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I didn't really document anything for the build process of the current setup in my car, but I figured I would do so this time around since I now have a serious goal with the car. Let’s start with some background information and a quick rundown of the current setup and where the new build is heading:
In October of 2010, I bought this 68,000-mile 2002 SLP Firebird GT. The car was all stock with the exception of an air silencer delete, ZZP plug wires, and custom tune. I have no idea what was done as far as tuning, but the one time that I accidentally put regular gas instead of premium in it, there was a noticeable difference in both sound and performance. I managed about a month and a half of driving before I put it up for the winter.
When spring 2011 came around, I bought a BMR shock tower brace as my first mod to the car. Later in the spring, a ball socket bolt on the passenger side exhaust manifold broke and gave me a nasty exhaust leak. I tried to weld it together from under the car, but it failed again with a month. I continued to drive with the leak until July when I purchased OBX mid-length headers and opted for a custom 2.5” true dual exhaust. While the car was in the air, I also purchased Eibach Pro-Kit lowering springs and installed the front springs, leaving the rears stock for the time being. With a family vacation looming, I ran out of time and quickly patched the exhaust system together with a single 2.5” pipe, high-flow cat and SLP Loudmouth 2 muffler dumped before the axle. On the vacation trip, I had to stop on the side of the road twice in Chicago with a bad misfire. The ZZP plug wires with straight boots were rubbing on the new OBX headers and forced the #2 boot to pop off the plug. I later realized that if I babied the car, the vibrations weren’t too bad and the plug wire stopped coming off. Once the vacation spot in Wisconsin was reached, I made a trip to the local AutoZone and bought OEM replacement plug wires and replaced 2 or 3 plug wires with the stock ones since they offered just a hair more clearance. After a week, the trip home went fine, and I drove the car the rest of the year like that, although I would get an occasional misfire and the #2 boot continued to pop off every now and then.
In spring 2012, I started fighting misfires again right off the bat. I replaced all the plug wire with a new set of OEM replacements, only to see that on the new set, I was actually burning through the boots against the headers. At the same time, I lucked into a set of FFF longtube headers that came up for sale and jumped on deal. I also decided to replace the coils with MSD coil packs and make my own custom-fit plug wires with MSD 8.5mm wires and boots. I used 90* boots on all 6 plug wires and routed them under the headers and have not had any issues since. Around then I replaced the white faded/cracked “SLP Performance” windshield banner with a silver one to flow better with the stripes. I installed the headers and started working on the true duals again, but ran out of time to finish the exhaust before a local car show at my workplace, Lane Automotive, and just drove it with open headers for a week. With that setup, I put the car on a dyno at the Lanes car show and put down a satisfying 195rwhp, 225rwtq. After the show, I finished the 2.5” true dual setup over the axle to a pair of SLP Loudmouth 2 mufflers and Corsa clone tips. At this point, I also finally installed the rear Pro-Kit springs to level the car out some. I liked the “raked” look that the car had with only the fronts installed, but once the rear was lowered as well, it brought on a whole new look and I’m glad I did it. The car remained unchanged the rest of the year with the impending birth of my son in August.
2013 came around and I was ready to take on a bigger challenge. I purchased a set of Abbott Racing Heads Stage 1 heads, and an Intense-Racing Stage 3 N/A cam. The heads came complete with the double-roller chain and springs ready to bolt on. Sometime in the winter I also bought a copy of HP Tuners since I knew that I was getting ready to step up to the point where tuning was necessary. Well, just like the previous year, I did the mods, but ran out of time before the Lane Automotive car show again. The head/cam swap was done, but I didn’t have a chance to do any tuning at all on the car. So with the same tune that has been on the car, I put it on the dyno at the show and laid down 244rwhp, 254rwtq. Not bad for not getting any tuning done. The rest of the year, I spent tinkering with the tune, mainly adjusting timing and chasing knock and false-knock, the car performed very well though. I also picked up a set of 18x9.5 polished C5 Z06 rims without the rivets to replace the 17x9.5 black/polished lip C5 Z06’s. The last mod to the car that year was removing the aftermarket antenna and replacing it with a flat black rubber grommet to seal the hole. Eventually the car will be getting repainted as there are a few rock chips on the front bumper, hood, and behind the rear wheels that I would like to address, along with replacing the stripes on the car with SLP replacements. The decal on the rear spoiler is starting to peel, so it’s only a matter of time before it gets removed for good.
2014 holds new, bigger chapter for the car, and possibly the final chapter when it comes to engine performance. After the new engine build, I’ll switch my focus towards the suspension. My ultimate goal with this engine: 300rwhp naturally aspirated. Late in 2013, I bought the heads off Mike’s (LETZRIDE) Camaro and began collecting parts for the new motor. I spent nearly a grand on ZZP’s Black Friday sales, and just as much on other gaskets and hardware. I had been intending to wait until my tax return to pick up a motor to build on the side, but a deal came up on craigslist for an ’08 Series III with 58K miles on it and I had to jump on it. I figured between the FWD transaxle and L26 heads, I might come out pretty close to even. The beginning of March, I finally purchased my cam for the new motor. I had been considering sticking with the Intense cam, since I knew it still had untapped potential laying down the numbers it did without a tune, but opted for something bigger. I talked a lot with Mike about his cam and decided that was the way I wanted to go. Unfortunately we couldn’t locate any serial numbers or anything to have the cam duplicated, but I took the general specs to CompCams and had them design a new one around those numbers. After I got the spec card from the CompCams rep, his emails got real short and to the point when I told him that I would be purchasing through my work since Comp’s price was a little steep. (I think he was upset he lost his commission on my sale!). And this is where I’m at now, so from here on will be new information anytime I have something to post!
In October of 2010, I bought this 68,000-mile 2002 SLP Firebird GT. The car was all stock with the exception of an air silencer delete, ZZP plug wires, and custom tune. I have no idea what was done as far as tuning, but the one time that I accidentally put regular gas instead of premium in it, there was a noticeable difference in both sound and performance. I managed about a month and a half of driving before I put it up for the winter.
When spring 2011 came around, I bought a BMR shock tower brace as my first mod to the car. Later in the spring, a ball socket bolt on the passenger side exhaust manifold broke and gave me a nasty exhaust leak. I tried to weld it together from under the car, but it failed again with a month. I continued to drive with the leak until July when I purchased OBX mid-length headers and opted for a custom 2.5” true dual exhaust. While the car was in the air, I also purchased Eibach Pro-Kit lowering springs and installed the front springs, leaving the rears stock for the time being. With a family vacation looming, I ran out of time and quickly patched the exhaust system together with a single 2.5” pipe, high-flow cat and SLP Loudmouth 2 muffler dumped before the axle. On the vacation trip, I had to stop on the side of the road twice in Chicago with a bad misfire. The ZZP plug wires with straight boots were rubbing on the new OBX headers and forced the #2 boot to pop off the plug. I later realized that if I babied the car, the vibrations weren’t too bad and the plug wire stopped coming off. Once the vacation spot in Wisconsin was reached, I made a trip to the local AutoZone and bought OEM replacement plug wires and replaced 2 or 3 plug wires with the stock ones since they offered just a hair more clearance. After a week, the trip home went fine, and I drove the car the rest of the year like that, although I would get an occasional misfire and the #2 boot continued to pop off every now and then.
In spring 2012, I started fighting misfires again right off the bat. I replaced all the plug wire with a new set of OEM replacements, only to see that on the new set, I was actually burning through the boots against the headers. At the same time, I lucked into a set of FFF longtube headers that came up for sale and jumped on deal. I also decided to replace the coils with MSD coil packs and make my own custom-fit plug wires with MSD 8.5mm wires and boots. I used 90* boots on all 6 plug wires and routed them under the headers and have not had any issues since. Around then I replaced the white faded/cracked “SLP Performance” windshield banner with a silver one to flow better with the stripes. I installed the headers and started working on the true duals again, but ran out of time to finish the exhaust before a local car show at my workplace, Lane Automotive, and just drove it with open headers for a week. With that setup, I put the car on a dyno at the Lanes car show and put down a satisfying 195rwhp, 225rwtq. After the show, I finished the 2.5” true dual setup over the axle to a pair of SLP Loudmouth 2 mufflers and Corsa clone tips. At this point, I also finally installed the rear Pro-Kit springs to level the car out some. I liked the “raked” look that the car had with only the fronts installed, but once the rear was lowered as well, it brought on a whole new look and I’m glad I did it. The car remained unchanged the rest of the year with the impending birth of my son in August.
2013 came around and I was ready to take on a bigger challenge. I purchased a set of Abbott Racing Heads Stage 1 heads, and an Intense-Racing Stage 3 N/A cam. The heads came complete with the double-roller chain and springs ready to bolt on. Sometime in the winter I also bought a copy of HP Tuners since I knew that I was getting ready to step up to the point where tuning was necessary. Well, just like the previous year, I did the mods, but ran out of time before the Lane Automotive car show again. The head/cam swap was done, but I didn’t have a chance to do any tuning at all on the car. So with the same tune that has been on the car, I put it on the dyno at the show and laid down 244rwhp, 254rwtq. Not bad for not getting any tuning done. The rest of the year, I spent tinkering with the tune, mainly adjusting timing and chasing knock and false-knock, the car performed very well though. I also picked up a set of 18x9.5 polished C5 Z06 rims without the rivets to replace the 17x9.5 black/polished lip C5 Z06’s. The last mod to the car that year was removing the aftermarket antenna and replacing it with a flat black rubber grommet to seal the hole. Eventually the car will be getting repainted as there are a few rock chips on the front bumper, hood, and behind the rear wheels that I would like to address, along with replacing the stripes on the car with SLP replacements. The decal on the rear spoiler is starting to peel, so it’s only a matter of time before it gets removed for good.
2014 holds new, bigger chapter for the car, and possibly the final chapter when it comes to engine performance. After the new engine build, I’ll switch my focus towards the suspension. My ultimate goal with this engine: 300rwhp naturally aspirated. Late in 2013, I bought the heads off Mike’s (LETZRIDE) Camaro and began collecting parts for the new motor. I spent nearly a grand on ZZP’s Black Friday sales, and just as much on other gaskets and hardware. I had been intending to wait until my tax return to pick up a motor to build on the side, but a deal came up on craigslist for an ’08 Series III with 58K miles on it and I had to jump on it. I figured between the FWD transaxle and L26 heads, I might come out pretty close to even. The beginning of March, I finally purchased my cam for the new motor. I had been considering sticking with the Intense cam, since I knew it still had untapped potential laying down the numbers it did without a tune, but opted for something bigger. I talked a lot with Mike about his cam and decided that was the way I wanted to go. Unfortunately we couldn’t locate any serial numbers or anything to have the cam duplicated, but I took the general specs to CompCams and had them design a new one around those numbers. After I got the spec card from the CompCams rep, his emails got real short and to the point when I told him that I would be purchasing through my work since Comp’s price was a little steep. (I think he was upset he lost his commission on my sale!). And this is where I’m at now, so from here on will be new information anytime I have something to post!
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