the aftermarket is crazy compared to what you’d think a domestic fwd v6 would be. right now it’s stuck at stock cast ported heads. a vendor is due to release aluminum heads shortly which should open a new level of potential.
Agreed, if you want 12’s, 11’s, 10’s or better the aftermarket is available.
I tried to buy the fuckin’ thing tonight, but they wouldn’t give me a close to fair price so I walked. I also tried to buy an LS4 Impala but had the same experience.
I’m looking at a Regal GS tommorow morning- I’ll probably try to buy that too. I’ll be racing people after Bingo at the church on Thursday nights.
hahaha well if you need 3.8 knowhow theres plenty around. good luck with your decision
Yeah I bought a Regal GS. I really like it for what it is. It was cheap as shit too.
People on the Regal forums tell me I need to open up my exhaust before thinking about dropping a 3.5" pulley on it…sounds like horseshit to me, honestly. What do you guys think?
For sure. You need to offset powermaking mods with supporting mods.
i’ve always been a fan of doing shit the right way. now granted you probably won’t hurt shit just throwing on a 3.5" but to be absolutely sure you should get a bigger downpipe section. most cars knock from the factory and a smaller pulley just adds to that
there’s a portion of the exhaust that has been dubbed the “u-bend” if you put the car up you’ll see what i’m talking about. GM crimped a piece of pipe right after the cat down to about 2" diameter just to mount the rear O2 sensor vertical and out of harms way. its extremely restrictive and it scortched my retinas the first time i seen it.
btw i have the proper supercharger pulley puller whenever you’re ready to swap.
That should work. they respond extremely well to turbocharging,…just like the GN. 6, let me know if you need some tips on the turbo conversion.
It is amazing how reasonable they are. Aftermarket support is very good. They ride great on long road trips. Do not expect a great handling car. clubgp has lots of good info too.
For sure. You need to offset powermaking mods with supporting mods.
Yeah, duh…it just doesn’t seem like a free flowing exhaust is much of a supporting mod for a pulley that isn’t adding much boost (though I admittedly don’t know much about these cars at this point, so I guess I’m wrong). I mean, I would’ve understood if someone told me I needed more fuel pressure or bigger injectors or a bigger fuel pump or a tune…but at this stage, the exhaust thing just didn’t make sense.
now granted you probably won’t hurt shit just throwing on a 3.5" but to be absolutely sure you should get a bigger downpipe section. most cars knock from the factory and a smaller pulley just adds to that
I’ll probably try it…I really don’t want a loud/raspy exhaust on this car.
Thanks for all the feedback everyone.
wont be loud… best mod i did was 3inch d/p with u bend delete and hi flow cat!! i know this is gonna sound silly but with my other mods it def made a diff!!
Is this the kind of thing I should be looking for?
I would stick with the following vendors
ZZperformance.com
wbodystore.com
intense-racing.com
you won’t notice hardly any change in the sound of the exhaust. I’ve got a completely stock catback and even with a nasty cam and no cat it’s still quiet as hell. ask 2003 ssei, you can’t even hear my car idling from the front.
btw…
Not to rain on anyones turbo parade but there’s plenty of m90 setups running the same times and -100whp as the bulk of the turbo setups. you can’t beat the top end of a turbo but you won’t beat the low end of a blower…it’s a trade off, there’s no way you can declare one better than the other
i preffer turbo over blower any day my gn pulls really hard low and high fun car but parts are 3 times as much as gp’s!! thats why i got the daytona to build a turbo L32 car for under 7k is my goal including cost of car! it can go either way but i found it to be cheaper to go turbo than build the m90 or gen V. a L32 turbo t61 trim intercooled good tune n tire should be good for mid 11’s thats not bad for 4k for a good complete kit just my thoughts
i love both!!!thats why i wanna do both as well… just do basic mods u will be happy!!!
i have a good customer that has one that runs 12.20s… he won the pontiac nationals in his class last year with it… but it is heavily modded…
hard to get 11.5 without some valvetrain work. add a built tranny into that mix too. throw in injectors and a wideband while your at it and you’ve doubled your 4k 
it adds up fast and to drop that amount in one shot is a little overwhelming, atleast for someone like me it is.
Had a little tap tap this morning when I started it up (actually, it was pretty loud)…went away after 5 minutes of easy driving. It sounded like a lifter…is this common on these? The car drove/sounded fine after warming up. I’m thinking I’ll change the oil (maybe the dealership put to heavy of a weight oil in)?
Also- I’m assuming downpipes are the exact same for GPs and Regals? ZZperformance has some awesome prices on downpipes listed for GTPs…maybe I will get one. I need some better front brake pads and rotors first though.
Tap is NOT common.
DP’s are same. I have found that most of the performance parts are reasonable if not cheap for this drivetrain.
I understand what you are saying and there is truth in the statement.
X2!!!
and i ran a 3.4 pulley and intake for months before i got a new downpipe…
im sure you’ll be fine.
Def agree with the downpipe change… You can run more boost but that downpipe is a huge restriction.