Guest Posted August 20, 2002 Report Share Posted August 20, 2002 Hello, I have a 1991 Buick Regal GS 3.1L with 46,000 kilometers. I just had a Superchip installed in it. I was wondering what kind of octane I should use? I always get 87 but I would like to know if I should change because of the chip being reprogrammed. The car is practically brand new as you can tell from the mileage if that helps in deciding... Also, is there any cold air intake for this model? Is there a body kit that will fit this car as well? Thanks in advance! Eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
90TGP Posted August 20, 2002 Report Share Posted August 20, 2002 Might want to use premium, or at least the middle gas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 20, 2002 Report Share Posted August 20, 2002 What will the difference be with a higher octane like 92-93? Will I get better mileage or will the car run slightly faster? I mean, if it's noticeable then I would do it. But, if it will only result in me having higher gas bills... :? Eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STR Posted August 21, 2002 Report Share Posted August 21, 2002 you might see better fuel eco. Also the new chip might be setup to run with higher oct. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
91GranSport Posted August 21, 2002 Report Share Posted August 21, 2002 Not all chips are the same, so contact your chip manufacturer to see exactly what they altered. Some chips alter shift patterns, rev limiter, speed governor, etc. As far as a bodykit, you probably won't find one anywhere. If you have a coupe, try Erebuni Corp. Otherwise you'd have to build one yourself or have one custom built. You can build a cold-air intake yourself. They're not very difficult and you have a lot of room in there with the 3.1 engine. By the way, I have a '91 GS as well, a sedan with the 3800. I thought all GS models came with the 3800 but I guess I was wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 21, 2002 Report Share Posted August 21, 2002 How hard is it to build an intake? I mean, what parts and tools would I need to do it? Keep in mind that I am no mechanic, but I have an interest in this stuff. Would you know about Superchips and exactly what is modified? (superchips.com) The '90 Regal is the first year that the 3800 series engine came out I think. The sedan itself, which is what I have, only came out in '91 I believe, as opposed to the coupe which was out long before that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaD Posted August 21, 2002 Report Share Posted August 21, 2002 Building your own intake is pretty easy, what you get depends on how much money you have, how much engine room you have, and what you want done. Before I moved my battery to my trunk, I removed my Air Box, but I had to keep the stock 20-Rib angled Hose that connects to the TB and I attached a 2.5inch aluminum air duct wrapped in duct tape (to keep air from coming out/in) to it and put a cheap 2.5 inch cone filter on the end of this monster. It worked, but it looked bootleg and it sucked warm air from the engine. (It was touching the radiator hose) Since I moved the battery to the back, I have all this play in the engine bay, so, I went to Home Depot, and got some plumbing coupler, it's about 3 inches in diameter and about 4 inches long, it's a piece of rubber and it's wrapped in some aluminum metal stuff, with an O-Ring Clamp thing on each end. It's not a reducing coupler though, same diameter on both ends. I did take off the metal stuff so now it's just the rubber part and the O-Clamps. I clamped this to the TB and I clamped piece of PVC pipe to it. The PVC pipe is 3 inches in diameter (on the inside) and about 1.5 to 2 feet long, then I put a K&N Cone Filter on the end. The K&N is about 7 or 9 inches long and is 3.5 inches in diameter. I put the AIT sensor inside the K&N and slid the whole thing over the PVC pipe and clamped it shut. The filter is right in front of where the Air Box's snorkel used to be, so that's cool because it gets some cold air from behind the headlight. And since the piping is 3 inches, this sucker is pretty loud. And yea, I can hear my intake sucking all the time! It's fresh. Now, the only gripe I have with this, is PVC has some heatshrink by the TB and it just looks ghetto anyways, so I'm probably going to replace the PVC with a nice piece of straight 3 inch chrome exhaust pipe. (They sell this at car stores.) That should give it the "custom CAI" look Also, I'll probably build some type of enclosure for the filter then maybe run some hoses to it from the outside to get some colder air in. Maybe I'll try a Ram Air setup (If I can figure out how). The only problem I foresee, is that metal has heatsoak, but I figure, if I'm sucking cold air, it shouldn't matter too much. If I do any more work, I'll keep you guys posted. If you don't wanna make your own, you could always buy RedZmonte's CAI, he sells em pretty cheap I heard Good luck! -MaD- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
per0781 Posted August 21, 2002 Report Share Posted August 21, 2002 i made my own CAI for my 3.1L. It was pretty easy and cost around 60-70 bucks total. Paul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 21, 2002 Report Share Posted August 21, 2002 You guys seem to know what you're doing. This would be my first mod though, so I'd need to go step by step through everything... I already have a K&N filter in my filter box (not a cone). I hope I don't have to get rid of it. This may be a stupid question, but how would I identify the AIT sensor? And what is "TB" ? Is there enough room without moving the battery to do all this? How would I rewire the battery to the car? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaD Posted August 21, 2002 Report Share Posted August 21, 2002 Well, technically, you don't HAVE to get rid of your Air Box and you could still get some cold air going to it I only got rid of it because I'm a fan of the Cone filter, I like the way it looks, is all. I'm assuming the cone filters flow more air too, but the Drop-in is sufficient. The way you could make your existing setup a cold-air setup is to simply run a hose to the snorkle in the air box. You don't even have to connect it unless you want to, but if you do, watch out for rain. If you can find a way to keep water and other crap out, this would be a nice little RAM air setup. and the hose would have to be somewhere where it can grab cold air, like in the grille or anywhere creative. If you DO get rid of your Airbox and your K&N drop it (which you could possibly sell on eBay), you'd have more versatility, but honestly, unless you're moving your battery to the trunk or buying a cold-air intake like RedzMonte's you're probably better off leaving the box in. On to the AIT sensor, this device is physically in the back of your existing air box, it has a clip/wire coming out of it, it looks like a resistor inside a piece of plastic harness, it gives the ECM an estimated temperature so it can adjust Air/Fuel ratios. TB is the Throttlebody, this is where all your intake hoses connect to, it's located near the back of the engine, on the driver's side, it's the thing with the throttle plate. If you don't move the battery out of the engine bay, there's still room, but it gets kinda cramped (in my opinion). The filter tends to rest right next to the battery, which frightens me because filters usually have a metal end and I wouldn't want it touching the battery terminals. But if you make your own and keep the battery and even if you have a cone filter, just make sure to enclose the filter so that it doesn't absorb the engine heat. And hell, run some air to it. It'll work good. But, I doubt there's a way you can get a 3 inch (diameter) intake with the battery in the engine bay. But I haven't really done any research on that. And rewiring the battery to the trunk is easy, if you've ever installed an amp before, you can do this. Oh, and only takes about a couple of hours. All you need to do is either get some 0 awg wire (I have no clue where you can find this), or you can go to home depot and get some 1/0 or thicker wire, make sure it's copper, and get about 20 feet, then get two 1/0 splicers, and two 1/0 copper "posts". I wanted to run the battery cable all the way to the starter motor instead of splicing into that wire, so I had to drain the car of all oil first, so I could remove the Oil pressure sending unit, and gain access to the nut that holds the battery cable to the starter motor. So, I drained all the oil, took the filter and oil pressure sending unit off (you might need a special socket to take the sending unit off), and I disconnected the battery. Then, I ran the cable through the driver's side firewall, I used the same hole the shifter cable goes through . Then, I put one of the copper terminals on the end of the cable and pulled all the way to the starter motor, Oh, and I routed the cable under the Air Box mounting bracket and secured a point there so the battery cable doesn't move at all. Then, I bolted the post to the starter motor and put the oil filter and sending unit back on. I then spliced into the battery cable and wrapped the Auxillary cable around it and wrapped that in electrical tape (a Lot), Then, you just run the cable along the body, in the runners, all the way to the battery (whever you mounted it), then, just use another splicer and splice into the old batter cable harness thing and clip that onto the battery. Then, just run a ground cable to any exposed metal. I used a bolt on the passenger's side, at the edge of the trunk. That's about it! and just run it through the firewall and through the body Splice the auxillary wire into the battery wire to run the ecm/etcFind a nice place to mount the battery Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vegeta Posted August 21, 2002 Report Share Posted August 21, 2002 Your chip only has spark changed and possibly the fan turn on times but I doubt that. I used to have their chip and it was worthless. Sorry, but I would pull it out and forget about it. They increase sparka LOT and unless your motor is in perfect shape and you use premium gas, it will get spark retard. You shouldn't have to premium gas anyway on a 3.1 as the compression is low enough for low octane. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 21, 2002 Report Share Posted August 21, 2002 So basically I can keep the existing filter and cut a hole in the snorkle and add a pipe for cold air that is near the grill with a cone filter so that the cold air comes in when im driving...? Wouldn't my existing K&N filter become sort of a waste because of the cold air intake? Also about the chip... I get a crazy increase in acceleration with it. I'm telling you it gets up to 6000+ rpms when I mash it and it really takes off... Even from 2nd to 3rd it kicks like its on steroids. I apparently get about 15% gain with the chip and filter as it is without any modified exhaust system or cold air... Can someone direct me to some pictures of how the cold air intake should look? Thanks for all the help everyone. I appreciate your taking the time to give me all this great advice. Eric Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaD Posted August 21, 2002 Report Share Posted August 21, 2002 No, you can leave the snorkel how it is, reputable sources claim that the snorkel adds to the low-end torque, it's strategically designed! All you'd have to do really is route a hose from an outside air source (like the grille for example) and either connect the hose to the snorkel, if you can, or you can just leave it in front of the snorkel, the snorkel will suck any air in front of it, so it that air is coming from outside, it'll be colder than engine air. You don't need a cone filter unless you want to remove your airbox completly. If you do find a way to connect the hose to the snorkel, make sure no rain or bad things can get in the airbox, put a screen in the hose to filter any bugs/etc, and make a low point in the hose with a medium sized hole so if water does come in, it can drip right out the hole. Any other questions, feel free to ask Oh, and check out some people's websites on here, I'm sure they have some nice CAI's, Just click the "memberlist" button towards the top of the page and see who has a website! Later, -MaD- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 21, 2002 Report Share Posted August 21, 2002 Hmm, not much room near the grill cuz there's two big fans in the way... unless i put the pipe under the car, then there's no way for rain to get sucked in but the filter might get wet... I noticed a small vent that goes from behind my headlight to the airbox... maybe I can use that? Oh yeah... can I just replace the ribbed hose with a metal one to the air box as it is? I mean, the air box is near the battery now... isn't that a fairly cool area under the hood? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPaganel Posted August 22, 2002 Report Share Posted August 22, 2002 I keep thinking of ways to cut a hole in the hood where the airbox is. It wouldn't be hard to make a fiberglass scoop to go over it... The only problem I see is water gettig in, and considering that lovely snow we got in Minnesota... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
per0781 Posted August 22, 2002 Report Share Posted August 22, 2002 ill try to get some betterpics of my cai this weekend. i wish i could just attach pics on my comp on her, but they gotta be on a webpage(which is what im setting up now). Paul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
per0781 Posted August 22, 2002 Report Share Posted August 22, 2002 ( Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
per0781 Posted August 22, 2002 Report Share Posted August 22, 2002 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
per0781 Posted August 22, 2002 Report Share Posted August 22, 2002 BLAH..im trying to attach an image Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
per0781 Posted August 22, 2002 Report Share Posted August 22, 2002 can a moderator delete this post and the previous 2? THANKS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
per0781 Posted August 22, 2002 Report Share Posted August 22, 2002 okay so now they wont work...gggggrrrrrrr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 22, 2002 Report Share Posted August 22, 2002 Hey you tried As for snow and rain... I live in Montreal... in November we start getting frost warnings and flurries... 'nuff said. :? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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