Thread: best first mods to do

Thats a good start. Next thing i would do is get a tuned PCM made by DHP or Overkill. Both are great. Then get you an intake that makes you car breath.

Heres a few links for making your own. Not hard to do at all, and will save you tons of money.

How to - Cold Air intake

http://tacgp.clubgp.com/custom_mods/...ake/index.html

Tools

Hope that helps. Last 2 are my fav.

The u bend delete and colder plugs are the cheapest and easiest first mods you can do.. I would follow those up with and intake and downpipe, then you will be ready for the 3.4 pulley and dhp pcm.

i started with a pcm. ill be doing an intake, downpipe, colder plugs, colder thermo, pulley and tune all within a few days of each other.

or you could just go with the stock and ground down snout and 2.55 pulley..

my car liked the 3.25 better than the 3.4 for some reason....

but you first mods are a step in the right direction. I would add the tune, then the pulley.

Originally Posted by kyle99gtp

or you could just go with the stock and ground down snout and 2.55 pulley..

And Make Your Car Go BOOM!!! It takes alot of mods to safely run a 2.55 my friend. Grinding down your snout is not a bad idea to accommodate future smaller pulleys. But just putting on the 2.55 and nothing else is a bad, bad, idea.

Just my 2 cents.

-Ryan

Best upgrade on a starting stock build for the track is better TIRES!!!! Well there are other things you can do, but tires will get you off the line faster and really help out. The stock Goodyears arent very good in the traction depertment or on 20mph kicks with a few bolt-ons so better tires are a very good upgrade right off the bat. Exhaust is a good start also, getting rid of the restrictive stock downpipe really helps chop down KR. One thing you should really do before anything else is make sure the engine is sound. Make sure there are no vacuum leaks, commonly found from bad lower intake gaskets, bad supercharger and throttle body gaskets. Replace the fuel filter if history is unknown, check ignition wires and coil terminals for the wires so they arent corroded. Colder spark plugs are definately a good idea, especially if you are dropping pulley size. A good tune will really help you out as well. Higher shift points and firmer shift settings are good for a few tenths off your time at the track.

My First mods were as followed
U-Bend deleted no res and a high flow cat,
3 inch stainless pipe back to the Y pipe
with Flow Master 40's
The next day was the cold air intake CAI or FWI your choice.
I was ok with this for about 1 1/2 months then in went the 3.4
and the DHP 104 plugs and 4 core plug wires..
The 3.4 and the tune did wonders to the car to wake it up...
I now have my SLP headers to put on and 3" DP and should be happy
for a little while... Though getting a bigger TB (75) just works wonders with
the rest of these mods as well.. and if you so wish to take this further
just puts you one step closer.
Remember when doing the CAI to get yourself a 99 coolant bottle
and relocate it.
These mods that are listed here do not require you to do
further engine mods ---> rockers cam ect.... and runs
very nice...
Two things to remember when modding your ride...
1) Know what you want from your car and ask members lots of questions,
there are alot of very smart ppl on here been there done that and know what they are talking about...
2) If you want to play you are going to pay ... so roll up them sleves
and enjoy the mods....

Mines got a 125k on the clock now Brian and still ticking. I do realize mine does not have near the mods your car does though.

Originally Posted by rynoman03

And Make Your Car Go BOOM!!! It takes alot of mods to safely run a 2.55 my friend. Grinding down your snout is not a bad idea to accommodate future smaller pulleys. But just putting on the 2.55 and nothing else is a bad, bad, idea.

Just my 2 cents.

-Ryan

little bit of sarcasm on my part. lol i dont think anyone is dumb enough to try to pull that off.

just make sure you dont boost stack.

Im sure opinions are going to vary widely on this but having done a little work on mine (nothing major) I wish I had known about the advice of getting a scanner and/or tuner first. If nothing else I could have gotten a really good base line for the car and had been learning earlier about tuning. So I think something rated even higher than #1 would be to get a scanner and/or a tuner.

That said, I think given the design of the GP that it lends itself to some early mods that should be done no matter what, so I will list those. Im sure there may be some debate on this but thats what makes this all good.

1. U-bend delete
Now this can be in the form of a down pipe combo and done with or without the catalytic converter. In hindsight I wish I had my exhaust done with bolt in components, but I just had a three inch pipe put in from the collector back to the Y, and took out the catalytic converter and resonator.

I like it, it just doesnt leave me any real flexibility if I should want to do a cat back or some other type of exhaust set up. However, the U-bend is problematic, so definitely work on getting that out of there.

2. Intake

There is going to be a wide flung opinion on which intake to go with. Personally I dont care for the Wizard, SLP (which I currently have) nor any of the others. I would go with either a home built fender well intake or a simple short open cone set up. The only aftermarket intake that I have cared for is the K&N FIPK set up because it sorta combines the two concepts. Its a short intake but has a block off to keep the intake somewhat isolated from the engine bay. I havent been able to get my hands on one of these yet. I would like to try one of these out.

3. 180* Thermostat

Irregardless of what car it is, this is a good thing to do. Most thermostats are at 195* and that is just too high in my opinion. That high of temp is mainly to make the fuel ignite easier. Put in a drilled 180* T-stat and tune thing and spare your engine some stress.

4. Dump Dex Cool

As soon as you can, dump the orange stuff and go with a green all makes and models coolant. I have pictures of how nasty that stuff can be. Cost me a radiator. I know, I know, keep it topped off and dont let it get exposed to air and it will be all good. That may be, but it still gels up and any coolant that sensitive to air I dont want in my car. I put in a coolant filter and all makes and models green coolant and Ive been a happy camper.

After that, you kinda need a plan of what you exactly want to do with the car. Is it going to be an occasional track car? If so, what kind of speeds and traps are you wanting to run. If you are just wanting a show car, then just do the basic stuff to give the car some longevity and work on the show pieces.

Okay, hope this helps out.

a little research huh?

LOL. Dont be hatin'..

You're following me around and doggin me man, dont be that way, LOL I cant help it if I like to be informative, type alot and long winded.

hey, dont hate the playa hate the game! lol