Hello! New here. I am a huge Bonneville fan. Once had the 95 SE for many years, and have been loving my 2000 SSEi for about 3 years now (it now has 210,000 KM ... 130,000 Miles). Now want to notch up performance.

I added last year a panel K&N, new NGK plugs and perf wires (forget brand name of wires right now). I will soon be gutting air box for a K&N cone and will order 180 therm stat, but my main need right now is a little guidance in terms of selecting either a 3.4 or 3.5 press-on pulley and which PCM is recommended. Might also consider exhausts mods.

My goals/concerns are:

#1 Greater HP -- hoping to add approx 40 to 50 HP (with these few mods, am I dreamin'?),

I've spent quite sometime on this board trying to find definitive answers on the pros and cons of either the 3.4 or 3.5 pulley (for 2000 SSEi).

Not sure which PCM is best for the 2k SSEi either.

and

#2 under normal driving conditions NOT kill my gas mileage too much for the extra HP mods. 2/3 of my driving is hwy speeds in the 70 mph range. The other 1/3 is city driving and occasional Mustang challenges...


#3 Knock retard -- will I get it for sure with 3.4 and if so how much of a pain is it to keep under control?


Unfortunately I don't know someone in Winnipeg Canada that I can reply on to get proper tuning like 'OverKill' in Tororonto. Suggestions for proper tuning?

Any suggestions, comments, links would be appreciated.

I am very pleased with my 3.5 pulley and INTENSE pcm no KR with 180 thermo , coller plugs and FWI . I have a 3.4 pulley that I am not ready to put on as I am happy with gains and it is a daily driver.
With the pulley you may want to go modular, or you will have to invest in a puller tool.
Intense is great to deal with and fast delivery.
I would also look for a used pulley, as many are for sale.

Thanks jdq. I though about modular but felt that I couldn't be bothered by constantly changing pulleys on my daily driver. Though, if it'* true that swapping it is really only 5 minutes job then that'* prerty attractive and could consider swapping twice a year (a smaller pulley for summer).

But are all these mods plug and play, i.e. no need for a scanning/tuner, especially after a pcm upgrade? I don't have a scanning tool and expect they are pretty expensive.

You initially need a puller tool with modular, after that each change is 5min.
The Pcm has to have a case learn procedure and you can get it done at dealer, mine they did free but original wanted 40 bucks, I kinda befriended the guy at dealer.Should only cost 30 - 40.
I dont plan on doing regular pulley swaps so I bought a used puller and a used 3.5 and 3.4 , havent used 3.4 as of yet and maybe wont.
there may be someone in your area with a puler tool, where you from.

How much HP do you think I will gain from adding both the 3.5 and PCM?
How much HP am I giving up by going 3.5 instead of 3.4?

Thanks for your help!

The possible HP differences are tough to gauge for exactness.

3.4-3.5 gives you about 30 hp. Opening up your airbox more may or may not add enough to feel.

The pcm'* typically add to the mods like pulley to help them work better.

Let'* clear up the pulley pulling first. To get your pulley off and install any pulley or pully system..it requires a specialized puller. Do not attempt pulling with a regular type puller. We have seen many horror stories from normal type pullers. If you press on a 3.4 and then decide to go 3.5 you need to again rent the pulley puller and swap. If you buy a MPS (Multi pullsy system) you can swap in 5 minutes with an allen wrench, no puller needed.

There is no real way to know if you have KR w/o scanning and trying the 3.4/3.5 pullies..

Billboost: thanks for your clarifications.

As much as I would like to spend more time tweeking my car'* performance like I used to when I was a single, young buck, I have an extremely busy family lifestyle now so my next questions are:

If I do go with the 3.4 (assuming there would be more HP) and then find KR, is it a constant battle keeping it at bay, or generally is it a one time adjustment and then you can rest?

So there is no significant additional HP with a 3.4 over a 3.5?

So I shoudn't bother going from stock FWI with panel K&N to gutted box with 9" K&N cone? I thought it would be somewhat important with the pulley downsize etc.

having the airflow is important... whether it'* a panel filter or 9" cone shouldn't matter in my eyes. I have a panel in a gutted airbox with a 3.4 and no issues.

KR is tough...it could be caused by exhaust manifold restriction, could be an accordian tube from airbox to TB... all the little things we do....help reduce it..

But you can't necessarily assume not to have it with a 3.4, a 3.5 is a safer bet and the difference...well..there is a difference...but it'* probably small.