Performance News

Ok, so i finally tested the car for 0-60...i got a buddy to sit in the car with a stop watch and we went nuts in a parking lot, did the run 3 times and took the average, first 5.3, second was 5.5, third was 5.4. My car is so quick, i love it! :D

I would also like to take the opportunity to tell everyone i've quit smoking for 10 days now.

The low profile tires are gone. It's too much of a hassle to have a car sitting 3 inches from the ground when it's 15 feet long and has a 5 inch speedbump to deal with! (the car is ok, it was just scary)

I also wanted to know if anyone has any suggestions for more mods i can do to the car...i won 3 grand in a raffle lottery at a ritzy party Friday night and the car needs more things. Any suggestions? I want to toss on another 20 horses and add another 30 lb/ft of torque.

Finally, the biggest news...i'm heading back to Calgary from Toronto as we speak, (left the other day and have stopped at a cousin's now) and on the way i just happened to pass a 5 litre stang. It was about a '92 or so i'd say...dark blue with fat chrome tail pipes.

Anyways, so i get next to the car and the guy driving is in this 30s or so, with aviator sunglasses. He looked like he'd be one to run against, so i tapped the horn and gestured. He nodded and held up his hand:

3......2......1

We were off. Started at 120km/h or so, so it was an interesting race. We both took off about the same time, though i had a bit of a jump cuz he had to downshift. I led him by about 5 feet to 180 and he backed off. I slowed down to a regular 110 and he cruised by with the thumbs up. It was a good race. I was surprised he kept up as well as he did tho, i think he may have done some work on it.

:cool:

i don't know if there's bigger injectors that'll go in there, if not do a pully swap on the sc and up the psi a bit, how high is it right now?

Nice indeed!

As for getting more power, the solution is simple. More boost!

perhaps you should look into brakes(which is very commonly overlooked) and suspension to handle your new power?

STICKERS:hehe:

Big car, big brakes.

The Bonneville is a W body right?

I honestly don't know what the psi is at, i just know it's set for optimum performance or whatever. I got the guys at the performance shop to tune the supercharger to go along with the new exhaust, calibrated tranny and the intercooler mods.

Stickers; :silly2:

I'm pretty sure the Bonneville is the W body, if it's not then i just know it's a Bonneville. The suspension i didn't think would make a difference, as i can electronically set it. I can have what is a 'regular ride', then a luxury ride, a soft ride, and performance ride in the suspension, which changes how stiff the car feels and handles as it corners. I keep it on performance because i like the tight feel of a solid racing suspension. These aren't the actual names for the suspension by the way, just what i call them.

As far as more boost...i was thinking about NOS but it's a little expensive. I was reading some other posts and noticed people have headers and such things listed as mods. Would new headers give me what i want? I've also been thinking of adding a turbo to the set-up i've already got. Would that be good or bad?

:frog:

I honestly don't know what the psi is at, i just know it's set for optimum performance or whatever. I got the guys at the performance shop to tune the supercharger to go along with the new exhaust, calibrated tranny and the intercooler mods.

Stickers; :silly2:

I'm pretty sure the Bonneville is the W body, if it's not then i just know it's a Bonneville. The suspension i didn't think would make a difference, as i can electronically set it. I can have what is a 'regular ride', then a luxury ride, a soft ride, and performance ride in the suspension, which changes how stiff the car feels and handles as it corners. I keep it on performance because i like the tight feel of a solid racing suspension. These aren't the actual names for the suspension by the way, just what i call them.

As far as more boost...i was thinking about NOS but it's a little expensive. I was reading some other posts and noticed people have headers and such things listed as mods. Would new headers give me what i want? I've also been thinking of adding a turbo to the set-up i've already got. Would that be good or bad?

:frog:

well you already have a supercharger so i dont think you can have both, but thats just what someone told me it may not be correct.

Yeah Racer D12 i've heard that too, but i also know that you can have a turbocharger that sits just before the muffler on the exhaust. I'm wondering if perhaps i could set up a twin turbo mount that way? I doubt it's do-able...i just need to find a way to up my power.

5.4 seconds is nice, but i'd like to make that a little quicker! ;)

There's no reason why you can't use nitrous and a supercharger. In fact, since the nitrous is heated under compression, and then cools to ambient air temperature in the bottle, it cools the compressed air charge a great deal after it passes through the intercooler, allowing even higher levels of boost!

As for the turbocharger idea, although deal charged engines have been made in the past, the only real benefit is decreased lag, which is not an issue on a properly built engine.

I'd be interested to know how they shop "tuned" the blower. While they could have opened it up and changed the compressers, I find it more likely they just changed the pulley to overdrive it. By using an even smaller pulley, you can increase the boost even more.

Since you have a supercharged engine, there is no turbine driven off of the exhaust, and good headers are essential. You might be able to pick up as much as 20-30 hp from a set of headers, considering all of your other modifications.

Smoking= BAD!
Going 0-60 in 5.3 seconds=GOOD!
Winning 3K in a raffle=GOOD!

Buy me some headers and a turbo :frog:

Im calling you out Student.

I find it rather hard to believe your Bonneville can pull a 5.4 0-60 time.

Lets look at some numbers...

Your car stock:
94 Bonneville SSEi
Horsepower: 225
Torque: 275
Weight: 3691lbs
FWD
0-60: 7.1
1/4: 15.4

94 Camaro Z28
Horsepower: 275
Torque: 325
Weight: 3424lbs
RWD
0-60: 5.7
1/4: 14.2

Now please, explain to me how your car with only 284hp, 286ft-lbs. Which is 9hp more and 39ft-lbs shy in the torque department. Not to mention 267lbs heavier. Lets not forget it is FWD... Can you explain to me how it can run a quicker time 0-60 than a stock Z28 of the same year?

I hope this isnt taken as a flame, Im just curious.

Well, the 240hp Bonnevilles could do 0-60 in 5.9 seconds. The advantage is the boost of the supercharger, giving better low end torque.

Actually, they cant...

95 Bonneville SE 0-60: 7.1 1/4 15.4
96 Bonneville SE 0-60: 7.3 1/4 15.8
98 Bonneville SE 0-60: 7.1 1/4 15.5

The SE models are still supercharged, but also only weigh 3442lbs. 245lbs lighter than the SSEi model... yet still cant break below 7.0.

running a 0-60 time of 5.9 would equal about a 14.3-14.5 1/4 time...ehhhh I dont think so..

and a 0-60 of 5.4 is like a 13.8 to 13.9 run... again I doubt it.

My proof... so you dont think I'm pulling these numbers out of my ass.
1/4 mile Times By stock Vehicles (http://www.missouri.edu/~apcb20/times.html#)
Technical data (http://www.edmunds.com)

its possable, I find it somewhat hard to believe

Then again, my car runnin like a 6.3 to a 6.8 0-60 I find hard to believe also. Do you have any tracks within 200 miles? 3 grand...I think you can spare 20 or so for a few runs to know your times ;)

anyway....enlighten us on your cars times, and what not, redneck called you out. Youve got enough creadabality (sp) here to where I wont say your lying, just currious is all.

Keep in mind Redneck he did say the S-charger was tweeked. So he's probably got more boost...+...other performance mods. Given human error on the stop watch I would say he's around high 5's. Like a 5.8-5.9 to 60. That's my take on it.:confused:

Very true Demon, but even with all his mods he's still only pruducing X amount of power... which is why I brought this up. He still weighs more, has less power over all than a stock Z28 of his year.. yet kills it performance wise?

And human error could be a large factor, reason magazines dont use stop watches any more in testing. Its all done at the track.

At no time do I think Student is lying, I respect his opinion on AF. Just I think the circumstances are hard to believe. But by all means prove me wrong. :)

Redneck, i'm glad you brought that up. I suppose i was so pumped at the numbers i didn't take into account the fact that there are reality checks to made considering the mathematics of the car.

I went down to a track to have the car actually tested...i don't want to look like a dumbass on here for having numbers that are inaccurate due to human error on the stop watch! (nice going Shawn, :flipa: )

Unfortunately i couldn't do a 1/4 mile run as they don't open that up for anyone until the evenings, but they did set me up on a 0-60 straight away. What they did was they had a laser-timing system set up every x number of feet to record your speed and time, and so i went from a stand still up to 110 km/h (100km/h is 60mph) and then shut it down.

I pulled off 5.979 seconds as my best time, the worst time was 6.351. Way slower then what i wanted. I think part of it is my tires, the other part is the fwd, the rest of it is in the automatic transmission. I now have true numbers to work with here, and i'm gonna guestimate that this time makes the 1/4 mile about 14.2 to 14.7 seconds...will have to try it out again once the headers are done.

So yes, i'll be getting some headers on the car, so i can shave off some time on that 0-60, but i have no idea what kind would work well...any suggestions?

:confused:

Human error.... It happens.

5.9 isnt too shabby at all. Keep it up.

What is the engine model? year? I'll make a few calls & check some stuff out for you.

Should be a Superchaged Series II 3800 V6 out of a 94 Bonniville SSEi.

But could be different...

My numbers came from Car & Driver... I remember noting at the time how 5.9 seconds was quite impressive for a heavy FWD sedan.

Redneck, you said:

Actually, they cant...

95 Bonneville SE 0-60: 7.1 1/4 15.4
96 Bonneville SE 0-60: 7.3 1/4 15.8
98 Bonneville SE 0-60: 7.1 1/4 15.5

The SE models are still supercharged, but also only weigh 3442lbs. 245lbs lighter than the SSEi model... yet still cant break below 7.0.

running a 0-60 time of 5.9 would equal about a 14.3-14.5 1/4 time...ehhhh I dont think so..

and a 0-60 of 5.4 is like a 13.8 to 13.9 run... again I doubt it.

My proof... so you dont think I'm pulling these numbers out of my ass.
1/4 mile Times By stock Vehicles
Technical data


You are stating SE model 0-60 times....SE's had only 170. or 205hp i believe and were not supercharged....SSEi's were the only trim you could get the SC'ed engine in.

Umm Yes you could.

You could get a Bonneville SE w/ Supecharged V6s

Proof (http://www.edmunds.com/used/1996/pontiac/bonneville/4drsesuperchargedsedan/overview.html?id=lin0056)

I'll highlight a section of the Article for the lazy people who dont like to read.

"The Bonneville benefits from a powerful base engine; a Series II 3.8-liter V6 that pumps out 205 horsepower and gets an amazing 30 miles per gallon on the highway.. New for 1996 is an optional 240-horsepower supercharged variant of the base V6, which replaces the old 225-horsepower supercharged 3.8-liter previously available. And, if you must have the supercharged engine but don't want all the goofy aero add-ons and tacky gold trim that come standard on the SSEi, you can get the blown motor in the base model. One stipulation exists, though; you've got to order the SLE package, which gives you some of the goodies that come with the SSE."

I do my homework.

this was asked a while ago... butt a s/c and turbo'ed car is definitely possible.. the only thing is that you can't run high boost on either forced induction device and that you'll have cooling headaches... you're gonna have to run twice the amount of intercoolers... and by the way... is your bonne intercooled(i'm too lazy to look).

Can headers really put out 20-30 more hp, seems a bit optimistic to me.... but what do i know? :D

Well, considering his other upgrades, the headers will probably be the restriction right now. That and the stock cylinder heads... Hey student, did they do any porting work at the shop? That would also make a really big difference.

Stillen headers put put 20+ or close to it for the Z. You have to think how restrictive the OE manifold is. Compared to the wider and more efficiant headers.;)

Originally posted by RedNeck383
Umm Yes you could.

You could get a Bonneville SE w/ Supecharged V6s

Proof (http://www.edmunds.com/used/1996/pontiac/bonneville/4drsesuperchargedsedan/overview.html?id=lin0056)

I'll highlight a section of the Article for the lazy people who dont like to read.

"The Bonneville benefits from a powerful base engine; a Series II 3.8-liter V6 that pumps out 205 horsepower and gets an amazing 30 miles per gallon on the highway.. New for 1996 is an optional 240-horsepower supercharged variant of the base V6, which replaces the old 225-horsepower supercharged 3.8-liter previously available. And, if you must have the supercharged engine but don't want all the goofy aero add-ons and tacky gold trim that come standard on the SSEi, you can get the blown motor in the base model. One stipulation exists, though; you've got to order the SLE package, which gives you some of the goodies that come with the SSE."

I do my homework.

All i was stating was that your times were from SE model Bonnevilles, which the majority of which did not have the SC'ed engine....most likely those weren't SC Bonnies

Also, you'll see gains from highflow cat's... oh wait.. do you have those already??

Originally posted by dbartoschek


All i was stating was that your times were from SE model Bonnevilles, which the majority of which did not have the SC'ed engine....most likely those weren't SC Bonnies

Haha... No your words were...

You are stating SE model 0-60 times....SE's had only 170. or 205hp i believe and were not supercharged....SSEi's were the only trim you could get the SC'ed engine in.


More specifically, you said you couldnt get a SC on a SE... Only came on the SSEi.

Now about the times, True we may not know if they were SC'd but I'm assuming they were cause the person actually ran the car at a track... Im not sure, but if I had performance sedan I'd be curious as to what it ran as well...

He's in Calgary, he doesn't need cats :D

You can often get as much as 50% more flow by properly porting the heads, which will drastically increase your power, torque, and fuel economy.

There is always a large amount of casting "flash", extra metal left around the edges from the casting of the head and manifold. Simply by grinding this metal away, and matching the ports and manifold openings to the gasket openings, you can pick up 10-20% higher flow.

The biggest gains by far however, are underneath the valves, in the sort of bowl shaped area... By enlarging that area, you can see an additional 20-30% flow. This all depends on the engine, but the Series 2 Buick V6 is not the most tremendously efficient engine, so I doubt the castings were very clean.

They did a little port work, they wanted to make everything flow a bit better considering the modifications that i wanted.

I figured we'd have to do some port stuff to it, but wasn't sure. I've actually taken the car to a Pontiac dealer in Airdrie (a subsidiarie of Calgary) and their doing port work, increasing that bowel thing you were talking about CBass, and putting on some performance headers that their performance tech recommended for the set-up i have.

Yes, the car does have an intercooler.

I believe the headers they are using are an aftermarket set that was made for the Trans Am, but i'm honestly not sure. The invoice they gave me for the work didn't say what kind they are either. We'll have to see. I am counting on an increase in power and the tech doing the work said i'll probably be able to shave off at least 0.5 seconds from the 0-60 time and make the 1/4 in a low 14 high 13 range. We'll find it all out eventually though.

The project is costing me 2700 bucks, which i think is cheap for a dealership, but the labor costs haven't been counted yet, so i think i'll have to fork out probably another 500 bucks, but that's ok.

I'll keep everyone up to date on this, but i probably won't be back on until after christmas now that i'm back in Calgary from school in Ontario...family and friends to see!

So Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone, and i'll be back on the roads very soon.

Peace! :sun:

I'd just like to say that I, personally, am lazy and I think we could all learn from RedNeck's example by only putting the important things and things people really need to know on all of our posts in bold.

We all know we go babbling off sometimes. Just bold the 4 or 5 words that are the main idea so that we can quickly skim through the posts disregarding all of the stupid crap that you took the time to electronically shit in there. I think that if we all start bolding important information for our posts then we can shave of minutes of the time we waste reading through all of the proprietary words, phrases and sentences.

Remember, Thise few extra seconds wasted we can never ever get back. We should all think of others here. I'll start off by bolding the important information in this post, now that you've already read through all of it and it's a complete waste of bandwidth and time. but we get a new server anyways so who cares? :sun:

if you dont already have, a turbo and boost timer. if you do have, intercooler