Think about building up the Cutlass

[fastdan]

I have a 96 Cutlass Supreme SL with the 3100 SPFI. The car was my wife's and I never really thought about building it up. I took it for a ride with my friend yesterday and it felt good, especially low end. What about's do these run in the 1/4 mile stock? 0-60?

I do not know alot about these cars but do know alot about other cars. The only mods I can even think of are as follows:

Short ram Intake with K&N Filter(Which one fits?)
2.5' Exhaust with Dynomax Muffler(Will it work?)
Weight Reduction


That's about all I can come up with, any ideas or help would be appreciated.

Has anyone ever ran their stock 96 3100 at the track? What were your times?
What were your times with Bolt On's?

Dan

[blackbombshell95]

My 95 ran a 16.7-9 stock. I hear 96's run faster. I'm seeing 16.3's and up on the board. The previous owner of my RED 96 said he ran a 16.3 with his.

Those times are Bone stock.
I'll be making short ram intakes for the 96 3100's soon. I make them for the 3100's nON MAF. Yours should have a MAF

[fastdan]

Can I just bolt up a KN Cone filter to the end of the MAF? What diameter is it?

Dan

[sharkey]

what you can do all depends on what you are able to do (you mechanicaly and financialy). you could drop in a 3400 for about a 20hp gain. you could swap a 3400 top end (or 2k+ 3100) and use the 3500 plenum, port the heads, ls1 springs, build your own headers. lots you can do. basic bolt ons only take you so far with one of these things, to get a good noticable amount of power increase, you gotta go into the motors.

[SappySE107]

You should at the very least consider the 3400 intake manifolds. They are larger and flow a lot more than your stockers. Porting your stock manifolds is an option but really not worth it compared to the stock large port manifolds.

I wouldn't use a K&N cone filter on the end of the MAF, as you will be sucking in a lot of hot air and will probably lose some torque from it. A cold air intake setup is best, or a drop in filter in the stock box.

[fastdan]

I want to make it faster on a budget. I pretty much want to do direct bolt ons. I am interested in the 3400 Intake manifold. Do you know of any CAI I could adapt to my car?

I have an 87 GN and a 93 LT1 Camaro that I throw alot of money at, I would like to not throw money at this car and have it run 15's to use for work everyday.

My goal is a 15.7@90. I feel that's attainable, it's gotta be close, has anyone ever seen a road test of a 96 and what it ran in the quarter?

Dan

[SappySE107]

Custom is your best bet, as the ones made by people or companies will cost you more than one you can make. Tilt the battery and you can run it through the fenderwell, or move the battery to the trunk for more room. I like my battery up front though for charging/starting purposes.

Guess you don't wanna spend 275 for a 65mm TB:P The 3500 plenum with some porting would be a better route to go with the 3400 lower intake. Requires less work to make it flow real nice plus it lets you go larger TB without porting. Requires adapter but we have that in our store here. The 3400 came with a 56mm TB, yours is 52mm. Thats the cheapest upgrade but its not a major upgrade. To reach your goal with bolt ons with a budget (how about a price range?), you are going to need some good stuff. Compression is low and I doubt you wanna buy a cam or get a regrind. That leaves heads, which again, budget, doubt you wanna go that far, and intake manifolds. No headers unless you modify a set for a grand am to fit the rear head and connect to the downpipe.

Oh, and get the metal intake gaskets, as your stockers (if they are stock still) will leak eventually. GM really screwed up on that one.

[fastdan]

I would be willing to spend a $1000 or so. I'm going to definately do the CAI and exhaust. I read that the engine needs to be removed to do heads and cam, which I wont do. I want to do everything I can with the motor in the car. I want to do all work myself. I started searching for 3400 stuff but I'm seeing DOHC stuff, is that what I'm looking for? Where would I/E/3400-3500 Intake manifold-lenum and TB put me? My friend is telling me the car runs 17's and that just can't be(can it?) I have alot of track experience with alot of cars and I'm guessing it's at 16.2-16.5 now.

[SappySE107]

You don't have to pull the motor to do the heads.

Stock 3500 plenum is about 140 shipped unless you find one used somewhere. Lower intake, ebay if you can find one, or there is a stocker on here brand new for 80 bucks in buy/sell/trade. You will want to port the plenum at the very least, which I do for 65 along with modifying the TB extension to clear the fuel pressure regulator on the 3400 lower intake. I charge $100 to port the lower intake. You will need an adapter as well for the throttle body, which is $45. The billet 65mm TB is 275 or you can find a 3400 TB that is 56mm for under 50 usually. The adapter is made for the 65 though and will require some modification to the TB and a TB gasket to use the 3400 or stock throttle body. Headers can be found at ssheaders.com though I am not sure on pricing for that anymore. Remember, gotta modify the rear header to fit your car. Otherwise your best bet is a high flow cat and 2.25 or 2.5" mandrel bent exhaust. Intake is custom for a cold air intake and I don't know pricing.

[3100 MPFI]

I would like to point out that it is VERY possible to swap out the CAM in the Cutlass Supreme. I did it twice in my Cutlass Supreme, and did it in a Friends Cutlass Supreme, as well as in a Grand Prix. I am also looking at a cam for my STE, and when I get it, the engine will stay in the car to swap it out.

It is not that hard to do.