Im wondering what yall think is the best option for a first performance upgrade to a complete stock 02' SS 3800?

 

Cheap and easy - u-bend delete

 

Yep ^^^

 

The question is a bit vague. Do you have a budget? Future plan for how much power you're looking for?

If I was starting from scratch today, I'd probably jump straight to the deep end. A used intercooled turbo kit is relatively easy to install and has fantastic bang for the buck (only equal to maybe a top swap or spray in terms of hp / $). Plus there's so much future potential with an e85 swap or meth injection down the road. IMO its a better path than spending a few hundred bucks here and there on +5, +2, +10 hp mods (that end up amounting to almost nothing) as pretty quickly you're at the same price for something thats literally doubled your horsepower.

 

Bumpin just pointed out the obvious.

Odds are the car is in need of some TLC. Cover your maintenance items. If you are going to tinker with mods, it will need these items. Here is a thread about maintenance items:
https://montecarloforum.com/forum/fw...0-miles-46078/

And here is another good thread about 3800 mods:
https://montecarloforum.com/forum/fw...n-3800s-10942/