Im sure you've already seen some from your research, but ignition stuff is a real oddball on these - flat out zero gains from modifying it. Plenty of really quick, record setting cars on all stock parts. Worse yet is the aftermarket stuff tends to be even less reliable.

Of course plug gap + heat range changes are the exception, but you cant really do that until you actually add the power or you're just going to foul out plugs.

ZZP used to have a whole tech article about it, but there were so many people dead set on spending money that they took it down and started selling those parts themselves. Frankly I dont blame them, if people are going to waste the money one way or another, it may as well be at your shop.


I do think some folks are onto a path forward lately for making some actual gains there by getting more total energy into the system to open plug gaps back up: multi- stacked ICMs or aftermarket drivers running CNPs, but as far as Ive seen none of them have broken the old power records yet so it sure doesnt seem promising - at least for the typical builds.


TBH catbacks are somewhat similar. I dont think people have found measurable gains until well over stock power levels - like double +. Certainly some big power turbo setups have seen gains, but it seems like most of them just go to a cutout at that point anyways - even more power and better spool time.

 

wow really I figured I wouldn't get any gains from ignition, just wanna make sure it's fresh, as its original since 03, and wanna make sure especially when I go boosted I have enough "spark", for when I add some timing via tune, and the fuel system is upgraded. Yeah I figured absolutely no gains from catback as it seems to be the case with most platforms, unless oem is super restricted, besides just being a noise maker lol. I figured 3 in would be a bit over kill for which ever way I went, especially if I plan to try and stay in 350-400 range when going boosted, but just from past experience the more flow through a boosted setup the better. I definitely saw that the downpipe is worth a little something, with that restrictive double "u-bend" and I figured the HV3 would unlock some upper ranger power, cause these seem to fall flat at higher revs. Thank you for all this info I personally think this platform is super underrated and very cool so I would love to learn everything I can about it.

 

Totally agree. Cheap to buy, cheap to mod, and cheap (and easy) to repair. Cant ask for much more than that.

 

Great aspirations, and you have the tecky background so, the only thing holding you back is parts. Definitely get the TEP (Triple Edge Performance) transmission build, they understand how to allow it to live for a few high hp miles. And the fun maker parts are getting scarce, which makes me shy about breaking things. The GMPP LSd's are all but gone, which I believe is quite helpful getting the power to the ground. The HV3 gave me if I remember right (it's been over 10 years since it was installed) have info on old dyno sheets, but I'm thinking 15 whp gain from the insert. The exhaust cutout gave some pretty healthy numbers, but forget, something like whp45 cut out open on dyno, then close, lost power, it was significant versus the relatively low cost for a great gain.

Be exciting to see some fresh meat apply thier skills and $$ into this game. It's all the "well things do break" demeanor and getting right back into it after the aw hell no moments are past. Will see what you do with the little that is left.

here is a link of my Monte laying some rubber, fast forward through it a 30 seconds, first part I should have edited away, boring.

://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFAYUx_GrE4

 

The Monte being a W-Body, shares platform with the Grand Prix. I know a couple of guys have done 5-speed swaps on their Grand Prixs. One runs a YouTube channel, his name is Terrell and he calls his Grand Prix HellBoi.

Funny part is, I believe the Novi 1k and Novi 2k blowers were originally designed for the Mustang. I have a 1k. I am in a group chat with a few Novi owners and former owners. We know the location about seven of these kits. The super rare part is that jack shaft assembly, as Stattama/ZZP only made it for a year or two. I know one kit, the blower got destroyed by the shaft for the impeller breaking. Someone bought the shaft assembly and then got the Novi 2K from another person. ANd the jack shat that was paired with the 2k is in the hands of a guy/company that claims they want to make some type of modern replica kit....

I have been there every year with my blue 2004 Monte for about 10 or so years. Already got my hotel for 2026 ready!

 

I'll definitely check out the 5 speed swap, as I love having 3 pedals for sure.

Honestly having one of those kits would be like a straight up treasure, it's pretty interesting if someone was able to replicate the jack shaft, and total assembly. I bet of someone was a good enough machinist it could be replicated, but I feel like at what cost, especially now a days. I did see one for sale on a forum, but the post was from a year ago, so who knows if it's still available. Honestly I'd love to get my hands on one just to stand out. I did see some Australian company sells an adapter to slap a whipple on these engines instead of the M90. I really wish more people tinkered with these platforms. I think they are so cool!

 

Funny you mention it, that's exactly what I run (albeit modified a bit - added a spacer between the two halves of the adapter to run a much thicker intercooler core).

Back at the peak 3800 days there also used to be a US company that made a full kit specifc to the FWD 3800s. Unfortunately it had a lot of design issues. That's where I started with mine before shifting over to that Australian lower adapter + custom inlet adapter.

 

Sadly, the 3800 as good as it is, it is no longer in production and the vendors and customers with money to play is shrinking. There used to be a handful of vendors that specialized in these engines. W-BodyStore, Intense and ZZP were probably the biggest of them. ZZP is now pretty much the only game around. Partly because they expanded to other platforms and some of these other businesses sat on the 3800 like it was going to support them for life.

The biggest issue, ZZP left the Novi behind because turbos were cheaper and more power. Hard to blame them. But I am OK with the Novi and more OK if I can bump it up to about 250whp in the future. I know if I want to go really crazy, it can be made to go crazy, but I am more into that balance of "enjoy the car with decent reliability" vs "chase power numbers and break everything". It's a street car and I make no money for the fun I have with it.

 

A bit of a tangent, but IMO it was the single best and worst thing to happen to this platform all in one mod release.

On the upside, it quickly became the default way to make big power for all new builds. Everyone suddenly got a (reasonably affordable) bolt on mod path to take things as high as their transmission build would allow. Without a doubt it was absolutely needed to keep this platform as active as it has been as OEM power skyrocketed on new performance stuff.


The flip side is it single handedly ended all of the creativity / exploration on all of the other options in quick succession: rear mount turbo, whipple, mp112, csc, TVS, m90 + spray combos, high compression m90 builds, etc. It pretty much stalled the top level m90 records for more than a decade.

Seems to have only been the last few years that folks are finally starting to branch out a bit again.