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Please spot the bull**** in this car ad

J

Josh Ehlert

New member
Hey everyone. i just obtained a 99 "GTP" today. Here is the add:

01 Grand Prix GTP

Copy and pasted in case the add gets deleted:

For sale or trade is my 01 GTP. It has ported and polished heads with 1.9 YT rockers, LS6 springs and retainers, Crow push rods. It also has full dynomax catback exhaust. Pillar pod with boost, afr, and oil pressure. Car has 126k on it. Brand new tires. New brakes. 180* Tstat. ZZP 1.0 Tune. AC works but needs a recharge. Not as cold anymore.

I had an iffy feeling that the car wasnt a "real" gtp when i looked at it but I went ahead anyway. Using a vin decoder I found that this car came with an l36 engine (non supercharged?) leading me to believe I have a top swapped gt. Which is fine, but I would like to know what im getting into. My concerns:

-Assuming this is a top swapped car what should I look for to ensure this car was modded safely?
-Is there any readily easy way to tell if it was top swapped?
-The security light is blinking (said it was due to the tune)

I will grab some pics tonight. The car is on a stock pulley,doesnt have any typical gtp options (leather, DIC, HUD, or performance shift. The guy said he brought the car to michigan to have zzperformance tune it.
5Q55Ed5H43Ga3I73o8c8k923ad7b7cd801b47.jpg

5Hb5M25S23na3M43Lec8k9c15508464431605.jpg

5E55X55M53Gc3I63Ldc8k9371a35fb2041b43.jpg


Let me know if there is anything anyone wants a pic of specifically. Thank you in advance.
 


Not sure what you are driving at. Is that he is saying that it supposedly was custom tuned at ZZP, but also states that it has a ZZP 1.0 canned tune? Seems like he did a decent job of describing it other than the fact that he basically can't verify it. I think he has a disclaimer in there that he doesn't know, but is repeating what he was told. It's got the ZZP sticker in the window(add 10 HP). LOL
 
Almost everything makes sense. Yes, it is a top swapped car. You'll have to do some digging when you see the car in person to find out if it actually has everything he states it does on it. The only thing I would be iffy about is the tune. If he has the ZZP 1.0 canned tune, he would have sent in his PCM and they would have sent it back. He wouldn't have drove to Michigan to get it tuned.

Btw, listed as an 01 but you said you bought a 99.
 
The car is a 2001, my bad, I must have been thinking of the 99 I use to own when I was typing out the thread. I already have the car. Is there any way by just looking at the pcm to see if it had been tuned? Im sure I wont be able to actually see what kind of tune but maybe a marking zzp may put on the ecu itself?

Btownmills said:
Almost everything makes sense. Yes, it is a top swapped car. You'll have to do some digging when you see the car in person to find out if it actually has everything he states it does on it. The only thing I would be iffy about is the tune. If he has the ZZP 1.0 canned tune, he would have sent in his PCM and they would have sent it back. He wouldn't have drove to Michigan to get it tuned.

Btw, listed as an 01 but you said you bought a 99.
Click to expand...

Couldnt help but notice your less than an hour away from me. Maybe if im ever your way you can take a look at it. I wish I knew some people that could have looked at the car before I bought it but im not unhappy with it. Just wanna make sure that the top swap was done right and the motor isnt in any danger.
 
the pcm dont look any different after they put a canned tune on them but there might be a way to match the vin number or something to the car. im not sure how though. all the upgrades he did look legit to me but if its a top swap you really need to be running headers.
 


Josh Ehlert said:
The car is a 2001, my bad, I must have been thinking of the 99 I use to own when I was typing out the thread. I already have the car. Is there any way by just looking at the pcm to see if it had been tuned? Im sure I wont be able to actually see what kind of tune but maybe a marking zzp may put on the ecu itself?



Couldnt help but notice your less than an hour away from me. Maybe if im ever your way you can take a look at it. I wish I knew some people that could have looked at the car before I bought it but im not unhappy with it. Just wanna make sure that the top swap was done right and the motor isnt in any danger.
Click to expand...

I don't think they leave any markings on it. It would be a safe bet to say that it's a canned tune that he sent his PCM in for though. I doubt he would drive to Michigan to get a tune when there are tuners in the area. I'll try texting him and finding out for sure. But yeh, if you're ever out this way and trust what a 17 year old has to tell you then get ahold of me. I also agree with John, get headers as soon as possible.
 
I will move headers to the top of my list. As far as trusting what a 17 year old says, its not the age, its the experience, just because a person is young doesnt mean they dont know what their talking about.
 
Josh Ehlert said:
I will move headers to the top of my list. As far as trusting what a 17 year old says, its not the age, its the experience, just because a person is young doesnt mean they dont know what their talking about.
Click to expand...

That's definitely a wise choice. They will only run you around $200 + the cost of extra gaskets. A lot of people aren't like that, they see a kid and automatically decide not to trust them lol. You would be surprised.
 
Btownmills said:
That's definitely a wise choice. They will only run you around $200 + the cost of extra gaskets. A lot of people aren't like that, they see a kid and automatically decide not to trust them lol. You would be surprised.
Click to expand...

Im 24 and an assistant manager at my work, auto parts store... and I know my job very well, most of my customers have gotten to know that Im dependable, but I still get the older guys that come in and I say hello can I help you? and they go LOL YEAH RIGHT and go to my 60 year old coworker next to me.

Though, he sucks at using the computer system and cant find stuff a lot so I get to laugh inside when the customer needs my help anyways :D
 
I've been down that road also. Im 23, I was a crew leader at the plant I use to work at. I was about 6 months away from being supervisor, and people hated having to listen to me. All the older guys would talk **** and no one wanted to listen, they didnt understand I knew my job VERY well. Then they would be in the office a few days later fighting for their job. I didnt take no ****. People need to understand that age isnt everything. Stupid people come in all ages.

EDIT:: Im going to do some searching on what a good set of headers is, is there gonna be any surprises when it comes to installing them? As long as its a bolt on and doesnt require any welding of any sort ill be fine. The headers I just looked at seemed to have a v-band flange and I dont know if the grand prix exhaust is a v band or not.
 


I think your biggest concern would be pistons and rods due to the difference in compression ratio.
Is it a top swapped L36 or a complete L67 transplant?
This would make a difference when deciding on what else to do with the engine.

For instance; if it's an L67 then there would not be an immediate concern for headers with a stock pulley.
 
Josh Ehlert said:
I've been down that road also. Im 23, I was a crew leader at the plant I use to work at. I was about 6 months away from being supervisor, and people hated having to listen to me. All the older guys would talk **** and no one wanted to listen, they didnt understand I knew my job VERY well. Then they would be in the office a few days later fighting for their job. I didnt take no ****. People need to understand that age isnt everything. Stupid people come in all ages.

EDIT:: Im going to do some searching on what a good set of headers is, is there gonna be any surprises when it comes to installing them? As long as its a bolt on and doesnt require any welding of any sort ill be fine. The headers I just looked at seemed to have a v-band flange and I dont know if the grand prix exhaust is a v band or not.
Click to expand...

There's a thread I believe in the general tech discussion subforum that has all the information you'll need on headers. Basically, from cheapest to most expensive: Speed Daddy (SSAC knockoff), SSAC, ZZP, SLP, TOG. Might be missing a few, but meh. I bought Speedy Daddy for less than 200 new off of Ebay. They get the job done, and are bolt on. Here's the thread: http://www.grandprixforums.net/header-manifold-thread-25922.html read up.
 
Don't waste your money on these cars when it comes to headers. Get the speed daddy's and be done. Some complain about a slight ticking from the flex pipe but its a hit or miss in my opinion with that problem. Installing... B-I-T-C-H on your own. With two people P-I-T-A still. It'll take a few hours doing it. My advice, install with new gaskets (felpros), using original manifold bolts is fine so long as you dont break them getting them out, get high temp rtv and seal up all joints, go to NAPA and get wider stainless band clamps, and call it a day. If you have problems with the O2 sensor hitting the firewall and/or being too short in wire length, get the zzp extending harness and go to an exhaust shop and tell them to weld in a new O2 bung so that you have clearance. Don't waste your time splicing those O2 wires. Its a braided stainless steel wire and those bad boys will hate you for modifying the resistance with new solder/wire/etc.
 
Rico said:
I think your biggest concern would be pistons and rods due to the difference in compression ratio.
Is it a top swapped L36 or a complete L67 transplant?
This would make a difference when deciding on what else to do with the engine.

For instance; if it's an L67 then there would not be an immediate concern for headers with a stock pulley.
Click to expand...

How would I tell the difference?
 


kyle91 said:
Don't waste your money on these cars when it comes to headers. Get the speed daddy's and be done. Some complain about a slight ticking from the flex pipe but its a hit or miss in my opinion with that problem. Installing... B-I-T-C-H on your own. With two people P-I-T-A still. It'll take a few hours doing it. My advice, install with new gaskets (felpros), using original manifold bolts is fine so long as you dont break them getting them out, get high temp rtv and seal up all joints, go to NAPA and get wider stainless band clamps, and call it a day. If you have problems with the O2 sensor hitting the firewall and/or being too short in wire length, get the zzp extending harness and go to an exhaust shop and tell them to weld in a new O2 bung so that you have clearance. Don't waste your time splicing those O2 wires. Its a braided stainless steel wire and those bad boys will hate you for modifying the resistance with new solder/wire/etc.
Click to expand...

Awesome advice. Hopfeully it wont be too bad.
 
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