3.5 vs. 3.9
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True. I have a a 3.9 and it is a little gas sucker but has plenty of punch!
Added a Tornado and seems to help a little (forcing more air into the throttle body)...K&N air filter is next.
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To DV06LTZ I personaly am NOT a fan of K&N Filters. I had one on my 77 Impala and after about 20,000 miles I took it out and found holes about the size of a ballpoint pen tip. Those holes let dirt through the filter and into the engine. I have personaly heard of 2 other people with the same filter problem. For now I went back to the paper filter. I am looking at a different type of filter that catches more dirt yet lets the engine breathe easier also. Amsoil has a new EA Airflter that is supposed to out perform the Fram (paper filters) and K&N (wet gaus) filters.
http://www.amsoil.com/
Check out the section titled: The Absolute Facts About Air Filtration.
http://www.amsoil.com/
Check out the section titled: The Absolute Facts About Air Filtration.
Thanks for the Heads up!
I will check out the site. Good info to know!!G
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·My car has the 3.5 and it is plenty good. It does not leave you wanting more at all. My gas mileage is always around 24-26mpg over the course of a tank; and extremely easy to average over 30mpg on the highway.
But I must be honest. I want more. I wasnt allowed options when I got my car, just color of interior and exterior. I want a stroker kit or something...
But I must be honest. I want more. I wasnt allowed options when I got my car, just color of interior and exterior. I want a stroker kit or something...
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184 Posts
Just so you know, that Tornado is probably costing you horsepower.
At the very least, it is NOT gaining you anything.
Tornado, Electric SuperCharger, Oil Additives, Hotchip/Jetchip/stupid ebay chips, etc....
They are all sham products with no actual benefits.
My thoughts exactly!
As for the chips, you're wrong there. The cheaper chips (ebay) do give you extra horsepower, however I wouldn't exactly trust them as you don't know how accurate the alterations are. Messing with the cars A/F ratio can cause serious damage (cough....detonation....cough) if not tuned properly.
This is why Jet performance chips are the best bet for our cars. It's no different than any other piggyback chips used on other performance cars. Sure I'd prefere a handheld tuner, so I can tune to my own parameters. But when there's nothing else on the market, beggars can't be choosers!
The Jet performance chips are probably more of a "SAFE" tune as they don't exactly tune your car to it's maximum potential. It's more of a canned tune, for widespread use. It will give you some power, but not as much as you could get if you could dyno tune it. Lack of aftermarket support for these cars will make that extremely hard though!
Edit: BTW, maybe oil additives don't do anything, but putting all Royal Purple oil/tranny/gear oil in your car had been dyno proven on video to gain up to 15hp. It was on Horsepower channel, and can be found all over the internet. I can vouch for it as I've definitely gained consistant gains on the track with my Stang after switching to all RP.
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3,391 Posts
just grab a PCM from one of the following
www.intense-racing.com
www.zzperformance.com
www.getoverkilled.ca
the "Ebay" chips are worthless IMO,
x2 on the tornado etc..
I run a K&N right now, (never had any issues w/ it ), but RActive & Amsoil are also good alternatives.
Dont pay $200+ for a K&N intake system, you can make one cheaper, and just as effective by hitting homedepot
www.intense-racing.com
www.zzperformance.com
www.getoverkilled.ca
the "Ebay" chips are worthless IMO,
x2 on the tornado etc..
I run a K&N right now, (never had any issues w/ it ), but RActive & Amsoil are also good alternatives.
Dont pay $200+ for a K&N intake system, you can make one cheaper, and just as effective by hitting homedepot
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22 Posts
Go with the 3.5, much more fuel efficient and quick enough. If cubic inches are a must, opt for the 5.3
Moving from the 3.5 to the 3.9, you get active displacement, which usually will run the car in 3cyl mode when cruising. So if you use cruise control on the 3.9, you can easily get over 30mpg on regular cruising highway driving (55-60mph) This makes the 3.5 and 3.9 very similar in mileage provided highway driving is in the mix. The 3.5 will win in city alone driving though.
The real question is if you're looking for more power, is the 22hp more from the 3.9 worth the added costs that come along with the LT's if youre just wanting it for the engine.
If power is any concern at all, opt for the 5.3, as its an LS engine and has plenty of mods out there!
The real question is if you're looking for more power, is the 22hp more from the 3.9 worth the added costs that come along with the LT's if youre just wanting it for the engine.
If power is any concern at all, opt for the 5.3, as its an LS engine and has plenty of mods out there!
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I have a 3.5, and it has good get up and go. i would not turn down a 3.9 or 5.3, i personaly dont care about mpgs.
last night though, i was on my way home at like 1am, and had this guy in a dadge stratus r/t that wanted to race the lights. my 08 just pulled away. if it wernt for the fact that he risked a ticket by buzzing past a cop spot at 90. he must have lost his balls around then, because i caught back up without hitting the 107 limiter.
last night though, i was on my way home at like 1am, and had this guy in a dadge stratus r/t that wanted to race the lights. my 08 just pulled away. if it wernt for the fact that he risked a ticket by buzzing past a cop spot at 90. he must have lost his balls around then, because i caught back up without hitting the 107 limiter.
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I feel the same. If this is going to be your only everyday driver get the 3.5L. If you just want to go big get the SS.. All of these displacements are too new to know what one is truly more reliable yet.
A few years ago Hot Rod dyno'ed all the chips for the Camaro, and dumped their programming to see what the tuners had done. One big surprise was that some of the chips were blank, forcing the computer to rely on hard-coded look-up tables. What this did was set the fuel injection rich for safety. In warm weather with the engine warm, this led to an increase in HP. But for all driving conditions (like cold weather) this wasn't the best choice.
Piggy-back systems won't benefit from this trick - they are generally designed to "fool" the stock computer into producing different A/F and timing curves than stock. However, it was an interesting article and shows that tuners are crafty, if not always ethical.
50th Anniversary Gas mileage = 19 city
I think the 18" wheels are costing me mpg. I can't get even get to 20 unless a good portion of diving is highway. Typical average on my HUD is 19.2 even after reset at fillup. I would have opted for a ss and 5.3 if I had known the 50th gas milege was the same.:icon_rolleyes:
I think the 18" wheels are costing me mpg. I can't get even get to 20 unless a good portion of diving is highway. Typical average on my HUD is 19.2 even after reset at fillup. I would have opted for a ss and 5.3 if I had known the 50th gas milege was the same.
:icon_rolleyes:Nice site here.
I have a 2008 with the LZG 3.9 (flex fuel LZ9). I must tell you, a good 93 octane/tranny tune and CAI really woke this car up!
My other car is a G8 GT with a cam & supcharger added, so this is my Daily Driver car. But I can never leave anything alone either.
Norm
I have a 2008 with the LZG 3.9 (flex fuel LZ9). I must tell you, a good 93 octane/tranny tune and CAI really woke this car up!
My other car is a G8 GT with a cam & supcharger added, so this is my Daily Driver car. But I can never leave anything alone either.
Norm
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