did the wires and the coil packs make a big difference?

Ok another update. I scoured the internet looking for a Sc'd SSEI with ported exhaust. I found one at www.fierox.com . He ported the hell out of the heads and has pictures to prove it. I wrote to him and asked what was up and he says PORT THE HELL OUT OF THEM! Sooo I'll take his advice then hunt him down when my engine detonates. So thats the deal with that. Tomorrow the rest of the engine goes into the shop. Right now he has my heads and intake manifold; he'* getting the block, crank, and piston assembly. Balancing those too. Grand am man: GMpartsdirect.com lists a stock cam for a 93 ssei for $212. The guy doing the work on my engine can get it for less than half of that price. If you want a part I can talk to him and I'm sure he'll do business just let me know. The cam in mine (who else?) has roller lifters with it so the wear is minimal. If yours is the same you don't need to buy a new one just regrind what you have. The guy I'm working with says he'* got a "Great regrind guy" but I haven't checked a price. Otherwise Colt Cams has it for $130. I found out that you can change the specs on the cam as long as its not a "lopey" idle. It has to idle smooth or the computer gets confused. Meaning a low duration = low lift = not so much power. BUT if you got 10hp from $130 regrind it wouldn't be a waste as long as your that deep in the engine anyway. I'm talking to a big name in the Buick community about getting some Rocker arms at a 1.7 ratio. The stocks are 1.6 so this should be nice. Since we can't go too far with the cam we can make up for some of the lift by having a bigger ratio and still maintain a smooth idle. I'll post price info when I find out, right now he'* doing some R&D for me. If nothing else I found a few places that will modify them to increase ratio but I'm sure that'll be more, it always is. As for the exhaust manifold, I'm having mine cut and rewelded to the outside of the flange. Then thats being port matched to the heads. If you wanted you can do that too to get more power. Talk to the guy doing the porting on your heads and see if you can work a deal. I'm getting my heads done for $90 and that includes a cleaning. About the coil packs and wires... I didn't notice a HUGE difference although it started up quicker and idled smoother but that might have been because they needed it anyway. When you say ignition do you mean a control module or just the wires and packs? Oh and on a side note the transmission overhaul kit just came in. Its got 2000 pieces all the way down to the trans pan gasket. And at $100 I'm not crying. Now to find someone that'll do it for cheap.

That is a series 2. You are running a series 1 right?

Ty

I think ill just stick with the coils and wires and plugs to start out wiht, maybe the ignition pack later on.

Yeah I've got a series I

Doc, porting the heads is one thing....port MATCHING is another. Get him to at least do that for a better transition into the headers.

Yeah I probably should have been a little clearer on that. I'm giving him the intake gaskets tomorrow and he'* going to port match them...which IS porting but within specifications. Same difference just more detail. Then he'* going to do similar to the exhaust but he'll start with the head and match the exhaust to it. Should work out. When are you ever going to get on yahoo?

So I just got done giving most of the rest of the engine to the machine shop. Only things left now aren't going until reassembly. He offered to help with that too. So slated is a rebuild kit minus pistons, gasket set, cam, and piston rings because I already have them and the pistons look like they can be reused. The cam is being resurfaced so that should be good. On a side note the pistons have pressed pins. As I understand thats a good thing . All of the things stated earlier are also still being done, hogged valves, 3 angle valve job yada yada. I've decided cutting and rewelding the exhaust to the outside of the flange is going to be saved for a later date. Right now I should really concentrate on building up the parts that would take pulling 1/2 the engine to replace. They are, however, being port matched to the heads. So the price list is fluxuating up and down as I learn that I can't do one thing but I can another or I shouldn't do this but should do that. Which is understandable considering nobody can exactly extimate what all needs to be done in aside from what they would like done. I'm still kicking my own *** for not searching harder for the piston rings seeing as I paid about $200 for the set. But I'm not crying, at the time it was all I could find without special ordering. Plus you can't go WRONG with OEM. We've got a few other things on the price sheet. I'm getting fresh bolts for everything that sees a fair amount of heat or pressure. Head bolts, exhaust bolts, main bolts, things of that nature. All said and done he says with reassembly it'll be $1200-1500 but it shouldn't go to $1500. Not too shabby. I've done the math and since Day 1 when I got this car to include the stereo, nitrous, and about everything short of the synthetic oil I use it puts the sticker at about $6500 invested. That doesn't include what its going to cost to do the transmission, final parts needed for reassembly, and reinstalling it in the car. Nor does it include the 2 oil changes needed for break-in, all the coolant, transmission fluids and other bits and pieces needed. I'm expecting ANOTHER $1400 for that on the top end. I'm sure some of you out there are puking from sticker shock but refer to one of my very early posts on why I did this. Now I have a wealth of information on parts, best places to get it done and other tid bits of info. I'm keeping good track of the places I visit and what they have to offer. And at the end of this someone out there with a Series I will be able to do this at half the price. So I've invested in your cars modifications. Who loves you?

You're a sweetheart, Doc

Yes lets rejoice in the Docs love for all...ahhh. Now that thats over I have good news and bad news....no wait...I only have good news (FINALLY!). After checking a few different things and spending about 4 hours on the engine today looking up part numbers and cross referencing we've decided to bore it 0.020 over and order larger pistons. Now I bet your saying "Hey! Thats not much!" and I'd say "STFU!" or...Yeah but any larger and the computer would get all confused and might start throwing parts away for me. Oh well SO next up is the spring load. We checked the load at 1" and it should be 80lbs, nope 71lbs. Those are trash. So we start talking performance and he showed me something cool. Its so simple too, you take one of the shims he has on a rack and put it under the spring. Bada bing it took the 71lbs up to 84lbs. We're going to talk to a couple people on what would be a fair limit to bump it up to so I can try and prevent valve float and still keep the geometry all good. This would be good seeing as how I will have to activate the nitrous around 4000rpm in order to keep the BMEP below acceptable levels. If I can raise the feasable rpm above 6000 it might be worth it. Well for 5cents its worth it anyway. Only thing is the chip would have to be reworked to make it shift further or it being able to rev a little higher won't do jack. But even if I change the spring load and leave the pcm the same it still has that extra level of protection knowing I can shift it at closer to redline and not worry about float. What do you guys think? I know the redline "bottleneck" will fall onto something else like the whole rotating assembly but who was that saying they thought the valves were our #1 redline problem...? Oh and on to the cam thing. I wanna find the guy who said "Hey wait, if we just put a little wheel on the end of this..." and hug him. The cam is in "excellent condition". And doesn't need ANYTHING done. On the lift note I'm still working on finding a modified rocker at 1.7 to make up for the stock cam. Should be good for a few horses. So this is comming along a little better than before, not so many hangs. I'll take more pictues when I can but today I forgot the damn camera so all I have is a pic of the lifters I took home. They're on the page, check it out again.