I have an 03 SS with the 3.8 N/A. I hacked the mufflers off and plan on getting it straight piped from the cat back within a month or so. My plan is to get a K&N cold air intake, new plugs n wires. What are some other upgrades that aren't too expensive that can be done?

 

i have heard of straight pipes making you lose power, just a fyi, you can get a pcm, just look around theres idea everywhere, from pcms to headers to intake manifolds

 

If you have a laptop, just use a tuning program to do that. I don't really think any power or fuel mileage changes will be noticable one way or the other to be honest. When you mess with mufflers, shoot for the best sound, that's the best way to do it. A tuning program will run $300-400. A CAI is another good option.

 

i had a k&n cai on my monte and i loved it. it had a little better throttle responce and helped with mpg. i agree dont go straight pipe, get a good sounding cat back or even just mufflers alone. unless your car has many miles on the plugs and wires i wouldnt bother with that. a tune will help. there are many fans of rockers also. headers are a good choice but make sure you do a u-bend delete b4 anything, the u-bend is the most restricting point in the whole exhaust.

 

Don't straight pipe from the cat back- its gonna be loud, raspy, and nasty- and still just as slow as stock. Stick some mufflers on there that actually sound good, and leave it at that- it won't be as irritating to drive for you or others around you. I'm all for making a car louder than stock, but having a screaming loud, straight piped 16 second car just doesn't make sense to me.

Other upgrades- a downpipe, scrap the K&N for a wizair or FWI, ER rockers, PLOG, S&S headers, pcm tune, or if you want a nice chunk of power (and such 'not too expensive' is dependent on the person)- a top swap would be a good idea as well.

The bad thing is you have to be real careful NA- the S&S headers are about the only ones made for the NA 3800's- the regular TOG style or SLP style are made for mild to moderately modded supercharged 3800's; and the Pacesetter style are made for heavily modded supercharged 3800's- none of those 3 would be a good match for the NA 3800's because they're just too big IMO.