Help guys! Just bought a 1996 and need some info on bolt ons

[shockwave67]

The car is a beautiful purple GT 96 5-speed with chrome Steedas and mods are: BBk cold air kit and with X-pipe and flowmaster mufflers with no cats. It also has 3:73 gears. He(the owner before me) also says he ported the upper intake plenum. It sounds awesome but seems to be missing something. It doesnt want to turn after 4500 rpm,It quits pulling. My wifes 02 Altima with the 245 hp v6 outruns it top end by a car length from a roll! The Altima runs 9:40's in the eigth mile(not too shabby) What am I missing? Do I need to get more fuel and how with fuel injection? I want to do all the bolt ons I can and keep driveablity.
Its my sons car. For X-mas I was thinking the Steeda shifter and Under drive pulleys and Diablo chip. Will the chip help with the fuel situation?
Its got a opened up intake and exhaust so I am thinking its missing fuel. He says in the cold air it performs much better. I want to go with the right bolt ons and the best for the money. Any help MUCH appreciated.
Who makes the best chip? Will it really give 10-15hp? How about the pulleys? thanks for any help people.
Shock

 

[2000GTnoExtras]

About the altima, it's rated 245 and is front wheel drive. Your 96 GT is rated at 225 and is rear wheel drive. More drivetrain loss, it's not surprising it's a close race.

I would give it a good tune up, check plugs, wires, air and fuel filters, then worry about mods. Pulleys may be a good start. I wouldn't get a chip.
I'd start getting a headswap together, that's the biggest bang for the buck mod on the 96-98. You could also benefit from the search function on this board.

Welcome to the board!

Also, it's kind a peave of mine, but your gears are 3.73:1 ratio. 3.73 rotations of the driveshaft to one rotation of the rear axle.

 

[z28killer]

I have a Paxton Novi 2000 that came off a 98 Mustang. I think it should bolt right up. I will sell it to you for $1500. The 96-98 4.6 was pretty weak. The biggest problem they have is air. The heads are very restrictive. This supercharger will force plenty of air in. LOL. E-mail me if you are interested [email protected]

 

[theguyfromfaust]

The reason the car quits pulling after 4500 RPM's is because of the cylinder heads. The 96-98 GT's have extremely restrictive heads, especially on the exhaust side. A swap to the newer 1999 and up PI heads and cams will really wake the car up. You will also have to switch to the newer PI intake, which is dirt cheap. You can find a complete swap kit for a little over $1000 if you look hard enough. Most guys see over a 35 RWHP increase. Do a search on this site for "headswap" you should find all the information you need.

 

[COramprat]

The reason the car quits pulling after 4500 RPM's is because of the cylinder heads. The 96-98 GT's have extremely restrictive heads, especially on the exhaust side. A swap to the newer 1999 and up PI heads and cams will really wake the car up. You will also have to switch to the newer PI intake, which is dirt cheap. You can find a complete swap kit for a little over $1000 if you look hard enough. Most guys see over a 35 RWHP increase. Do a search on this site for "headswap" you should find all the information you need.

That's it in a nutshell. I've almost gone to the limit of useful bolt-ons on mine. I have 4.10:1 gears so I'm a little quicker out of the hole than yours but the heads are by far the biggest restriction. Short of nitrous or supercharger/turbo the headswap is then next best bet. I heard a few people porting and polishing the stock heads but I don't know the results. Most tend to say you would get nothing from it.

 

[shockwave67]

Thanks for the replies and no the car doesnt need a tune up. Already has new wires,plugs. (It already has the mods I listed) Ive been told that on the 96-98 a chip was one of the best hop ups. Im well aware of supercharging and the gains but really just want the car to run some high eights in the eigth with slicks and see that every day around here. Just looking for ideas and opinions of the best BOLT ons that make the difference. Im not going into the motor until I have to. I will use NOS or a supercharger before I take the heads off for 35hp. Thanks for all the replies and help though guys. Like I said, Its my sons daily driver car
and we already have some toys we drag race. I use to street race and I have a bad habit of making everything I own run high nines to low tens and then cant drive it anymore,lol. In the future the supercharger will probably be the easiest(not cheapest) to install for some quick friendly HP
SHock

 

[onlyme]

pics

Do you have any pics of your cars I have always liked the purple and triple black gt's from 96-98.

 

[slvrbullIT]

you should gain more than 35hp with the headswap because the compression goes up also. i dont have a before dyno but from what ive seen on here i would of dynoed around 200hp to the wheels before the headswap. after the headswap i dynoed at 250 to the wheels and it pulls all the way till 6000 rpms now.

 

[COramprat]

Thanks for the reply. Im aware of gear ratios and counting revolutions of the tire vs the drive shaft for a quick reference Ive always done that but thanks for those who didnt know. Ive installed several gears on my cars. I assumed and am pretty sure everyone knew what I meant by 3:73 instead of 3:73 to 1,lol. Im also aware of search functions on the board (thanks anyway for mentioning though) and no the car doesnt need a tune up. Already has new wires,plugs. (It already has the mods I listed) Ive been told that on the 96-98 a chip was one of the best hop ups. Im well aware of supercharging and the gains but really just want the car to run some high eights in the eigth with slicks and see that every day around here. Just looking for ideas and opinions of the best BOLT ons that make the difference. Im not going into the motor until I have to. I will use NOS or a supercharger before I take the heads off for 35hp. Thanks for all the replies and help though guys.
SHock

That said get the Steeda or ASP underdrives although if the previous owner did mods to the car you may want to check to see if this has already been done. He may have failed to mention it because it is usually one of the first bolt-ons.
I have a Steeda Tri-ax shifter on mine. It is an excellent shifter but takes a little while to break-in. The Pro 5.0 gets alot of good reviews too. A custom tune sometimes helps too and a good mechanic can find some HP with minor tweeks to the ECU. I know your son will have fun with it. I'm 38 and have a great time with mine.

 

[shockwave67]

That said get the Steeda or ASP underdrives although if the previous owner did mods to the car you may want to check to see if this has already been done. He may have failed to mention it because it is usually one of the first bolt-ons.
I have a Steeda Tri-ax shifter on mine. It is an excellent shifter but takes a little while to break-in. The Pro 5.0 gets alot of good reviews too. A custom tune sometimes helps too and a good mechanic can find some HP with minor tweeks to the ECU. I know your son will have fun with it. I'm 38 and have a great time with mine.

Im 36 and considering a lightning for myself
Yeah the heads will probably be done down the road or a supercharger. Now I just think there is something missing. We went to the track yesterday to watch a buddy of mine and he has a bone stock 86 with flowmasters and 3:73 gears and slicks he went a 8:70 at 79mph leaving at 2000rpm witha 1.90 60' (pretty darn good for no mods but exhaust
and a gear). We drove his and ours doesnt feel quite as strong in 3rd and fourth gear but the 5.0 and the 4.6 arent going to feel the same Im sure. The stock hp 96vs the 86 is close to the same. slicks will make a huge difference too when we do run ours. For Xmas Im getting him the Steeda pulleys and shifter and a Diablo chip. Maybe then we can outrun this dang Altima,lol.
later
Shock

 

[stngmn96]

I have a red 96 GT and have done pulleys, timming adjuster, intake, throttlebody, chip, plugs, wires, fuel regulator,exhaust, xpipe (w cats) and soon a venom control module, fuel pump, and accufab plenum. I think although the 96's were a bit weaker than the newer models that with some help and tuning they still scare the hell out of wanna be fast and furious crowd. The pulleys and adjuster are a good complement that isn't super expensive. Try those.

 

['96&'01Stang]

Headswap is really the best bang for buck option on the 96-98. Although there are some people porting the stock non-pi heads and making some good numbers

 

[2FST_4_GM]

" Your 96 GT is rated at 225 and is rear wheel drive. More drivetrain loss, it's not surprising it's a close race. "

Correction, the 96' & 97' were 215 HP. 98' is when they bumped it to 225 HP. Just wanted to give the new owner the right HP number.