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Starting to mod

T

Towcat

New member
I KNOW this subject has been beat to death and that you guys are sick of questions and i fully understand that. But my 98 is box stock and i think i have a good understanding of what to do and the order i should do them in. I'll list it in the order i'm planning to do it in.
1. Turn motor mounts and build a CAI or possibly order one. Haven't quite decided yet and 180* tstat
2. Front Powerlog, 3" catted DP, ubend delete, and new plugs. Thinking 606's for plugs and MSD 8.5 plug wires
3. 3800 performance PCM and 3.4 pulley
4. Ported TB and Supercharger housing, but thats a while down the road.
I just want a good quick street car that i can still daily drive on premium pump gas. If you think i missed something or need to add something tell me.
 


i wouldnt mess with a 180* tstat. dont buy a plog, buy speed daddy headers(better than a plog and comes with a downpipe) yes for ubend delete. i'm not sure how many heat ranges colder a 606 is, but i would only step down 1 heat range. plug wires get you nothing other than looks. 3.4 definitely needs a tune....no need for a ported tb in the beginning you wont outflow stock for a long time.
 
Skip the 180 thermostat, not needed.

Plog and 3in downpipe is fine if he doesnt want to do headers. Downpipe already gets rid of the u-bend.

Air fuel wideband and scangauge are a must in my eyes. A tune is wanted for sure, I'd never run a 3.4 pulley without a tune but I'd also never run a vendor's canned tune either. Every car is not the same and does not accept every mod the same way, so a tune for one car doesnt work the next all the time.

Ported TB would require a custom tune no matter what, no canned tune could ever get the MAF readings correct. It's impossible to guess at that stuff. And you won't be outflowing the stock throttle body yet anyway.
 
As long as a can tune is safe to daily i'd be satisfied. I'm not looking for a racecar just a good hot streeter. Who within 200 mi of minneapolis/st. paul tunes these cars?
 


Plogs are a waste (IMO), functionally 1/2 a header. Seeing as the exhaust manifolds are the biggest restriction, plus that UBend, I would suggest headers as a first mod. It will set up not only what you want to do, but anything in the future too.

Good throttle gains, feel, result from TB and SC housing opening... But as mentioned, any change in air intake, exhaust, or sc rpm (3.4) should be addressed in the PCM in order to ACHIEVE the best results from adding/changing those functions.

A Wideband isn't necessarily needed up front and is a big investment, but will give the most accurate reads of that your combustion is doing. But that said, if you plan to drop pulleys, you'll need to monitor for KR in some form. The cheapest, easiest is an Android Phone with an ELM/BT OBDII reader along with the Torque App.

You shouldn't drop thermostat temp unless tuned for it in PCM, again, no gain unless fan on/off settings are changed as well.

Plugs... Eh, @3.4, not sure they're really needed to be cooler. But add 1.9RR's to that mod group and a range cooler would be set for sure.

Keep in mind the benefit/cost relationship...

CHEAP/FAST/RELIABLE

You can only have two of them at any time, chose wisely. Read the modding your 3800 thread, read it again, then some more.

But yeah, with just a few simple, easy, safe mods, you can give your GP a little punch. A word of caution though, it'll leave ya wanting more. Then a little more, lol...

:D
 
It can't be stated enough, scan scan scan..... don't make assumptions. I had a GTP that had knock on a Gen3 3.5 / headers / 180 t-stat / AL104's / HAI before I tuned it.... even though the forum parrots stated that I should have been good to jump straight to 3.4 on my mods.
 
Thermostats and a solid tune-up are some of the most over looked things.

A mechanically crappy car (gaskets, vac leaks, fluids, etc.) isn't a good way to start things, either.
 
blueguy said:
Thermostats and a solid tune-up are some of the most over looked things.

A mechanically crappy car (gaskets, vac leaks, fluids, etc.) isn't a good way to start things, either.
Click to expand...

Came in here to quote this. I would much rather do a complete tune up on the car than throw go fast stuff at it first and then have to tear it back down in a month.
 
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