Best bet is to just start with an L67 powered Monte

 

good choice, but before you buy an ss monte figure out if you want to go turbo or supercharged.... if you want to go turbo buy a regular ss with the non supercharged 3800. if you want to go supercharged buy one factory supercharged and upgrade it to make it more powerful.

also if you plan to add much power over stock plan on a built trans because you will need it

 

I was reading this thread because I'm thinking of doings some tweaks to my '03 ls as well. From what I'm reading, it sounds like it might not be terribly easy to get much more horsepower out of my engine. I'm completely new to modding an engine but I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty and I generally do my own repairs (only way to learn, right?). How hard are these mods? What are my chances of blowing up my car? My wallet's not unlimited, but I'd love to get more performance out of my car. Advice for a newbie?

 

One of the best things you could do is get a tune. I have an LS4 Monte and was quoted $400 for a full tune. Which is squeezing out any more HP, changing shift points, turning off DOD (which you don't have), and some other things. In the world of mods it's something that is fairly cheap that will make a night and day difference. Also like some other people said, being that there isn't really a supercharger for your car, you could turbo. Maybe a little more expensive but you will also get way more power then a supercharger.

 

Apologize in advance for what are probably dumb questions, but:

Where would I get it tuned? Something to do myself or let someone else?

With the turbo, what is a price range? Good/bad brand? Are they difficult to install on your own? Does a turbo kill gas mileage?

Google turns up a mixed bag of answers to some of that so I figured I'd ask you guys, whom I trust more

 

There are not much modifications for the 3400. Sorry! Turbos will be fully custom piping and work for you.

 

I was quoted that from a shop near me that is highly respected and who I always get recommended to when I talk to someone about tuning my car, and they specialize in chevy's. You could find a shop near you who does dyno tuning and get a very in depth tune. You can also get tuners off line that plug up to your car and have built in tunes and things like that depending on how you drive your car. As far as a turbo goes, I know for the LS4 there is a turbo kit that runs $6,000. I have never looked at a turbo kit for a 3.4L before so I'm not sure what it would run you. But I assume somewhere in that ballpark. As far as gas mileage they don't hurt it until you get on the gas. More air, means more gas. But if you drive it normally you won't know you have a turbo...until you get on it that is lol. And as far as install goes, I'm not sure how tough it is being that I have never done it before. But if you can get a turbo kit for your car it should come with instructions and should be pretty much a bolt up mod. Someone who has more knowledge on turbos will probably chime in and help out some more.

 

$6000? Wow...yeah that might stretch the wallet a bit much. I'll definitely start with a tune.

 

Yea, I would be doing a tune on my car if I wasn't contemplating on selling my Monte

 

there's a lot of sentimental value to this particular car, so selling/trading isn't necessarily an option