The only thing that I really came to despise about my G was the insane amount of money I had to drop on her just to gain 50 HP/TQ. When I look back at what I did, knowing what I know now, I wouldn't have wasted my money and gone straight to FI. I know the G isn't racecar but it became even more apparent after I bought my GTO what a motor built to mod can do on relatively little money. On it a tune, exhaust, headers and an intake can yield 100 HP or more and it'll run around $2000 for that.

Here's what I spent on the G to get 50:

Motordyne 5/16" spacer--$225
Motordyne VQ Exhaust/resonated XYZ pipe--$600
Motordyne ART pipes--$500
R2C Intake--$260
Osiris dynotuned w/Cypher cable--$800
Re-tune after mods added-$250

That's almost $2600 and except for a full tear down/rebuild or FI the VQ35DE is pretty much maxed out at this point. The LS2 in the Goat? It's just getting started and asking for more.............

 

i feel you on this. I have a NA and a FI car already this G was supposed to be my DD. I have a Stingray that's stock and a 5th gen Camaro Twin turbo LLT. I'm at this point just building a fun DD (that wasn't supposed to be) to make my hour drive to work and back more interesting

 

The way I look at it is I only paid $5000 for my car, so if I put another $2500 into it, I now have a sedan hopefully putting down over 250 hp (in a 3350 lb car) and I've only got $7500 into it...that's what stock coupes with similar mileage and condition are going for. I spent about $750 on my Accord between the intake and J-pipe and the improvements were very noticeable and make the car more fun to drive. Hell, I spent $2400 on a carbon MTB to replace a perfectly good aluminum MTB! It does ride better but not the amount I paid worth.

Still, it was nice when something simple like switching from a Carter AFB to a Holley double pumper got me 4 mph bump in trap speed when I had my Chevelle.

 

Beautiful stable Black_Out and heard Scott........................

It's super hard for me at this point to keep the GTO stock, but it's getting easier. There are way more modded Goats on the streets today than stock so I feel special.

 

For me I have found that the bolt ons are so plentiful in the used market you never have to pay full price if you're patient. There are SO MANY VQs out there, and nearly as many donor cars.

I was lucky to find a good coupe wreck a couple of years ago and selling off the headers, StopTechBBK, seats, headlights, trunk lid, and coilovers bankrolled the following mods on my 04 sedan MT:

19" Rays wheels
new front tires for same
Akebono/Z1 BBK I rebuilt myself
5/16th Skunk spacer
Injen/hodge-podge CAI
Metra double-din
high-flow cats
Coupe mid
HR Y pipe
Magnaflow muffler (probably going back to stock)
G/Z spring combo

What I've paid for outright:
Vortech V2 (yet to be installed)
New headlights (yet to be installed)
replacement valve covers (yet to be installed)
Stage 2 clutch (saving for when the OEM one fails)

Considering that sedans are cheaper than coupes to begin with and I got a wicked deal on mine I'm very happy with what it has cost to mod it.

 

Not only are the sedans cheaper but they weigh a bit less than the coupes and have better weight distribution.

 

Added this today...Swapping out the K&N filter as the oil on the MAF is becoming a pain. And I haven't even cleaned it yet to say I over oiled it. These AEM Dry reusable have been shown to perform better on my Camaro than the K&N and around the internet. This is temp till I get my Admin 3.5” intake.

 

Hey question for you guys. I've been searching and haven't found a definitive answer. I'm looking to get new wheels soon and was wondering could I pull off a 10.5 wheel in the rear? Without major modification? Not looking for camber and things like that. I mean if it's necessary I'll just have to do lol. I think the specs are 19x10.5 et 22. Thanks

 

You'll get more responses in the Wheels/Tires sub-forum, but a 10.5 +22 isn't going to fit a sedan w/o a drop and some serious negative camber/fender rolling.

 

Thanks! That's what I figured. I'll just go with the 19x9.5 et 35 lol seems safer

 

So since installing my new valve cover gaskets I have been getting the infamous P0011 & P021 codes. Seen that it could be the VTC solenoids. So dumped half a can of Seafoam into the engine drove 50 miles changed the oil and cleaned the solenoids with Carb cleaner. So far so good no codes, engine feels even smoother than when I got my tune. Before
After

 

How about a tutorial.

 

I'll definitely do that since I didn't find one for the VQ.

 

Thanks

 

That would be convenient .

http://my.prostreetonline.com/2014/0...olenoid-valve/