Happy new GP owner

Hi folks. I'm a proud new owner of a GP GTP/CG. This was a big move for me because I'm crossing over from the blue oval, heh heh. Wasn't hard to do, I've just had good luck with Fords in the past but always thought about buying GM's along the way.

I was originally very attracted to the GP during the whole "wider is better" ad campaign from 1998 or so, but opted for the new (at the time) 260hp '99 Mustang GT. She ended up with a Vortech blower, various chassis and suspension mods, full Bassani exhaust and so on. It was an awesome car, but I unloaded it to take defensive measures against a week economy (it was a 2nd car).

I'm fortunate enough to safely have that 2nd car again, but this time was settled on the performance sedan niche, which brought me back to the Grand Prix. I was able to take advantage of the year end close-outs to get a new performance red '04 GP GTP/CG w/ the sunroof and premium sound for $26K on the road. Awesome buy!! I'm very happy with the huge mid-range that these bad boys have, and handling really exceeds what I thought it would be able to do. Nice grip and low body roll!! The interior is tastefully executed in a sporty way without being cheesy. In a nutshell, great car at the common man's price point.

Glad to be a part of this group. BTW, I noticed a few Marylanders in the group. Later...

Congrats on the purchase and welcome!

welcome and heres to many miles of smiles.

put the hammer down before the first snow.

I am from Maryland so it Why2kMax (spelling?) Max I believe is Belair and I am down in Glen Burnie. I plan on hitting Cecil County Dragway on September 25th for Test&Tune if you are up for it let me know. My wife and 3 year old son will be with me also to cheer me on

Congrats on the Purchse!! The WS6 is an awesome package (WS6 is the Comp G)

And from a GM guy I gotta say Glad you bought a GP and not a Magnum or the such

Jiz - thanks for the reply. I've spent my share of time at Cecil, Capital, and MIR - it's a lot of fun, but I'm not going crazy with mods on the GP like I did with the Mustang.

Do the airbox kits make much of a difference over just dropping a K&N in place of the stock filter??

I may take the car up there one time to get a timeslip, but don't really have plans for trying to get in the 13's or anything. Let me know when you're going there, at least I can take in a night at the track, even if I don't plan on taking several passes.

What kind of times have you run so far?? I saw in the other thread where someone broke into the 12's. That's incredible...

BTW, I live in Joppa which is just south of Bel Air, also in Harford County.

Mine is stock other than the PCM. Got too many things on my plate right now to mod up my car - I suspect it will run around 14.5ish if I can hook up off the line.

I do not do much at the track either...1-3 runs then I eat a burger and go home

Cecil County September 25 (Saturday) in the morning. I will post when I know I am going for sure. But that is my tenitive plan.

Easy now. We just met you. Don't start lying to us!

LOL! Well I do plan to drop a K&N filter in the air box. I put them in all of my cars and bikes. We'll see if that leads to anything else

Wow all these MDers and I haven't seen a single one of you guys at our local club meets ;-)

For those who didn't know:

Washington, DC area Club Grand Prix

www.wdccgp.com

Drop on by and say hello! Besides Mod'ing here I also run the WDC area club chapter.

Or if you happen to see my car on the road - say "Hey!"

http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/549517

After doing all that work on your stang, it's hard to believe that you aren't secretly dreaming of modding your GP. I own mine a month and from my experience with modding my previous 03, the mods made it Vette fast and didn't affect driveability at all. The car drove like stock until you punched it and the mpg went up to 31 on the highway and averaged 28. My 04 only seems to average 22 mpg and is a lot slower than my 03. I'm not ready to put the three grand worth of mods that I had on my 03 in the 04 yet. But when I do get some extra cash, you know that's what I'll be doing.

Jack - Thanks for the response. OK, I'll grant you that I fantasize about hopping up the GP into the 13's and love to read about what other guys are doing to their cars, but as a guy who has motorcycling for a hobby (i'd love to have a trailer for the bikes) and kept his 4x4 truck, I gotta keep those urges in check for now. I'm just lucky to own a performance sedan like the GP, and am milking the novelty of that for as long as I can. Believe me, commuting to work in this car instead of the truck is a HUGE improvement to my daily living, heh heh. I love this car!!

I'm open to inexpensive mods that add hp like CIA for now. I've noticed a lot of references to pulley upgrades. Not sure which ones might be underdrive (less parasitic drag but would make the SC spin slower) vs smaller pulleys on the SC to get more boost. I'd like to know more about whatthe mod combinations get you and to what expense on the driveability, engine cooling etc.


Not to offend the GM faithfuls (I think we all like fast cars) but here's a link to my former Mustang GT. The quoted times were naturally aspirated. I was getting 12.8's at 110 mph with the Vortech. I really miss that thing, but I love the GP too.

http://www.mustangworld.com/ourpics/News/select534.htm

congrats on your new ride. hope you like it. i have had mine a year and being a big person 6ft 6in tall this grand prix gt2 is the most uncomfortable ride that i have ever driven on a trip. i just completed a over 400 mile trip and the longer i drove it the more my legs and back hurt. they sure cut back on the leg room verses the 2001 i had. boy i know now i realize i made a big mistake in buying the 2004. it is even hard to get in and out of the car too. maybe i have taken a few more rest stops and strech out my legs more. i am not happy anymore with this car.

Paul - Sorry to hear about the cramped situation you have there. I'm 6 feet tall and am able to fit comfortably with the seat all the way down, a little raised under my knees, a little bit of recline on the seat back, and drop on the steering wheel. Fits comfortably (a bit of effort getting out), but I think if I was 2 or more inches taller, I'd be singing your blues too. So far, I really love this car...

Paul,
Im 6'2 and am ever more comfortable in this Grand Prix than my last 4 door. My 2 Door although was worlds better. No pillar blocking the view and easier entries and exits. Although already having my car on 2 1k road trips trying to burn my warranty into seclusion i have not been more comfortable in a grand prix. I was able to sleep part of the last one while it was someone else turn to drive. Something I have never done in all the vehicles i have tripped in, includes f350, chevy 2500 hd, lumina, corsica, cutlass, 98 gt 2dr 99 4dr gt, durango, grand ma, and a dakota. Its odd how much different 2 people yet so physically the same with in 4 inches vertically speakin they can be.

I have to agree about the pillar obstructing the view. I have to lean forward a little to do a good headcheck before switching lanes. The head clearance, legroom, and reach to the steering wheel is fine for me however.

Like i said i am 6ft 6in tall and weigh 260.
to me it is a bit cramped. i fit better in a 2004 regal ls sedan with leather seats. :rolleyes:

Yeah but the GP looks so much better!!

As for modding inexpensive. 3.4 pulley, coldair induction (CIA????),on a 04 no ubend to get rid of, colder plugs, that will net you average 25-30ish horses. and if you have no KR on that you could always try a 3.25 (get a modular system) pulley and that will net around 40 whp-ish. As for which pulleys you are seeing it is strictly SC pulleys. There are a few other but not many people run them.

TallPaul ... I know feel is everything but the 04 GP has .02" more leg room and more head room than the previous version -- Go figure

I do know one other thing i could put a lot more speakers in the trunk of this car compared to my old car.........hehe but i wont........i love the trunk space.

Can you explain those pulley changes in terms of boost?? Also, doesn't the PCM need to be recalibrated to remap fuel and timing to get a good safe tune to go with the extra boost??

I wish I had the same problems as you guys. I'm 5'8" standing really strait, but I do find the seats a bit uncomfortable. As far as leg room goes, I found that the Porsche 911 has lots(hard to believe) and the Vette(78-82). As far as pulleys go, a 3.4 with just a CAI may make your boost around 13psi. However, if you open up your exhaust it will drop to around 10(so I hear). I do not know what my boost was on my 03 but I do know that it was much higher with the 3.2 pulley than stock. The boost guage was always pinned to the max even when I only punched it half way.

The stock boost is what, 10 psi?? Are you saying that there is no recalibration of fuel and timing, change to fuel pressure, or inter-cooling necessary to run under 3 additional psi?? Thanks for the responses.

Well to go from a stock to a 3.4 or a 3.25 pulley usually nothing is needed. MAF more air more fuel. One thing like i said is the colder plugs with more boost. You can always get a remapped PCM but with basic mods it is not necessary but will help it. With more extensive mods cam heads some other combos it is necessary to get rid of DTC's and to raise rev's and shift points but for the mods i list it is not necessary but can never hurt.......

No.I said with a 3.4 with an aftermarket exhaust.

Jack dude - I understood it the first time. I'm just a transplanted Ford guy trying to learn his new GM. To aid my understanding, I establish the baseline w/ the stock setup. I was drawing from a shakey memory on the stock boost of the '04 GP. It looks like it's 9.5 psi (not 10) and the compression ratio is pretty conservative at 8.5:1. Pretty safe setup.

So you're saying that the 3.4" pulley increases boost about 3.5 psi (lost boost w/ freer flowing exhaust noted), and Zach says it will run OK without recalibrating the PCM, but probably better with recalibration. Thanks for catching me up on the mods. It would be nice to know what the pulley and CAI translates to in whp numbers. It's nice to kow that simple bolt ons that make a good difference are available.

Here's the stock numbers from C&D:

ENGINE

Type: supercharged V-6, iron block and heads
Bore x stroke: 3.80 x 3.40 in, 96.5 x 86.4mm
Displacement: 231 cu in, 3791cc
Compression ratio: 8.5:1
Engine-control system: GM with port fuel injection
Emissions controls: 3-way catalytic converter, feedback air-fuel-ratio control, EGR
Maximum boost pressure: 9.5 psi
Valve gear: pushrods, 2 valves per cylinder, hydraulic lifters
Power (SAE net): 260 bhp @ 5200 rpm
Torque (SAE net): 280 lb-ft @ 3600 rpm
Redline: 6000 rpm

OK the reason it will run a lil better is becuase of timing advance in a aftermarket PCM. i think intense is +3 degrees. they adj tranny kickdown enable fans to run sooner etc

3.4 inch pulley + approx 25 WHP
3.25 pulley +approx 35-40 whps

i know the second one is more accurate because a local perf shop ownder has a ssei and did a baseline dyno and then swapped and dynoed again same day......he has no other mods.

Good to see so many GP owners from MD, im a Germantown/Damascus guy myself, wicked back roads braching off 27 and 355 before the new tires of course now im takin it easy to prep for the icy roads of MD in winter (had to have some fun first)

Ah b4 I make this too large to anwser your question about the air filters, for my reg 210hp v6 the Speebuilt FW CAI w/ K&N filter added a wicked growl after the 3 line and probly about 8-10hp, and I hear it turns your SC into a monster. Have big plans for my baby including turbocharger to pep up that low end and probly gonna cryo my engine. GP mods definately worth every penny to see the look on that christmas decorated, cash wasted civic rocket when u leave his doors trembling.

There is a lot more different in just buying a supercharger off of the grand prixstore website. They only swap you M90. It can be done but if you read its very pricey because of the small stuff. yourbetter off with the turbo or a motor swap and tranny swap

well the traction control on a 01 gt has nothing to do with handling...........

and our GTs had 200 crank horses and 220 crank ft lbs. expect about 160 whp range and about 175-180 ft lb @ the wheel approx.......