[mbrekke]

It's about time for a rebuild on my daily driver '99 Grand Prix GT. I really like the car and have decided to keep it and put some money into it instead of getting something new. I was thinking of some simple upgrades to get a few more ponies out of it. I've done a bit of checking on a couple Grand Prix sites but most of the advice is stuff like, replace the whole top end (heads ,intake, injectors), supercharge, $1000 exhaust system with $800 headers and $500 intake etc. Not really interested in spending thousands of dollars on a chrome 25 horsepower upgrade, if ya know what I mean. Not interested in making it a 12 second car either since it's my daily driver. Wanting to keep it simple with a bit more kick. It also gets 30+ mpg on the highway and I don't want to totally kill that since I drive it 50 miles a day.

Was thinking about a cam upgrade, http://www.compcams.com/Cam_Specs/Ca...csid=1073&sb=2 a reprogramed PCM and a transmission shift kit. I was wondering if this was going to affect the computer and throw error codes. Anyone do a cam upgrade on one of these engines? Is it worth the added expense? PCM or shift kit? Anything need to be reprogramed to get it to run right? If it's going to cause problems I'll just stick with a stock rebuild. Thanks

Mark

[BLADE4444]

ive played with a few 3.8s, they are awesome engines and have good potential. i cant tell you much about the cam, but you will have to have the computer reprogramed. ill post a link to a 3800 forum i used to go to when i wanted to hop up my buick once i find it. if it was me, i would drop a stock gtp supercharged 3800 in it and change the wiring and be done. you will still get great mileage and will be able to smoke the tires on command.

[mbrekke]

Brian

Thanks for the response. I've done some reading on a couple GP websites and there's like 2 responses to upgrades. The old cold air intake and exhaust bit, or the 'top swap'. I guess it's pretty popular to swap out the heads, upper and lower intake, injectors, throttle body etc. from a L67 (GTP) and stick them on the bottom end of a L36 (GT). Makes for a big difference but it's more cash and parts hunting than I want to deal with. I'm looking at a rebuild down the road and figured it would be a good time for a cam swap. Seemed like the biggest bang for the buck.

Seems like either guys stop with just the cold air intake and exhaust and think they have a real hotrod (about a $1500 investment for minimal gains) or they go all the way. I was looking for something in the middle.

Mark

[Sylentkilla]

I also am looking for the same thing you are for your car mine is a 97 chevy camaro with the 3800 and ive got a friend who put a procharger on his firebird that has the 3800 for around $2000 for the whole kit .

[Johnny B]

There are lots of opinions on V6 performance. Most cost lots of money!! here's a good site ....Jb http://www.3800pro.com/forum/