Upgrading the Bonneville

Hey all,

I want to know what be a good way to improve my Bonneville for better performance. It's a stock V6 with the factory supercharger. Fully loaded car, got performance suspension already, just need to know what i can do to imporve it.

Any tips of performance superchargers that i can replace my current one with? What about buying 2 turbos to add to the system that's already there, would that work??

Just need to know what my options are, i've got 4 grand for a budget and am open to pretty well anything but stripping it down.

:)

Something i forgot to mention, i want to increase my 0-60 time and up my top end by at least 20 mph. It already will run an estimated 145 mph (though i've never gotten it there), but i'd like the potential to do around 165, if not more.

I raced a newer RX7 on the freeway the other day, and i stopped at 125 but he kept going and really pushed it. I heard from TATII that RX7's can do 155, and i'd like to stay ahead of at least ONE sport car on the road!!

:D

well, i would upgrade most of the stock engine parts to high performace parts. Like the cams, lifters, pistons, camshaft, injectors...etc all the normal stuff, they if it isn't enough I would consider looking for a decent bolt-on supercharger.

The first thing you need to do is test the actual speed limit of the car, please do not do this anywhere in town. Speed is fun, but VERY dangerous. If it does topout at say 145 and you want 165, then you need to get your tranny regeared, or a new one all together.

is it stick or auto? eitherway if you get a significant hp boost you will need to replace it.

if it is auto and you are looking for better 0-60 look for a racing torque converter.


A rx-7 is no joke car, their stock topend is something like 156mph. if you drop about 25 grand into it you can get 600 some ponies before NOS, and with a new tranny you can easily reach speeds up to 200mph. I met up with a guy driving a rx-7 and we did a 80mph rollon and he absolutely devistated me and I was on my R6. Even if i was on my R1 I wouldn't have been able to keep up, if you have ever watched any of the walser supra videos this mazda would have been able to stay door to door.

However with a good setup a bonneville can murder stock rustangs, and would blow away civics with holes in their muffler.

first step would be to setup a budget :)

first things first... get a free-er flowing cat-back exhaust. not only will that exhaust minimize restriction(meaning more power), you'll also get a louder exhaust note. along with the cat back, also get headers(if they make them for your car), and high flow catylitic converters. you'll aslo benefit from a free-er flowing air intake.

next, you can crank up the boost by getting a different pulley for the supercharger. the pulley will boost your power levels significantly. to increase top speed, you may need an aftermarket computer chip to eliminate the top speed govenor.

a shift kit will also help in the, but whats more crucial are your tires. high traction=faster 0-60 times.

i wouldnt recommend putting a twin turbo set up. stay with your s/c since your on $4g budget.

also upgrade your brakes if you plan to go that fast.

peace.

Nothing against your car, but it most likely won't be worth since the trans cant handle any more power. Its only rated to handle the 280 or so ft-lbs or torque that it has. But if you do, your going to need to beef up the trans. I'd say also go with the whole exhaust system, intercooler, and a different pulley on the supercharger.
Dont go to a twin turbo setup as i don't think any turbo kit exists for the 3.8 right now so it would have to be a custom made setup.

Guess my turbo idea is out, alright, i'm gonna try a little of everything said here and see what all i can come up with.

As for it not being worth it.........well, considering the car's been so good to me and i like the economy of it being able to haul people around, in theory it's cheaper to keep it and upgrade it instead of buying a whole new car to modify.

The Bonneville is an auotmatic, they don't make these bigger cars with a stick until you get into BMW etc, of the same year. Even the new Bonnevilles don't have an automatic "sport shift" like the intrepid, so that kinda sucks.

It's ok though, i prefer an automatic in racing a straight line, easier to play with it and don't need to try and find a gear.

R1 Rider how much will everything you suggested cost? I've only got about 4 grand to use and i think your suggestions are best, but i don't know what i'm looking at for price, help me out dude!

:cool:

I'm saying it most likely wont be worth it because unless you do anything something to beef the trans up, and you put 4 grand into parts to make more power, your trans wont last wery long. I wouldnt recomend upgrading the supercharger then, but the exhaust and intake could be done and a chip for higher speed like R1 said, but anyhting more will almsot certainly tear apart your trans. Another thing you could do is change the final drive ratio in your car. It will lower you top speed, but most likeyl not noctibly, but give you better acceleration as the final gear in the GTP/SSEI/Park Avuene Ultra, is 2.93 if i remember right now that gear in the N/A versions of those cars is 3.05.

there is no point in upgrading a lot of your internals unless you're going to be running more boost in the s/c. you most likely will be unable to raise compression due to the s/c, and new injectors aren't needed untill you need the extra gas.