First off I'm not saying all Lt1s suck or anything dumb like that. It's just that I'm not really impressed with my cars performance. If I stand on the pedal from a stop the tires won't even spin, it must be torque braked. Occasionally I'll get a chirp on the 1-2 shift. The tranny was just rebuilt about 1k miles ago, and it has a 3.23 rear.

I realize it's an auto vert with 130k miles, but am I the only one that's having this issue? When my 3.8L firebird was pretty much modded with every bolt-on it felt almost better up to 60. Granted the car was a stick with T-tops and suspension work.

Is this more of a suspension/chasis issue than a motor issue? Beside subframes (which I'm trying to find some DD, not easy), should I start with the motor work or the suspension? I'm a little strapped for cash now, but maybe a poly tq arm and tranny mount?

I have a CAI that will be going on once I buy a new filter, along with the TB bypass.

I noticed the sticky below for the first 5 mods. I just don't really think a catback is really going to do squat. Don't want new gears for MPG reasons.
Should I pick up some LCAs, PHR, new shocks...or just get some long tubes first? I'd prefer to hold of on the tune until I've done more work to it. I would rather not pay twice for tuning. I'm not out to win any races, I just want the car to act like it has a 350 in it.

 

Bone stock these cars will smoke the wheels. What have you done as far as service (i.e. plugs, wires, fuel filter, air filter)? Are you running 91+ octane gas to avoid knock that will pull timing and kill acceleration?

 

Well LCA's will prevent you (very little) from blowing the tires off. They really make a noticeable difference launching the car. It is a million times more consistent. Great mod. The panhard rod helps cornering and it is a good thing to have.

If you want POWER, then go with the longtubes. LCA's and PHR will do nothing for your hp. A computer tune will give you a seat of the pants power difference. The car will pull much harder up top, I was really amazed when I first got mine.

Of course, like preveiously mentioned, you should run 93octane to get the most out of your car.

 

Yea it sure doesnt sound like your car is mechanically sound. Take it somewhere to get it checked out, or do it yourself before you buy any more mods. Like said previously, it should roast the tires EASILY without any mods...

 

Seafoam............... Wait don't ask....... do a search. Does the car miss, smoke, or backfire....??

 

Yeah something doesnt sound right. My 93 Z has 162,000 miles with mods in sig, and it will spin all the way through first and into second with hitting the brake. Its bad enought that my next few mods will be suspension. So yours should be able to do the same.

 

Well each to their own, but I was never particularly happy with my stock 97 SS as far as seat of the pants feel goes.
Several reasons for this. This car is VERY heavy, at nearly 3900 lbs. and only had (stock) 250rwhp and 290lb' of torque.
With the stock 3:42 gears this is hardly impressive power.
With the 3:73 gears it's better but not nearly there yet. There isn't much hp above 5500rpm, so you don't get the feeling that it could pull forever.
And finally almost all my other cars either had more hp or were lighter, so this one suffers by comparison.
Luckily all of this is pretty easy to fix, for a few thousand you can reliably add 150rwhp.

 

FWIW mine didn't impress me when stock, it would spin the tires from a roll (M6 w/3.42's and the tall 1st gear from the 94+ T56), but not exactly easily unless I was just driving on poor road conditions. To me it was just a strong running car but definitely not a big thrill or anything. With 130K you could be in need of basics like new plugs/wires/opti or may have dirty injectors or weakened compression ....hard to tell with all of those miles racked up. With 3.23's in an A4 I agree that you should be able to smoke the tires easily from a roll if running right though. Good luck, I hope you find something easy like bad plugs. You sure you want to mod a car with so many miles?

 

Definitely sounds like your motor isn't up to par. Have you done a tune up recently? Fresh plugs, wires, fuel filter, air filter?

 

Yeah, sir you have a problem. Mine i can get on it from a stop an smoke em right into second where there still burning. I just have a few bolt ons tho.

 

Im going to do a fuel filter this weekend. I have read a lot about how a semi-clogged filter can make you feel like your losing 50hp!

 

something is not right, i have a 95 with an a4 and 2.73 and can come off the line spinning the tires and sliding sideways, i am also running 285/40/17's on the car at this time when the car had the 16's on it the car would spin all of 1st and into 2nd and hitting it on the highway at 60 mph would fell like the tires would spin. the car know has 150k so something is wrong. try plugs and wires and a fuel filter 1st.

 

Thanks for all the replies. I'll try and answer everything.

The car was received on a trade, my pickup needed a lot of work and had some miles. This was cooler, and needed less work.

I have receipts for a lot of work done in the past 2 months. Rebuilt tranny, tuneup with all vac lines replaced, new axle, new pads, new plugs and wires.

The dumba$$ spray for the double plat plugs. Which are total crap I know but I don't believe that could be the problem. I picked up some copper NGKs and am going to swap them out anyways.

Seafoam is great stuff. I have had great results with it. I'm probably going to do that next week and change the plugs afterwords in case they get fouled.

Problems I have noticed.

Car is hard to start when cold, takes maybe 5 secs to turn over instead of 1-2 seconds. Occasionally I'll get a "low oil" light. The oil isn't low and the light will disappear if you turn the engine off and start it again.

Oil pressure is sometimes a little low when idling and not warmed up, I'm guessing around 20. At cruise, WOT, or once warmed up it's in the middle at 40.

I have a slight ticking, pretty sure I'm going to need to swap some rockers or lifters (not sure which, I'm still studying). I guess the sound could be an exhaust leak but I doubt it. In the mean time should I get an LT4 KM? Maybe I'm getting to much retard, or should I stick with the stock one until I swap the rockers?

There is obviously flex in the body. It's a vert and it feels like it was put together with carboard and superglue. I thought there might be a problem putting the power down, but I'm going with you guys on a possible motor issue.

As far as modding a car with 130k, it's a stupid idea IMHO. However if something is broken I'll fix it with an aftermarket part. IE new bushings, rockers, etc. I know I won't get squat for this car when I sell it. So I don't plan on putting in a blown 383 stroker or anything like that.

Car doesn't feel like it's missing, don't think its an opti. Although I wouldn't really know since this is my first LT1. I assume the service shop would have replace the opti to rack up the service bill if there was an issue.

I always run premium gas.

The car is my DD. I plan on doing a fuel filter (should have been changed with the tuneup but who knows), NGK copper plugs, CAI with a new K&N filter, Seafoam, more fuel injector cleaning with Seafoam, synthetics in the engine, tranny, and rear, and some Engine Restore.

Anything else to add? Thanks for all the help. As God as my witness, one day my car will smoke tires.

 

Try this run that sucker around drive the crap out of it then take a look at the cadilitic converter. If its glowing red then you have a clogged cat. Running leaded gas in a car with a cat will almost instantly clog it and if the PO did this it may be why he traded it for your truck.

When you replace your plugs do a compression test (a buddy will make it easier) dropping even 1 cylinder can make any engine run really weak. Its harder to notice the less experience with the car and the more cylinders.