Amurican_Muscle

Well, my last thread was on WHICH rims to get, and it all cleared up when I found a SWEET deal on brand new 17inch Chrome ZR1's on ebay from a guy going out of business at his tire shop. 4 wheels and 1 tire (because it was a display). Anyway, there are SOOO NICE. I'll get pictures up when I put them on! Oh man those 275/40/17 tires look big .

NOW BRING ON THE QUESTIONS!! Im home for Christmas break and I want to do as many little/medium mods as possible! I was thinking the lingenfelter CAI for sure, and then a thermostat.

1) Which thermostat? Hypertech or jet? 160 or 180 degree? Whats the diff? pros cons :P

2)What else could I do for somewhat cheap to make my car look cooler or run better for the next few weeks im here? I was thinkin clear corners, white gauges ... Whats some other sweet stuff?






(NOW BRING ON THE RANDOM QUESTIONS!)

1) The 2.5 inch exhaust (opposed to the 3 inch), will never come back and haunt me when i start modding right? like it wont end up being too restrictive after many mods? And does work well with pace-setter headers? Or would you guys recommend just 3" with pace-setterz. Im asking because I know a guy with a deal for me on 2.5" exhaust. (The exhaust is Magnaflow, by the way)

2) The guy i might get it from says the v6 3.4 and 3.8 exhaust is echangable. Is this true? I would think so ... but ftpp.net sells them seperately for seperate engines.

paarman97maro

Im not sure on the stock piping size after the headers on the 3.4s, but if its 3" then I think it would be interchangeable. You can buy the exhaust for the v8s and it works on v6s, so that doesnt really matter.

FamousZ

You could get some clear corners, some black outs for the back, some rear CAMARO fill ins, paint the calipers, paint the interior? Those are all options..

archemedes

1 go with a regular 180* (hypertec uses stant, the same one you can buy for half the price)I just pulled a 160* from my car becasue it was running funny, talked to zzp (3800 guru)and he said the 160* won't allow the engine to get warm enough for the computer to do a self diagnostic, and eventually goes into limp home mode. Make sure and do proper fill procedure (get all air out, and use the little vent on the t stat housing to do it while filling) coolant goes everywhere, but it will run much better with the system full of coolant
2.5" exhaust will be fine for a street car (heck many strip cars don't need a 3 in exhaust)

2Poor4Z

im running a 160 with no tunning in my 3.8 and it runs fine.. your def right ont he hypertech being a ripoff tho.. much cheaper ones that are exactly the same.. only other thing i have installed to help it out is a manual fan thermostat.. which is turned down to 165 as well.. the car runs abotu 175 or so on the street.

archemedes

from my understanding it took it a year before mine acted up

2Poor4Z

mines been on almost 2 now

Amurican_Muscle

Thanks for the info on Thermostats guys.

OKAY, soooo I'm calling around to see who can put the tires on my wheels and it came up that 275/40/17's won't even work in the front of a 96 Camaro. I (think that I) KNOW that this is wrong, because most of the people on this forum have 275's on all 4 wheels. Please tell me that I am right and that 275 is the widest tire that can fit all the way around without any wheelwell modifications. I was almost POSITIVE that I could just throw them on and it would be good, but please let me know, and as soon as possible!! THANKS!!

meissen

275s all the way around on my car, no problems yet.

NoRiceInside

either way...a thermostat is a waste of money. fo sheezy.

Amurican_Muscle

You wanna explain what you mean? Like the idea of one makes sence to me, but you say its just a waste of money? You think the stock one is good enough ... is there any real horse power gain or potential from the swap?

archemedes

there is no real gain that has ever been proven. Many experts have actually shown slower times from a colder tstat since an internal combustion engine makes peak power at 195*, the colder one makes the computer think the engien is colder so it dumps more gas.My problem was I had a idle air control valve go bad, and the way it's adjusted is have the engine at operating temp (gm set that at 180*) if it's below that the pcm can't learn the proper position, and the car may run rough.I figure zoomer from ZZP knows what he's doing and he runs a stock t stat (and very fast times too)