Hi all, i have recently aquired my 5th gen monte and i'm currently in the process of getting back to the best shape possible and i have a few questions.
What air intake/cai modifications do you guys reccomend the most, same for exhaust. The p.o. has some bumper stickers left over and i'm wondering if anyone knows of a good product to help remove the left over glue, (same for those stupid double sided tape window visors, and i might remove my door trim as the p.o. ripped some off, maybe better to finish it?)

I'm also looking to gain as many mpg's as possible, with nearly 135k miles i'm planning to sea foam the car following the step by step on here, if theres any other recomendations i'll take them. One last thing, is there any way to tell if the car is equiped with keyless entry?
Excuse my lengthy post, but i'll be very greatful for any advice all of you can offer

 

Just my opinion, but Sea Foam may be overkill at this point unless there is an issue you are trying to resolve. You may want to start with just an oil change and put in something of good quality. NAPA Synthetic is still on sale until the end of the month for $3.38 a quart. Penzoil yellow bottle is another good option. With a motor I don't know the history of I like to do a couple of short interval changes, so I won't waste cash on anything too pricey right out of the gate. You may want to have the trans fluid changed too - that's something I like to do with an unknown trans. From what I know about the process, it's something you can't completely do yourself since the system needs to be pressurized to get all of the fluid out of the torque converter. By just dumping you get something like 20% of the fluid out I believe. Someone here will know more I'm sure. After I swapped the motor and trans in my Monte I had the dealer do the trans flush and FI cleaning while they were at it. I did an oil change followed by another at 1K miles and paid close attention to what my "fresh" oil looked like when it came out. Convinced me to do a couple more changes at 3K or less to get everything cleaned up in there.

 

Overkill hmm, I'm just trying to clean up the engine, restore horesepower and maybe gain a few mpg's in the process. I agree with you on the tranny fluid flush and i'll probally have that done fairly soon.

 

Understood. I'm probably a bit jaded after playing around with my cars for the past 25 years or so, but all of the products I've seen that claim to clean up a motor either don't or aren't necessary. The way I figure with all of the detergents in quality oils today, if you need more than that you probably need more work done than what you can find in a bottle. Again, based solely on my own experiences.

 

I don't think Seafoam is over kill. I run it in my gas tank twice a year. I ran it through the engine, but mine was clean and it barely smoked.

You should definitely do the Seafoam. I wouldn't do a transmission flush, you will notice with these transmissions that they usually die after you flush them. If you haven't done it frequently, don't do it at all. You can drop the pan and change the filter and fill up the half that fell out, but not a full flush.

Goof Off is good to remove bumper sticker residue. I like to keep a bucket of soapy water as I remove it so I'm not scratching the paint, just go very slow and very carefully.

There aren't much CAI options for the 3100 besides making your own. Plenty of terrible HAI on ebay.

 

Rubbing alcohol works wonders for removing residual adhesive. It also removes grease, oil and wax though so you'll need to re-apply some wax to the area to nourish and protect the finish.

 

I don't know enough about a '97 Monte and it's body fitment, but I wonder if a W-body CAI for a 34000 would fit.

To be honest, I am still driving a 3100 powered '94 Grand Am. I really would not vest too much into more power on it. I've installed a drop-in K&N air filter and L67 coils on it. Not a lot of change, but some (slightly improved throttle response).

It might be worth seeing if GM had a different air box for a 3100 vs 3800 on that model Monte, if so, see if the 3800 is more open. From what I've read about 3100's you souple play with swapping the LIM/UIM/Throttle Body from a 3400 (they are more open flowing more air). But we come back to it's still not what most people are looking for. Next step is a full 3400 swap. Someone on the Grand Am community did a AWESOME rightup/manual on putting a 3400 into a 3100 powered '95 Grand Am. It appears to be almost a direct swap (some very minor "gotchas" along the way).

You might find a lot more about the 3100/3400 performance mods reading from the Grand Am forums (or other N-Body forums). Since these were the biggest engines GM popped in the N-Body, that community has strived to get more power out of them (much like the W-body community has a lot of 3800 performance mod info).

 

I believe he can't do anything with our CAI because the battery is right there.

 

+1 on Seafoam. I use it on a few old cars and our Monte; it seems to work. Doesn't hurt.

+1 on tranny fluid / filter change. If you're worried about not getting all the fluid out but don't want to risk (or the expense of) a full flush, do the 'poor man's flush' that I use on my old cars: change the fluid / filter, run the car around a bit, then change just the fluid again. Cheap insurance for your tranny.

I'd flush the coolant and brake fluids too. Lots of folks neglect them until something bad happens. Again, cheap insurance for the life of your car. Might even consider sucking out the old power steering fluid (I use a turkey baster) and top off with fresh fluid.

 

Well i had a reply wrote and accidently hit back, take 2. Thankyou everyone for your input, its greatly apreciated. I will go ahead with the seafoam in the next few days. I was afriad that there wasnt really any cai options for the 3100, maybe i'll just put in a k&n drop in filter. Now you al have me skepticle about a tranny fluid change as some say good and some say no. My other question is, is there any way to tell if the car was equiped with keyless entry, aside from having a dealer run the vin.