Hey guys. I've decided not to go ahead with the tear-down diagnostic of my engine since it will cost $1,000. I have a list of things I plan to get since I'm going to bring my monte back from the dead. Any advice is appreciated including which plugs and wires should I buy?

Here is the list:

Throttle Body Spacer
Thrasher CAI
160 OR 180 t-stat
L36 High Velocity Throttle Body
Strut Tower Brace
Royal Purple Oil
K&N Oil Filter
Felpro Intake Manifold Gasket
Optima Redtop Battery
Dail_UR_Boost Interchange Pulley System
ZZP Modular Pulley
Underdrive Pulley
Prestone Coolant
Competition 4t65e Transmission Pan
Auxilary Cooler Kit
Amsoil Synthetic Transmission Fluid
Synthetic Brake Fluid- Any suggestions?

 

A supercharger kit from ZZP

 

at this point synthetic brake fluid is a not a performance upgrade it will actually boil at lower temperatures than say DOT4 fluid. synthetic brake fluid is also silicon based and is not mixable with glycol based fluids. this means changing every component that has a rubber o-ring or seal which is everything but the steel lines in the car.

just use DOT4 if you want a better heat range.

 

Throttle Body Spacer=no
Thrasher CAI=yes
160 OR 180 t-stat=180
L36 High Velocity Throttle Body=OEM TB flows more than enough air.
Strut Tower Brace=front and rear
Royal Purple Oil=no comment
K&N Oil Filter=K&N is good. Check around for other materials also.
Felpro Intake Manifold Gasket=yes
Optima Redtop Battery=yes, if you need one.

If you are going to install an S/C I'd check around for modular pulley systems first and see which one would accommodate your budget. Also an IC for the S/C would be better than one for the trans. the trans doesn't get hot enough to need an IC.

 

First of all- can you refresh us on what engine you're getting? Supercharged, or NA?

Since I see an L36 throttle body on there, I assume you're swapping in a regular NA 3800?

In that case, I'd stick with stock OEM plugs and wires. You're not going to gain any power with special plugs.

Here's my take on the rest:

Throttle Body Spacer - garbage

Thrasher CAI - do the wizaird or zzp instead

160 OR 180 t-stat - forget the 160 for a daily driver

L36 High Velocity Throttle Body - lot of money for your only power mod (do a hv3 or rockers instead)

Strut Tower Brace - ok, its only like $15

Royal Purple Oil - I wouldn't buy it, heard bad stuff about RP, and I don't think it meets the oil testing requirements for our engines anyway

K&N Oil Filter - a normal filter is fine

Optima Redtop Battery - do you have a big sound system? I'd just as well get a regular battery since they're far cheaper

Dail_UR_Boost Interchange Pulley System - can't use this without a supercharger

ZZP Modular Pulley - same thing as above

Underdrive Pulley - for what? the alternator? wouldn't bother

Competition 4t65e Transmission Pan - huge waste of money

Auxilary Cooler Kit - waste of money

Amsoil Synthetic Transmission Fluid - just use regular dexron 6, no need to get fancy

Synthetic Brake Fluid- whats wrong with regular brake fluid?


Sounds to me like you'd end up spending a bunch of extra money doing mods that amount to virtually nothing. Super fancy fluids and filters are a waste of money IMO, in fact- most of your list can be replaced with stock components, and you'll make just as much power and be just as reliable.

 

Im getting 3.8 V6 non super charged.

 

Instead of spending all that money on the other stuff why not just get a supercharger add-on is what I was saying above. Like the M90 Kit from ZZPerformance.com