hi im i need some advice. im 18 and im not made of money like most people but i need some help with ways to squeeze more power out of my anemic LQ1. ive had this car for about 2 years now and so far ive added a cone filter and i have removed my mufflers and added straight pipes in there place. is there anything else i can do to get a little more power without spending 3000 dollars on an L67 swap? all advice is welcome. thanks

 

Not really, no. Unless you want to pull the heads and port/polish them, and port and polish and gasket match the intake manifolds. There are basically no performance parts made for this engine. Any performance mods will have to be custom. If your engine is feeling anemic, I would start with a good tune up. Anemic is probably the last word I would use to describe a good running LQ1, especially the 96-97 version, but thats just my opinion.

 

matt's right. a good tune up can do wonders. everyone's seems to be afraid of doing plugs & wires on the 3.4 scince there a PITA to do, but that could help quite a bit. yo could also upgrade to some better wires & plugs while its apart. also see if the car is throwing any codes for the cat getting plugged up. i hollowed mine out and the car felt faster. you should also check out the DIY matt made on making a cold air intake for a 3.4 car.

 

In order to get any REAL performance, you're going to need to do an L67 swap. It shouldn't cost you $3000 though. If you want to save some money on the swap, do some saving and then look for a totalled GTP that's selling for cheap, you might even find one for $1000 which is tons cheaper then the $3000 you mentioned. You will have all the parts you need except for an engine wire harness which you will need from a 98-99 Monte Z34 or Lumina LTZ with a 3800 in it.

Sorry that we can't help more, but the LQ1 doesn't really have an aftermarket. It was an interesting engine but GM and the aftermarket favored the 3800's over the LQ1 long ago.

 

L67 swap is one way, cheap power for sure. Probably more than you want to spend tho. There are a few people who have turbo'ed the LQ1 with amazing results. One member is putting down somewhere around 325whp with less than 10psi. Alot of fiero guys swap the LQ1 and turbo them. There is one guy with a turbo LQ1 in a Fiero converted to look like a ferrari. I think he is putting down 430whp. I consider that REAL horsepower, but you will shell out some big $$$ to make that kind of power. Definately cheaper and easier to L67 swap and mod.

 

thanks guys. but does anyone have a complete guide on how to do an L67 swap? i've seen a few that didnt really help at all. also i have read that there are certain year 3.8s that should be avoided. is this true? and one more question, are there any plug in tuners that would work with the 3.4 dohc?

 

You might be interested in this thread.

https://montecarloforum.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=14610