- Joined
- Dec 18, 2024
- Messages
- 11
I just realized I never actually posted my ride on here for 1 to share my experience along the way and to help others looking to do the same here, and 2 for my own "history" to keep track of the car and progress. This post will be updated from here out as I go through the car more and more.
So this is the one. The 2002 regal gsnthat i purchased for a whopping $400 from a elderly person local to me. He had 3 of these but this was the only running one that needed the least amount of work. We worked out a total of 400 due to me helping him out over the past 2 years, I never took payment and I never cared to ask for it anyways but he refused to take more then $400.
I never really realized what the 3800 platform was. I knew of the pontiac grand prix gtp but didn't know there were others with the same w body chassis or engine platform ie. Bonneville, regal, gxp. Etc etc it was nice to see a new look on cars for me honestly. I've been a v8 s10 guy or Mopar most my life so the change of pace was welcoming.
So in the beginning I obviously noticed the supercharger on the 3800 and immediately had to see what this was capable of. The car surprised me. Even in stock form it handled very well, it took off pretty hard, and even got 28mpg. That's a win to me lads.
I began searching for performance parts, I've never really been one to do body work paint etc first I care more about performance and reliability but I made notes of the body work and rust repairs. Common issues with these I found was all w body cars have strut tower rust issues, thankfully mine did not but the large dent in the rear door and non existent rockers along with the cracked windshield were things needing taken care of. As I searched I came across 2 major companies over and over in other forums and a Facebook group I found for the platform. Intense racing and zzperformance.
Now intense looked very promising but from the Facebook group he sounded very overwhelmed and was slowly going out of business, I didn't want to worry about future issues if I have any so I went the zzp route. The first thing I wanted was a proper exhaust and intake.
I ended up grabbing a handful of parts out the gate to sort of go through on the car.
I grabbed a 3.4 pulley a zzp 1.0pcm fulle equalizer exhaust system with the power logs and a 4inch fenderwell intake system.
I didn't get pictures of everything but I did get the exhaust before install. The car really woke up but I could tell something was off a bit, now for clarity here I've never owned anything boosted so this is a learning process also for me but it still didn't feel right. More power but sort of "delayed and off". I ended up resending the pcm in for a refined tune and it helped but they also stated my factory catback could be a issue or engine issues in general such as vacuum or gaskets. So I did a more in depth look and I ended up replacing my tb gasket intake gaskets the o rings to the tb on the intake and the valve cover gaskets. This definatey helped along with finally messing with my vacuum lines and redoing them mostly they looked fine but they were oem originals they were due to replace. The car did great now. Definately fun and a good tone.
A fellow on here and on Facebook gave me the best sounding exhaust I've heard on these and I went that route next. Basically installing a borla muffler were the factory resonator was and nothing else back all 3 inch and it sounds so much better!
I wanted a bit more of course and decided the gen 5 was next. I dont plan to go into details on this. Alot of great info is out there if i need to make a write up i can later.
The car ran great but I learned alot off the gen 5 swap and how it does alot different then a gen 3 including windowing the block that I originally had in the car.
A tune goes a long way lol.
Especially if correct and the car doesn't spin a bearing getting on the freeway.
1 new motor later and a fresh retune from zzp and I'm back on the road. I ended up grabbing a intercooler 2.5inch supercore and a northstar swap and that's where I sit now.
Looking to go bigger and cam later and see where she goes from there we will see. I'm hoping to get a s4 blower cam from intense but as of today he no longer sells them and does not plan to, that being said I have a old cam and a company who regrinds camshafts so I can get one regroup to the specs. I have a extra set of heads I'm looking to open up and #150 springs and see how far we can go on the car for sure!
So this is the one. The 2002 regal gsnthat i purchased for a whopping $400 from a elderly person local to me. He had 3 of these but this was the only running one that needed the least amount of work. We worked out a total of 400 due to me helping him out over the past 2 years, I never took payment and I never cared to ask for it anyways but he refused to take more then $400.
I never really realized what the 3800 platform was. I knew of the pontiac grand prix gtp but didn't know there were others with the same w body chassis or engine platform ie. Bonneville, regal, gxp. Etc etc it was nice to see a new look on cars for me honestly. I've been a v8 s10 guy or Mopar most my life so the change of pace was welcoming.
So in the beginning I obviously noticed the supercharger on the 3800 and immediately had to see what this was capable of. The car surprised me. Even in stock form it handled very well, it took off pretty hard, and even got 28mpg. That's a win to me lads.
I began searching for performance parts, I've never really been one to do body work paint etc first I care more about performance and reliability but I made notes of the body work and rust repairs. Common issues with these I found was all w body cars have strut tower rust issues, thankfully mine did not but the large dent in the rear door and non existent rockers along with the cracked windshield were things needing taken care of. As I searched I came across 2 major companies over and over in other forums and a Facebook group I found for the platform. Intense racing and zzperformance.
Now intense looked very promising but from the Facebook group he sounded very overwhelmed and was slowly going out of business, I didn't want to worry about future issues if I have any so I went the zzp route. The first thing I wanted was a proper exhaust and intake.
I ended up grabbing a handful of parts out the gate to sort of go through on the car.
I grabbed a 3.4 pulley a zzp 1.0pcm fulle equalizer exhaust system with the power logs and a 4inch fenderwell intake system.
I didn't get pictures of everything but I did get the exhaust before install. The car really woke up but I could tell something was off a bit, now for clarity here I've never owned anything boosted so this is a learning process also for me but it still didn't feel right. More power but sort of "delayed and off". I ended up resending the pcm in for a refined tune and it helped but they also stated my factory catback could be a issue or engine issues in general such as vacuum or gaskets. So I did a more in depth look and I ended up replacing my tb gasket intake gaskets the o rings to the tb on the intake and the valve cover gaskets. This definatey helped along with finally messing with my vacuum lines and redoing them mostly they looked fine but they were oem originals they were due to replace. The car did great now. Definately fun and a good tone.
A fellow on here and on Facebook gave me the best sounding exhaust I've heard on these and I went that route next. Basically installing a borla muffler were the factory resonator was and nothing else back all 3 inch and it sounds so much better!
I wanted a bit more of course and decided the gen 5 was next. I dont plan to go into details on this. Alot of great info is out there if i need to make a write up i can later.
The car ran great but I learned alot off the gen 5 swap and how it does alot different then a gen 3 including windowing the block that I originally had in the car.
A tune goes a long way lol.
Especially if correct and the car doesn't spin a bearing getting on the freeway.
1 new motor later and a fresh retune from zzp and I'm back on the road. I ended up grabbing a intercooler 2.5inch supercore and a northstar swap and that's where I sit now.
Looking to go bigger and cam later and see where she goes from there we will see. I'm hoping to get a s4 blower cam from intense but as of today he no longer sells them and does not plan to, that being said I have a old cam and a company who regrinds camshafts so I can get one regroup to the specs. I have a extra set of heads I'm looking to open up and #150 springs and see how far we can go on the car for sure!
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