Mostly stock 97 Grand Prix N/A 3.8

[oldmans97]

Hey guys. My father has a cream puff GP he's owned since new. He always wants more but won't do ANYTHING that makes it appear modified. This car is a very early build 97 GT coupe with the intended factory suspension. Those who don't know, that means major camber, stiffer springs, and lower ride height. Due to customer complaints about ride harsness and tire wear on initial deliveries, this was all changed 5 months into production. So......the car is his baby, and he will not ever change his rolling stock, or suspension bits ( we did a strut in '02? that's when we found out she's a rare bird).

Anyway, he has bought HP tuning software. But he is very very old school, still has a flip phone and picture tube TV, really. I am going to be doing his "computer tappity tap" as he calls it.

Me, I'm an ASE master tech...in heavy duty trucks. We dont mess with factory programming on the big rigs. I know I can make this work, and will learn quick, but hoping for some info before I dive in.

Hes got a drop in K&N, airaid spacer, ported factory exhaust manifolds, down pipe, high flow cat in front of fact exhaust, hi speed fan switch, shorter dog bones, and msd coils-wires.

What should I do? Not do? Maybe do?

Hope there's some help out there. Thanks guys!

[5FDP]

You can make it feel less lazy with a few changes but at the end of the day it's a NA 3.8 with maybe 160-170 front wheel horsepower and a 4T60e vacuum assisted transmission that is a time bomb waiting to happen when you add power to it.

His shorter dog bone mounts don't really do anything because it's not lowered on aftermarket springs and the MSD coils are worse than the factory coils. Someday they will start to cause misfires.

Run some 89+ octane, install some new spark plugs if he hasnt ever done that and start messing with it. They do "knock" from the factory, but his exhaust mods might have killed some of it.

[oldmans97]

Its only ever had 93 octane. Dog bones helped to eliminate nasty torque steer under heavy throttle, its night and day. Car only sees sunny day summer use and gets a fresh set of copper plugs every spring.