what would you do?

hey guys, take the poll to see what seems best for a first time mod on a ga.

I put an 'audio system' into my '93, mostly because the factory speakers had rotted out.
I love my car, but seriously I don't think I would command any respect if I put some wacky mod on it.

what motor do you have? if you have the 2.4L go with the ID intake. www.induction-dynamics.com i see that you put "chip" in your poll. i would stay far away from this mod, they mostly just make your car run richer which is not always good for performance. basicly you pay for a blinking box that does nothing.

My "basic" web site just has a few pictures, and it shows my first mod. The Low cost CAI.(and K&N drop in) Does make a difference though. Sounds really cool. My neighbor heard it one day, so he ask me what size engine I had in it. He was impressed @ how mean it sounded. I have a hard time going easy on the gas pedal, because I like to hear it roar. I'm looking @ doing the exhaust next. Can't wait to here it then.

I went with a delco chip , the hp didnt seem to change nor the engines running behaviour , the only thing I noticed is no top speed limiter and rev limiter was increased for higher rpm in each gear for more speed in each and so on. I did put the CAI on first , then exhaust , then i ported intakes and port polished the exhaust. Then I changed the exhaust again to higher displacement pipe. I gotta get some updated pics soon.

My first mod was to put a CAI but then I removed it because water during rain would go in.

I went back to the stock air filter because the way it is setup, it protects the engine from water going in because the way the filter is located and the air has to go in the main intake hose then goes into the air filter. The incoming air has to go from the bottom of the air filter and up and then go to the throttle body intake. The air filter might absorb some water but most of the would just fall back at the bottom of the air filter box and not ruin your engine with excessive water going into your engine.

I believe CAI is very good during summer and when it is not raining.

I'm not sure if I'm correct in my thinking, but if you look at how I did my CAI, I'm thinking if water gets to deep to where mine is buried, the original Ram Air, which is higher up would allow air to come into the intake, therefore preventing to much water to be sucked up in the intake. That's just my thoughts. I don't claim to know it all, so if some one disagrees, let me know, and what is your thought about if my CAI mixed with the stock Ram Air, would it be safe in wet weather?

Yes that makes perfect sense , i also heard blocking off the lowwer intake to the filter makes the ram air more forced induction.

I thought of blocking the original Ram Air so maybe the 3' inner diameter one would force better. I also thought about making a big scoop under the front end to scoop up the air better.

you could use both the original ram air and make an extra from that cai setup you got by putting its intake in front to force air in then youd have 3 ram tubes.

* = completed already

*Audio System
Cold Air Intake (parts on da way)
(wasn't on there but felt need to add) Headers
Exhaust
*Body Kit
Fuel Injectors
Chip
Lowering Kit
Supercharger
Nitrous Oxide

First mod I'd make is an engine swap from my 2.3L SOHC to a Supercharged 3.8L V6. Lot of work but it's fun and well worth it.

I say get an intake first and then move on to exhaust. Even with stock exhaust, car sounds mean with just an intake.

Agreed , I am changing back to the stock muffler to avoid noise pollution tickets will the stock muffler sound good even though the pipe diameter is larger and the resonator and cat converter removed? I miss having a louder intake than exhaust but I dont know how much ponies I will be sacrifing.

In my opinion, start with intake, then exhaust. Then go with better cams along with fuel injectors and fuel pump. Last, the chip. My reason for this is because there is no point in playing around with the computer until the engine breathes better and can supply the extra fuel needed to get more HP. Before all that though, I would first add better tires, then brakes, then suspension. After all the necessary stuff which will keep you on the road is done, then I will work on the engine. No point having an engine push my car to 150mph just to have stock supension bottom out, or not be able to stop, or worse, blow out a tire at that speed.

Just my .02c
Marc

No one mentions wheels. I guess that would be part of the body, but what is the effect of a COLD air intake? I'm not a street racer (yet) so what does it do?

Hmmm, I mentioned tires, but I did not mention wheels... I guess for looks that would be a good step. One advantage though to keeping the stock wheels if budget is an issue is that steel rims are extremly durable and strong. You can beat them up pretty good as opposed to mags or aluminum.

No one mentions wheels. I guess that would be part of the body, but what is the effect of a COLD air intake? I'm not a street racer (yet) so what does it do?

A CAI (Cold Air Intake) takes in colder more dense air from outside the car as opposed to warm air in the engine compartment. The benefit being you can mix more fuel with the denser air and get more horsepower.

Sweet, thanks...I feel more educated

The obvious choice isn't listed. Turbo.

I think a small turbo would work wonders on the 3.4's. For the life of me I cannot find a turbo kit forem but if the choice was out there Id choose a turbo and intercooler setup. What would you all suggest for a turbo fabrication , what turbo to use and how to lowwer compression properly for one.

You could go with shorter rods, or dished top pistons. Don't know of any for the GA, but I'm sure they're out there. As far as turbos go, Garret makes a wide variety of "generic" turbos and their site has application charts for matching the proper size turbo with a given engine size. The only problem with this is the need to fabricate parts, since there is no kit.

I majorly changed my opinion on the turbo for my grand am 3400 , I dont have the cash and its risky buisness. Thanks for the advice.

NP. Yes, it can be risky business. As far as I know, you can get 275HP out of a 2.4 Quad 4 according to the big wigs at GM. I don't about the V6 though.

I did alot of research into my setup talked to several tuner shops for advice. They figure my best bet would be to use a 125hp shot Wet nitrous kit they said it would be better than a dry kit more reliable and less destructive. The only problem they had with nitrous is the fact that people tend to get carried away with it. I dont drive the Grand Am for general purposes anymore so why not give I figure if I only drive it 3-4 times a month and perhaps use the nitrous once per night I shouldnt run into much trouble. Thanks for the advice If I ever buy a mustang or something like that Im sure forced Induction will be alot easier to install since everyone and there dog makes kits for them and most are bolt on ready to play type parts. But for now the Grand Am will have to do for nights of tricking and playfull sprints at the lights. Its the only car I ever owned that I call "girl" the rest of the cars I own or owned I call my little buddies so the Grand Am she has a soft spot in my heart. lol

Every woman needs to driven hard once in a while;) lol so I think nitrous would be a good fix, especially for the short amount of time you drive it. The value of nitrous would be better than going with a turbo. If you used it daily or more frequently at least, than I would say go with a turbo because the power will always be there and you wouldn't be running to speed shops to fill a bottle of juice on a regular basis.

if u have the 3.4 grnad am i recomend the flowmaster exhaust. thats wut i have and it makes the car sound beast as hell, and i also recomend to stay away from chips because unless u do anything major to ur engine they dont really do anything the only thing they could do is fry ur computer

That's an awesome price for that kit. Plus it's a garret turbo.

if u have the 3.4 grnad am i recomend the flowmaster exhaust. thats wut i have and it makes the car sound beast as hell, and i also recomend to stay away from chips because unless u do anything major to ur engine they dont really do anything the only thing they could do is fry ur computer
2 years with a Delco PC performance upgrade and no problems , the only problem I had was sending it out to texas and waiting for its return. It allows the engine accept changes in air fuel tightens up the transmission lines and best of all raised the rev limits. Never heard of them frying the computer or anyone else whos had a chip or pc upgrade install. Ill look into it more , just kinda find that odd myself. Up untill a few weeks ago we havent had much exhaust available here from the states (back orders) so I had to change my exhaust system from the headers to the tail pipe myself. Too bad cus I had the money to do a catback setup but they just kept back ordering. Oh well I got a unique ghetto exhaust its more like a race car setup with a lack of mufflers.

^^^^^^^^^^^^ I with marc on this. If the ride isn't a ground-sticker or fast-stopper, all the rest is really useless.

No, Tam!!! Not YOU!!! The n00bs have finally got you too!! You're the last person I would think would resserect a nearly 1/2 year old thread. LoL

Supercharge it cause most likely that will be the most expensive thing that you have to do.

boost baby....booooooost :evillol:

...:banghead:... I didn't even see it, sheesh, call me blind but never late for dinner, LOL.

I thought the CAI was the easiest and cheapest mod. Sounds really nice too. The next would be the exhaust but it's expessive if you cant do the work your self. I costum made mine, I bought headers, a new 3.5 in converter and put the muffler right after the coverter then reduced it to 3in. and put a Y in and ran the dauls over the axles and put the dual tips from a GA GT muffler. It looks stock and sounds stock, untill you stand on the gas. It's all stainless for around $500 --the headers which were 600$ and the hours I spent bending pipe and welding it up. But replacing the factory converter to the tail pipes will give your car an incressed performance with out voiding your warrarty. My gas milage even got better, I assume the engine just doesn't have to work as hard to accellerate ie. better MPG.

Buy a Trans Am. :icon16:

my dude has a 98 with a full body kit on it and it looks raw...dont think it would look right on my 4 door tho lol