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Starting out on upgrades.
Posted: Tue May 11, 2010 5:16 pm
by nos4blood70
Hey guys. I have a 2003 SLE and I'm hoping to get it going a little faster in a straight line. Any tips, sites, links?
Re: Starting out on upgrades.
Posted: Tue May 11, 2010 9:43 pm
by J Wikoff
ZZPerformance, INTENSE Racing are a couple good vendors. A cam and/or roller rockers, fenderwell intake, a tune... those will get you moving.
Re: Starting out on upgrades.
Posted: Mon May 17, 2010 8:35 am
by 95SLE
Intense has a nice intake mod with a PCM upgrade to let more air into the engine and up the shifting performance. With a case learn plan on spending about $400.00. A great starter mod!
http://intense-racing.com/Merchant2/mer ... de=3800_PP
Add a ZZP ER Rockers, HV3 insert and valve seals for about $525.
http://www.zzperformance.com/grand_prix ... &catid=104
Add L76 springs and a lower intake manifold gasket for another $75 and you will have a nice package in the 03.
Re: Starting out on upgrades.
Posted: Tue May 18, 2010 3:51 pm
by nos4blood70
Thanks a lot guys. Although, about the intense packages... I looked around a bit on their website and found that they have a stage 2 for the N/A also. Is this worth it? Will 30ish or so more horsepower be that much quicker? And maybe you could explain this whole business with mailing the PCM in to them? Once again, thanks a lot guys.
Re: Starting out on upgrades.
Posted: Wed May 19, 2010 11:31 am
by 95SLE
nos4blood70 wrote:Thanks a lot guys. Although, about the intense packages... I looked around a bit on their website and found that they have a stage 2 for the N/A also. Is this worth it? Will 30ish or so more horsepower be that much quicker? And maybe you could explain this whole business with mailing the PCM in to them? Once again, thanks a lot guys.
Depends where the HP is in the RPM band. For my upgrades the 25hp upgrade is pretty even across the entire RPM range. At 60 when you floor it it is probably less than 10 seconds and I was doing better than 100 MPH. I also found that when rolling up to a stop light the car was pulling harder at an idle. I try to avoid jack rabbit starts but the upgrade has more power off the line as well. I was pretty agressive on the ride home after modding the car and still managed 29.2 MPG.
All in all the upgrades were worth it.

Re: Starting out on upgrades.
Posted: Wed May 19, 2010 3:11 pm
by nos4blood70
Thanks. Nice to talk to someone who knows their stuff.
Re: Starting out on upgrades.
Posted: Wed May 19, 2010 3:25 pm
by jtate300
how are you getting 29 mpg? mine has no mods and im getting 21 with 92 octane?
Re: Starting out on upgrades.
Posted: Wed May 19, 2010 4:39 pm
by 00Beast
First off, his is Naturally Aspirated and yours is supercharged.
What is your driving style, and what kind of roads? All interstate at 70-75 you should be getting 25-29 MPG easily. Backroads and city are a different story. I also believe he was referring to a trip home from somewhere else, which was more than likely freeway.
Re: Starting out on upgrades.
Posted: Thu May 20, 2010 1:00 pm
by 95SLE
jtate300 wrote:how are you getting 29 mpg? mine has no mods and im getting 21 with 92 octane?
This was on a 365 mile trip back from CT last weekend and after the mods. All the driving was on interstate and there was onl one minor traffic problem. I normally get between 30 to 32 on a long interstate trip.
Re: Starting out on upgrades.
Posted: Sat May 22, 2010 9:47 am
by willwren
We're getting off topic here, but no L67 on this Forum should get less than 28mpg on the freeway. Some get quite a bit better than that.
Re: Starting out on upgrades.
Posted: Sat May 22, 2010 11:05 am
by 95SLE
nos4blood70 wrote:Thanks a lot guys. Although, about the intense packages... I looked around a bit on their website and found that they have a stage 2 for the N/A also. Is this worth it? Will 30ish or so more horsepower be that much quicker? And maybe you could explain this whole business with mailing the PCM in to them? Once again, thanks a lot guys.
Is it worth it is a question only you can answer. What do hope to achieve once you complete your mods? For me it was a quicker car merging on to the freeways and a decent umph when passing while retaining the gas mileage and not making the car idle rough. In my mind the mods I chose have achieved that.
Yes an extra 30hp at the wheels will make the car quicker and you will notice it. Will it glue you into your seat, not hardly.
Intense will use your PCM as a core charge and send you a PCM that will work in your car. I chose to send Intense a PCM from the junk yard and keep my stock PCM. The JY PCM cost me $20. For me well worth the cost of retaining my original PCM.
Re: Starting out on upgrades.
Posted: Sat May 22, 2010 11:21 am
by Jrs3800
@ 70 Mph I do right about 30 Mpg... At 55-60 I am in the 34-36 MPG area.. Thats on my 03 SLE...
My 95 Bonneville SE always did 29-32 running 70-80 Mph
Re: Starting out on upgrades.
Posted: Sat May 22, 2010 3:45 pm
by jtate300
yeah i never thought about it that way by running on the freeway you get better mileage...plus im running 75 80 on the freeway for about 20 miles! haha so i guess im not gonna get the good gas milage i just cant keep my foot out of it
Re: Starting out on upgrades.
Posted: Sun May 23, 2010 2:26 pm
by nos4blood70
Thanks for the explanation about the PCM stuff. That junk yard idea seems worth it. And another thing... What about the transmission? Will that be able to handle the extra power? Cause I've been looking around here and some guys were wanting to supercharge their L36 and some of the things needed was the tougher tranny that the SSEi normally comes with.
Re: Starting out on upgrades.
Posted: Sun May 23, 2010 4:31 pm
by Jrs3800
I think the stock trans will hold up for a while...
But, I think you will need to bring the line pressure up tad, and shorten the shift times... might be easier to use a GTP set of shift table to accomplish that tho... I am not talking about shift speed, simply pressure and shift times... But if you were to supercharge you better put $$$ away for a good quality trans rebuild..
Re: Starting out on upgrades.
Posted: Sun May 23, 2010 7:36 pm
by 00Beast
You can also add a shift kit from Intense, or the TransGo, from Intense if they still sell it. That includes springs and spacers that mechanically increase pressure inside the transmission. I love the shift kit in my car.
Re: Starting out on upgrades.
Posted: Mon May 24, 2010 8:06 am
by 95SLE
An Intense shift kit was my second performance mod. It will not make the car go faster but it does manage the gear changes to be more effective. It really is a nice upgrade with the PCM from Intense.
Re: Starting out on upgrades.
Posted: Mon May 24, 2010 5:26 pm
by nos4blood70
I'm not saying I'm gonna supercharge mine. It's just that I noticed that that package will give me about as much more horsepower as the SSEi normally has. But thanks.
Re: Starting out on upgrades.
Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 2:23 pm
by 95SLE
nos4blood70 wrote:I'm not saying I'm gonna supercharge mine. It's just that I noticed that that package will give me about as much more horsepower as the SSEi normally has. But thanks.
The only thing missing would be the supercharger whine. You would need to start to use the 93 octane gas.
Re: Starting out on upgrades.
Posted: Tue May 25, 2010 6:04 pm
by willwren
95SLE wrote:nos4blood70 wrote:I'm not saying I'm gonna supercharge mine. It's just that I noticed that that package will give me about as much more horsepower as the SSEi normally has. But thanks.
The only thing missing would be the supercharger whine. You would need to start to use the 93 octane gas.
And the bawlsy torque, delivered all the way across the band. You won't get that from an L36. In addition, while an L36 can hit the same peak horsepower as an L67, it's very peaky in a narrow band. The L67 delivers that horsepower more generously.