lunchbox_89

So to get started here I'll give a little info on me & the car.
I'm 22, live in northern Alberta, Canada.

I recently purchased a 2008 Impala SS.
Got it for $16,100
All new rubber & 20" chrome rims
51,000km (est. 31,000mi)
Engine is in good condition (exterior needs a bit of work)

I've installed K&N CAI and ordered the Magnaflow CB exhaust (should have it on the car in a couple weeks). New headlights, LED tail lights, upper grille, painted lower grille, debadged rear & side of car (will be taking out all the chrome on the car)

So I have a few questions about improving the power of the car, I'm trying to learn about working on cars so i would prefer to do all the work myself.

1.) With the Magnaflow CB, should i be looking into getting a larger downpipe and highflow cat? (I see a hogan 3inch downpipe, but the mag CB system is 2.5)...

2.) I've been told to fully take advantage of the CAI, a throttle body spacer would be something I should look into, is this true?

3.) While still looking to save some money on fuel, would I be better off buying a preprogrammed tuner or a HPtuner (is a hp tuner somthing a novice can use without damaging the car?)

4.) Are there any other improvements to the engine that i could do?


Thanks for taking the time to read this wall of text, really looking forward to reading your replies!

here's a couple pics of my car:

lunchbox_89

So I was thinking about it and for the 3" to 2.5", would it makes sense to go with the hogan 3'' downpipe/mag highflow cat, delete the resanator (replaced with 3" stainless pipe all the way up to the Y pipe)

would that allow for more air flow, or would it just get choked up again at the Y pipe?

Panther427

Really for a stock motor 2.5 after the cat is fine. now on some cars the high flow cat with hogans DP can set a CEL code. But not all cars. But if you wanna get crazy with the car in the future better off paying for 3" in the first place and not paying for two exhausts.

07carlocrusader

Wait!! this Imp has a bowtie-less grill!

if it goes into 2.5 thats fine, I don't think it would choke it up, or the option that Panther stated!

ImpSS07

iTrader: (3)

Many people ran the Hogan 3" on the Magnaflow CB before buying headers.

Don't buy a TB spacer, no one has proven it does anything buy whistle.

Find someone do tune your car, if you don't know what you're doing you can seriously FUBAR things. That being said, if its not your DD and want to play around with HPtuners then buy it and play around.

lunchbox_89

Awesome, thanks for the replies. Gonna be orderin Don Rome STB bars once i get the slight vibration out of my front end... not sure if I lost a wheel weight, or (hopefully not) tie rods..



Haha, yeah it was the first mod i did to my car, that an take off the rear bowtie. I dont mind them but didn't like it crammed into the front grille. Was a tough find, and a bit expensive for a piece of plastic $100

redeemedtat2

www.trifectaperformance.com

awesome custom tuning.

lunchbox_89

yeah i read a thread about that, seems like that route would be better to take rather than taking the chance of doing it myself with HPtuner... will have to put that on hold for now, going to try rotating the tires to the rear to see if the vibration goes to the rear with it.. it seems like there is a hell of a lot of weights on the front tires... might be overbalanced..

has anyone done tie rods on an 08 impala? (its only got 50,000k.. would they be shot by then?)

Edit: Anyone out there with an 08 impala w/ K&N CAI? the ECU/TCU wires seem to be sitting ontop of a line for the rad... did I install it wrong? or is that how it sits? (Will take pics tomorrow night)

lunchbox_89

here's the pics, the line doesn't seem to get too hot.. but i'd rather not chance it..

Above view:


Close up:


Lifted up the wires to show the warm/hot rad line:


Bigger pic, yellow is the ECU/TCU wires Red is the rad line:

RedArmy87

Congrats on the SS and welcome to the forum glad to see another person from AB I live in the Edmonton area.

lunchbox_89

Got my exhaust all done up! Was going to delete the resonator but I actually really like the way it sounds now.

One thing that really pissed me off though was that in the magnaflow kit they didn't give you any hardware (bolts for flange) They said to re-use your hardware and gasket, well the gasket was rusty and causing a leak, and the bolts had some funky star lock in patter on them that would just slip around on the magnaflow flange, So I ended up going and buying a new gasket and a couple bolts to finish it up.

[youtube]uhOtif2lAx4[/youtube]

xdynasty725x

Sounds good! Will be posting vids of my car very soon when i get my stuff done. Just found a hole in my stock exhaust and its not covered under warranty so forced to get an exhaust.

p.s what tips are those

lunchbox_89

those are the magnaflow tips... i'm still kinda iffy if i'm going to keep them on there..

Might get them ceramic coated black.

Hart_06GXP

My stock mufflers rusted through as well and I had to get a magnaflow cat back set-up....damn

xdynasty725x

wouldnt the coat melt?

xdynasty725x

I'll be joining you shortly!

lunchbox_89

ceramic coating is a high heat coating, they make brake pads out of ceramic.. it wont melt.. i think the melting temp is something ridiculous like 2000 degrees...

xdynasty725x

lol my bad, i was thinking like a rubber coating they used on something else. where do you find those at?

lunchbox_89

I know most powder coating places do ceramic coating... i'm pretty sure it has to be baked on... But i'm gonna look into doing it myself, See tomorrow if any of the car places have muffler paint or ceramic paint.

will be headin to look for ceramic paint after i get my tires balanced tomorrow, hopefully straiten out the vibration in my car.. Really worried its something else..

I have some chrome tint paint that i could use, makes it look like black chrome; just hard to get an even coat while working on such a smooth surface..

xdynasty725x

cool, keep us updated!