Best way to spend $1000 on upgrades?

[cam9457]

I just bought my first GN this past weekend and as of right now it is bone stock except for the cheap looking 2.5 hooker exaust. I've got about a thousand bucks to spend on some upgrades and was wondering what the buick crowd here would reccomend as far as bolt on's that will give the most bang for my thousand bucks? Oh, it's an 87 and I just ordered a cold air kit as my first little upgrade. Should I go complete exaust(down pipe, test, cat back without cat)? Chip and injectors? Larger intercooler? Any help would be greatly appriciated!

[Keller]

#1 - Scan tool
#2 - Do the "Spring Cleaning"
#2 - Read the "Recipes" in the tech pages. Follow their recommendations.

Downpipe is not high in the list of things to do.

Less is more with these cars. Piles of parts is not what makes them fast. It's all about the combination.

[cam9457]

Alright, I already have a scan tool and the parts for the spring cleaning but it's the whole combination thing that I haven't figured out yet.

[NOTACARLO]

Fuel pump and hot wire kit - these old pumps were barely adequate, and they need all the voltage they can get. The hot wore kit will feed directly off of the alternator for a true 13 + volts all the time.

Good Chip from Turbo Tweak, Jay Carter, or Full Throttle (Bob Bailey) burnt for your combo - whether it be stock-ish or modified. A chip that knows your combo can be your best friend.

Make sure all of the suspension bushings, ball joints, and shocks are in good condition. All the mods in the world are useless if the rest of the car is falling apart.

Good aftermarket boost gauge is a good idea. I recommend Stuart Warner or VDO.

Alcohol injection from SMC or Alky Control. Both have excellent support and are top notch products. Knock is the enemy and so is the boost addiction and desire to turn it up without having supporting modifications to suppress knock.
(by the way, this is considered to be the best modification for the money. Call it insurance for your engine)

Adjustable fuel pressure regulator.

Look for 02 numbers in the 750-820 range at 3rd gear WOT. Tune fat and dial it back until you get what you are looking for.

[PaCemkr86]

scan tool
fuel pump & hotwire kit
TT chip and new 60# injectors " these will be the last set you will ever buy"

[cam9457]

Thanks for the info guys! When you say scan tool do you mean a diagnostic code reader?

[Ts86ttype]

They probably mean a scan master... Can give you codes, but will let you see the different sensors info to the ECM... Tom G.

[PaCemkr86]

scanmaster or powelogger are the preferred scan tools

[Keller]

"Code reader" for these cars would essentially be a paper clip. We're talking about something that actually reads the ECM data and provides useful information. Something that is able to provide O2 sensor readings, show knock counts, MAF flow numbers, etc.

All heavily discussed elsewhere on the forums and on the site...

[cam9457]

Gotcha, I'll look around for one. Is there a preffered make, model or vendor? Sounds like a must have for these cars. My mind has been blown reading soooooo much great info on this site in the past few days