Hey everyone,
I recently acquired a 3800 Stage 1 kit (3.4 pulley, 180* thermostat, CAI, NGK 104 spark plugs) I'm looking at adding this to my 2004 SS. I'm going to get a down-pipe and gauges, before I add the stage kit. Would you recommend a 2.5 or 3 inch down-pipe? Then I want to add gauges for tranny temp, as well a aftermarket boost gauge since ours only goes to 10 PSI. After I get those done would you recommend using a tune from ZZP/3800 or going to a shop and have them tune it for how I want to maximize the potential of the stage kit?

 

since you're supercharged a 3 inch downpipe would be your best bet, you should probably then go to a shop to get the tune done for better results

 

3" DP.

Also, I'd scrap the gauges for now, and spend that money on some 1.9 modded stock rockers to try and help kill some of the knock you're going to get.

Obviously a custom tune is better- but the price isn't remotely comparable. If you're thinking about having a shop do a custom tune, have you thought about picking up a used DHP PT or HPT and doing it yourself? You can easily buy a DHP PT for the cost of what any shop would charge you for a single tune- it just takes time to read and learn.

However, the big question to me would be how far you plan to keep going. If you're stopping at a basic 3.4", I'd just throw a canned tune in there and be done with it to keep it as affordable as possible.

 

so getting the stage kit put on tomorrow... Wanting to know if i'm going to be running rich or lean b4 i get it tuned Monday

 

Every engine's different. Screw the downpipe, just get headers. And a scan gauge.

 

I'd imagine about the same- your MAF reads the amount of air coming in, so the increase in airflow will be adjusted for via the fuel trims. Obviously it'll make boost a little earlier, and such- so as far as your AE and such, maybe a little leaner there- but it'll learn the new fuel trims over time. Not that it really matters either way, since you can't adjust it yourself.

x2 on headers, and a scan gauge (or at least someone scanning your car once you get the pulley on) is a good idea too. IMO a DP, CAI, plugs, and tstat won't kill all the KR you'd get from adding a 3.4" pulley (unless you're super lucky and were nearly knock free on the stock pulley)- so if you have a good bit of KR- I'd wait on getting the tune (if you're having it actually custom tuned by a person) until you get a few more hard part mods (like a PLOG to go with the DP- or headers in place of both, or maybe some 1.9 rockers)- so the tuner isn't having to pull timing and flood the thing with fuel to get the knock gone.

I've helped people try and tune setups that had massive KR on a 3.4 (due to minimal actual mods on cars that were already knock monsters with the stock pulley), and once we got fueling and such dialed in- we were still having to pull timing, and add lots of WOT fueling to keep KR in check- ended up making the car barely faster than stock since the AF was so rich and timing was so low (these cars seem to have a sweet area for timing- too high, and you stop gaining any power, and too low and power starts dropping off fast).