My new GS :)

[Limited87]

Thought Id post some picts of the new (to me) GS I picked up. Its an '02 Joseph Abboud Edition GS. Car is the rare bronzemist metallic color and has the 2 tone Abboud leather interior. Ive looked forever it seems for one this immaculate and in this color without much luck! Finally, thank god the search is over

Im going to mod it some. Its gonna be a daily driver for work/family car. I wanna do a pulley, cai, pcm tune, plugs/wires, and a 3 inch stainless dp with cat removal to bolt to the stock catback. I dont want the car loud at all and to look stock from the back. Anything else you GS owners recommend I do? Appreciate all the feedback as Im sort of new to these cars.

P.S. How you like guys like that front plate..lol I can run it for 30 days till I gotta get plates..lol

 

[Royal-T-Ltd]

wow... it really looks great! love the color!

 

[murphinator]

nice ride , my 02 gs daily driver has 202k on the original long block & trans with lots of low to mid 13's passes on dr's (vid in sig)- they are durable & easily modded

you mention swapping pulleys but dont mention getting rid of the stock manifolds , the front manifold is barely up to letting the front banks exhaust out on a 3.8 pulley - most cars will knock a fair amount with a smaller pulley on stock manis

headers would be best , if not then do a zzp stainless power log ( like a shorty header to replace the fronty mani) the mild steel ones are prone to cracking but very few issues with the stainless ones.

 

[Turbo6Smackdown]

GREAT lookin car. Welcome to the other side.
Yea, about that pulley... You're going to need a little bit, to be able to actually start droppin pulleys.
The smartest way to go about it, is to do what I'm doing. Supporting mods first. Just like in the GN's. When all the supporting mods are done, some people find out that goin to a smaller pulley (or puttin a bigger turbo on) is not really that necessary now.
The problem with these cars is, once you start boltin crap on, your traction is now going to SUCK ASS. BAD. So you're right back to square one again. All the horsepower you want, and not being able to plant it...

Typical phase 1 mods to the L67's are: 1 heat range colder plugs, with the biggest gap you can get away with. 4" true cold air intake, 3" down pipe, u-bend delete, 180 thermostat, ported manifolds in the MINIMUM (as far as the header mods go), and lastly, a custom tune to tie it all together. The 'pre tuned' pcm's, business's sell on the market, are ****, and are a total waste of time.
The suspension mods are usually thicker sway bars, strut tower braces, and ultra high performance 225 or 235 tires.
That's usually good enough for daily drivers. Any more, and you're getting into to some money, and then, it's going to start becoming another grand national, and we all know how that goes... A money pit that you CONSTANTLY have to monitor, between O2 millivolts, knock retard, octane levels blah blah blah. Do the level one mods, and forget it. When you do that, you're already going to start roastin tires... I can't imagine what it would be like with a pulley...

 

[Limited87]

wow... it really looks great! love the color!

Thanks man! I can see we both have a thing for the Gold TRs

nice ride , my 02 gs daily driver has 202k on the original long block & trans with lots of low to mid 13's passes on dr's (vid in sig)- they are durable & easily modded

you mention swapping pulleys but dont mention getting rid of the stock manifolds , the front manifold is barely up to letting the front banks exhaust out on a 3.8 pulley - most cars will knock a fair amount with a smaller pulley on stock manis

headers would be best , if not then do a zzp stainless power log ( like a shorty header to replace the fronty mani) the mild steel ones are prone to cracking but very few issues with the stainless ones.

Great info! I will def look into the front header mod at the least as well.

GREAT lookin car. Welcome to the other side.
Yea, about that pulley... You're going to need a little bit, to be able to actually start droppin pulleys.
The smartest way to go about it, is to do what I'm doing. Supporting mods first. Just like in the GN's. When all the supporting mods are done, some people find out that goin to a smaller pulley (or puttin a bigger turbo on) is not really that necessary now.
The problem with these cars is, once you start boltin crap on, your traction is now going to SUCK ASS. BAD. So you're right back to square one again. All the horsepower you want, and not being able to plant it...

Typical phase 1 mods to the L67's are: 1 heat range colder plugs, with the biggest gap you can get away with. 4" true cold air intake, 3" down pipe, u-bend delete, 180 thermostat, ported manifolds in the MINIMUM (as far as the header mods go), and lastly, a custom tune to tie it all together. The 'pre tuned' pcm's, business's sell on the market, are ****, and are a total waste of time.
The suspension mods are usually thicker sway bars, strut tower braces, and ultra high performance 225 or 235 tires.
That's usually good enough for daily drivers. Any more, and you're getting into to some money, and then, it's going to start becoming another grand national, and we all know how that goes... A money pit that you CONSTANTLY have to monitor, between O2 millivolts, knock retard, octane levels blah blah blah. Do the level one mods, and forget it. When you do that, you're already going to start roastin tires... I can't imagine what it would be like with a pulley...

Wow I didnt realize the tunes from like Intense and ZZP wernt worth messing with. Whats the best option for a tune thats reliable? I dont want to go overboard with this car just the mods it needs to run a high 13 or low 14. I got a 9 sec Turbo Buick street car and I know how it and I can get..lol

 

[troGNman]

Very nice ride! It looks extra clean for an 8 year old car.

I liked the JA package when they came out but did'nt agree with the rim selection. Im partial to the chrome 9-spokers.

Our buddy Herb on this very board picked up an identical car about a month ago.

 

[turbojkt]

nice ride , my 02 gs daily driver has 202k on the original long block & trans with lots of low to mid 13's passes on dr's (vid in sig)- they are durable & easily modded

you mention swapping pulleys but dont mention getting rid of the stock manifolds , the front manifold is barely up to letting the front banks exhaust out on a 3.8 pulley - most cars will knock a fair amount with a smaller pulley on stock manis

headers would be best , if not then do a zzp stainless power log ( like a shorty header to replace the fronty mani) the mild steel ones are prone to cracking but very few issues with the stainless ones.

Just bought a 98 GS. 3800 Performance has ported exhaust manifolds they are selling for $225. ( Ported Exhaust Manifolds: 3800 Performance ) What's your opinion or experience with those, and would they flow enough for the basic mods along with a smaller pulley?

 

[DoubleD]

It is really worth it to go with a good set of headers. the flow area of the front manifold cannot be increased enough with just porting, and thus, large amounts of gains are made with headers.

They are well worth the money. If you have some ambition and some fabrication abilities Ebay headers can actually be made to work well depending on which ones you get.

I hope you enjoy the new car! looks fantastic!

I only have two of these things now

 

[Limited87]

Very nice ride! It looks extra clean for an 8 year old car.

I liked the JA package when they came out but did'nt agree with the rim selection. Im partial to the chrome 9-spokers.

Our buddy Herb on this very board picked up an identical car about a month ago.

Thanks tro, it really is clean. I have a set of the chromes I was thinking about putting on it. Be cool if Herb could post a few picts of his, Id really like to see it. I looked for months till I found one even remotely nice and some what close to me in location.

It is really worth it to go with a good set of headers. the flow area of the front manifold cannot be increased enough with just porting, and thus, large amounts of gains are made with headers.

They are well worth the money. If you have some ambition and some fabrication abilities Ebay headers can actually be made to work well depending on which ones you get.

I hope you enjoy the new car! looks fantastic!

I only have two of these things now

Headers are def lookin like a must for safety as well as the added performance. Which ebay headers are the ones that arent real bad to work with, the OBX?

Thanks for the compliment! I am really liking it so far.. total blast to drive! Smooth and plush yet rips the tires off it..lol Cant wait till spring to add some of these mods were talking about.

 

[TurboRegal84]

Our buddy Herb on this very board picked up an identical car about a month ago.

Yup!

Congrats on your purchase...we have twins!

 

[Limited87]

Thats awesome! I had found and looked at a few in our color but could not find one with the Abboud seats. Heres some shots of the interior. There was such a wide range of options on these cars I found out it was crazy..

 

[TurboRegal84]

Great looking car you have there

I would have loved to get the same seats as you but dealing with cars this old you take what you can get. I thought that the JA package gave you all options. I am pretty shocked to see that yours does not have heated seats. Does it have a sunroof?

Looks like it is in great shape!

 

[Limited87]

Great looking car you have there

I would have loved to get the same seats as you but dealing with cars this old you take what you can get. I thought that the JA package gave you all options. I am pretty shocked to see that yours does not have heated seats. Does it have a sunroof?

Looks like it is in great shape!

Thanks Herb! Car really blew me away when I seen it. Yours looks exceptional also! According to everyone I have talked to and what I have read (dismantlers, gs forums, exc) when searching for an JA with the 2 tone seating, you could not get heated seats with it. I was told that the heated option is harder on the leather material and they simply didnt put in the Abboud 2 tone seats.

I have seen a few white and a few bronzemist cars for sale on the net that have the same JA seats with no heated option as well. The car does have a sunroof.

I see your car has the JA sig floor mats. Mine has the regular mats. Another option on these..lol Id like to find a set but Im sure its gonna be a tough find.

 

[murphinator]

try to answer a few posts questions here - some is redundant , others just input on mentioned things ...

I wouldnt bother with ported front manifold there just isnt enough to be gained from porting the cast iron mani , the rear mani is decent though (header style tubing)

if you dont want to go headers replace the front manifold with zzp's powerlog which is along the lines of a shorty header but spend the $$ for the stainless version as the mild steel ones crack frequently and the stainless will occasionally but in an easily repaired manner

the 9 spoke chromes are about 2 pounds heavier each than the 6 spoke aluminum ( 20 vs. 18) pontiac torque stars from gp's are the lightest factory wheel at 16 btw

while an actual tune would be preferred to a 1.0 pcm since the tune would/should be based on scan data and address any kr issues along with making more power dont discount a pcm 1.0 if you are keeping the mods within reason and have no tuner near you. click on the vid in my sig , that pass is of my 200,000++ mile daily driver which at the time was running on a pcm 1.0 from zzp along with a zzp st 1 throttle body , 3" zzp downpipe , zzp powrlog & ported rear mani , 3" hogan catback , 3.5 pulley , homemade 4" fenderwell intake , a couple gallons 100 unleaded , full weight other than spare & jack removal , regular street tires with a 2.2 60 foot , car ran consistent 13.5/13.6 @103-104 with that combo and some track prep.

 

[vicious6]

Very nice car man, congrads.:wink: