My replacement for the Alero...

Punisher Bass said:
One of you two needs to show me how to do that.
Click to expand...

Getting the box and internals out is straight forward, start pulling screws and stuff until it comes out. And in my case I went for just a lazy warm air intake (party because I will drive it during the winter and it will be a cold air intake then, and during the summer when it's the vacation car the warm air gives a nice boost in mpg).

Anyway, I bought the little adapter piece from a website and I can't find the link right now, then went to an auto parts place and got a drop on 9" cone filter. You'd probably be fine with a 7 or 8", but don't go any bigger, it is a bit of a squeeze for the 9" like you see in the picture.
 
Nice engine bay :). I like it. Nice and clean. I took off my cover which helped cool the supercharger a bit :p.

Mine is a 7" cone filter since a 9" wouldn't fit.

Amsoil.jpg


PCM is underneath the cone filter and the whole assembly sits behind the headlight.

AmsoilCone.jpg
 
Might tricky or impossible since my computer sits on top of the air box. :|

You can kind of make it out in this picture.

Rebuild2.jpg
 
It would still be possible to jerry-rig something to hold the PCM in place. Some of the guys that removed the PCM just zip tied it to the chassis right below the filter if they went for something like Nabster did.

You need to make that supercharger whine :p.
 
Yeah, my PCM is bungee-corded down to the little frame section that was under the airbox, but really it doesn't need it. Though, if your wiring harness is anything like mine you'll be limited on moving it because that bundle of wiring is stiff.

Also, thanks about the engine bay being clean. I generally don't like those plastic covers on engines, but under mine everything is really dull and old looking, so it really does look better with it on, and I think the white paint I did helps a lot. The black on the lettering is the same metallic black on the new Challenger SRT8's, and the red stripes are torch red from the Corvettes - gotta love OEM touch-up paint bottles.
 
That's awesome Nabster. That's amazing that it is done with touch up paint. Everything under the hood still looks mostly pristine but then again mine is 3 years younger than yours :).

Some more pictures. I love my GM STBs.

GTPRear2.jpg


GTPFront.jpg


FrontStrutBar.jpg


RearStrutBar.jpg
 
The white on the engine cover is actually two primer coats of VHT primer and 3 coats of Krylon Fusion, then on top of that I hand painted on the letters and stripes using the touchup paint and a good 4 or 5 coats of clear on top of everything to protect and keep it shiny. After curing for a couple weeks (rather than 60-90 days for normal paint because of the higher engine bay temps) I waxed it and it holds up very well.

Involved and took a good 3 days in the garage to do all the paint, but it should hold up well.
 
Seems like you can't have nice things around in this town. My passenger side muffler was pushed down all the way to the ground. I have no pictures because my dad started pushing it back up. I will have to check tomorrow if there is any damage to the piping. Stupid little fucking cunts...
 
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Modified my rear taillights so instead of only the bottom half lighting up during braking and signaling, now the top and bottom parts of the taillight light up. Take a look at some Grand Prixs and you will see what I mean. I have this feeling that so far I am the only one with this mod:

GTPRear2-1.jpg


Tinted tail lights, reverse light, 3rd brake light, and Magnaflow mufflers. What a combo!!

GTPRearTailsTint3.jpg


Replacing the spark plugs. Pulled the engine forward by strapping it to the truck...lol:

DSC00653Large.jpg


Latest mod is flipped upper motor mounts to get the car to put the power down. Free mod compared to buying poly bushings instead:

Normal upper motor mount:
DSCF3918.jpg


Flipped upper motor mount:
DSCF3924.jpg


Can you tell the difference?

Modifications so far:
- Strut tower braces
- SPO grill
- Gutted stock airbox
- 180 degree T-stat (cooler thermostat - stock is 195)
- Autolite 605 Spark plugs (close to stock replacement but a little cooler)
- Magnaflow mufflers
- Flipped upper motor mounts

Also painted my mufflers flat black. Can't see them when driving behind me. Only the

tips are visible:

DSCF3948.jpg


DSCF3950.jpg


And yes the bottom trim piece is missing right now. It is a grey piece that covers the

mufflers and has cutouts for the mufflers.

I will update the topic once I get it back.
 
Just a thought, not sure if it will look good or not...how about removing the Grand Prix badge, and just leaving the GTP one?
 
It would be a clean look and I've seen it. Doesn't look bad but I'm just afraid that I'll take some paint off too...:lol:.
 
New part picked up and painted Sport Red Metallic:
DSCF3954.jpg


Before:
GTPRearTailsTint3.jpg


After. Looks like it should have come like that from the factory:
DSCF3959.jpg


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Broke a screw through the bumper and then took 2 hours to install everything back together. 6 year old car and bolts rusted and broken.
 
After a wash, changing the wheels back to summer wheels, and doing some brake maintenance:

DSCF3966.jpg
 
Nice touch!
 
Since the last update, I got a retuned off the shelf PCM. Went to the track and all the torque management and abuse mode is gone. Spun the tires through the first 2 gears :lol:. Once I figured out how to launch, I kept running a consistent 14.7 all night. Hot, humid, and the track wasn't very sticky.

3 days ago though my car decided to piss some coolant while driving. I love these engines so far. They sure can take a beating. Got all the way to the red line by the time I pulled into my parent's place and shut the car down. Opened the hood and everything was soaked in coolant, including the undercarriage. We thought it was the water pump and started pouring coolant into the rad. It was coming out of the block. %^#%$. My dad and I looked closer and it was the block heater plug that let go. Of all things to leak, that is the worst. Right at the bottom of the block and I lost all coolant in the block and rad.

Took me 2 days to find a part since no one really carries block heaters (I hate JIT delivery). Installed it last night, had problems filling and pressurizing the cooling system but after all was said and done, it took 1.5 gallons of coolant (free** coolant flush), and the car cools beautifully again. Exciting last 2 days.

On Monday I pick up my painted front lip extension.
 




 
That does look good. I need to paint the little piece on mine down there, it's speckled something fierce now from all the little paint chips. I'll probably go black with mine though instead of the dark grey it should be, I think it would match a bit better. Of course then I'd need to paint the back piece black as well and it doesn't need painted. Bleh.
 
Thanks guys :).

A lot of people had to use spacers on the wheel wells and double sided tape. Mine is so tight, it won't come off...:lol:. Perfect fit.
 
Demodding my car. Taking the strut bars off, PCM is getting yanked, thermostat is going higher, stock plugs are getting put in, and stock airbox is going back in.

Going to look at another vehicle tomorrow :D.
 
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