badinfluence77

cliff notes:3 weeks ago I got cut off in the rain on the interstate,caught the gravel shoulder trying to avoid the other car,lost traction and spun head on into a cement barrier at about 55. Airbags went off and I couldn't talk my insurance company out of writing it off as a total.
My new car is a bone stock 2000 automatic trans am. This is only the 2nd automatic vehicle I have owned in my life,with the first being a hand me down minivan about 10 years ago. I have a few questions,I tried searching,but couldn't find the exact answers I was looking for. And and all help is very much appreciated.
1. Is it common for the transmission to jerk and make a thump sound when I put it in drive?

2. Are the exhaust pipes ran the same way they are with the lt1 f-bodies? (I found a cat back I want,but it's only listed for 93-97 models)

3. If the answer to that is no,does anyone know of someone other than kooks that ships true dual exhaust systems? Or even just the piping so I can add my choice of mufflers? I'm looking for a kit instead of just taking it to a shop because I prefer doing as much work as possible myself.

4. Are the stock heads worth porting? If not,what lsx factory heads are worth picking up at a low price to have worked on? I found a bunch of threads on this subject,but it seemed the conversion always turned to aftermarket heads,and if I can hit my goal of more than 425hp,but less than 500 on stockers,I would prefer that route. I'll worry about more power waaaayyy down the line when I can afford a Moser swap.

Like I said I tried quite a few searches,but found very few exact answers to what I'm looking for.
Thanks in advance.

-Kevin

ajwoodtransport

First off, glad you're ok.....that's most important. Don't know anything about the exhaust question but to answer the putting in drive question...no it's shouldn't make too much of a thump sound. If it does, it could mean a lot of things, but sometimes it simply means the car isn't warmed up properly and is at high idle or it just needs a good tune up. When I drove mine without a MAF sensor for about a week it would chirp the tires everytime I put it in drive. When I was a teenager back in the 80's my 70 Camaro would do the same thing but it was because it wasn't tuned properly so I had to have the idle turned up to keep it from stalling at idle. Again, good think your ok. Good luck with the car.

00ZNewb

iTrader: (2)

First place i would look for a thump would be my torque arm mount/bushing/grommet thing. the correct name eludes me atm. I dont know about the 3rd gen exhaust but i think youll find what you are looking for at texas-speed.com (sponsor here). They have nice exhaust with, your choice, or no mufflers. As far as heads go, stock heads are worth working. There are a couple sponsors that do stock head porting and get good results. Specific head casting number you are looking for would be a 241 or 243, if your lucky they came on your car. Most likely youll have some 839s, which are only slightly less cfm flow.

heres a link to lots of good info
https://ls1tech.com/forums/new-ls1-o...anna-fast.html

badinfluence77

Thank you for the informative responses.
Unless I oversleep for work,I typically let it warm up for about 10 minutes before I drive it.
It came with a 3 month warranty,so now that I know it's not normal,I'll let them take care of figuring out and fixing the problem.

As far as the accident goes,my wife told those concerned about me that the only thing i broke was my heart lol.
I have been looking at texas-speed quite a bit. If my wallet was currently fatter,they would be getting quite a bit of money from me.

badinfluence77

And I guess I should soon edit my sig...

D14HUGGER.ORANGE

Ls1 98-02 came with either 241 heads of 853. Vaulable heads that make good power are 243 or 799 casting heads. My buddy did a head swap on his 02ss and put stock 243 heads and gained 11whp. But fully Cnc'd port you can gain 40-60 whp depends on the porting and head work you get done. Advanced inductions on the east coast do an amazing head work on factory heads and CBM in California also do good Cnc head work. Look at your local savage yards and you can score you a set of 243 or 799 casting heads for 300-400 bucks. 243 came on 08(I believe that year) and up silverados they newer 5.3L impala's and 01-04 zo6 vettes. 799 casting heads are they same just different valves they came on the newer escalades and Yukon Denali's. The (5.3) 862 casting heads are good heads when you get them Cnc ported and new bigger valves( there only good if you get new valves job) they also bump up your compression abit and make good power on the low end oppose too better power on the top end with 243s. Go on Texas-speed.com they have good heads cam packages, as well as advanced inductions. You can hit the 400rwhp on a cam/ intake manifold swap (or get close) also with an A4 tranny your gonna need a stall converter, awsome power upgrade . Deffinatly go with a 3600k or higher stall. I went with yank on mine and b&m tranny cooler.

badinfluence77

I definitely planned on the stall and cooler,and probably some 3.73 gears.
I was finally learning and understanding alot about the lt motors when it happened,now I just feel like I'm starting all over since the ls seems like a whole new beast.
I know the potential is there that in time,it will be something I'm happier with,but in stock form,it just feels so much slower than my 94 was.
Gonna try to hit the tracks soon,just to have a baseline comparison. I know what it's supposed to run on paper,but I live in a high altitude area. Plus then once I do start adding parts,I will know exactly what gains I make. I'm even holding off on the "free mods" until I can get a few passes in.
So for the next 2 months and 3 weeks,I'll just keep my eyes open for some deals and stockpile parts.

D14HUGGER.ORANGE

As far as the tranny problem. Do you have a after market throttle body? How miles does it have? What rpm does your car idle at?

badinfluence77

The car is bone stock.
117k miles.
Idles at 600,providing the tach is accurate.

badinfluence77

Another question,there is no problem when I turn my headlights on,but when I turn them off,one of the motors sounds like its continuing to try to keep pulling the fixture down for about 5 seconds after its actually down,and when I turn on just the driving lights,the headlights still pop up even though they are not on. Is there a way to adjust these issues,or should I just add it to my list for when I take it in for warranty work?
Definitely taking it in for work since its throwing the code for low flowing cats.

RevGTO

iTrader: (12)

Headlight motor gear is bad. The driver side is usually the culprit. Go to the Firebird forum and check the stickies for details.

badinfluence77

I thought I had read all the stickies,but apparently I missed that one,thank you.
I now have a project for this weekend.

garygnu

you will need a big cam and a fast intake ,and all other mods to make 425 rwhp with even 241 heads.a TSP torquer v3 with a ls6 will make 405 rwhp. a big cam from EPS ,or Martin from Tick mite meet your goal with stock heads.

badinfluence77

Thanks again for pointing that thread out.
That thread,and about half an hour of my time,and everything is straight.

badinfluence77

Noted.
Definitely not going to be an overnight transformation,but every little bit of help I get to help me plan everything out before hand is appreciated.