topless94style
06-22-2005, 11:58 AM
Try and keep this thread for its intended use only, correct any of my errors, and add your own knowledge.
you just got this car becuase you have no money, you needed a beater, or your parents handed you down a wbody. Lucky you, because there is not a whole hell of a lot to make it faster. And if you want to go fast, by the definition of nowadays fast, dont waste your time here.
Mods do with this thread what you want, I figured I would attempt to answer the most common questions in one thread to make it easier on everyone.
Most of my knowledge is of the LQ1, so anyone with the know how on other available engines in the Wbodys can post up go fast info to those engines.
Before you start any modding, you should make sure the engine is in good condtion. Go through and fix anything and everything that is bad, clean it up really really good. Make the engine look presentable, and run like a top. Do a full tune up, get a K&N filter new plugs new wires if needed, replace failed gaskets, new timing belt and pulleys, new serp belt, new fuel filter. Spend a day doing a tune up and cleaning up the engine bay for some real work. Then continue down this thread and see whats in store for your engine.
Engine Mods:
Basic Bolt Ons:
FFP Dogbone
FFP Underdrive Pulley
A little deeper:
Build a true Cold Air Intake some members have moved the battery to the trunk, others have been able to get the filter into the fender outside of the engine bay by just sliding the battery all the way forward. I would highly reccomend using metal piping and getting it cut/bent/welded professionally unless you know how. Keep it nice and polished as that helps to deflect the most amount of heat.
Dont waste your time with a Warm Air Intake.
Exhaust system. This kinda goes on how you like a car to sound. I prefer a smooth growl with my car, because I dont see it as a race car, but as something more classy. Yes, I know its not a high end top of the line classy car, but I consider it it that way and dont want some raspy ass noises coming from it. People have taken different routes with this, and you can go as simple as slapping on some after market mufflers, or doing a custom cat back system. Expect to spend alot of money going custom cat back though, that is if you bring it into a shop. I spend shy of $700 on mine. I went with a carsound cat, 18" magnaflow round muffler, and 2 magnaflow XL series mufflers with 3" tips. Cat back is 2.5" until you hit the Ypipe which is 2.25". At idle, this system isnt much louder, driving it has alot better growl over stock, and when you go WOT she screams. The LQ1 is a very very raspy motor, so putting all this on eliminates it almost completly. I have heard alot of different styles of exhaust, and some sound good loud. Borlas are another good choice that leave a good sound but very loud.
Headers. These have to be custom made for the LQ1, as there is no company out there that makes them. It just may be a possibility for some crafty person to design a high quality set for a good price to sell them and make some money. A couple sets have been made, but one word of advice learned is that the engine should be tuned after a header install. Oh, and do your research, I cant emphasize this enough, headers can make or break your engine, and when done properly you will have very very nice results.
SO this isnt enough go for you? Or just not your cup of tea? Go to 60degreev6 and get yourself a set of lighter lifters and install those. If you have mechanical know how, just install them if your putting on a knew timing belt as you have to tear the engine down this far anyway. Just a few more bolts and you can have yourself a set of lighter lifters.
While you have your engine this far torn down, might has well have a valve job done, deck the heads to bump up compression, and do a port and polish job. Heads all ready to go with the P&P are available at www.60degreev6.com.
When putting the beast back together, dont forget to do a little timing adjustments on the cams. Again, a good read up about this is available at 60degreev6.com.
Alot Deeper:
Want some real power? Do a rebuild on the motor, and research quench area and perfect that on your engine while at the same time bumping up compression.
I am not sure if anyone has tried this yet, but this engine shines in the high RPMs. Go to a junkyard and get a crankshaft out of a 2.8L engine. Get some longer rods, I think rods from 350 small blocks will work, and probably have to get a set of custom pistons. What this will do is allow you to pull higher revs out of your engine by destroking it. It will also reduce the capacity of your engine, so it will be less than 3.4L. That is, if thats the only thing you do to it. If I remember right, the stock rods are 5.7", and with the 2.8L crank I believe you will need 6" rods.
I am not sure what motors come with these, but get yourself a windage tray to bolt to the main caps and help deflect oil away from the crank to help reduce the extra weight on the crankshaft. I think this is how they work, anyone who knows for sure please fix this.
Go to a true professional machine shop that knows how to lighten fly wheels, and get your flywheel lightened. Reducing the rotating mass of the flywheel by a couple pounds can equal taking 30+lbs out of your car alone. The shaving must be done correctly, or the flywheel can split apart and come at you through the car and split you down the middle. The shaving should stay to the outside of the flywheel so if possible watch how they do a couple flywheels before you give them yours.
On 60degreev6 there is a thread about cam regrinds. It is possible to find a company to regrind your cams to provide that extra boost in power. No one has coughed up the money yet to do it though, as no one knows what grind will work, and most of us dont have that kind of money to play around with.
Naturally aspirated not the way you swing?
Adding boost:
Everything has to be custom, and its very time consuming. I am not by any means a custom fabricater, but I tried it out, and for having no experience doign this type of thing, its a pain in the ass. I am turbo charging my 3.4L engine, and its taking along time, but when its done I know I will be happy. Finding the right turbo isnt too hard, I highly reccomned researching how to read a compressor map, doing the calculations and then plotting on different maps til you find a good turbo. This can be a pain in the ass, especially for someone who is not that great at math, but believe me, the more stuff like this that you can do, the better off and knowledegable you will be.
I am running out of time for now, but I and others can add more. I will move out of the engine aspect and onto suspension.
Most people are running KYB struts found on www.tirerack.com for a farely good price. I have a set, but they wont be put on for awhile. There has been group buys for lowering springs, and I think another may be happening soon, so check out the group buy section. As there are no springs in the back, it is just a monoleaf spring. There are a few companies out there that will make a custom on to lower your car and stiffen up that rear end even more. Just gotta search the net.
Addco makes a rear sway bar for our cars, and if you dont have FE3 suspension, you can get the front sway bar from a wbody that has FE3 and beef up the front end too. The problem with the Addco bar is that you have to make some custom brackets to hold it up, and people have had problems with those breaking and the bar slaming against the underside of the car.
From gmpartsdirect.com I think is the site you can order a set of rear trailing arms from a newer wbody, like 1996 and up. They are a better set then whats on the car now.
Alright well, im starting to get a little vague on my discriptions, so I will stop and continue again, anyone finding mistakes in my writing let me know, and anyone with anything to add, please do.
you just got this car becuase you have no money, you needed a beater, or your parents handed you down a wbody. Lucky you, because there is not a whole hell of a lot to make it faster. And if you want to go fast, by the definition of nowadays fast, dont waste your time here.
Mods do with this thread what you want, I figured I would attempt to answer the most common questions in one thread to make it easier on everyone.
Most of my knowledge is of the LQ1, so anyone with the know how on other available engines in the Wbodys can post up go fast info to those engines.
Before you start any modding, you should make sure the engine is in good condtion. Go through and fix anything and everything that is bad, clean it up really really good. Make the engine look presentable, and run like a top. Do a full tune up, get a K&N filter new plugs new wires if needed, replace failed gaskets, new timing belt and pulleys, new serp belt, new fuel filter. Spend a day doing a tune up and cleaning up the engine bay for some real work. Then continue down this thread and see whats in store for your engine.
Engine Mods:
Basic Bolt Ons:
FFP Dogbone
FFP Underdrive Pulley
A little deeper:
Build a true Cold Air Intake some members have moved the battery to the trunk, others have been able to get the filter into the fender outside of the engine bay by just sliding the battery all the way forward. I would highly reccomend using metal piping and getting it cut/bent/welded professionally unless you know how. Keep it nice and polished as that helps to deflect the most amount of heat.
Dont waste your time with a Warm Air Intake.
Exhaust system. This kinda goes on how you like a car to sound. I prefer a smooth growl with my car, because I dont see it as a race car, but as something more classy. Yes, I know its not a high end top of the line classy car, but I consider it it that way and dont want some raspy ass noises coming from it. People have taken different routes with this, and you can go as simple as slapping on some after market mufflers, or doing a custom cat back system. Expect to spend alot of money going custom cat back though, that is if you bring it into a shop. I spend shy of $700 on mine. I went with a carsound cat, 18" magnaflow round muffler, and 2 magnaflow XL series mufflers with 3" tips. Cat back is 2.5" until you hit the Ypipe which is 2.25". At idle, this system isnt much louder, driving it has alot better growl over stock, and when you go WOT she screams. The LQ1 is a very very raspy motor, so putting all this on eliminates it almost completly. I have heard alot of different styles of exhaust, and some sound good loud. Borlas are another good choice that leave a good sound but very loud.
Headers. These have to be custom made for the LQ1, as there is no company out there that makes them. It just may be a possibility for some crafty person to design a high quality set for a good price to sell them and make some money. A couple sets have been made, but one word of advice learned is that the engine should be tuned after a header install. Oh, and do your research, I cant emphasize this enough, headers can make or break your engine, and when done properly you will have very very nice results.
SO this isnt enough go for you? Or just not your cup of tea? Go to 60degreev6 and get yourself a set of lighter lifters and install those. If you have mechanical know how, just install them if your putting on a knew timing belt as you have to tear the engine down this far anyway. Just a few more bolts and you can have yourself a set of lighter lifters.
While you have your engine this far torn down, might has well have a valve job done, deck the heads to bump up compression, and do a port and polish job. Heads all ready to go with the P&P are available at www.60degreev6.com.
When putting the beast back together, dont forget to do a little timing adjustments on the cams. Again, a good read up about this is available at 60degreev6.com.
Alot Deeper:
Want some real power? Do a rebuild on the motor, and research quench area and perfect that on your engine while at the same time bumping up compression.
I am not sure if anyone has tried this yet, but this engine shines in the high RPMs. Go to a junkyard and get a crankshaft out of a 2.8L engine. Get some longer rods, I think rods from 350 small blocks will work, and probably have to get a set of custom pistons. What this will do is allow you to pull higher revs out of your engine by destroking it. It will also reduce the capacity of your engine, so it will be less than 3.4L. That is, if thats the only thing you do to it. If I remember right, the stock rods are 5.7", and with the 2.8L crank I believe you will need 6" rods.
I am not sure what motors come with these, but get yourself a windage tray to bolt to the main caps and help deflect oil away from the crank to help reduce the extra weight on the crankshaft. I think this is how they work, anyone who knows for sure please fix this.
Go to a true professional machine shop that knows how to lighten fly wheels, and get your flywheel lightened. Reducing the rotating mass of the flywheel by a couple pounds can equal taking 30+lbs out of your car alone. The shaving must be done correctly, or the flywheel can split apart and come at you through the car and split you down the middle. The shaving should stay to the outside of the flywheel so if possible watch how they do a couple flywheels before you give them yours.
On 60degreev6 there is a thread about cam regrinds. It is possible to find a company to regrind your cams to provide that extra boost in power. No one has coughed up the money yet to do it though, as no one knows what grind will work, and most of us dont have that kind of money to play around with.
Naturally aspirated not the way you swing?
Adding boost:
Everything has to be custom, and its very time consuming. I am not by any means a custom fabricater, but I tried it out, and for having no experience doign this type of thing, its a pain in the ass. I am turbo charging my 3.4L engine, and its taking along time, but when its done I know I will be happy. Finding the right turbo isnt too hard, I highly reccomned researching how to read a compressor map, doing the calculations and then plotting on different maps til you find a good turbo. This can be a pain in the ass, especially for someone who is not that great at math, but believe me, the more stuff like this that you can do, the better off and knowledegable you will be.
I am running out of time for now, but I and others can add more. I will move out of the engine aspect and onto suspension.
Most people are running KYB struts found on www.tirerack.com for a farely good price. I have a set, but they wont be put on for awhile. There has been group buys for lowering springs, and I think another may be happening soon, so check out the group buy section. As there are no springs in the back, it is just a monoleaf spring. There are a few companies out there that will make a custom on to lower your car and stiffen up that rear end even more. Just gotta search the net.
Addco makes a rear sway bar for our cars, and if you dont have FE3 suspension, you can get the front sway bar from a wbody that has FE3 and beef up the front end too. The problem with the Addco bar is that you have to make some custom brackets to hold it up, and people have had problems with those breaking and the bar slaming against the underside of the car.
From gmpartsdirect.com I think is the site you can order a set of rear trailing arms from a newer wbody, like 1996 and up. They are a better set then whats on the car now.
Alright well, im starting to get a little vague on my discriptions, so I will stop and continue again, anyone finding mistakes in my writing let me know, and anyone with anything to add, please do.