How u guys and gals doing? I just bought my first trans am it has 135000 miles I want to put some horsepower in this engine and as u all know horsepower equal more money to be put in the car I would like you all advise in what to do? Overhaul or maybe not do any upgrades to the engine, get a new one or any possibility that I can get a good reliable car with out doing unnecessary expenditures. is there any way that I can find out in what condition my motor is? Thank you

 

As far as finding out what shape your engine is in there are a few tests you can get done. Compression and leak-down tests are most.common.

If those check out alright, I would say mod away and have fun with it. And like many have said before, save fore a rebuild or new engine while doing what you want to it as far as parts...they can be switched over to the new one (as long as you don't go 6.0 ect.)

Mine had 13x,xxx when I bought it for the cheap 2 yrs ago and is still running strong.

 

Compression test the motor to see what your starting with. Check the plugs and wires, and perhaps clean the MAF sensor. Change the oil...Check motor for leaks. Then Seafoam it! If all is in good shape...

Simple bolt-ons are your best bet. Nice BBK package, 85mm intake and TB would be a good start. So would a set of their headers (shorty) and a Y-pipe. From there a nice cat back exhaust. SLP lid and a k&N filter. above should net you 40-50hp with a tune...maybe a tad more. Above should run you about $1500

Change the rear end fluid out, dump the coolant if you haven't yet.

I would avoid no2 and forced induction, you'll just end up breaking something out of your budget ;-)

Good luck and enjoy it!

 

check your engine up make sure its still fine,
then proceed with mods/upgrades
ofc as you stated that you want more hp..
you must have a idea on how much of a beast you want to have then think of how your going to reach that hp goal.

 

As others have said do some tests if everything looks good mod it.

I put my cam in a 138k and headers went on at 149.

 

Thanks a lot for all the advice. I guess ill do the compression test and start changing the fluids in the car. I sea foamed it yesterday and I got to say I saw a good change in the engine it idles better really good throttle response and the engine sounds really good. Hopefully I didn't make another hole in ozone layer with all the smoke I put out but overall it was a very good first step