Im new on this great website

hey wasup to all my riv masters... man ive been jus reading threads for about a week or two and i love this sight... its funny my mother was looking at my car and was like it looks regular, i said naw its a gift from god and she was at the store and everybody wanted to buy it... So im the new guy now, i would love to use you guy's knowledge about this vehicle to teach me to be a great a riv master too.... Teach me the way Obi Wan's thanks in advance...

Well i guess where do i start.... Im going to change brakes and rotors this weekend,; im going with the ceramic type.... as well as struts and shocks, also going to get either the 160 degree or the 180 degree thermostat, a k&n air filter, tune her up, put some new spark plugs on it. Any other ideas or tips give me the knowledge

HI there and welcome!

Be sure to add your car info into your sig. Instructions can be found in the FAQ... Then we can get right into helping you with mods....

appreciate tha love

Welcome. Install a 180º T-stat. 160º could spell trouble.

welcome!!! good u found us.... spend a lil mo time at this site researchin and studying- you'll kno where the next step with ur riv will be. good luck and happy modding!

Welcome! Don't use a 160 tstat, 180 is the lowest you should go. While you are changing plugs, if you think you are going to mod your car someday, don't use stock iridium replacements. Autolite 605 is a slightly colder, good copper plug, AP605 for the 'single' platinum version of it. cooler than that depends what you are planning for the future.

So i believe after the brakes and the suspension i should go onto airflow...wat u thinnk...any ideas

Depends what you think airflow is.

As to the plugs, no need to PM me about it - ask away. It depends on what you are going to do. What do you think you want from this car? Are you aware of the weaknesses in the L67/4T65E platform? Are you ready to build a stronger transmission? You need to find out more about what's possible and figure out what you want to do. You can easily turn this into a low 14 second car if you are interested in 1/4 mile times, but it's helpful to know what you want to do first.

From the car i want a great smooth ride with best performance possible, good gas mileage, i want the riv to be a beast on wheels...u know make it look as good as i can get in the appearance of my car.

As far as the weaknesses i do not have a clue...i honestly thought that the riv's are perfect lol seriously....After i finish the brakes and the suspension i believe i will be ready for the transmission and the airflow mods

also where can i get the autolite 605...and how much ?

dev919 wrote:

also where can i get the autolite 605...and how much ?

any auto parts store that carries autolite should have them, $1.50 each?

dev919 wrote:

From the car i want a great smooth ride with best performance possible, good gas mileage, i want the riv to be a beast on wheels...u know

I don't know, that's why I keep asking. You can take this car into the 11s with a huge turbo kit (nobody's done that to a Riv yet but other 3800 cars are there) or the 12s with a mild turbo kit for only a few grand, keep it close to stock with mild mods only for a few hundred here a few hundred there, cam and a newer supercharger to make it scream for a couple thou... "best performance possible" is different for everyone, that's why I keep asking over and over, and I'm trying to help you make up your mind before you start anything. Take your time deciding. The 3800 is a great motor with gobs of potential, but you should decide what you want to do and then we can help you choose the right parts etc. Do you want to build a race motor? What's your budget?

Check out ZZPerformance.com and Intense-Racing.com for a few of the 3800 vendors and their selections of performance parts and packages. Most of the stuff they list for Grand Prixs will work for us. If you have any questions about that stuff keep asking!!

thanx man for the sites.... these perf pkgs look like the real deal... the turbo kit is out of my budget rite now tho... I think afte my brakes and suspension i will throw the perf pkg 1 on it... also will purchase a timing chain.... my head still rolling that car on intense-racing.com got 700 hp..that is sick...maybe one day...lol.......but i am seriously thinking about the XPZ cam package... they got some nice deals, and i see they are top quality

If you are thinking about building up with a cam etc, be ready to build a transmission up too. Basic bolt-ons your stock trans can handle if you are gentle with it.

So since im just starting out right the stage 1 perfomance package should be good? I you didnt get it this is what comes in it :


K&N drop in air filter
ZZP 1.0 pcm
3.5" Modular pulley system ('04+ Grand Prix only comes without a pulley)
Ubend delete with o2 bung and rear gasket ('04+ Grand Prix only comes without a ubend delete)
Autolite 104 spark plugs (set of 6)
180* thermostat and gasket
$279.99 + 75.00 core charge

I have read I have read though that this hsould give me about a 25 hp boost... but do you think since i will continue to mod i should get the stage 2 rite off bat which comes with :

Wizaired CAI with 4" K&N filter
ZZP 1.0 pcm
3.4" Modular pulley system ('04+ Grand Prix comes with a 3.6" pulley)
Smaller supercharger belt
ZZP 3" bolt in aluminized cat'd downpipe (bolts up to stock or 2.5" catback) with gaskets
Autolite 104 spark plugs (set of 6)
180* thermostat and gasket
$604.73 + 75.00 core charge

Which do you think???

well first off the cold air kit is for a w-body, you would be better off building your own intake like I and many others did on this forum, the downpipe will not just bolt in because our dowpipe to cat flange has four bolts, and the w-bodys have 4. and also about the stage 1 package the u-bend delete is pointless because we have no u-bend. but otherwise It's a good mod map to follow but I would add one thing, you should really get a scanner if you want to drop pulleys, because knock can get out of control if you dont know what your baseline is.

Don't know if there might be anyone local to you who can PROPERLY tune your car, in NC, but that would be highly preferable to buying a canned PCM from any vendor. ZZP and Intense Racing offer tuning services, but maybe are too far for you.

A Cold Air Intake is a good move, but you don't need to spend $200+ for anyone's kit. You can make your own with $40-$50 and your local hardware store. Details are on the site already.

The Rivs do NOT have a U-bend in the exhaust system, so forget about the U-bend delete listed in the packages. That is a W-body issue only.

You don't really want to drop to a 3.4 or 3.5 SC pulley without being able to scan for Knock Retard (KR). Scanning tool option info can also be found here. Check the FAQ sections.

I get the impression you don't really have any specific goals with your Riv, other than maybe to make it a relatively fast street car. Open up the air intake side, go with higher ratio rockers OR a cam swap, buy SS Autochrome headers if you really want to go the headers route.

Can you make me a FWI and i just pay you to ship it to me plus reimbursement for all the parts

Actually, the OE airbox is pretty good, gutting it will add some airflow and noise and hold you well into the 3.4" pulley. Airflow after the supercharger is more important than dropping pulley sizes right away, look at 1.9 rockers and SSAC headers for a good starting point, more airflow more airflow more airflow before dropping pulley sizes.

You should try to find someone in your area with a scan tool. Most Grand Prix clubs have local chapters that can be Riv friendly, and many of them have scanners or even tuners that can help you out. You should know that your car has no KR (knock retard) before bolting on mods, then you want to scan after each mod.

I highly recommend 1.9 rockers and some exhaust opening (headers) as a good place to start. There are ported exhaust manifolds available, and ZZP's PLOG is a better alternative to a ported front manifold, but I'd skip that and go straight to headers. The stock cat-back exhaust system is good enough for all this too. Changes to that are for sound/personal preference only, until you reach a higher mod level.

1.9s, headers and then an appropriate MPS/3.5/3.4 pulley and some good tuning will have you very happy. That combo got me into a 14.09@98 mph in the 1/4 mile. The key to it all is the tuning.

thanx i will take your advice....only difference i found a aftermarket CAI on sale at ebay stores for like $50 i think im goin to run witht that....but i may have a setback in the mods because im thinking of getting the pioneer avic z3....i wanted this in dash unit since it came out...but ima be on it