im new here, i was wondering what you guys with the 04 supercharged cars do as for as mods for improved performance, if any at all? i like it the way it is, but maybe in the future i would want to improve it, and i dont want to hurt performance by doing something wrong to it.

thanks, mark

 

If you go to the "Headers, Intake, and Exhuast" section, I just made a whole thread on what you can do. The cheapest thing to do would be to check out the U-Bend, Resonator, and Muffler section. If you're willing to spend alot of money and a lot of owrk, the downpipe. However, since you own a Supercharged Monte Carlo, you could especiallyl use a CAI and a smaller pulley (some other supercharged guys in here can talk to you about that pulley)

 

I moved that thread to this section since this question comes up most often in the General Monte Talk Section.

 

You need some supporting mods to drop pulley...Rockers, CAI, Headers, lower t-stat etc...
Many get too much knock when they drop w/o the correct mods...

 

thanks everyone. i may move slow on the mods as it is running pretty good so far. sooner or later i may want/need more speeeeeed!

 

I sent Zoomer at ZZPerformance an email back on March 26, 2006 asking him his idea of how to upgrade a Monte. I just recently found it again and wanted to post this to help newbies out. His email will be supplied in full, albeit broken up to supply my thoughts, and italicized to preserve his quotes and this should supply you with the best and safest method of upgrading. Also to save money on buying stuff you don't need, once you read this list, make a plan of where you want to go with your car. Once you have the plan, reread this list, think about it again and proceed from there.

*********GET A SCAN TOOL OR FIND SOMEONE WHO HAS ONE!!!!! *********It doesn't matter which one, but this can't be stressed enough but before you do anything, get a scanner. Any pulley swapping you do can cause Knock Retard (KRor just knock) and you can damage your engine. Try to target 0 knock and you don't have to worry. You don't need to go gung-ho and get a DHP $400 scanner, a simple Palm LS1M for $150 or similar is fine. Making sure you don't blow up your engine is the name of the game here. Some people will say you can skip the scanner for now, but remember some cars are assembled at Friday around 5 PM while others are on Wednesday around 2. Since you don't know, play it safe and Be Prepared. Also always run 93+ octane gas.

The first and cheapest upgrade is the 3.5" pulley from ZZP, SLP, or a host of others. It costs between $50-$75 depending on quality, etc and will give your car about 20 HP increase. Bang for Buck this is the best upgrade to start with. If you don't have the scanner, go back and get that first then get this pulley, though only a small portion of people have had problems with their engines (like 2%) you don't want to be in this percentage and have a blown engine. If you plan to really mod your car, jump up and get a Modular Pulley System (MPS) to save tons of money and time as you do pulley upgrades and swaps in the future.

UPDATE! Bumpin96monte has informed me of cars with the stock 3.8" pulley reporting KR. Looking back I remember reading this somewhere as well. Going to a 3.5" will only amplify the problem so this reinforces the necessity for the Scan Tool. I would recommend getting a Cold Air Intake or Fender Well Intake and doing the U-Bend delete prior to doing the pulley drop. You can read more about that below.

Level 1 performance stuff is a 3.4" pulley with smaller belt, colder plugs, colder T-stat, Wizaired box, PCM and U-bend delete in the exhaust. This will drop you to about 14.0 in the 1/4 depending on traction (13.8-14.3). It will bring you from 240HP to ~285HP and make a large seat of the pants difference. No transmission upgrades are needed; reliability and gas mileage are not affected. To maximize the level 1 stuff, you can add a stage 1 throttle body, water pump underdrive pulley, and throttle body spacer. This would add another 10HP or so and give more consistent performance. The stage 1 throttle body improves throttle response so the 'feel' of the car is changed. If you get all the small stuff above you can run a 3.3" pulley with an aftermarket downpipe (the most cost effective way of doing this).

[size=3][font="times new roman"]I think most people will agree with the above. I personally don't have a ton of cash on hand at any given time so I order pieces s

 

thank you very much. this will really help in my researching for future mods.

 

NP.

 

I'll update you on wednesday and let you know whether the intercooler was worth the money 04n08...

 

I'm hoping they give you the old price of their intercoolers. They just rasied them $200 yesterday from $999 to $1,199. Bastards.