Well its slowly underway to making a small transformation from stock to a hopefully more powerful car to beat around daily. So I figured id make a thread and as it progresses Ill updated with pics and hopefully advise for others looking to do something like this.

So the first thing I did was pick up a trinity about a month and a half ago and have gotten it tuned by Lewis. Now was it worth it? I have no idea because the seat of the pants is hardly noticeable with whatever was done with the tune and I haven't gone to track to compare to my stock setup. But Lewis has been awesome to work with doing the tunes and working with my not always bright self in the process.

next up is a set of manifold I bought like a year and a half ago and actually forgot I had. So I took a carbide bit to them and hogged the hell out of them as much as I could. I then media blasted them inside and out so clean it and smooth the inside as much as possible. I then painted them with high temp flat black paint and put teh stock heat shields back on. Im hoping the larger openings and black paint will help keep the heat in the pipes better instead of the engine bay. I then used DEI header wrap on the crossover pipe to keep heat off the throttle body and trans as much as possible. I installed the front manifold and crossover tonight and can say the car is quieter inside now and I can hear the throttle body even at light throttle. I haven't logged anything yet or gotten on it to know if it did anything and dont know if it will. I figured it couldnt hurt any to do this and I already had everything to get it done.

here was after I ported and media blasted them




wrapped crossover




painted up and next to the stock manifold you can see the difference in port size






installed with a makeshift air intake for now till I build a fenderwell unit





Hogan 3" catted downpipe will go on at the same time as the rear manifold.



Comp cams 1.85 rockers, LS6 springs, and some used LS1 valve covers with baffles removed for clearance




and lastly but not least the LS1 intake swap. This is now 100% ready to go, alternator bracket is already installed a better version of the throttle body adapter has been made. All the intake updates can be found in the sticky thread if interested. Ill just be posting the updates as they go along on here.



I need to build a fenderwell intake but can only do so once the LS1 intake is installed and I can see what Im working with for room. My hope it to have all this installed within the next 2 months at most.

 

Im also planning on going with the TEP trans cooler setup when funds allow.

My first piece of advise, if your doing the front manifold get the dipstick tube out first. It was a PITA and I somehow looked past it when taking the manifold off and had to yank it out while holding the manifold up a bit. Also all the bolts came right out without much force but as soon as I got home and the car was hot I soaked every bolt I could see with PB blaster and let it burn off and soak in. Once it cooled i gave them another shot and they all backed out. Keep a long magnet near by to fetch dropped studs or nuts.

 

Why don't you relocate the coolant tank? I did that and it frees up tons of room

 

I had thought about it, but want to see what I can do first and if its a pain to work around I could move it. Did you use a different GM one or just a general aftermarket one? I remember I moved the one in my 98 GTP to a 2000+ type when I put that car together.

 

Aftermarket

 

Well after driving around today I can positively say the ported manifold and wrapped crossover make a difference. Its 86° out now and I have 90-110° IATs in regular traffic where I was seeing 100-145 in the same kind of conditions the other day. But the better part is it is much happier even at part throttle it accelerates easier and smoother. Down low all the way up top it feels better at WOT. I'm now very happy I spent all that time on them and can't wait to add the other pieces of the puzzle.

 

If you're gonna keep the same maf I would highly recommend wrapping the maf in reflectix or heat reflective tape it helped my iat's a lot.

 

I am, and also getting the air filer out of the engine bay will help a ton. The filter itself is hot to the touch after a drive. I actually almost bought some of that DEI high temp heat tape. I may have to get theat and wrap my TB adapter and MAF to help with the IAT's. Once the air temp starts going up there is a noticeable difference in performance as the timing starts getting pulled to keep the knock down.