Do GA and Performance go together?

[SilverEcstasy]

I was just curious guys, wether its really worth spending the amounts of money for SA stuff and trying to get Horsepower and 1/4 mile times out of our cars. Well, my 94 is out of the question, but i'm thinking in regards to the possible new 03 i might be getting.

I see these people with exhaust, cai's, lots of goodies here and there, and only running about mid 15's. I started lookin at the money, for SA stuff, the Valve10 kit, and all this pricey "performance products", will spending all that money really make a difference? Or are we just kickin a dead horse.

Honestly I'm just curious what the potential is on these engines without blowing it up or the tranny. I personally love the style and image of the car, and would get the car regardless. But I want to get honest opinions on if we can really get these cars to blow some minds.

Its the peer pressure sometimes that makes me imagine how i'd like to make someones jaw drop by smokin em out of the water after their hideous "Grand Am's are slow" comments. (Mind you, this happened the other night, but I didn't dare race)

Not tryin to be a pessimist, but my curiosity runs free lol. My dream is to build the motor up first with lots of goodies, then run some kind of forced induction. But lookin at the prices for the motor goodies, really makes me doubt i'd ever be able to afford it. The reality of life i guess lol.

[MetaGTP1]

The SA upgrades are worth the money. I witnessed the power of the SA equipment at GAP '03. I was impressed. With the right mods, you can get a lot more HP out of our 3.4L.:thumbs:

[SilverEcstasy]

You mean GAP02 Kman? Or is this a GAP i didn't know about lol. Just joking. I guess you're right. I was tryin to look at it from a cost to performance or a cost to "-if-its-worth-it" type ratio. Like, after spending all that money, is it all worth it? Or by the time i've spent that much, could have bought say a Ws6 or something. But I love GA's regardless, fast or slow. I'm just curious if the only way to get some real HP from these engines is to spend a buttload of money...cause I don't have a whole lot of it lol

[AaronGTR]

Nothings cheap these days. You gotta pay to play right? I guess it depends on fast you really want to go. For a decent amount of money (if you plan your mods well) you can be running high 14's on a dependable daily driver and still get decent gas milage. That's faster than most cars on the road under $30G's (including mustang GT) with few exceptions (like WRX). Some cars get more bang for the the buck like the 2nd gen eclipse turbo, but I guarantee you'll get more HP from putting a CAI on a GA than from a civic. All depends on how much money you want to spend Mike. You know I'll help you save money on the installs though.;) :D

[SilverEcstasy]

You know you'r very right on that one. It pays to play. And I also have to consider that much too that i will be driving this daily, i need it to be decent with gas milage. And I don't need tickets, so how much faster do I really wanna go? I really do wanna do high 14's all motor though..or just do mid 15's and throw a turbo on there...I just can't resist the sound of a blow off valve. And thank you man, I 'll be asking your help for installs in the future.

[AaronGTR]

No prob. Anything for a late night GA freak like me! (I see your also on at 1am)lol

[MetaGTP1]

Originally posted by MikeNT256
You mean GAP02 Kman? Or is this a GAP i didn't know about lol. Just joking. I guess you're right. I was tryin to look at it from a cost to performance or a cost to "-if-its-worth-it" type ratio. Like, after spending all that money, is it all worth it? Or by the time i've spent that much, could have bought say a Ws6 or something. But I love GA's regardless, fast or slow. I'm just curious if the only way to get some real HP from these engines is to spend a buttload of money...cause I don't have a whole lot of it lol Yeah, I'm moving too far ahead. I meant GAP '02. lol:confused:

[Sorry_Officer]

SA power...........how do you see this?? Did any SA equipped cars run at the GAP 02'?? If so what were their times??

[MetaGTP1]

Originally posted by Sorry_Officer
SA power...........how do you see this?? Did any SA equipped cars run at the GAP 02'?? If so what were their times?? Yeah, FastSteve had the SA stuff at GAP '02. His car was very impressive. I don't know if he did any timed runs at Milan(no power for a while). The runs I did see, the car was pretty quick.

[SilverGT1]

another thing to add faststeve was 3 for 3 vs sc'd cars. good enough for me.

[mfuller]

Originally posted by KmanGT1
Yeah, FastSteve had the SA stuff at GAP '02. His car was very impressive. I don't know if he did any timed runs at Milan(no power for a while). The runs I did see, the car was pretty quick.
Steve and I will be running at Byron Dragway tomorrow, so we'll see what kind of times his SA-fortified car gets.

[MetaGTP1]

Originally posted by SilverGT1
another thing to add faststeve was 3 for 3 vs sc'd cars. good enough for me. I didn't get to race him at GAP '02. When we talked later, he said he wanted to race me and be ready at GAP '03.:)

[SilverGT1]

Originally posted by mfuller

Steve and I will be running at Byron Dragway tomorrow, so we'll see what kind of times his SA-fortified car gets.

cool i will be waiting on the results.

[Sorry_Officer]

Well I guess him and I will have to line em' up when I come down to chicago next.

It will be SA vs. C&S (or your local speed shop). Given when my car is done I will have the upper intake, the lower intake, the heads, TOG headers, throttle body, Random Tech High flow cat, and the SA pulleys all as new mods.

I will keep receipts of everything to flaunt after the race:D

Ahh I am just kidding but we should line them up, I met Steve at the Schaumberg meet before he got the SA stuff.......

[SilverEcstasy]

Originally posted by AaronGTR
No prob. Anything for a late night GA freak like me! (I see your also on at 1am)lol

LOL better believe it!

[SilverEcstasy]

Its just too cool of a car to not go fast damnit! Aggressive style and stance, unique. I'd buy one over a ricer anyday.

[GTManiac]

"GA" and "Performance" go together only if "Work" and "No Money" go together in your lifestyle. Simply put: you will have to invest something near (if not more) $15K to get your GA into today's standards of "fast" (11-12 sec. 1/4 mile). I believe it is possible, I believe it's going to be done eventually, BUT I also believe that it's gonna take a long time for that day to come. When the TSI AWD talons first appeared on the scene everyone thought nothing of it and look now that it is a cheap car that is easy to mod... everyone and their mother wants one to make into a racer (I said RACER not ricer for a reason). So given the right amount of time and the import scene still survives for the next couple of years I think we'll be seeing alot more GA's popping up and being into low number 1/4 miles.

[waffler]

did civic and performance go together before probably not its all apart of evolution soon you will see 11/12s grand ams

[95-GT]

TTT

Yes, I am bringing this back from the dead. Mike talking about his 03 he "might be getting". lol

I think modding these cars is worth it btw!:thumbs:

[GTManiac]

I still stand by what I said earlier. It takes ALOT of money and alot of work with no play to get a GA going fast. (anyone notice a trend in my life? ;) .)

[Black03SC/T]

See Mike, you were talking about maybe getting one, well now look at you, you have one, and it is one of the sweetest GA's around...you will get to the faster times, especially with the TOG's.

[SilverEcstasy]

lol God its weird looking into the past! Good times
Look at my first post too! "High 14's then boost, or mif 125's + turbo" thats exactly what i'm doing right now! lol this is funny

[kamikaz16]

Mike, did you notice any perf gains from the CAI? I only mention it because I'm running identical times to you, and I've only done the SLP catback.

[coupe]

Do GA and performance go together?
Every time i drive my car it seems to.

[95-GT]

kamikaz16, could be that you were n Flordia during those runs? 300 feet above sea level is a lil better then 900

[SilverEcstasy]

it was just a curious question that i had before i got my ga a couple years ago. check the date.

[IrateSpeed6]

Honestly, you can take any car and make it fast. Sure hundreds of people have said that... whatever.

My take on it: if you like your GA, and you like going fast, then why not spend the money to make it fast? I don't think anyone bought their Grand Ams with the intention of making them 1/4-mile monsters. Pretty much everyone bought them because they liked the grand am.

Moral of the story... go ahead and have fun with the car you have. There's no reason to justify modding it. Sometimes I wish I still had my Grand Am because I really liked the car itself. I easily would have spent another $10K on it.

BTW, way to go 95-GT on resurrecting this thread :rolleyes: :)

[95-GT]

why the rolleye face? ur the post whore! lol

[IrateSpeed6]

Originally posted by 95-GT
why the rolleye face? ur the post whore! lol Hey, just because I posted a bunch in those useless threads in AAG doesn't make me a habitual whore.

Damnit, now this post is useless... you guys are corrupting me. :mad: :D

[SilverEcstasy]

Originally posted by IrateGT
Honestly, you can take any car and make it fast. Sure hundreds of people have said that... whatever.

My take on it: if you like your GA, and you like going fast, then why not spend the money to make it fast? I don't think anyone bought their Grand Ams with the intention of making them 1/4-mile monsters. Pretty much everyone bought them because they liked the grand am.

Moral of the story... go ahead and have fun with the car you have. There's no reason to justify modding it. Sometimes I wish I still had my Grand Am because I really liked the car itself. I easily would have spent another $10K on it.


Amen, thank you very much Rob. Very well put :thumbs:

[GTManiac]

Originally posted by IrateGT
BTW, way to go 95-GT on resurrecting this thread :rolleyes: :)

I wouldn't really call it post whoring or intention to. I think of it as a "look at us now" See what we all thought almost 1.5 years ago and see what's happened since then. Rather interesting.

[SilverEcstasy]

Well, had it not turned into a reminiscent thread...it would have been considered post whoring imo.

[Silver02EX]

Originally posted by AaronGTR
I guarantee you'll get more HP from putting a CAI on a GA than from a civic.

Just CAI and exahust I drop .5 sec. on my Civic ... The GA I had to put 55 shot of ZEX to get me .5 sec faster. I couldn't even get in 14's with 55 shot I/E in my GA :rolleyes:

[SilverEcstasy]

We are not turning this reminiscent thread into a ****ing contest like the TrevTec thread!

[coupe]

.5 sec from what? What was the time before?

[Silver02EX]

Originally posted by coupe
.5 sec from what? What was the time before?

Stock 16.6 down to 16.1 on average..... The GA I went from about 15.8 to about 15.3....

[PontiacGT2K]

Originally posted by Silver02EX
Just CAI and exahust I drop .5 sec. on my Civic ... The GA I had to put 55 shot of ZEX to get me .5 sec faster. I couldn't even get in 14's with 55 shot I/E in my GA :rolleyes: I hit 14.0 with a 65 shot. Maybe you're doing something wrong.

[Doug]

no at least it isn't worth it in a 4 cyl. I put a ton of $$$ into mine for mediocre performance.

[phantom505]

People have made Pigs fly before. Look at the 3800's. I'm sure a GA can fly too.

[Greed4Speed]

Originally posted by Silver02EX
Stock 16.6 down to 16.1 on average..... The GA I went from about 15.8 to about 15.3....

Stock in my car I ran a 13.56 @ 107 mph w/a horrible 60' from rolling off the line so I wouldn't spin. So whats your point? You went .5 sec quicker but your still slower than even a stock GT. Maybe the stock intake system on the Civic is much more restrictive than the stock system on a GA?

Is modding the GA worth it? To me it wasn't, thats why I have the SS. Coming from a car that ran 12.90's, I didn't care to step into having to spend several gran to get a high 15 sec car into the 14's.

If you're happy running 14's and modding a GA, great! A decently quick GA is cool. Just too costly on a $/performance ratio for me. Especially since the GA is the wife's car and she doesn't want to mod it and it has over 116k miles :eek: . Even being pretty much stock, the GA is still a fun car to drive and I do like the way they look.