RE: New Monte Forum Member
 

hey, welcome to the site :)

RE: New Monte Forum Member
 

Welcome to our little part of the WWW
I have never been to much into racing as far as my cars goes
I normally keep things stock. I know there is a lot of thing that can be
done to increase h/p and fuel mileage.

RE: New Monte Forum Member
 

Adrian, Welcome to the Monte Carlo Forum. This is my 3rd FWD Monte, and this one, running on 93 octane, had the worst milage of the bunch, !st was '95 w/ 3.1L, 2nd was '01 SS LE w/3.8N/A, and now this '04 Intimidator SS w/ 3.8S/C. '01 got 24.5mpg on 87 octane, then this got 22.5 on 93 octane. OUCH! I drive 600mi/week commuting. 2 weeks after buying this car I installed a K&N intake system, and have been getting between 24.3-26mpg since. 51,500mi later, it was THE best thing I did to my Monte. I HIGHLY recommend you start with making the air flow thru it better, intake, u-bend delete, etc. Start there, then the PCM.
You should also know that your catylic converter system has a 10 yr/100,000mi federally mandated warranty, because you will probably have problems with it sooner or later. First signs are lack of performance and poor shifting, and no check engine lights come on.
I'm looking at ZZP's 304 stainless downpipe for my car. They claim it won't throw check engine codes.

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2319272

RE: New Monte Forum Member
 

Hey RocknSS04, thanks for the post. I really appreciate the info on the mileage, and the increase you got from the K&N is great to know. I can't complain too much about the mileage. I drive less than a mile from my home to the highway, and then have 9 miles of highway travel, and I turn into my work parking lot right off of the highway. So considering my work commute, I think I'd say that >90% of my work commute is highway travel. I've only put one tank of fuel through it so far, and it was the fuel from the dealership, so I don't know what the mileage started at for it. According to the little computer, I'm averaging 28.2mpg so far. I live in Iowa, where 10% ethanol blend is everywhere, and less expensive that unleaded. The E-10 runs on average 6-10 cents cheaper, and is 89 octane. I've heard from others that their mileage took a bit of a hit when they switched from standard 87 unleaded to the less expensive ethanol, but I've always run it so I have nothing to compare it to I guess. I'd like to get a baseline established for what the true mileage is on the E-10, and then do a mileage comparison with the 87 octane. I'd have to run the numbers to see which is the better deal price-wise based on mileage and cost per gallon, but I'd be interested to see what the results would be. I'm also curious if the mileage changes would be due to the computer liking the appropriate octane fuel, or that the ethanol blend simply isn't as good on mileage as straight fuel.

I've put K&N filters in nearly every vehicle I've owned, and have always had a noticeable difference in performance and mileage. I've been looking at the K&Ns, and was curious if you're running just the filter or the whole kit. I've been clicking around on ZZP as well, and have taken a look at the U-Bend delete, and downtube as well. I need to do a little more reading, but the premise of increasing flow in and out always makes sense.

Thanks for the input. I'm really impressed at all the work you're put into your vehicle. I'm particularly impressed with your CNCed gauge pod in the dash. I've never made any interior parts, but I've used Autodesk Inventor and rendered files for a couple different brackets that I had CNCed for my Firebird.

To touch on your reccomendation of increasing air flow, I'm curious how adaptive the PCM is to this. When I unplugged the EGR valve on my '89 2.5L Olds to test it for functionality, I discovered that the problem was infact with the EGR valve. After I replaced the valve, the car ran horribly. Remembering that the computer "learns" the parameters of the engine and sets itself to them, I removed the negative battery cable for an hour, and reconnected it. After about 90 minutes of total drive time, it ran 100% better. If I do add a K&N intake system, weld in a U-bend delete and aftermarket catalytic converter, how well can the newer computers deal with these changes? After I installed them, would I need to "reboot" the computer to let it relearn this increase in flow so it could better take advantage of it? This is where things get a bit blurry for me.

Thanks again, I appreciate the info!

-Adrian

RE: New Monte Forum Member
 

Adrian. After I installed the K&N Air filter the car had no problems, didn't bother with a relearn procedure.

But, I would have to say in your case I would do it. It's not going to hurt anything other thanpossibly losing the time and radio presets on the clock. Your trip meters might go too, allthough I'm not sure about that. Years ago on my 95 2.2L beretta I did do the relearn when I replaced the O2 sensor and it helped. That car was actually OBDII, so very similar to the programming in our cars.

From what I understand after disconnecting the battery cable for a while you need to start the car, and letit go through 3 fan cycles while idling. Obviously the A/C should be off, because it runs the fan constantly.

RE: New Monte Forum Member
 

Three fan cycles, huh. I'll have to keep that in mind. I'm very seriously considering going with a CAI (Probably K&N, I've had good luck with them before) as well as the u-bend delete. I feel that both of these will have a benefit both concerning power/performance as well as mileage. I think that minimizing anything that directly affects the fuel system should increase the chances that my mileage won't be adversely affected as well.

Thanks for the info. After I pick it up from the shop tomorrow, I've got to be gone to work until next weekend. I think I'll put an order in for the intake and exhaust parts, and I maybe be able to get them in next weekend.

-Adrian

RE: New Monte Forum Member
 

Welcome to MCF Adrian!!

RE: New Monte Forum Member
 

Hello again everybody. Not to keep bringing up this same post, but it is on the same topic.

Per the reccomendation of everyone who was kind enough to welcome to this forum, I opted to initially free up the inhalation/exhalation of the ole 3800. I purchased both a ZZPerformance downtube and a K&N cold air intake. I woke up about a half an hour early this morning and installed the downtube this morning. By the seat of my pants, I couldn't tell a huge difference, but there was a bit. By this afternoon, UPS had delivered my CAI, and after I had dinner, I got it in in about an hour. I started it up, let it go through three fan cycles and then hooked up my scan tool. The only code I got was the recurring P1336 (CASE Relearn necessary) so that was a plus. When I pulled up the sensor , I noticed that the manifold pressure was lower, engine load at idle was lower and intake air temperature was very comparable to ambient air temperature, only 3* higher than the ambient air temperature with the hood closed. I went out and launched it again, this time with the traction contol off for effect and holy crap!!

I am truly amazed at how restrictive the intake and exhaust must be to have made such an incredible difference. And the best part is, overall, these things should have no negative effect on fuel consumption. Unfortunately this new found power makes me question what else is untapped in the realm of L36 potential.

Anyway, I'm happy with the decisions I made based upon your reccomendations and just wanted to thank you for the info.

Thanks.

-Adrian

RE: New Monte Forum Member
 

Welcome to the forum.

RE: New Monte Forum Member
 

Adrian-
I think I speak for all that contributed in saying congratulations on your succesful mods! I'm glad they panned out well for you!

I hope you continue to consult our (maybe not infinite--but certainly vast) wisdom, because knowledge gained is of no general benefit unless it is shared.