Hey all you Pontiac nuts. I am new here. I've owned a 1993 SSE for a couple of years, which I bought from a friend cheap to drive while my '76 GP was to go in for body work. But a couple of weeks ago, someone in an astro van decided to thin the indian herd a bit and t-boned me. Anyhow, long story short, I have a '93 for sale, which was immaculate, and now is immaculate if you only look at the right side, or dead on from front or back.

I decided the heck with the old rusty GP, even though it was actually pretty cool, and bit the bullet recently and got a sweet 2000 SSEi with only 17k on the clock.

I have a few questions for all of you modern hot rodders out there. Has anyone tried The Other Guys' Headers? I see a lot of stuff here about pulleys, and chips, and air boxes, but little about these headers. Ideally, I'd like to see my SSEi put out about 300HP. Is that asking too much? Will the Trans handle it? And what can I do about the torque steer? That is the only really annoying thing about this car. Other than that, I'd say Pontiac did very well with this new style.

Well, thats all for now, and I look forward to hearing from all of you.

Hey, WELCOME! I'll take these in order for you.

#1, where are you from? That'll help with the sale of the 93.

#2, a 2000 with 17k? Way cool. Hope you got a good price!

#3, You may want to hold on the headers. Hector (99BonnevilleSE) is working on ported exhaust manifolds that may perform better than TOG headers. You can contact him by PM here, or email at hector@angryducktofuracing.com or his website is www.angryducktofuracing.com you should be drooling. Hector'* got some neat stuff coming, and is currently the only source for custom intakes for the Bonneville.

300hp out of a Series 2 L67 is a piece of cake. Hector'* intake, open up the exhaust, 180° thermostat (insurance), a smaller pulley......these will get you pretty close to 270 or 280 horsepower alone. Hector'* exhaust manifolds will gain another ?? You'd be pretty close right there, and he can tell you if there'* a chip available or a similar option. That would push you over the top for 300 hp probably. The 4T65E-HD Trans will take it.

Thrasher makes a torque steering arm for the GP, but it won't fit your car. That'* on my list for the spring, and by then you may really need it. At the very least, I'll publish the how-to to make your own, or maybe even kit them and sell them through www.domesticperformance.com I'm thinking they'll come in cheaper than the Thrasher kit. You'd have to have access to a welder.

Again, welcome to the forum.

Hey, thanks for the info. I guess I should have told you all I am from Chicago. I did get a good price on the SSEi, thanks, and I am drooling over the prospect of unleashing her potential. Has anyone tried the Intense rocker arm mod?

Also, as far as chips are concerned, is it necessary? What'* the advantage and disadvantages? Are there any other sources for parts and mods? High Performance Pontiac Magazine seems focused on GTO, Firebird, the occasional GP, but rarely mentions Bonnevilles unless they are 1960'* vintage.

Meanwhile, the ricers have about 20 different mags to browse through, and the Ford and Mopar and Chevy guys have parts makers practically cold calling them. What'* up with that?

Oops, a couple more questions: What do you mean by "open up the exhaust"? And, if someone can definitively clearify this for me, I'd be greateful: My understanding is that when you read the ads for mods, you can't simply add up the advertised HP gains for each to figure what you'll have. Is this true?

Example, K&N @ 10 hp, + Pulley @18 hp does not necessarily equal a 28 hp gain, right? This is a little debate I have with a guy at work who has spent lots of cash on bolt on mods for his impala only to complain that it doesn't seem any faster. I keep telling him, it isn't simple arithmetic, since there are many factors effecting performance, and that a manufacturer is likely to tell you anything to sell their product.

Welcome to the club!

To "open up the exhaust" means to put a performance muffler and catilytic converter in place of the stock factory units. Dynomax, Magnaflow, etc. have these products readily available--but you may need to do some cross referencing to find the adequate part. I believe that the F-body muffler (Firebird/Camaro) will work for our cars, but I don't know about the cat. If you wish to spend some real $, go with mandrel bent pipes. Stay away from true dual exhaust as it will rob you of torque.

You are correct in your calculation of bolt on parts adding HP. First of all, most manufacturers overstate actual performance gains (they lie). If they do back their claim up with a dyno sheet, they often use a modified engine--typically a very large displacement. Look at the fine print. Many consumers will purchase a product for their SBC engine based on dyno tests run on BBC'* like 454'* or 502'*. A 350 isn't going to respond the same to a mod as those big blocks. The most accurate way to calculate per mod hp gain is to do a dyno each time you mod. This gets too expensive for most of us. I would recommend that you do a baseline dyno--that is measure actual hp stock (don't take the factory specs as gospel since many factors such as ambient temp, altitude, and barometric preasure vary and will give different readings). Then after all or most of your major mods are complete, do another dyno to see what you gained.

On a side note, you targeted 300 hp. There is a guy running a naturally aspirated Bonneville here that has dyno'ed at 355 hp without the help of NOS. Just don't mention it too much because he thinks it is his RED paint that is giving him the power--and he lets it go to his head J/K.

There is also Scott who goes by BADSSEi on this forum. He won't tell us what HP he has, but his 2001 (?) bonneville is hitting mid to high 11'* in the quarter mile. On his last run that was posted on this forum he was told not to come back to the strip--presumably because he doesn't have a roll cage in his car. If you run 11'*, you must have a cage. I suspect that he is running somewere near 500-550 HP--but he has a HEAVILY moded engine.

I hope this has helped. I am sure that others will chime in and correct any erroneous info I may have supplied--that is okay by me.

Tim