PontiacBonnevilleClub.com

I've been around the Pontiac Bonneville Club for a little bit now gathering info and learning along the way about my car. I have been planning out my mods according to the best order and finances.

So heres the list, in order of whats next.

-Home made tranny shift kit: http://www.midwest3800.com/forum/kb.php ... icle&k=187

-High speed cooling fan over ride switch.

-Install A/C delete pulley and unhook old A/C system. I'll be leaving the condenser in place to continue protecting the radiator. The compressor took a dump and I don't care if I have air or not.

-Make up new battery cables.

-Home made fuel pump hot wire kit, and with a 4 awg. wire from the alternator to the power distribution center.

-Home made headlight relay kit, just to make them a little brighter.

-Go through front end (suspension and steering wise) and replace just about everything.

-Install series III injectors and fuel rail. I have the rail, injectors, and the connectors for the injectors for this swap. Plus I'll do hard line with a short flexible connection to the fuel rail, and get rid of the plastic lines that are there now. Then I just have to rework them a little by the tank.

-New tires all around.

-Buy and install a P-LOG.

-Buy and install a new down pipe 2.5" maybe 3" and high flow cat, with rear O2 delete.
Then I'll have to have the PCM reprogrammed at this point or just before.

-PCM mods would be: Rear O2 delete, Vats turned off, Fan turn on temp adjusted for 180* thermostat, Adjustments made for FWI, L26 injectors, Plog, Down pipe, and high flow cat.

Well, thats it for now but you get the idea.

Make sure you go with the 2.5" down pipe and not the 3". You will lose some bottom end with the big 3" on a N/A car.

What about ER rockers? Those should be a nice little kick in the rear. Also, a ported LIM makes a nice little difference. Those would really compliment the FWI and PLOG.

For the headlight relay, I'd buy one off of Ebay, or just get HIR bulbs. Once you figure out the time/money you'll have into the headlights, it's easier/cheaper to do a prefabbed relay harness, then upgrade the relay.

That's a good mod list you have, and something that should make the car far more enjoyable to drive. Mazel tov!

Thanks for the replies guys.

I thought about doing the rockers before I installed the motor, but figured I could use the money else where. The LIM didn't need any attention (I'm running a series III motor) they are really a good casting right from the factory.

I'll definitely keep in mind the prefabbed headlight harness when that time comes.

Also good to know about the down pipe, wasn't sure if I could step up because of the other mods.

Thanks for the input guys, and anybody else that sees something I missed or questions what the frick I'm doing let me know.

Whups, forgot you were Series III.

I'd give strong thought to the rockers, if your budget allows. That'll help your other breathing mods out quite nicely.

You will need to reprogram the PCM with new injector values. On the old Series II systems, fuel pressure is changed via the pressure regulator, which changes with vacuum. The Series III systems uses constant fuel pressure, and injector dwell times are changed with MAP values. Now, the 99 pcm you are running is able to do this so long as the values are in the table that controls this function.

Thanks Sandrock, you learn something new everyday.
Guess I'll save that one toward the end of the mod list. I've also thought about switching the alternator and belt tensioner bracket over to a series III. I saved the connector for the alternator so that I can splice that in. Then I would just have to figure something out for the heater core ports in the tensioner/alternator bracket. Thats the down side to modding sometimes, avalanche effect.

LeSabre in Buffalo wrote:Whups, forgot you were Series III.

I'd give strong thought to the rockers, if your budget allows. That'll help your other breathing mods out quite nicely.

Maybe that will be a Christmas/birthday present wrapped up into one a couple years from now.

If your Bonne is like my LeSabre, it should already have the alternator sense wire on the backside of the alternator. IIRC extending it from its present location to a further-back location is all that's necessary in that case.

If your Bonne is like my LeSabre, it should already have the alternator sense wire on the backside of the alternator. IIRC extending it from its present location to a further-back location is all that's necessary in that case.

Sandrock among others hopefully will remember a few years ago when we forgot to plug that wire in after putting a PLIM into my car. 11.xx volts sure makes the car a real dog.

Yes, it has the sense wire in the back, its the connector that is a different style from a 99 bonne to a 07 grand prix. The 07 alternator is a better unit than the one on the car now.

I would hold off on the alternator until later on, unless there's much more benefit than just having a newer alternator. Get the other electrical things figured out first, then determine if there's enough juice to power all of them adequately.

For what it's worth, I've seen a couple sets of ER rockers for sale on Club GP for decent prices.

LeSabre in Buffalo wrote:I would hold off on the alternator until later on, unless there's much more benefit than just having a newer alternator. Get the other electrical things figured out first, then determine if there's enough juice to power all of them adequately.

That's kind of what I was thinking. I figured I would hold onto it until the alternator took a puke. The one on there is a reman that came on the motor when I bought the car. The belt tensioner is still basically brand new, so not to worried about that one.

Thanks 95naSTA for the heads up. I'm not sure if I will ever do this, I'm trying not to get to crazy with this car. I have to remember this is my DD and would like it to run for a long time to come. The motor had 77,000 when I installed it. Usually when you start modding a DD you take away some of its reliability, so thats how I look at that. I'm trying not to go over board, but you know how that usually works.

Oh yeah, the $160 rockers are tempting. Although putting more money into this car at this stage in its life likely isn't worth it, it sure would be a hoot.

Yea thats a good price, but the rockers are something I would want to purchase new.

Probably doing the shift kit and A/C delete this weekend, we'll have to see how it all plays out.

i need to get an A/C delete belt..there only like 40 bucks!

but if i dont soon i just know my A/C pump is gonna seize up and yeah thats never pretty on these 318's

Progress made on my list so far:
A/C delete pulley installed.
Homemade shift installed.
External tranny cooler installed.
High speed cooling fan over ride switch installed.

Collecting other parts for other updates/mods.

Parts collection so far:

Magna flow high flow cat
FE2 rear springs
Moog tie rod ends

More to come as funds allow.

Why are you considering the S3 injectors and rail, or the fuel pump hotwire kit?

I don't see anything on your list that even remotely pushes the limits of your stock fueling. Save your time and money.

If it ain't broke (nor is it a problem), why do you wanna fix it?

Any changes to your fueling are an absolute waste of money and will gain you exactly ZERO in terms of performance, UNLESS you have enough mods to out-flow your injectors, which you do not, even if your list was complete.

There are VERY few cars here that have had to increase injector size. More fuel is NOT better performance. This is a ricer myth, and more 'power' to them!