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Pontiac Bonneville
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Comments
I am planning on using black grill paint on the inside of the tips to keep in consistent.
I am waiting till after the new mufflers are on to fiddle.
I had the tire pressure warning come on a few months ago after a long trip . Checked tire pressure and sure thing , one was 3 lbs low . Pretty good , less then 10% diff. After pumping tire up you have to reset the computer or it continues warning , just like oil life warning .
Once again , thanks for joining us in the small pulley club . Doug
Thanks for car sales history ! Now , what is it going to take to get you in the small pulley club?
Want to buy a slightly used 3.50 ? I know your in a lease , but a first level pulley and a slip in K & N air filter would make you so HAPPY and if you have the tool in less then 1.5 hours you can be back stock for under hood warranty issues , if that should ever have to happen . So far their is five of us happy 2000 SSEi small pulley folks , do I here six ?
2)Exhaust tips are probably brushed aluminum; not chrome. Which sales specs said they were? I'm still thinking of spray painting chrome. If they do discolor or get too dirty to clean, I figure I can repaint.
3)The longer I have the car, almost 13,000 miles now, the more I'm craving more power. I don't know if I'm just getting used to it or you guys are having an effect on me! Do you think my dealer would install the smaller pulley and K+N filter for me?
The sway bars make the car feel like a real sports car around the corners and switching lanes.
Still gotta get more power... Been having all kinds of exciting dreams about how much fun this car would be with 350 horsepower and no speed limiter. Here are a few random thoughts for the half dozen other enthusiasts out there...
Exhaust - for the record, I took the entire exhaust apart a couple weekends ago and checked things out. The head pipe is actually only 2-3/8" inside diameter right before the catalytic converter. It looks much larger from the outside, but it is some kind of double-walled heat and/or sound shielding pipe... I think the hot setup here would be headers, stock converter, 3" straight to the Y (resonator in the neighbor's trash anonymously), then performance mufflers with 2-1/2" ins and outs. Tips would be personal preference, but I am leaning toward the double tip Borlas.
Intercooler - with free-flowing intake and exhaust, I would guess this to be the single biggest gain we could make (excepting nitrous oxide injection). I have really struggled with the hood clearance issues, and have yet to come up with a valid solution.
Induction - I think cold, ram air is the way to go. If I ever to solve the hood dilemma, I would like to have two small scoops take in air through the hood. With the hood closed the ram air would route to the open top of a Thrasher-like airbox.
Computer - I haven't made any progress in this area (yet). Somewhere there must be someone who can access the code, and undo or 'adjust' the speed limiter. I want to flex my ZR18's. One of you smart folks out there must know someone who can figure this out.
Suspension - still plan to lower the car - 1" in the front, and 3/4" in the rear. This would reduce the drag coefficient and lower the center of gravity. Also plan to increase spring rates by 10%. At this point, I would guess the car would pull 0.90g in the corners. And, it should feel stable up to 160 or so...
Hope some of you find my ramblings to be inspirational...
it on the feeder and it seemed like everybody was
passing me...it seemed that the speed odometer was
reading 7-10 miles faster than what i was really
going...later, my dad and i drove side by side with cellphones in place...the speed odometer on the bonneville was reading 8 miles over than what i was actually going...anybody else have problems with this???...this is not normal!!!
I would not ask at your dealer to install an after market pulley . I would buy the the tool , it is not that hard of a job . But you could go to the Club Grand Prix net site and contact your area club and find out what shop's in your area have changed a pulley if you don't want to do it yourself . Most likely one of the club members that owns a tool would do it for you . If you do this mod you won't take the pulley of unless you go to an even smaller pulley !
I have wondered about the accuracy of the speedo, too. I have not performed a comparison test with another car, but I have noticed that at some speeds (more noticeable below 70 mph), the gauge reads 1-2 mph higher than the HUD. Not a big deal (kinda expect this type of thing on a GM car).
My parents have decided to trade their '93 Bonneville SSE in because it is starting to nickel-and-dime them. Had to replace some O-ring seal on top of the engine for the second time; had to replace the anti-lock brake system; had to replace the volt gauge in the I/P ($30 part cost over $110 to install); and other problems that have required repeat visits to the dealer to get fixed right. They have loved the car, but a new Bonne is not on their radar right now. They have seen mine, but not driven it. I need to do some selling.
I think I'll start my mods slowly by changing the air filter. Where should I get it and how much should I expect to pay?
I walked out into the garage and took a photo of the tips... painted black with the trailing edge still polished metal. (I had to show off and get the nose of the C5 in the photo )
http://members.home.net/weshelton/IMAGE05a.jpg
Though if you go to K&N site they list a bunch of online retailers.
Power is hard to tell. I'll let the PCM think about it for a bit.
As for the install, it was more work than I had hoped for. The muffler is 4" longer than stock. Also the pipes after the Y are 1.75 inches, the inlet is 2.25. Some work had to be done.
Now it is a much straighter shot from the resonator back. No Z curve after the mufler either. I will try to snap some picks for anyone who is interested.
Performance, noticeable improvement. Mostly in drivability. Engine revs easier and tranny (for some reason) shifts smoother. No hard numbers other than I can no longer peg my stock boost gauge very easily. Before the exhaust with the 3.25 pulley pegging the boost gauge was easy. No it is hard, makes sense less back pressure. GTP'ers report the same thing.
I am going to call flowmaster about the drone. It appears to be only in the car itself, no out side. The exterior tone of the mufflers I love. So I guess the noise is internal resonance. IT is worst from 1800 rpm to 2500 rpm. Cruising speeds. Not too bad at highway, road noise mutes it, but around town a little much. I have some ideas I will run by flowmaster.
As for suggestions, my muffler guy opinions mirrored my own, pulling the resonator will make it louder, will help performance under WOT, but probably hurt it during standard driving. His take is the flowmasters flow too much to remove the resonator. With a more restrictive muffler you could probably do it.
Changes: The Z curve leaving the mufflers is gone, just a smooth 30 degree.
I would replace the pipe leaving the resonator with a 2.5 to 3" split then make the T a 2.25" legs. Fit better into the mufflers (could use 2" if you order a different muffler part #). The large piping past the resonator will probably shift the drone range (so would removing the resonator). I would expect anything that increases the energy (temperature) of the the exhaust gases when it reaches the mufflers woudl lower the drone rpm range. If you decrease the energy of the gases the it would increase the range. That is a guess on my part.
One other note, flowmaster includes a warning the the mufflers suck a lot of heat out of the engine compartment. It appears to be true. The eninge is running a touch cooler.
Also where do you buy the pulley set from. How much performance difference between the 3.5and the 3.25?
1) There is an optional 3.05:1 final drive ratio for the SSEi. My 2000 SSEi has the MN7 transaxle with the 258 mm. torque converter and 2.93:1 final drive ratio.
2) OnStar is standard equipment.
3) The optional chrome wheels look different - much cleaner (in my opinion).
Didn't notice any other significant changes...
I've purchased the Hi Temp black and chrome spray paints and plan to do the inside of the exhaust tips(black) and the trailing edge(chrome).
1)What is a C5?
2)What cars do you still have?
3)What is the significance of h101? - I see it's your Vette plate and on your sail.
The Edmunds write up for the 2001 SSEi says Option Pkg 1SB is $0.00 and includes Remote Keyless Entry System, Full Feature Theft-Deterrent System and Rear Deck Spoiler and that it is NOT available with Option Pkg U1S. Option U1S is the Delco Trunk-Mounted 12 Disc CD Changer.
How can I find out what part of Option 1SB you give up if you get U1S the Trunk Mounted CD Changer? Everything listed looks like standard equipment on the SSEi. Is there someplace at Pontiac or Edmunds.com I can go to to really understand the details of these Options?
I'm not really excited about an aftermarket CD Changer that connects through one of the FM buttons.
Any help you can give me would certainly be appreciated. Jerry
<<I visited your web site and enjoyed your pictures.>>
-- Hey, I'm flattered... I clearly have too much time on my hands...
<<Three questions for you: 1)What is a C5? >>
-- It is a fifth generation Vette... I have a '98 black coupe... picked it up in Bowling Green (the museum delivery option) at the National Corvette Museum... which is just across the highway from the Vette plant. It was a truly wondrous day and a spectacular two day drive home.
<<2)What cars do you still have?>>
I'm down to three
- My wife's '89 GrandAm (Grey with crank up windows... and under 40,000 miles in eleven years.. just what she wants... geeesh
- The '98 Vette... magnificent machine...
- The 2000 SSEi (also black), also a great car.
<<3)What is the significance of h101? - I see it's
your Vette plate and on your sail.>>
-It is the racing number of the sailboat, H is the lake designator for Lake Mendota, 101 is my number. I'm a sailboat racing addict.
The car pix are fun, aren't they. The black '62 Bonneville convertible was new when I was stationed at Fort Devens in your neck of the woods. The powerboat was also new at that time and I had it out at Lake Shirley when I was there, in those days I was a water skiing nut. The boat still looks great, 'cept it's Johnson V4 has long since been replaced by a Mercury straight 6.
Got the picture of your Thrasher CAI. It looks awesome. The picture convinced me that I have to get one and I realized I really have to clean my engine compartment. Where did you get yours?
Thanks again,
Chris
I changed my pulley a couple of weeks ago, and the car seems to be getting faster as time passes. Is this because I did not disconnect the battery and the computer is slowly catching on to the new hardware? The weather is getting cooler, but these 200 foot burn outs are outstanding (showed an upstart in a 2001 SLE whar the i stands for.) Hows the exhaust drone? I wonder which way the drone would be affected by resonator removal this has to do with body harmonics and resonance and as you say exhaust gas movement. Perhaps the resonator's purpose in life is to subdue the drone. Maybe bigger pipes, less restrictive mufflers will allow a free flow before it can produce a drone. 1984 vettes had the problem drone, had to retune chasis harmonics somehow and reroute the pipes. Any luck on the header front? Hi-Po heads from Kenney Bell might be the next big move... how much can this chasis withstand?
I just finished my first tank of gas in a 2000 se but got only 16 mpg, is that normal?
Also, any recommended modifications to improve performance.
Has anyone put nitrous?
Thanx
Doug, did you pull your resonator?