Hey, I have a question for you guys. This may sound dumb, but oh well.

I want to get a PCM for my car, because it's a (relatively) cheap way to get a lot of performance. Is it a bad idea to get it BEFORE getting any other mods? I want to at least get a K&N intake and a s/c pulley, but both of those are way more expensive (more than $250 each), and since my job SUCKS, I have to save up for each mod. Therefore, the PCM is, like I said, a (relatively) cheap but good mod.

But is it a poor choice for a first mod?

I have a lot of plans for my car, but until I can find a better job (which should be a little eaiser now that I finally have my own car) I'm stuck with only about $100 a month left over from insurance, car payment, gas, and everything else. So, while I have a lot of plans, they'll have to take some time. A lot of time. But I plan on my car being fast, beautiful, and sounding nice, both the engine and stereo.

Anyway, any advice would be appreciated.

Not a poor choice at all. The basic mods can be done in what ever order you like.

A pcm will be OK for aa first mod it's just you may not benefit much until you get an intake ,thermostat and some exhaust work ,as far as a pulley change ($250???) this would require supporting mods .Chico.

Yeah like they said, you won't notice much of a difference until you do a few other things. Doing the PCM first shouldn't hurt though.
If you did the pulley first, that would be a bad thing to do.

Ok, thanks for the info. Like I said, I do plan on getting an intake and new nose drive as the other first mods, and I'd love to get an exhaust, but when you couple the fact that those cost more with the fact that I can't install them myself like I can the intake, they'll have to wait. lol

Let me ask: What's the difference between the K&N intake and a CAI? Or is there one?

The CAI and PCM and the easiest things to do. Those were my first mods and it was a good idea. You'll hear the SC whine and that's pretty awesome to begin with. Personally, I'd do them at the same time. First, for the CAI you need to get rid of the whole airbox deal. What I found works really well is taking a hacksaw to the box where the PCM is stored, and putting the new one in so that tie-down things are not needed.

The K&N system isn't worth it. Its a lot of money and you could make one for a lot cheaper. I use this CAI with a K&N 9" filter. Fits perfectly.

http://www.pfyc.com/pc/WB3002/GPUNDER/Installation+Kit+for+Universal+Cone+Filters.html

Note thats its not "cold air" unless you build a box around it, so that product Igor linked to isn't everything. Others can chime in on building your own, but theres countless threads on it already you can search for.

just to let you know, i pulley swap doesnt cost $250. And you have other things to do before you think about a pulley

what is the PCM what does it do???

http://www.zzperformance.com/grand_prix/products1.php?id=182

heres a PCM and what it does

A PCM is an awsome starting point.
As mentioned, the PCM itself won't do too much for you, but it makes all the other mods play nice together.

I wouldn't get it just the fact it is set up for some mods already. It may considerably hurt gas mileage without mods. Even with mods, I would look at scanning and tuning because the PCMs are like a general start for tuning. Each car is different, and you want to eventually setup the pcm to match what you are running via POWERTUNER!

that link didnt work for me

Go to www.zzperformance.com, click on grand prix, upper left click on products, scroll down the list to electronics (click), scroll down to the 15th product, ZZP PCM!

get the PCM and that intake igor mentioned and just build a box around it for like $50(CAI)....then you can go from there as you get money...downpipe, colder plugs, and a smaller pulley eventually.....good luck