" Downpipe/U-Bend Delete - Get it from ZZPerformance, IMO, I'd get the cat delete with it too.
5) Front Powerlog - Get it from ZZPerformance, the front manifolds on our cars suck and you'll find that out when you pull it off, how bad they are cast. When you see the comparo pics on ZZP...you'll understand
6) Tuned PCM - ZZP Blows. It toasted my first motor. Get one from 3800performance.com or Intense-racing.com
7) 3.4" Supercharger Pulley - At this time you must decide if you are going to stop modding all together. If so then get a 3.4" Press-On and be done. If not, Then spring for the ZZP Modular Pulley System, that way if you ever continue to mod...you can swap pulley's with a alan wrench and not a press tool

Any other questions...feel free to ask

What would one of these cars do in the 1/4 with those mods?

Originally Posted by LSXHP

What would one of these cars do in the 1/4 with those mods?

mid 13s if you could launch the car well.

Originally Posted by Bio248

mid 13s if you could launch the car well.

And if you don't live in the midwest. IMO Most cars here even with 2.0 or sub 60's only hit 13's after putting on rockers or a ported blower/tb/LIM combo.

I'm in IL, will be takin it to rt66. mid to low 13's would make me happy for this car as a dd. Don't want to port the blower or do rockers or anything tho. Now I do have my stock ported tb off my ls1 camaro sittin around since i went with the FAST 92 on that, seen here and there ppl mentioning ls1 tb's....would that help at all?

Originally Posted by LSXHP

I'm in IL, will be takin it to rt66. mid to low 13's would make me happy for this car as a dd. Don't want to port the blower or do rockers or anything tho. Now I do have my stock ported tb off my ls1 camaro sittin around since i went with the FAST 92 on that, seen here and there ppl mentioning ls1 tb's....would that help at all?

to run LOW 13s youre going to need rockers unless you lose a ton of weight or spray.

that ls1 TB wont really help you out at this point in modding.