I am like you, i want some upgrades for cheap. So in the next month, I am going to do these mods:

3.4" pulley from thrasher ($70)
puller rental and new belt-$40
Evans coolant- $75
Cooler range plugs- $20
K&N- $70

total for this little project is going to be around $300, plus about $100 for before and after dyno runs. After I do this, I will let you all know how it turns out.

What K&N filter are you paying $70 for?!?!?! I paid $45 for my 9" tapered K&N RE-0810 filter and it probably flows as much as a K&N 6" Xstream as there is more incoming area than with the open top Xstream.
Champion Auto sells the RE-0810 for $45, but you will have to pay ahead as it is a special order.

Does thrasher still exist? i thought they went outta business or something.
For the filter, if you can't find it for cheaper around go to http://www.4filters.com/. You just gotta go to www.knfilters.com to find the part unmber. There pretty cheap

I just looked it up real quick on the K&N site. I haven't priced it anywhere else.....

And Thrasher is still in buisness.....I called and talked to their tech support about a week ago.

A little reminder......the 96 still had the 4T60E, not the 4T65E, so shift kits for the GP'* won't work. A shift kit for the 60 may be somewhat hard to find.

Didn't ZZP or one of the vendors sell shift kits for the 1997 GP GT? That has a 4T60E.

there'* no real shift kit for the 4t60-e. At least i haven't been able to find one. Theres the b&m Shift improver which raises line pressure. and theres one part to modify the valve body to correct 1-2 shift shuddering.
But, i know that zzp has built 4t60-e'*, so they probably could help out alot w/ the tranny.