A freind of mine has a bone stock 93 Firebird a4 that he wants to start moddin'. This is a daily driver with about 100k miles on it. I'm looking for some advice on where to start. I know Mustnags (no flames) but I don't know **** about GM stuff.

My first thoughts were to go with some kind of cold air / induction set-up. What product has proven to give the best gains?

Next, I was thinking gears. Maybe something like 3.73 or 4.10. Is that too steep? I don't know what stock gear he has now. I think they came with 2.73 or 3.23s.

After that I think I might be able to talk him into a torque converter. What kind of stall is recommended for a stockish/bolt-on car, 2800-3000 maybe?

Thanks in advance for you help. Please be sure to list brand names and contact info. I don't know any of the GM aftermarket vendors/suppliers or who sells good stuff and who sells the junk.

-Mike

 

For a CAI everyone says that they are the same in power except for the G2. I'd personally go with the lingenfelter its the cheapest of them. Most auto guys go with 3.73's.

 

For a strip/strip car, If I had the money, I'd go with the following and in this order because of cost:

CAI
performance exhaust
Hot Cam Kit
LT headers or shorties if emissions required
Tune
Heads, LT1s with a nice pocket job and good flow
3.73 gears
2800 stall
12 bolt rear end.

There are a million different combos, depending on your driving preference and style and , of course your pocket book for parts and (labor on those things you can't do yourself). Just some ideas.

 

CAI
shorty or long tube headers (depending on your budget)
1.6 rockers and LT4 valve springs
remove cat (if emissions allow in your area)
install 2.5" cutout on exhaust pipe right before the axle (north of the muffler)

That would be the cheapest way to get him into the low 13s provided he can hook.

After that he can get a 2800 stall converter, shift kit, and suspension mods like LCAs and a torque arm etc.

 

I would do a CIA, then headers/good flowing exhaust. The manifolds on the small block chevy's are real restrictive. I have also heard to stay away from flowmaster on the f-bodys. That the 80 series muffler is not a very good power producing muffler. Then I owuld probably do gears, no steeper than 3.73. Anything over that kills your overdrive on an A4 car. Then probably TB/MAF and heads definately.

 

Thanks for the input guys. I showed him the LPE cold air kit. I think he might start with that.

Got a few questions about gears. What brand does everyone go with? What is the average install cost? What size rearend is stock? I heard something about different cariers or something depending about what gear came in the car stock????

Damn, if I'm not carefull he might be able to hang with my Cobra before too long. Well, maybe not

 

Here's what I would try if I could do it all over again(broken down into steps, since some you need to do at the same time)-

1)Cold air intake, as has been said doesn't matter what brand (I'm happy w/ K&N, Summit)
2)Hooker Super Competition coated long tube headers (Summit)
2)Taylor Over the Valve Cover plug wire kit (www.thunderracing.com)
2)Magnaflow exhaust (www.tbyrne.com)
2)Random Technologies High Flow catalytic converter (if needed www.tbyrne.com)
3)Midwest 3000 RPM stall (www.raceconverters.com)
3)B&M transcooler and Shift kit (Summit)
*Some other parts that you might want to buy are- 1LE aluminum driveshaft (www.gmpartsdirect.com, part #10085375), Energy suspension poly trans mount (Summit), any maintenance items such as hoses, belt, fluid changes, opti replacement, etc.

4th step would be ported heads and a bigger cam. I would recommend doing the above list first, and researching what head/valvetrain setup would best suit his needs before buying.

 

The Trans Am's come with 3.23's which is a 3 series carrier so a 3.73 will work.
Richmond is the best in my opinion. You can usually find someone to do it for $200.
Also, shimes, a crush sleeve, and some new lube. That runs for $20.

 

If he has 3.23 gears I honestly would not mess with them. If you can select first gear on his shifter you have 3.23, if the gears start off with "2" then he has 2.73.

I'm sure not everyone agrees, but in my opinion if he has 3.23's you could spend your mod money more sensibly elsewhere until you get up to the heads/cam stage.