Got a GN and need help with mods currently on car (identification)

[got hp]

This car belongs to a good buddy of mine that he got from his dad. It's a very well maintained vehicle and was bought from another owner more than 10 years ago. At that time, his dad had and still doesn't know what mods were done to the car. From what I can tell, the ram air and line lock are pretty obvious as is the mufflers. What I would like to know is what is modified and what is stock like the PROM, the headers, turbo, intercooler, etc. What I did was take a ton of photos so that you can see them and maybe help determine what was done to the car. I know that there is a shift kit in it because it's got no problem chirping the tires. Once we find out what it has, we want to get it to go faster. I just don't want to start spending money on parts that we already have. Any help would be greatly appreciated and thanks for your time.

Pictures can be seen here: http://www.got-hp.com/gn

Thanks!

Dan

 

[Weazel]

Hey, welcome to the board. Those are some good informative pics. I'm sure others here will be able to give you more info than I can muster, but here goes:

Picture 12: Definitely looks like a larger than stock throttle body, the way the up-pipe to TB connection is belled out at the end. Also I can't read the numbers on your fuel-pressure regulator, but it looks like a stock (non-adjustable).

Picture 18: The wastegate looks non-adjustable as well. That'll be one of the first things you want. That's an easy one: http://www.gnttype.org/techarea/images/Adj_wastegate.JPG

Picture 19: That looks like a stock intercooler. It's definitely stock location, and judging by the shroud it's bone stock without the "big neck" mod.

Picture 20: Thats the stock ECM I would wager. Probably an aftermarket chip, but you'd have to pull it and read what the label said. Mine just says (93 oct, stock injectors, 17 psi).

Picture 3/4: That's a nice looking turbo. It looks like stocker, but it could be a TA-49. I've never seen a stocker that shiney, so I'm not sure what it could be.

Picture 6: Looks like the stock swaybar, and it doesn't appear that you have boxed or aftermarket lower control arms (something that really helps at the strip.)

Picture 7: The tranny fluid pan looks stock, so it's probably a stock transmission. You say it may have a shift-kit? These cars don't really need shift kits to chirp the tires

Anyway, I could be wrong (it's happened before) but there's my take on the ride. She looks good, that's a killer gauge cluster. Good luck and have fun!

 

[lrover2]

Looks like a KB plenum and throttle body, Nice tall valve covers which tells me there may be different rockers (roller?), Not sure what the headers are but they aren’t stock, Kb cold air intake, 3inch down pipe, stock intercooler, Pull that chip and see if it has a sticker on the bottom, exhaust is not stock, turbo is not stock, stock MAF, that’s about all I can visually see.

 

[jastrckl]

The gauge cluster is new (and nice)

the driver's side left air dam ram air stuff is new. I like mark's cold
air setup, but a lot also run these kinds of ramair systems.

the upper plenum and throttle body are new. look like hemco?

the fuel pressure regulator looks stock. buy an adjustable one.

up-pipe from intercooler to throttle body is new. very 'minor' kind of upgrade though really.

those headers don't look stock. maybe it's hard for me to recognize them without the heatshields there though. compare them to this and see which they look like. that might help for the exhaust too.

#8 the powermaster system (weird buick hydraulic brake booster system) looks like it's been replaced recently. this is good, they're prone to failure

in #16 it looks like the heater hose to the throttle body is still intact. most people loop that back for performance (sacrifices some cold start capability)

downpipe looks stock to me in the picture.

in #18 you might want to replace that wastegate actuator with an adjustable one. or cut the thing and add a threaded coupler yourself, thread the ends, and have a homemade adjustable actuator.

#18 looks like stock intercooler with stock neck. That bend right after the turbo is a well-known restriction. A new intercooler would help, or chop off the current neck and weld on a duttweiler neck.

#20 if the ecm was already out so that you could take the cover off to look at the chip, probably the chip has already been swapped before. I haven't seen enough to recognize them all. Wish someone would make a chip photo database (maybe I'll get on that )

as for the turbo, my guess is a cheetah. Don't know who else has an exhaust housing w/ that external gate provision in that fashion. comparethese


#9 looks like you were thinking of removing the MAF screens. don't remove both screens, runs best with 2 or 1.

the valve covers of course are new, not like it's a performance mod though. I don't think the cheetah has the little inlet for the hose going from the passenger side valve cover, so hopefully you don't have it. pretty sure you don't. anyway it sucks up oil from the valve cover and spits it into the intercooler.

and regardless of parts on the car,
spring cleaning
is always a good idea
HTH

 

[JDSfastGN]

Yeah I'm gonna agree with whats written above, but that DP looks bigger than stock, it necks down to fit the turbo elbow, and the turbo is definatly not stock, it looks like its around the size of a 44 or so, but with out measureing the wheels and such I dunno. Looks like a really nice car, good luck and have fun. Maybe I missed the pic but get a couple of close ups of an injector so we canfigure that out as well, because if they are stock (since it has a stock regulator I bet they are) the injectors and fuel pump ( the one in there may be a good one, but its better to be safe than sorry) are the 1st things I would upgrade.

 

[NASSTY]

Another thing to check out,pull the vacuum line off the fuel pressure regulator and look to see if there is an allen head screw in the reg.where the vac. line goes on it.It could be a stock appearing adjustable regulator like BGC used to sell.

 

[matt87]

looks like a poster car for Kenne-Bell. ram air, turbo, throttle body.

 

[turbotwister]

hi,
the turbo is a turbonetics cheetah series.probably what they call a stage III turbo.kenne bell sold alot of them.definetly alot of kenne bell goodies on the car.

nick,

 

[GNocide]

nice car i like the dash gnx style. gnx style rims too i guess pic gn5. you have the common crack in the horn coller everyone does. center has been replaced with gn insert . headers look like atr but dont appear to be stainless. oil filter looks bigger ,possibly pf 52. your shocks look like bilsteins up front and kybs in the rear. there is no torque converter cover on the car and the factory converter is not green. it looks like the cat converter hanger is torn. you line lock looks like a holley roll control. pulleys look stock too.. nice looking car.

 

[got hp]

Thanks a bunch guys, I really appreciate all the feedback and information. Based on what you told me, it looks like they are ATR headers. There is an ATR sticker on the back window so I'm guessing that is where all the mods are from.

As for the brake system looking new, that's because the car only has 28,000 miles on it. The cluster was recently done and I saw the original one with 26K on the odometer during the swap.

It hasn't seen a hard life and I know the current owner wants to modify it tastefully so that's why I asked to see what was already done to it so we don't buy mods that the car already comes with.

The FPR does not have an allen head screw adjusment in the hole and the numbers on the regulator are 0 280 160 233

Here are the pics of the injectors upclose.

Thank you so much for all your help, it's really appreciated.

 

[NASSTY]

The injectors look stock.

 

[equalizer442]

who ever built that car did it back wards, i dont see any simple performance parts like the adj wastegate or fp regulator but i see a cheetah, ram air, and plenum. odd stuff if ya ask me, just for curosity and saftey i would check the fuel pump(s)

 

[equalizer442]

is that a line lock in pic gn8?

 

[got hp]

it's a line lock but I think it's running to the rear line instead of the front line. I can hear it clicking but I can't get it to work.

 

[jastrckl]

yeah, the elbow looks stock. that's what threw me off on the downpipe. the pipe itself now that I look at it does look thicker. Weird choice of upgrade, the elbow is probably the most restrictive part of even the stock setup before the bigger pipe.

 

[BGTURBO6]

Those valve covers are a Duttweiler designed product for stock rockers only (Poston). However, there's a vendor on gnttype.org (could be HRpartsNstuff; can't remember) who makes aluminum spacers to allow for roller rocker clearance (I'm running T&D 1.6 under these exact covers; covers look awesome cleaned up) Look for an aluminum spacer between the iron head (brown) and the black valve cover. Could be there already. Also, that looks just like my TE-44 (minus external WG port).

Nice car!
Good Luck!

BG

 

[MSDGN]

Also noticed in Pic #7 that the rod that connects the trans shifter linkage to the steering column isn't there...not a big deal unless your shifter cable breaks out on the road...then you'll have fun trying to get it into gear...