hey ya all! i'm 16 and my dad is getting me a 1990 pontiac firebird 3.1 v6. I have a very limiting budget but i wanna give it some extra power as well as keeping mpg's somewhere around what they are now. first thing i thought of was an cold air intake, eventually i figured that nobody makes it for 3rd gen but than i heard some ppl sayin' that they got "custom" cai. If any1 knows how to do that and any other ways of "cheap" power please help out.

 

some pvc pipes from home depot and a K+N filter worked pretty good for me. about $45 total. Just take some measurements of where you want to put the filter, go the the K+N site, find a filter that matches, get part#, order from summit or whoever. Install.

 

had trouble attaching this in my first reply

 

is there any way i can do custom cai combining units for other parts? does any1 know that recipe?

 

hey dude, welcome to the boards. you definitly will have to make your own cai, but its not hard at all. here is a good article on how to do it on your own
http://thirdgenmods.firebirdv6.com/coldair.html

i personally wasn't too happy with my pvc concoction (really half assed, not as good as the one in the article), so i went to autozone and picked up an intake tube for a civic. my friend had another bend.. i hooked them up and i was good to go. just be creative and make sure everything is tight and secure. here's a pic of mine...

 

yeah, mine is kinda just laying there at the moment. I really need to figure out a way to secure it to something.

 

what would you do with the sensor, and anyways couldnt you just remove the air box and relocate the sensor

 

The sensor in the air box? It's just a temp sensor. As long as it hangs near your air filter, you're okay; it doesn't need to be directly in the path of the incoming air. Some guys drill and tap a hole into their intake pipe for it. I just wiretied the sensor near the filter, out of sight.

To that sensor and your computer, a degree or two "difference" in temperature won't make a big deal. What you don't want to do is hang that sensor near something super hot, like the engine, or on top of the radiator, etc. So as long as the sensor is somewher near the filter, you're good to go.

 

oh ok thanks. well i tried removing it the other day, it wont unbolt from the plastic, is there someting im doing wrong when im trying to take it off. Theres no more rain so when i get home im gona remove it...

 

thx for the replies fellas, after crusin' on the internet i figured that i'll have to do my owm "custom" cai. should i change the whole exaust system for dynomax, or i can just put a flowmaster 80 series muffler? or both? than is it worth of putting a high flow cat converter? is there gonna be any gain of power?

than 160° Thermostat, does it add any power?

i nave a BIG question on camshafts, does it worth the money and do i get any power gain?

underdrive pulley, shift kit - what do those do?

and finally the BIGGEST question is about the differentials, does it worth getting it and how much power would i gain?

now suspension. what stuff can i put in that will cost me cheap and make a difference in handling?

please help what you can, i'd really appreciate it.

 

Welcome to the board!

To answer some of your questions, yes, some say a CAI adds seat-of-the-pants power (SOTP) I haven't done one so I can't verify that. I will say that none of the ones I have seen people fabricate truly are a COLD air intake- the factory intake canister on your car at least has a duct on the base of it that draws air in from under the bumper- whereas the open cone filters may draw in MORE air, it's air hot from the engine compartment.

Underdrive pulleys- may add a horse or two, but some say they have had charging system problems at low speed becuase they turn the alternator slower.

Gear swap? May make your acceleration better, but unless you can do the labor yourself, it's $$

Cam? A cam swap alone may help some, but a cam swap in conjunction with a set of the now availible PaceSetter headers and a freeer flowing exhaust will perk it up quite a bit.

Suspension? I have found that KYB makes a good gas shock/strut combo for the money.

Well that's all the time I have right now, more at 11!

 

Blah blah blah, I typed a heck of a lot here, and the damn side button of the mouse lost it all -

Cliff's Notes -

1) CAI
2) Headers
3) Catback + hiflow Cat
4) Cam + Heads - CL-MTC-5 @ Autozone, and VS-380 springs from Northern Auto Parts

Total - Maybe 20 rwhp. That's about 15% increase in power.

As far as suspension -

1) Poly Tq arm Mount
2) LCAs
3) Subframes

 

all your answers are here... and unless you're made of money, all the stuff listed above is gonna keep you busy for quite a while

 

im not planning to get all the mods there are, just tryin to pick ones that will give the perfomance for low

 

So is the in take that came on the 85 camaro considered a cai?

 

The intake that came on the 2.8 is said to be the best for the car, I'm not sure about the one in the 85 though. Vanko welcome to the boards. This is a great great place to get information. You should get used to using the search button a lot because most of the things your gonna need to know have already been asked a few times and it's also a great way to find out what other people have come up with.

 

And off the main https://www.thirdgen.org page, look on the left and find the "Tech Central" box- click on "Technical Articles". After you click that, a new screen comes up on the right. Roll down that list until you see the section in red "Ram Air Induction", then click on those links. The one of interest to Camaro owners is "How to build a ram air induction system for TPI fuel system" - note, choose TPI, not TBI!

 

welcome to the boards, and read the tech articles.


they are great for noobies, and vets alike

 

Well I had a slightly different appraoch for both of mine. On my v6 I simply removed the air box, stuck a cone filter on the end and tied the sensor to the wires that go to the headlights. But on my TA, since it is carbed, I did it with dryer hose. I have a scoop under that forces air up into the engine. Now this wont work for you because you need to have the filter at the end of your intake, but you might benefit from using dryer hose as your connections once you have the filter secure. And the great thing about dryer hose is that it's metalized so it wont catch fire easily or melt.

I dont know if that helps any. :lala: