I continue to get lots of personal emails asking me the easiest and cheapest ways to make someone’s SSR faster. Of course, what the owner generally really wants is to go not so much FASTER (higher top speed), as to go QUICKER (better acceleration and throttle response)!
I figure a posting will be more efficient than individual email responses. I know I have posted some of the following in earlier posts, some going back 2 ˝ years, but some of the “newbies” don’t even know that those earlier postings exist, or if they do, don’t know the correct “key words” to find them using search.
So, I am posting some of this info again, along with some new info, and I’m trying to use the same “key words” as before for the “section” titles, so that people can find the older, much more detailed articles. Also, some of this material is covered in far more detail in my e-book, “The SSR Experience”.
I am listing the mods in APPROXIMATE order of increasing cost. If you don’t want to spend the money on a microtuner, don’t bother to look at the mods further down the list, as they get progressively more costly.I am stopping at about $1000, to keep this posting from becoming another book.
Also remember my warning from another post about “lowball prices”. Some of these mods involve non-obvious but critical parts secondary to the primary part, and some involve a LOT of skilled professional costly labor. Get a FULL estimate or quote from someone you TRUST before proceeding!
So, here we go:
The rip-offs
First, let’s list off all the questionable devices being hawked out there that promise lots of bang for very little buck:
- Intake vortex creators
- Intake spacers
- Intake temperature resistors (that falsify the temperature signal to the computer)
- Electric superchargers (don’t even ASK)
- Removing the MAFs creen on SSRs that have one (some do, and some do not)
NONE of these add true meaningful power. Some redistribute power up and down the rpm range, or make a tiny theoretical difference somewhere in a narrow set of conditions, by screwing up the factory design, but basically none will do anything MEANINGFUL, and all offer the opportunity for creating damage or screwing up future electronic diagnostics when you need them. Do these only if you are reckless or desperate or both.
Air cleaner element
There ARE better air filter elements than the factory one. However, their impact on power is still not large, because the factory one is pretty good. You MIGHT pick up maybe 2 to 6 horsepower on a stock engine, if you happen to get the right one (they change with alarming frequency and with no advertising warning
). If you see claims of “20 to 30 more hp” it’s where the maker deliberately created a “corked”engine and then uncorked it via the miracle filter. Don’t believe it for a second. 2 to 6 hp is real. I would recommend staying away from the ones that require oiling, as even a bit too much oil (how much is too much? Who knows!) will cause oil to leave the filter and flow right onto the mass air flow sensor, where it screws up the engine control system in a big way. If that causes a failure anywhere, GM will disallow the warranty claim if an oiled filter has been used. Cost for a good filter, like maybe a “Rush” brand one, runs under $50.
Microtuner
I have posted on these extensively in the past, so do a search. Basically, these are handheld computer devices that are preprogrammed with electronic “tunes” that alter the tune of your SSR. Some (not all!) can produce modest power gains of maybe 10 to 15 rear wheel horsepower, but they also make other changes (like shifting parameters on automatics) that make the vehicle seem livelier than the modest power increase would suggest. Think in terms of $250 to $400 for one of these. They are easy to use, IF you follow the safeguards that come in the instructions. If you do not, you get create damage or a dead SSR computer, so don’t mess around.
There is one major limitation: virtually all of these (some exceptions by now maybe) “read” the existing tune in your SSR computer FIRST, and if it is non-stock, they will not load their own tune. This is to protect the more aggressive drivers who might foolishly load two different tunes simultaneosuly, thinking if one change is good, doubling it must be better (it’s not). So, if you go this route, it’s a “dead-end” in that you cannot make other stacked changes on it. It’s good though for someone who just wants a bit of extra kick at low cost, and realizes he/she can then do no more in terms of tuning.
Aftermarket air intake system
This one is controversial. On MANY vehicles other than the SSR, you can usually buy an aftermarket intake system (air cleaner and ducting that leads to the mass air flow meter) that provides a cleaner path for air flow, and often sources the air from a cooler source than the factory intake does. Some of these on OTHER vehicles can add anywhere from 10 to 40 horsepower, depending no how bad the factory system was. However, on the SSR we have a couple of issues. One is that the path is pretty ideal to begin with (VERY straight) EXCEPT for that corrugated bellows in the intake. That corrugated bellows is REQUIRED though, in order to provide flexibility instead of breakage when your engine torques over sideways under hard acceleration. So, you really need it. Secondly, there IS no prac tical source of cooler air for the SSR than the source that the factory is using. Read my e-book or prior postings on the “thermodynamic” problem on the SSR. About the best you can do here is to buy the K&N intake kit (NOT just the K&N filter kit!) for about $350 or $400 as I recall. It DOES give you a few extra horsepower, maybe 5 to 8 depending on model of SSR, BUT it only does so under cool ambient air conditions. This is because K&N gets that extra small air flow by eliminating the corrugated bellows, and substituting an OVERSIZE hole in the heat shield that separates the hot air filter intake from the even hotter engine compartment. That oversize hole leaks like a major dam bust when your engine is sucking lots of air, so you suck in HOTTER air, and that reduces power. Under cool conditions, this rig works. Not when hot.
Tuning via dyno, remote tuner, tuning software, or microtuner-installed custom tune
This is too lengthy to cover here – it needs multiple long postings of its own, which I have posted in the past, or you can get my e-book. In summary though, what happens here is that a skilled tuner does one of several things:
1. uses a dynamometer personally (you drive to his dyno), or
2. sends you a remote tuning file that you get installed locally via a shop’s or your own tuning software (search using “tuning software”), or
3. sends you a custom tune that uses a microtuner merely to CARRY and LOAD his tune (it is NOT merely a microtuner tune)
This approach can be applied to a stock SSR or to one that has been modified – provided the tuner is fully and accurately aware of what has already been changed on the engine and drivetrain. This can have a lot of impact, but costs more than a microtuner tune of course. Maybe $400 to $600 depending on the skill, market reputation, and pricing philosophy of the individual tuner. The ebst guy I know of who does this is Lyndon Wester. Look him up on the Web. He is FABULOUS. He did my own supercharged SSR.
This mod is also much more efefctive when coupled with actual PHYSICAL changes in the drivetrain that the tuner is fully aware of.
4.56 or 4.10 gearing
The absolute number one best bang for the buck, AND low overall cost bargain, is regearing from the factory 3.73 axle to a 4.10 or 4.56. As explained in earlier postings, the 4.10 or 4.56 sounds radical only to folks who have not yet measured the tire diameter on SSRs. Those tires are huge, and so a 4.56 axle is something like a 3.3 to 3.7 in a car with “normal” size traditional tires. This mod works on both manual and automatic transmission SSRs. Because regearing is more effective as vehicle weight to power ratio increases, this mod is particularly superb on 03/04 SSRs, where it reduces the 0 to 60 mph time by something approaching a full second (no kidding). But, it works wonders on ALL SSRs. I have never heard of anyone who did it being dissatisfied. Think $250 to $400 for the parts, and $300 to $450 for the professional shop labor. Do NOT try to do this yourself unless you have been doing these several times per month for years (again, no kidding). LOTS of skill required to get QUIET and DURABLE outcomes. I had mine done by Reese Cox at MTI Racing in Atlanta. Reese is good. He did maybe one per DAY for a long time when on the Mobil 1 Racing Team.
Hi-stall torque converter
This mod is obviously only for automatic transmission SSRs, but it is second in impact per dollar only to regearing. What this mod does is allows the engine to rev higher from a standing start, or from low road speed starts, than it otherwise could before the converter output speed matches the engine speed.
If you contact our site’s resident tranny genius, Greg Ducato, who owns Phoenix Transmission, he’ll set you up with a converter and the labor to install it PROPERLY. The converters run about $400 to $500 as I recall, and the labor, while it might normally run ,maybe same amount for a normal vehicle, might run a bit higher for an SSR due to the TIGHT working conditions that really slow the install crew down.
The impact is phenomenal - expect 0 to 60 times to plummet by at least ˝ second order of magnitude.
There are two downsides. If you live in a hot climate, you may need an auxiliary transmission cooler, which Greg and his team can also set you up with. And, forget about trailer towing, unless the trailer is VERY light.
This about gets us to the $1000 limit I’m afraid.
NOT ehxaust or higher ratio rockers
Yes, I know you could do an exhaust system for $1000 or less, or higher ratio rockers, but those mods will NOT get you BY THEMSELVES anywhere near the impact per dollar that those listed above DO. In particular, almost every commercial prepackaged exhaust system out there (rather than a custom engineered one for YOUR vehicle and its current or planned mods) is going to SOUND better than the extra POWER it makes.
If you doubt that, read the magazine “tests” VERY carefully, and look for “corked” specially configured engines that the miracle exhaust “rescues”.
Even my own custom “Dual Shotgun” system that Reese Cox built for me provided mostly MIDRANGE throttle response improvements ONLY, UNTIL we also changed the cam, at which point the now uncorked engine picked up about 80 rear wheel horsepower from the COMBINATION. I am speaking from earned and costly experience here . . .
Hopefulyl the above rushed overview (that's all it is)will help a few folks.
Jim G
or you could add Nitrous!
