Increase Performance ?

[audie]

HELP ME, I JUST WANT TO KNOW WHAT TO DO NEXT. I HAVE A 2002 GR. AM GT. ALL THATS BEEN ADDED IS COLD AIR INTAKE, THROTTLE ENHANSER, 8.2MM TAYLOR WIRES, NGK IRIDIUM PLUGS,SLP EXHAUST. TAKE OFF IS FLATTER THAN BEFORE THESE ADD ONS. IS A IGN. AMP. WHAT I NEED OR A MASS AIR SENSOR, SOMEKIND OF CHIP OR MODULE, I AM CONFUSED. THANKS,AUDIE

[nice96gt]

I think your caps lock is on...

[urweak]

Originally posted by audie
HELP ME, I JUST WANT TO KNOW WHAT TO DO NEXT. I HAVE A 2002 GR. AM GT. ALL THATS BEEN ADDED IS COLD AIR INTAKE, THROTTLE ENHANSER, 8.2MM TAYLOR WIRES, NGK IRIDIUM PLUGS,SLP EXHAUST. TAKE OFF IS FLATTER THAN BEFORE THESE ADD ONS. IS A IGN. AMP. WHAT I NEED OR A MASS AIR SENSOR, SOMEKIND OF CHIP OR MODULE, I AM CONFUSED. THANKS,AUDIE

I THINK YOUR CAPS LOCK IS BROKEN, CHECK THAT AND GET BACK TO US.

[Sveach]

I'm with them ^ Turn your damn caps lock off.

But you can get a DHP pcm for your car...it'll help, but you'll have to run premium (91) in your car.

[levey]

What a warm welcome.
I know the caps lock can be annoying. But...geez. Ya prolly scared the guy away. :lol:

[djdanger]

You'll have to forgive some of the responses you have gotten so far. Apparently, some of them have forgotten what it was like before they were PERFECT.

Have to agree with sveach, ecm is going to probably be your best option next. See what some of the others reccomend though......good luck.

[nice96gt]

All I was saying that it was...no tone with my comment. I am by no means perfect.

You will lose some of your low end torque with some of the mods you have done so far. I agree that a newcomputer is a good idea. A pulley might be good also. Depending on how much you want to spend, there is always headers, port & polished intakes, more agressive cam, etc. All depends on what you are looking to spend.

[djdanger]

No offense nice, just seems sometimes new comers get slapped around on their very first post.

[nice96gt]

Originally posted by djdanger
No offense nice, just seems sometimes new comers get slapped around on their very first post.

Nope, you're right...I should have replied first then mentioned the capslock...:cheers:

[urweak]

Originally posted by djdanger
You'll have to forgive some of the responses you have gotten so far. Apparently, some of them have forgotten what it was like before they were PERFECT.

Have to agree with sveach, ecm is going to probably be your best option next. See what some of the others reccomend though......good luck. '

What do you mean before? :lol:


But seriously, first thing i would do is remove the "throttle enhanser". Thats nothing but ebay junk.

[sc02grandam]

buy my supercharger lol

[bandit307]

buy a supercharger? lol, wish i had that kind of money.

But i think i would rather run a turbo setup. Theres lots you can do to make your GA faster but like everything else it costs money.

[audie]

Thanks, for the responses. The throttle enhancer is junk? It wasn't cheep! I forgot to mention I did install a 180degree thermostat. But what about getting the fan to come on sooner? Would using an IAT extension harness to put sensor closer to air filter be of any improvement? Foregive my naiveness, but would a better mass air sensor, or larger throttle body help take off acceleration? As for a ecm or pcm, does anyone have one to reccomend? A better take off response is basically what I'm hoping for! Thanks, to any and all further responses, they are a big help. Audie.

[BadBlack00Ga]

There is a button on your keyboard that say "Caps Lock"
When this button is pressed everything you type will be in capital letters.
FOR EXAMPLE, THIS IS WHAT CAPS LOCK LOOKS LIKE.
Remove "Caps Lock" by pressing the "Caps Lock" button again.

Thank you.

[nice96gt]

Originally posted by audie
THANKS, FOR THE RESPONSES. SO THE THROTTLE ENHANSER IS A WASTE ? IT WASN'T CHEEP. WOULD MOVING THE IAT SENSOR CLOSER TO THE AIR FILTER MAKE ANY SENSE ? AS YOU GUYS CAN SEE I'M LOOKING FOR INEXPENSIVE ITEMS, TO HELP MY CAR. SUPERCHARGER, CAM, ETC. WOULD BE OUT OF MY LEAGUE. I FORGOT TO MENTION I PUT IN A 180 DEGREE THERMOSTAT. WHAT ABOUT THE FAN COMING ON SOONER? THANKS, AUDIE. WHAT IS CAPS LOCK REFERRING TO ? DON'T WORRY I HAVE A GOOD SENSE OF HUMOR.

If you notice that all of you typing is in "CAPS LIKE THIS" compared to "lowercase like this". On the internet it seems like you are yelling and it also makes it hard to read when it's all CAPS. Please follow BadBlack00Ga's instructions to turn it off please.

Nothing will give you back the low end torque you lost with the exhaust and intake. So you are just going to have to deal with it. Personally I don't think it's "really" that noticable anyways. The 180 and fan aren't running against you at all so I would leave it how it is. The IAT sensor placement won't make a difference either. The throttle enhancer won't do anything for ya so I would just take it off. But that's just my opinion.

An underdrive pulley is about $100 and will give you some power. I would do something like that if you want some relatively cheap horsepower. That's all I can recommend because everything else is expensive.

[urweak]

Originally posted by audie
THANKS, FOR THE RESPONSES. SO THE THROTTLE ENHANSER IS A WASTE ? IT WASN'T CHEEP. WOULD MOVING THE IAT SENSOR CLOSER TO THE AIR FILTER MAKE ANY SENSE ? AS YOU GUYS CAN SEE I'M LOOKING FOR INEXPENSIVE ITEMS, TO HELP MY CAR. SUPERCHARGER, CAM, ETC. WOULD BE OUT OF MY LEAGUE. I FORGOT TO MENTION I PUT IN A 180 DEGREE THERMOSTAT. WHAT ABOUT THE FAN COMING ON SOONER? THANKS, AUDIE. WHAT IS CAPS LOCK REFERRING TO ? DON'T WORRY I HAVE A GOOD SENSE OF HUMOR.

If you want power, your going to have to spend money. HP isnt cheap. I would get headers for your car next.

Also, remove the throttle enhancer ASAP. It does nothing you cant do already with your foot.

[coupe]

Lose the throttle enhancer asap, its junk and no that couldnt have been an expensive part.

Your gonna have to spend some money man. Those little panzy mods are worthless.

What your gonna want to do next is headers with a highflow cat and a reprogrammed PCM. I and most others recomend either DHP, Milzy or MP raceing PCM.

[ihatemygrandamg]

I have milzy's pcm and am very pleased with it. Best bang for buck mod on a ga, considering you can get a pcm for $100

[slowbird]

Order a PCM...yes.


Audie...can you explain exactly what is "flat" about your acceleration...Does the car bog off the light if you just step on the gas?

What tires are you running on?

[Matt95GT]

I agree with the others... remove/sell the TPS 'enhancer.'

[slowbird]

Originally posted by Matt95GT
I agree with the others... remove/sell the TPS 'enhancer.'

Yea...that too.

...and leave the IAT sensor where it is...

[voyager]

you want to improve accleration. opening up the exhaust and the intake amplify your top end at the expense of acceleration from rest.. a TB would only be moving in the wrong direction. making lots more horsepower isn't what you are asking about.

your acceleration is ultimately limitted by your gearing, which you can't do anything about without replacing either your transmission or at least some of it's parts. a PCM reprogram won't affect it either. a PCM might retune your engine for a little more torque, but getting a computer mod and then any other mod means redoing the computer. save it for last. something more substantal like a cam would do more good and should come first anyway, if it's in your plans.

the best thing you can do cheaply is reduce weight. rotational weight prefferably. do this with lightweight (underdriven) pulleys, lightweight wheels, etc.. and shore up your driveline bushings so the torque you do have is more effectively put to the ground -- i.e. poly transmission and motor mounts.

how big is your exhaust? if you have anything more than 2.5" it's probably robbing you of torque.

nobody else has mentioned it, but your engine isn't exactly high compression. the sparkplugs might not be helping as much as you think, or at all.. i guess that's debatable. IMO there's no reason to have fat sparkplug wires, high dollar coils and hot plugs in a pretty much stock 3400.

[audie]

Thanks for the advice men ! I'll look into the pcm addition. the tires are the originals.But, sometime ago I complaned about tire noise to the dealer, they said the eagle rsa's were bad tires, buty I was only entiled to two free goodyear,eagle LS's. Does that sound familar to anyone? Thanks, Audie.

[audie]

Would a lightweight crank pulley be hurting engine balance, set at the factory ? I did wonder if I over did it with the plugs and wires I chose. The first thing I should of done was find this forum! Better late than never. Audie.

[slowbird]

The Underdrive Pulley from Fast Forward Performance is a good purchase and a highly favored mod for many 3.1/3100 & 3400 owners.

[3100gagt]

well geting rid of the harmonic balancer senda all the harmonics to the bearings so you can say good bye to them, its there for a raeson. i would put platinum plugs back in and get rid of the throttle enhancer you dont need that trash.

we put iridium plugs in a S2000 and lost 10 HP on the dyno then put platinum back in and got the 10HP back!? you got me but just letin you know.

[nice96gt]

The 3100/3400 is internally balanced. So whether you go lighter or smaller, it won't matter.

[slowbird]

Originally posted by 3100gagt
well geting rid of the harmonic balancer senda all the harmonics to the bearings so you can say good bye to them, its there for a raeson. i would put platinum plugs back in and get rid of the throttle enhancer you dont need that trash.

we put iridium plugs in a S2000 and lost 10 HP on the dyno then put platinum back in and got the 10HP back!? you got me but just letin you know.

People have been running their 3.1/3100 and 3400 with the FFP underdrive pulley and haven't had any internal failures.


Also....according to 60degreeV6.com...the 3400's in 2004 and up come with iridium plugs.

[ihatemygrandamg]

For the record I love my ffp ud pulley. Its very cheap too and isnt too hard to install, you just have to be careful not to damage your crank sensor.

[Pte Socks]

180degree thermostat. But what about getting the fan to come on sooner? Well, put it this way, with a 180F thermostat, all that is basically is doing is opening up at a sooner time compared with the standard 185 or so. Opening sooner just means your coolant will flow through your rad at a slightly lower temp, IMO, kinda a useless mod as during the winter youd have to swap in a winter thermostant and have to drain your coolant. As for the fan coming on sooner? that is usually handled by the PCM, in determining at what temp it wants to activate fan #1, usually around 89 to 90C. A possible mod would be a manual fan switch, which I believe you can purchase for a GA.
As to your overall question, nothing you can do will really enhance your low end without serious mods to alter your powerband. Keep in mind as well that a GA is quite a torqy engine off the bat. Perhaps a 3500 intake manifold swap would increase your low end a bit, but again, its usually the overall increase in power and not just your low end.
As for a MAF sensor or a TB?, a new maf isnt going to do much since there are many more prominant areas where airflow is restricted, namely in your exhaust manifold. Also, a new MAF would need to be calibrated to work with your PCM, so that usually means a chip for the ECU right there, along with finding a company that makes such a MAF. A 62mm TB is always another option, but in all reality, your better off spending the money on more worthwhile mods as again, its not really that big of a bottleneck.

[2001whtgt]

im in search of finding a aftermarket cam who sells one? anyone know

thanx

[charlybrown]

Originally posted by voyager


your acceleration is ultimately limitted by your gearing



find anyone that makes a custom differential or a differential from
a different tranny with higher gearing that yours- that fits ur tranny ofcourse.
im not sure on this, but i believe the 3400 should come with the
4T60E- there is lots of potential there.

you will need to reprogram ur pcm for that also.
www.gmtuners.com

Originally posted by voyager


the best thing you can do cheaply is reduce weight.


your vehicule becomes less of a dailydriver, you risk safety for
gain. Upgrade your brakes.
i second this being a cheap way.
No pcm required.

Originally posted by voyager


how big is your exhaust? if you have anything more than 2.5" it's probably robbing you of torque.


opening up exhaust past stock- only if you have boost, or a cam regrind or modified internals. other wise it robs you, of insane bottom end (acceleration)

Originally posted by voyager


IMO there's no reason to have fat sparkplug wires, high dollar coils and hot plugs in a pretty much stock 3400.



no gain from those, maybe smoother idle. But they will be nice to have once you further break into her.

how come noone mentioned juice??.
nitrous system is the cheapest way to go if you want power and acceleration for your buck.
they make easy DIY kits for around 500$- not bad at all.
i believe they even come with a pcm tune included.

another cheaper way, is to modify your existing parts (heads, cam, rods etc..) but, there is lots of math involved, you need a second car (to drive) and lots of books.

[slowbird]

opening up exhaust past stock- only if you have boost, or a cam regrind or modified internals. other wise it robs you, of insane bottom end (acceleration)


I disagree.

The exhaust stock can still see some improvement with the 3400 engine.

Any 3400 powered car will benefit fro ma 2.5" exhaust.

[Teamlino21]

Hey Audie, grab a cold beer and read these two articles. Very informative!
http://www.rumodded.com/warmonger/performance%20basics.htm

http://www.rumodded.com/warmonger/int_exh.htm

[charlybrown]

Originally posted by slowbird
I disagree.

The exhaust stock can still see some improvement with the 3400 engine.

Any 3400 powered car will benefit fro ma 2.5" exhaust.


most cars, do benefit from opening up exhaust, but at the top end
not at the bottom end.

cool to know.

[kamoguy]

The best way to get low end power, and its on my list of mods to do after winning the lottery, is to take out the back seat and mount an LS7 or Chevy ZZ 572/620 in a mid engine position on a custom engineered drivetrain. Granted it is prohibitivly expensive, but I'd like to see someone imagine a better way to get over 500 ft-lbs of torque in a Grand Am.