Greetings!

[Gomig]

Hey everyone,

glad to have found this very cool forum and am happy to become a member of this family. I'm 48 years old and I live just a little north of Boston and have been in love with Trans Am's ever since I was 15 or so.

My first ride was a used 1988 Firebird Formula I bought in 1993 and once I saw the Ram Air TA's come out in 1998 with those crazy looking nostrils on the hood, it seemed the design had gone to a completely other level and I decided to buy one straight out of the dealer's lot, and I'm glad I did.

I've babied it and taken care of it (much to my wife's chagrin lol) and now that it's got 32K miles on it, I'm thinking of really modifying it, soup to nuts and that's a huge reason why I have decided to join this cool place.

Looking forward to learning and getting a lot of great tips from all of you!
Cheers.
HG

[2002ssslp]

Welcome to the site Hatem. Glad you found us. As a TA owner you will find yourself using this site for just about everything and we have members who can answer any question you may have. GO SOX !

[KahanaReef]

Welcome aboard!

[theorangeguy]

lots of knowledge floating around in this forum to help with your build if you need it. welcome aboard.

[pajeff02]

Welcome to the site! We will gladly help you spend your hard earned cash on upgrades.

[Gomig]

Thanks very much, gents! Yes, definitely go SOX and Pats and Bruins and.....well, Celtics are gonna take a while lol! But I appreciate the warm welcome, for sure. Nothing like a bunch of brothas from different F-bodies!

My WS6 is a red 2001 and the only two things I've done to it was put a Hotchkiss strut tower brace and a K&N filter. I certainly want to beef up its ponies, throw in a louder exhaust, maybe a Sorona ground effects kit (the lower front end on those is very cool looking) and a few other upgrades.

I'll comb around the forums to see if the answers to some or even all my questions are already answered so I don't waste bandwith or bore all you pros to death! But definitely good to be here.

[Ed Blown Vert]

Welcome! How did you find us?

[Gomig]

Welcome! How did you find us?

Well, I actually bought some stuff off the WS6Store online (mostly decals) and needed information on a bunch of upgrades I'm looking to do and asked some of the guys there. They told me to call their help/info line and talk to their specialist, so then I thought - wait a minute, I'm a little green with this stuff and how do I know these guys are telling me exactly what's best for me, not that they'd do it intentionally, just that they don't really know me and I don't have enough of the "know-how" to say "yes, that's what I want!" So I figured I need to get into an F-body, online community and work my way through there and since I'm involved on several military forums (my other interests), I figured an "Trans Am" forum would be the best thing so I simply Googled "WS6 Forums" and this awesome place popped up. Perfect!

[Gomig]

Welcome to the site! We will gladly help you spend your hard earned cash on upgrades.

Thanx, man. Excellent! And I have saved up nicely for this. Just got the house painted, the landscape done and so my better half has no excuse to stop me know! Yeah baby.

So if I may, what's the best section to go to for basic stock engine upgrades to give it more horsepower? I was told a supercharge is the best way to go especially with low miles like that (but have no idea which one). I had it on a lift the other day and the guys were looking underneath it and they were blown away at how clean it was. So that made me feel good all those years babying it have paid off. I, on the other hand was looking at that undercarriage and picturing a sweet, straight dual Flomaster rumbler (but unfortunately straight duals are illegal in MA I'm guessing it's the same around the whole country?) Either way, whatever I get I just wanna get a decent rumbling sound and nothing that's gonna blow the neighborhood off the earth! lol Just something that has a nice roooaammm!

Other simple upgrades I wanted to do since I'd like to get the LS1 pushing 400, maybe even 500hp, (BTW, us old guys don't really need that much power to tell you the truth, it's just for fun of drive so at 325 now, maybe 500 is too much? Do I even need that much if I just want a bit more fun power and nothing for racing?) I'll need to upgrade the clutch I guess, and brakes but don't even know what the best option for a clutch would be depending on what motor mod I do. And if I'm upgrading the brakes, I'd like to get the calipers in yellow to go with the red body but can't find those and everyone's telling me to get them painted? Is that the only way to go? So those are the basics of what I'm looking for performance-wise, then there's the aesthetic side but that's probably just a ground effects kit, maybe.

I like the stock wheels but the black plastic lug-nut covers gotta go. Can't put chrome ones because the wheels are polished aluminum. Quandary!

That's about it until I see something else someone has done on here and it grabs me, which I'm sure it's going to happen. That 'post a pic of your ride' thread is NUTS! So many beauties in there.

[pajeff02]

All sorts of ways you can go. These engines respond well to a head and cam package. Combine that with exhaust and a tune and 450 h.p. plus is easily within reach. Hood clearance and the tight engine bay make for some challenging power adder installations. Probably your simplest is a Procharger kit.

[Gomig]

All sorts of ways you can go. These engines respond well to a head and cam package. Combine that with exhaust and a tune and 450 h.p. plus is easily within reach. Hood clearance and the tight engine bay make for some challenging power adder installations. Probably your simplest is a Procharger kit.

Yeah, that's pretty much the same thing I'm told by almost everyone I ask - some kind of super charger.

Is there a particular thread you think would have this topic discussion you could direct me to by any chance? Any help is appreciated! Thx.

[pajeff02]

One of our members installed one not too long ago on his 35th -- let me see if I can find that thread...

[Ed Blown Vert]

Yeah, that's pretty much the same thing I'm told by almost everyone I ask - some kind of super charger.

Is there a particular thread you think would have this topic discussion you could direct me to by any chance? Any help is appreciated! Thx.

If you can afford it, a Procharger is the only way to go. Power when you need it. And drives like stock when you don't.

[pajeff02]

Here it is: http://www.ls1.com/forums/f11/my-pro...-kinda-153052/

[35th-ANV-SS]

Welcome. That is me

[Gomig]

If you can afford it, a Procharger is the only way to go. Power when you need it. And drives like stock when you don't.

Thanks, Ed. Sorry I'm absolutely green about this but is it between the $5K - $8K range, installed? Or much more?

Here it is: http://www.ls1.com/forums/f11/my-pro...-kinda-153052/

Thanks very much, Jeff! I just zipped through the first few pages and I like what I see, for sure.

Once I understand more of the concept of a pro-charger, then it'll be about finding the best place to order the stuff from and the best person in my area to do the install! That's the toughest part IMO. Cheers.

[Gomig]

Welcome. That is me

Awesome! Thanks. I was just checking it out and I love how you can feel the excitement in you just by reading your first few posts and you were all anxious to get the parts, checking the tracking and all that good stuff! Love it!

I'm ready! I just need to know where to order, who to do the install and how much! The 2nd one is the most difficult one! I have no idea who to trust with my honey?!?!?! I have a few gear-head buddies and they've recommended some fellow but I don't feel good about him. I know, it's a disease! Luckily I'm amongst family who can relate LOL!

[pajeff02]

Finding someone you can trust for a job like this can be tough. Make sure you meet them in person, check out their shop and take a look at some of their customer's cars. If you don't feel right about them then walk away. It is a big investment in more ways than just the $$.

[Gomig]

Finding someone you can trust for a job like this can be tough. Make sure you meet them in person, check out their shop and take a look at some of their customer's cars. If you don't feel right about them then walk away. It is a big investment in more ways than just the $$.

Indeed, good advice and that's pretty much exactly what my worries are, to hand it to some guy who'll ruin it. Honestly, more so than the money. I've taken financial hits before and as much as they hurt, it would be 10 times the disaster if the car was ruined.

You're also right about this entire process being wicked difficult. I noticed even with guys who seem to live, eat and breathe this stuff day in and day out and are familiar with all the ins and outs, it can be a challenge! Yikes. This is one of the reasons why I haven't done it till now, dreading the ordeal of the unknown.

[pajeff02]

I would seriously enjoy a Procharger installation. Maybe someday...