Grand Am off topic thread

[Hoags]

Good for you, my Daughter turns 16 in a couple of days, in PA she has to wait at ;east 6 months and log so maby supervised driving miles before taking the test.

I still have to find her a car! She is not driving mine.

[Ridenour]

Originally Posted by Knifeblade_03

Ruh Roh, ride and grandam are getting devious . Hell, to be so young to be able to play like that again, sigh,

Anyhoo, best to both of you dudes in your educational and modifying endeavors!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Attack Pig

Originally Posted by Hoags

You guys think it's tough with the "P's" believe me iy doesn't get any easier with the wife, I can'i even hide any mods...She sees the check book.LOL.

All I can say is go it while you can...because, unless you marry a car person the days of hyped -up rides could be over. I'm sure it's not like this foe every guy that gets married buy I've seen it an awful not with the guys I know.

I know I'll get a chance to play after the kido's have left the nest, I'll wait the way technology is going things will be better and less expensive. Then I can claim "lost childhood insanity" and just go nuts!!!!

Dan

LoL Thanks tam and dan. Yeh myself and grandam are still in the prime of our "covert modding" years. We're havin fun while we still can!

Originally Posted by grandamdriver52

haha, thanks. What can u do that is totaly unseen when some one was to pop the hood and look in it?...u see, if u have been to the post about the 1994 grand prix 3.1 Vs. 1995 grand am 3.1L, im going to race him in august and i know for sure that mine is a bit faster but i want to totaly smoke him, and just so ya know im a person that has to go big, or not at all (when it comes to the stuff that im aloud to do).

Well it's hard to find a place to begin, but I'll see what I can think of right now. There's just so much miniscule crap.

If you can't modify intake, buy a K&N drop in filter.
Remove MAF screen
Remove intake resonator
Different plugs and wires (if you can find black wires they'll still look stock)
Billeted Underdrive pulley - will look different, but he'd have to be way down beside the engine looking in order to notice
Tire pressure - commonly neglected - more pressure, especially in the rear tires, will make it easier to get up to speed. Run a couple PSI in the rear tires above reccomended.
Always turn off ETS
Run premium
Depending on your 02 sensor location, you may be able to remove your cat.
and then the biggest of them all.... WEIGHT REDUCTION!! - I successfully dropped about 100-125 pounds back in the day weight-reducing my grand am, and it's all stuff that won't even be seen.

ITEM ----------------- TOTAL SAVED WEIGHT, pds

steel plates in doors ------ 4
intake resonator -----------2
childseat anchor plates --- 15
sound deadening --------- 20
tar mats / blankets ------- 20
Spare tire (doughnut) ---- 30
Spare tire jack ----------- 15
Rear floor mats (not used) -- 4

That's a grand total of 110 pounds! And if you were to sort through and eliminate all the other shit you don't need laying around in your trunk, glove box, console, ect., that would probably be another 15 pounds, which would bring you up to 125 pounds total savings. So let's do the math:

stock curb weight: roughly 3100 pounds
stock horsepower: 155 HP
power to weight ratio: 0.05

new curb weight: roughly 2990 pounds
difference = 110 pounds X 0.05 = 5.5 HP

So roughly, if you didn't do any mods, and merely removed all that weight (and mine was conservative), it would feel like you had added roughly 5 HP. - and that's just with weight reduction. Now let's look at some of the mods I talked about earlier.

MOD --------- % INCREASE OF HP (out of 100) -------TOTAL CUMALITVE HP

STOCK ---------------------------------------------- 155

K&N drop in filter --------------- 0.03 -----------------159
Remove MAF screen ------------ 0.02 ---------------- 162
Remove intake resonator ------- 0.01 ----------------- 163
Different plugs and wires ------- 0.01 ----------------- 164
Billeted Underdrive pulley ------- 0.05 ----------------- 170
Always turn off ETS ---- preventing loss of roughly --- 2 hp on launches
Run premium ---------- preventing loss of roughly --- 2 hp under knocking
Cleaning grounds / terminals --- preventing loss of roughly -- 1 hp electric
Removing Cat / simulated 02 sensor --- 0.04 ------------175

So with those mods / actions, under the right conditions, you would essentially be running 175 hp at the crank with a stock curb weight. Now with the weight reduction that I talked about earlier, it would feel more like 180 HP.

Hope that gives you some ideas. So through mods, and increasing you power to weight ratio, you could add about 25 HP. - none of which would be seen. It might be a little liberal, but I'd still say you could sack an additional 20 hp at the crank. Ask if you want more in depth info about any of those mods, or any others you're considering. Happy modding!

[grandamdriver52]

sry about this but whst is a MAF screen, the Billeted Underdrive pulley, and Cat / simulated 02 sensor?...sry, i only know so much right now. thats why i ask so i can know more. thanks

[Knifeblade]

DAYUM, Ride!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wow, that was cool.

Sheesh, ya completely forgot that some enamel black over a billet pulley will better camo it, sheesh . U devious dudes!!!!!!!

Attack Pig

[Knifeblade]

grandam, a billeted pulley is generally a lightweight and sometimes drilled pulley that is much lighter weight than the factory one. As result, it saves weight and adds to performance.

[Knifeblade]

Dan, all I can say is sympathy on your insurance bill, sigh.

Attack Pig

[Knifeblade]

Grandam, do NOT hesitate to ask, what we here for, only dumb ? is the one not asked, my opinion.

Tam

[Hoags]

Grand Am, I'm with kinfe on this one Please DO NOT be afraid to ask any question, that's what the forum is all about. Besides, we would rather a young guy like yourself ask the questions instead of just jumping in on something and getting things fouled up to the point that you end up with a tow to the Pontiac garage to get it fixed( big time repair bill) most of us regular guy's have been through enough with our GA's that we can at the very least work together to resolve the issue. The only way to learn about this stuff is to ask or experience, and we've experienced so all you have to do is ask!!!

Hey Ride, I'll give you a day or so to recover after the long post...lot's of great info. You go..boy!!

Knife: thanks for the sympathy... I'm about to register as a non-profit organization. At least I'd be able to get government subsities...lol.

"Hail to the Attack Pig!!!"

[Hoags]

Oh Yea,

Knife, very profound statement:

The only dumb question is the one not asked.

Keep up the good work.

Another sleepless night here, 4:00am Thank god for the Forum, Cartoon Network sucks at this time on a Sunday morning.

[Knifeblade]

Grandam, the MAF body is in the air hose running from air cleaner to throttle body, there is a screen sometimes at the MAF to further filter air intaking into engine. That's what ride is saying.

The simulated 02 sensor is a dummy sensor [aftermarket] that replaces the cat. convert. sensor when the cat. is removed, so the ECM still "thinks" the cat. is there.

[grandamdriver52]

hm...ic now, yea, i got some answers to thoughs by my dad yesterday and he was wondering y i was asking them questions. thought the best thing to do then was to shut up so he dosnt know. well, i cant get a K&N fillter anywhere in town so i will have to see where to get one (cant get one off the net cause it would be dilivered to my house and the rents will find out). i so cant wait to get my cd player and speakers. I will have quite a bit of money to spend cause i get confermed today and i have a couple of bucks right now the way it is. i lost $20 check yesterday in the wash so there goes part of it. thanks alot guys.

o yea, the part about me either going to college or tech school, i think im going to pick tech cause i want to work on cars or electrical stuff. Electrica...dont need to ask any quest on stereo stuff cause thats my specialty...haha.

[Hoags]

Well guys, The wife left me the GAGT today because the SES light came on and of course out of gas. I took the GT to AutoZone to get the code read...showed po141 O2 sensor before the cat. I picked up a bosch sensor for $20.00 and climbed under the car. I had to cut one my 7/8" wrench in half to beable to get to the nut on the sensor. but all in all not too bad of a repair. The only thing about it is that the car doesn't run any different, but the lights out. Sometimes I think the tollerances are way too low for the SES light, now I find out from a post that GTPDad did that the newer models are throwing code for a burnt out bulb. I wonder how much idiot proof ther are going to make these things. What ever happened to checking out your car every once in a while for thing like bad bulbs? I check mine when I give it a bath which is pretty often ( I hate a dirty ride). Any way I just wanted to throw that stuff out there.

Hang in there everyone,
Dan

[grandamdriver52]

sounds like you had a job. yea, but now you can cruise around it your GA.

[grfnkl]

I feel every computer has a different tolerance for trouble codes... I got the SES the other day, all i was told a hose was disconnected, I figure a vacuum hose, but hears the kicker i was told by my mechanic, that according to the comp, i was doing 84 mph?!! I have not hit those speeds in awhile. I think the comp in my car has a delayed reaction to things...
Supposively there is a light to tell you a light is out, it doesn't seem to matter people since there are a lot of rides with lights out, especially the taillights on the G/a's.( i know i have one out myself right now) I've never gotten a svs light for a light...

[grfnkl]

random thought on the SES light, how come lets say the change oil light comes on you get an annoying chime in the car, but if the SES light comes on Nothing? one would think that it would chime when that light comes on... Then again this could be my car not doing what it's susposed to.