New to this arena

[chyche]

I have just acquired a 1995 Lumina with a 3.4L LQ1 engine. I am considering making this into a sleeper and wanted to know where to start without breaking the bank. I am unsure of the model transmission but it is the 4 spd auto.

Any inexpensive bolt ons and simple changes to enhance performance?

Thanks, C

[95whiteprix]

Autozone Intake + Filter of your choice $50
Magnecor wires and good plugs $ ? don't remember what I paid ~120 for the wires and like 75 for iridium plugs but iridium plugs are not necessary
FastFwdPerformance Dogbone $75 + UD Pulley $85 plus shipping(idon't have one yet but will soon)
I have a Granatelli Motorsports mass airflow sensor but it was $290 works great though (Incredibly awesome throttle response)
I also put on an A/C delete pulley that helped alot too. $50 and some slight fabrication
If you got the cash I run 93 octane all the time and a 180 t-stat
I am in the process of putting a battery in the trunk and running a full cold air system
I cut some weight too which would include
-stripping the trunk, cruise control(didn't work anyway) the A/C system was like 40ish pounds and once I get another car to drive daily the car is getting completely strippedIt seems that everyone is looking for cheap bolt ons but they just don't exist due to lack of market, It is all mostly custom work to be done so I don't know what else to say. All I know is I am very impressed with everything I have done so far. And do not buy a jet chip because they are worthless, I had one and took it out because it made no difference.

[SappySE107]

Stock aC delco filter does the best job of filtering the air. Magencor wires are awesome but are at least 160 if not more. Normal AC delco plugs are all you need. Any more than that and you are just wasting your money. Deleting the AC isn't going to do shit for performance. 93 octane is a waste. 180 stat is the coldest I would go but I stick with the stock one myself.

Get a new cat back exhaust setup and setup your own cold air intake. Thats the most cost effective way to get power. Well, that and change you cam timing but thats a little more involved.

Your trans is a 4T60-E.

[95whiteprix]

A/c Delete does work. The new pulley is made of a hard plastic material and weighs a million times less than the steel spring loaded bastard. The 180 stat definately helps too because when I took the 180 out and put the 195 in for winter the car ran like it was gasping for air. The 93 octane is just to keep carbon from building up due to running a cooler stat. Do agree with exhaust but I have tried everything and they all sound like shit. Also the fact that there is no muffler shop within 100 miles that can mandrel bend for me and all the local ones just crush the shit out of the pipe probably has a little to do with it. Flowmaster 40's were very loud and sounded great but they rattled and pinged louder than the sound of the exhaust. Best bet is a single muffler with dual outlets or single out to cut weight. Would love to hear this baby with a good tuned set of equal length headers.

[chyche]

Thanks for the info. I'll look into the cold air intake as well as the cat back exhaust and the wires. Any chips to help the HP available?

[95whiteprix]

There are chips for sale in the store but they are only for 91-93.
I would wait b/c I believe there are 94-95 chips in process.

[timg]

I would do 3 things:

1. FFP underdrive pulley - $200 installed including belts.
2. 2.5" mandrel bent exhaust with 3 STRAIGHT THROUGH mufflers - $650
3. 3" Cold air intake - expect to spend $150 or so.

IMO, these three things are the best band for your buck and can be done for about $1000 total.

Tim

[dohcfiend]

i am pretty much on the same page as timg. opening up the exhaust does quite a bit for these engines IMO.

other than what was mentioned, there are a few places around that can port your intakes for about $150 or less, have any local machinist port and gasket match your exhaust manifolds. most of the time it is inexpensive. around $75-100. do that with a little exhaust modification and there should be a little more something there.

i done my exhaust for about $50 bux and it is ALOT better than stock but it is loud as hell. i haven't made any dyno runs but it seems to rev quicker throught the higher rpms.

basically the stock setup consist of cat, a resonator and 2 can mufflers. cat was gutted, the 2 can mufflers were deleted and the resonator was replaced with a glasspack. lost a little weight from this too.

also you can do a little free weight reduction if u have the time by removing the spare and jack and the insulation underneath the carpet.

as mentioned the ffp udp is good as well as a CAI, there is 1 guy that can make chips for the 94-95 motors. i do not think he does much tuning but he can change anything you tell him to and for $40 it is a helluva deal. he is called darthfiero. best place to find him is pennocks fiero forum. he can do things like remove speed limiters, properly setup whatever temp thermostat you put in. if u decide to delete and emmissions equiptment, he can make the ses light go away etc. he can do timing and fuel changes i believe but u may have to tell him exactly what to do though.

but if u are mechanically inclined i would HIGHLY recommend a stall converter for your tranny which will be VERY noticable. although it's street manners may not be as good. i think intense has them for $200

p.s. go for a 3k stall.