As a fellow '86 GN owner, I'll start by congratulating you on your purchase. That's a helk of a find.
If you choose to do the modification thing, the best advice I could give you is to read a lot on this board, and look a lot at people's signatures. Many people put their modification list and best quarter-mile times in their sigs. This can give you a very good idea of how to go. Something else you need to consider is "what is your goal?". Many people just start throwing parts at their car without a clear goal in mind. It's a recipe for disappointment. I would suggest finding someone who has a GN that's in the ball park of what you want to achieve, and follow their modification list (at least roughly).
If you're looking for a combo that will easily keep-up with the modern Vettes out there, I might suggest looking at my combo. The car runs mid-11's on 100-octane unleaded with slicks and mid-12's on 93-octane and drag radials. For you, the only things I would consider changing are using a stock-location intercooler (SLIC) to allow your radiator to keep working well in Phoenix, and you might substitute alcohol injection and 93-octane for my 100-octane. You can do these mods for $15k, and my engine has never left the engine bay. BTW, very rarely do I see GN owners putting batteries in their trunks. Nothing inherently wrong with it, just not common in our world. If you go this route, just remember that you must upgrade your FUEL SYSTEM (new fuel-pump and hot-wire at the minimum) and your TRANSMISSION (more durable components and at least a re-stalled stock converter) FIRST. Once you start making any more HP than stock, your stock fuel system will quickly reach its limit, and the transmission won't be far behind.
Before you go the modification route, I will suggest thinking about something. Most of the people on this board have modified their cars. Many of those who have would LOVE to have a 100%-stock low mileage car again. For example, I would gladly consider trading my car, even though it's only a 43k mile car and only 6-months after having been newly painted, for a 100% stock, low-mileage car like yours. My warning is that once you modify a bunch of stuff, you might find that you regret it years later. Nowadays, low-mileage bone-stock GN's are very hard to find, especially 86's. There are many people on this board who would pay top dollar for your car or trade a nice car that is already fast for your car. If you want a fast, lower mile GN (say under 50k miles), you can easily get one for the money you would make selling your car and probably have some cash left-over.
These are just things to think about. At the end of the day, it's your car, you can do what you want. I just hope you don't look back 10 years from now and say, 'Man, I had a 4,000-mile bone-stock GN, and I wish I had it again!"
Good Luck,
If you choose to do the modification thing, the best advice I could give you is to read a lot on this board, and look a lot at people's signatures. Many people put their modification list and best quarter-mile times in their sigs. This can give you a very good idea of how to go. Something else you need to consider is "what is your goal?". Many people just start throwing parts at their car without a clear goal in mind. It's a recipe for disappointment. I would suggest finding someone who has a GN that's in the ball park of what you want to achieve, and follow their modification list (at least roughly).
If you're looking for a combo that will easily keep-up with the modern Vettes out there, I might suggest looking at my combo. The car runs mid-11's on 100-octane unleaded with slicks and mid-12's on 93-octane and drag radials. For you, the only things I would consider changing are using a stock-location intercooler (SLIC) to allow your radiator to keep working well in Phoenix, and you might substitute alcohol injection and 93-octane for my 100-octane. You can do these mods for $15k, and my engine has never left the engine bay. BTW, very rarely do I see GN owners putting batteries in their trunks. Nothing inherently wrong with it, just not common in our world. If you go this route, just remember that you must upgrade your FUEL SYSTEM (new fuel-pump and hot-wire at the minimum) and your TRANSMISSION (more durable components and at least a re-stalled stock converter) FIRST. Once you start making any more HP than stock, your stock fuel system will quickly reach its limit, and the transmission won't be far behind.
Before you go the modification route, I will suggest thinking about something. Most of the people on this board have modified their cars. Many of those who have would LOVE to have a 100%-stock low mileage car again. For example, I would gladly consider trading my car, even though it's only a 43k mile car and only 6-months after having been newly painted, for a 100% stock, low-mileage car like yours. My warning is that once you modify a bunch of stuff, you might find that you regret it years later. Nowadays, low-mileage bone-stock GN's are very hard to find, especially 86's. There are many people on this board who would pay top dollar for your car or trade a nice car that is already fast for your car. If you want a fast, lower mile GN (say under 50k miles), you can easily get one for the money you would make selling your car and probably have some cash left-over.
These are just things to think about. At the end of the day, it's your car, you can do what you want. I just hope you don't look back 10 years from now and say, 'Man, I had a 4,000-mile bone-stock GN, and I wish I had it again!"
Good Luck,
