Looking to mod my car for some more HP, I am willing to spend about $500, do you have any suggestions, thanks

180 degree stat
intake
exhaust
pulley

Yup..that sums it up nicely, check out our Vendors Forum for links to our vendors and their performance products

Here is what I can offer you on my store!
http://www.bonnevilleattitude.com/st...?cPath=1_17_24
I also offer other Performance Products too, some just have not been added yet.
http://www.bonnevilleattitude.com/st....php?cPath=225

Drilled 180 Degree Thermostat ($12)
3.4" Supercharger Pulley ($70, cheaper if purchased used)
K&N Air Filter ($35)
Gutted Airbox (Free if you have a way to cut it)
ZZP Ported Exhaust Manifolds ($250)
AC-Delco 41-932 Spark Plugs (1 heat range colder than stock) ($30)

You can purchase the Exhaust Manifolds at ZZPerformance.com and you may want to check out all of their products while you are there. The K&N Air Filter can be purchased at any autoparts store. The T-Stat can be purchased from ZZPerformance, or you can figuree out the right size and buy it off the shelf at autozone and drill it yourself. The Spark Plugs can be picked up at Autozone also, you just tell them you want 41-932 Spark plugs and they should be able to cross-reference them on their computer to whatever their number is for them. The 3.4 Pulley can be purchased from the classifieds section of the ClubGP.com forum used, or can be purchased at pretty much any aftermarket Grand Prix parts store. You should get yourself a good 30-40 horsepower for about $400.

zzp manifolds are $395.00 plus the core charge.

Ty

If you are after reliable reference for information other than the main two stores used by the GP crowd you might want to talk to the guys at 3800 performance. They sell alot of the same product and are a third party. There is alot of fuzzy math going around so do your homework. I also suggest visiting the father of this 3.8l movement known as Thrasher. They don’t tend to rush to market. They also have great tech info that will help you understand your car without a sales pitch. You will find all the "shops" out there have products with merit but there are alot of products with Pre load requirements. If you ask around at any reliable speed shop they will usually help give you a third party point of view on some of the "performance" product.

I am willing to give you reference to some independent shops who do not sell 3.8l performance who build racing engines if you need any other references.

http://www.thrashercharged.com/tech_htm/tech_info.shtm

http://www.thrashercharged.com/tech_...ne_design.shtm

Some of this info is hard to read for the average Joe but no matter what try and understand it because this is a great source for being a competent buyer.

There are sheep out there invested in there own preferred shop but just because the rest of the lemmings jump does not mean you should.

This is not a conflict with anything stated as of yet but I just wanted to give you a fighting chance to know what you are actually buying and the merit of products.



My personal opinion is the manifolds are your best bet with an intake. Look around for a good deal on the manifolds and I am sure (assuming on my part) if push comes to shove zzperformance will be glad to give you a better deal than 400.00 for a proper port and polish on the exhaust manifolds.

Ty

There'* some good articles up in Techinfo that may give you a good place to start. Think it out ahead of time, and know exactly where you're going. Along the lines of what Speedguy just said......don't rush into it.

....and start with a transmission cooler first

Absolutely. The bullet is right. Start with a little insurance first.