PontiacBonnevilleClub.com

Hey everybody, the inevitable finally happened. My lower intake manifold gasket is going but luckily its only leaking to the outside. It's seeping coolant by the front head near the air intake. So I've got new gaskets & a fuel filter ordered and they should be here soon so the easy part is taken care of. Now on to the hard part, I'm about to pull the trigger on an Intense Stage 1 kit and a ZZP downpipe & cat combo. I figured I had might as well replace the coolant elbows with aluminum ones at the same time, anything else that should be done?

I'm thinking about having the trans serviced and having a shift kit installed, but I'm not sure if i need it. The service is probably due but I'm not sure about the shift kit, it should extend the life of the trans but is it going to make it miserable to cruise in?

I'm also thinking about doing the hockey puck mod at the same time, might as well get all this stuff done while I've got the old girl apart right?

I might ought to throw a Optima battery in the mix too being that I have never looked at the existing one. This LIM gasket is getting expensive. But it sure is cheaper than a car payment every month.

External leak is lucky. LIMs are not a bad job nonetheless.

Get headers instead of a downpipe and cat. Much better flow, same cost. Look up Speed Daddys on eBay.

Aluminum coolant elbows are a good call, get a 180* thermostat as well.

I wouldn't drop pulley sizes unless you have an Aeroforce or other scangauge that can show if you have any KR.

Get a TransGo shift kit. It will help the trans, and you won't notice it at all.

You can do the pucks or the boat roller mount. Check out the sticky at the top of the 2000-2005 section.

Get your battery tested for free at any Autozone or Advance. If it's good, there's no point in wasting money on fixing what's not broken.

I have the torque app and a bluetooth scanner. I currently have some KR at WOT, so I'm hoping the fresh fuel filter and some sort of exhaust modification will alleviate that.

Are headers going to play nice with California smog req's? That's my only concern with headers, well and the inevitable exhaust leaks that seem to follow. I'm looking at $220 for the downpipe cat combo in stainless.

Do the speed daddys bolt up pretty nice or are they a pain in the ass? I could see the rear manifold being a bear. Do you get ones for a GP? They are stainless so that is a big plus. These ones? http://www.ebay.com/itm/Exhaust-Header- ... 7b&vxp=mtr

What comes in the intense kit:
NT-FWI-xxx - INTENSE™ Fenderwell Intake Kit
IMH-340 - INTENSE™ Modular Pulley System with 3.40" Pulley - L67 equipped vehicles ONLY
IMH-360 - INTENSE™ Modular Pulley System with 3.60" Pulley - L32 equipped vehicles ONLY
GB6-660 - Goodyear Gatorback Supercharger Belt
GB6-715 - Goodyear Gatorback Supercharger Belt (for Bonneville Only +$18.00)
TST-180 - INTENSE™ High Performance 180 Degree Thermostat
ASP-605 x 6 - Autolite® 605 (one heat range colder than stock) Copper Core Spark Plugs
PCM-xxxxx-xxxx - INTENSE™ Standard Powertrain Control Module

headers and stage 1 kit ordered. Think I should send my computer off to them before I do the work? I'll have to drive about a half a mile to my dad's where I'm going to do the work.

I'm in the middle of a LIM gasket replacement. Be prepared to replace vacuum lines as well. Both the hard line and some connectors snapped when trying to disconnect them. Also, get a EGR gasket. If you buy the FEL-PRO Intake Manifold Gasket Set it comes complete with gaskets, O-rings, and RTV. You will also need the intake plenum gasket between the LIM and the supercharger. This is also a good time to flush and change out your anti-freeze since you need to drain the system anyway.

I got a plenum gasket but not the EGR gasket, I'll get one on the way. I got the AC Delco LIM gasket instead of the FEL-Pro. What are the o-rings for, injectors?

nos4blood70 wrote: Get a TransGo shift kit. It will help the trans, and you won't notice it at all.

I did. It made an improvement. The transmission definitely shifts better. When you put the kit in, compare the OEM springs to the ones in the kit. It's not that hard to put the kit in, although the youngest son did mine for me. It takes me 2 days to detail a car (no more "get up and go", it got up and went), so he put the kit in cause I didn't want the car sitting around for a week while I tried to put the kit in. - BC

The shift kit is much better than stock, unless you're a grandpa and want the ultra-smooth feel of a stock transmission (aka slippage) you'll enjoy the shift kit. It's not bad at all.

I've got manifold gaskets, EGR gasket, hockey pucks, trans filter, and a shift kit in my amazon cart. Anything else I should add to this order, I plan on buying fluids local.

xxdabroxx wrote:I've got manifold gaskets, EGR gasket, hockey pucks, trans filter, and a shift kit in my amazon cart. Anything else I should add to this order, I plan on buying fluids local.

I suggest the Valvoline MaxLife Dexron VI, if they have it. - BC

Fuel filter and LIM gaskets came in today, man those LIM gaskets are meaty.

Headers, EGR gasket, UIM gasket came in yesterday. Trans filter and hockey pucks should be here today and the shift kit should be in by tomorrow.

Got my fingers crossed that my Intense order comes in, they are the only ones I don't have tracking on.

Super disappointed with Intense right now. Said they should have it shipped out Monday afternoon on the phone, just got tracking today. Not expected to arrive until next week. SUPER DISAPPOINTED, not like my baby is broken and waiting on them or anything...

So get this, I'm driving to pick up my dinner and my truck starts acting weird. Hrmmmm I know this feeling, third gear starts slipping, then a little more... ...And its gone. At least first and second seem to grab just fine and I made it home, dinner in hand. The timing of the situation sure could be better, looks like I'll be tuning up the venerable Suzuki DRZ-400 to ride for a week or so. To take off the knobbies or not...

I'm rooting for you to get this done quickly, awesome ssetup you are doing with your car. Good luck.

Spent most of the day yesterday getting the DRZ carb tuned up. Got the new pumper carb tuned up great, ride over to my dad's this morning for breakfast and when I went to leave I had a flat back tire.

That is all three of my drivers down, with the 73 olds also broken, I am now on a borrowed 85 full size GMC Jimmy that I used to drive to high school. Hopefully I can't manage to break that before I get something else running.

Of course motorcycle shops are closed on sunday and monday so it would take a 45 minute drive to the next bigger town to get to a Cycle gear. I'm going to do laundry and work on restoring a hand plane in my garage. I don't think I can screw that up.

Well, the guys at Intense made it up to me. They sent me a free hat and beer koozie, and let me tell you, it is an Intense hat. haha, bad pun I know.



along with the hat came the rest of my parts, including the dyna mat kit he threw in at no charge.







boring white box has headers inside

Now the real excitement begins.

She's such a baby, can't wait to see the acceleration videos after.

I can't wait to feel it, I'm super excited about the little things too like the hockey puck mount. Pretty sure I could feel the sloppyness of the original. I think it's going to come together well.

Intense said they were going to include some instructions on installing the new tuned ECU but they weren't in the box. Does anyone have a copy? I can't find them on their website anywhere. Think I found it.
http://www.3800pro.com/forum/pcms-tunin ... edure.html