Thread: Tuning 99 GTP stock

I have a 1999 Grand Prix GTP that is stock other than AL 104's and a 2.5" catt'd downpipe. I am considering getting an Overkill tune, but is this the right step? I want to get a tune and then work on saving up for a MPS with 3.5" pulley, or maybe even 3.4". My car has about 192,000 miles on it. I did a tune up on it a few months ago and put the normal plugs back in it because some of the plugs I pulled out of the car were destroyed. After a month ish with the new plugs some of them were destroyed so I replaced them all with AL 104's because they were cheap and the car was running lean so I thought maybe that would help. Then I found out I had a bad boost bypass solenoid and replaced that so I don't really have the issue of running lean anymore. But I still get plugs that randomly become destroyed and I'm not sure why. For example, after I fixed the boost bypass solenoid I had a cylinder 3 misfire, and replaced the plug. After that I randomly got a cylinder 4 misfire, and replaced the plug. Recently I had a cold that read something like cylinder 5 is starting to try to misfire. I'm not sure why random plugs are being destroyed. I have a few pictures on my photobucket of the pictures. The most recent picture was the plug from cylinder 4 when it was misfiring. But it wasn't misfiring bad enough that the car was acting up or the CEL was flashing, it just would misfire enough that it popped a code saying "cylinder 4 is under misfire conditions" basically.
http://s1334.photobucket.com/user/th...?sort=3&page=1
So I'm wondering. Does anyone think a tune would help my car with this issue in any way? Because to be honest, I'm not sure why it keeps eating spark plugs. Colder plugs or regular temperature plugs the thing just destroys them all. Thanks in advance for any help =)

How would I know if I "popped a few pistons"? My car seems to run fine, and the reason I went to AL 104's is because it was running lean and I was told that could help to keep it running a little colder and keep it from destroying the plugs. Now that I fixed the lean issue, I don't have to worry much about it burning plugs. But that doesn't explain why it keeps ruining spark plugs? I'm not sure what to do since this is my only car and I don't have the money to buy a new one. Hm. Not quite sure what to do here.

That is very very bad!! You have some major holes somewhere,

I'm pretty sure, then, that all of my pistons are probably messed up since one time I had cylinder 3 plug that got messed up, cylinder 4 plug, and cylinder 5 plug messed up. So far those are the 3 I've had problems with. And each one was only once I think. What would cause the pistons to come up and hit the plug like that?

That probably means I need to possibly do a rebuild then?

I'm not sure how to swap an engine. Plus, none of the junkyards around me have GTP engines unfortunately

I think I remember reading somewhere on the GP forums that it is more powerful topswapping the N/A with the GTP top because the N/A engine had higher compression, but it was a lot tougher to get the tune right

I don't have any equipment to pull/swap an engine though or the know how =/

This is all quite interesting, but money is unfortunately quite an issue =/

Maybe if I can save up some money over the summer when I have the summer off of classes I'll see if I can get a N/A 3800 and do the top swap. If I can get a reliable good shape engine, I want to get a tune so I can drop a pulley size or two. I was thinking going to a 3.5 on my car because a lot of guys say it doesn't make it much less reliable than stock. But right now I a tune and a MPS away from that