So Taylor arrived at my house at about 2:30pm eastern time today. As soon as he got there we started his pulley swap. A pulley swap normally takes me 20-30 minutes, since I have done around 10 pulley swaps already it is fairly easy to do, and I am pretty good at it. (or at least I think) Well I disconnected the fusebox and moved the washer fluid bottle and a few other random things so I could get the pulley tool in there. Well, after about 30 minutes of HELL getting the stock pulley off, it finally came off. I have only ever had a pulley come off harder than that one time and that was a thrasher modular pulley hub that bent the backing plate on the pulley tool. Since we were sending in the snout to ZZP to get it machined for pullies smaller than 2.75 we just had them pull it off with their press, so that wasn't a major problem. So anyways, once we got the stock pulley off, the tool was stuck in the blower. After another 30 minutes to an hour we finally got the tool out of the blower and got everything ready to install the new pulley. (a ZZP Modular Pulley system) So, I set the tool up for install, put the hub where it needs to go to start installing it, and I start installing it. Well, it started going on, very hard, but it was moving. It got about 2/3 of the way on and we heard a big popping noise (kinda like the one you get when you pull the original pulley off), and then it all of the sudden got really easy to turn and after about 2 turns of the wrench the tool fell off the blower and landed on the ground. We managed to find all of the pieces except for 1 washer that isn't absolutely necessary, it is helpful but not absolutely needed. Well, what had happened was the little bolt that goes inside the snout and inside the big bolt on the pulley broke off because it somehow came loose and was loosening as we were tightening the pulley tool, so it broke off inside the big bolt (the main part of the tool). Luckily it was designed to have an allen wrench hole on the inside of the bolt in case a situation like this occured, so I put an allen wrench in it and it came out. Unfortunately this stripped the first 1/4-1/2 inch of the big bolt so when we put the remaining part of the little bolt back inside of it it didn't have enough threads to grab, and the tool would just fall apart as soon as we put any torque on it. Well after trying to get it to work a few times, and trying to get ahold of others with pulley tools, we decided to wait until my father got home (he was at work). While we were waiting I decided to try to install the 180 t-stat, and because Taylor had just driven 5 hours and 30 minutes, the car, even though it had been sitting more than 2 hours, was still VERY VERY hot. As soon as I pulled the cover off for the t-stat, coolant started spitting and pooring everywhere. :( I didn't think this would be a problem as it would only take 30 seconds to swap them out, and I have done it before. Well, his stock t-stat would not come out. I tried grabbing it with vise-grips and it would not come out. We decided to put the cover back on it and skip the t-stat. When he got home (5:30pm) he tried to get the tool to work and it would just do the same thing. We decided to drive to my grandfathers shop and tap out the threads to try to get them to work. Well, his thread tapping kit didn't have the right size in it so we couldn't do that. So, we decided to grab some visegrips and turn the little bolt inside the big bolt as far as we could. We turned the little bolt around and used the larger end of it (it is tapered) to try to get the threads straigtened out. Well, it cleaned up the threads enough that we could turn it around and get the bolt in far enough that it would have enough threads to grab and wouldn't fall out. So we put the tool back on the car (after leaving my grandfathers shop and driving back to the house where Taylors car was) and tried it again. IT WORKED!!! We got the hub on all the way and put the cap back in the middle of the blower. (by now it is 6:30-7pm and raining outside, luckily the car was in the garage) So we put the pulley on the hub and get it tightened and then put the belt on the pulley (4060715, 1" shorter than stock), it fit with no problems. (I was not expecting it to with my previous luck today) So, I figured, hey, my luck is getting a little better, lets try the t-stat. The car had cooled down sitting another 2+ hours and coolant wasn't spitting everywhere. We pulled the cover off and dropped a bolt for the cover and couldn't find it. My dad proceded to change out the t-stat gaskets and swap them while I looked for the bolt. He had to get a fairly good sized screwdriver to pry the t-stat out, because it was stuck in very well, but did come out without too much hassle. I found the bolt fairly easily and retrieved it with my trusty magnet (I cannot work on a car without my magnet, and if you don't have one...GET ONE!). So we put in the 180 tstat, put the cover back on, and put in the 2 bolts. Yeah, an almost flawless t-stat change!!! So we then proceded to put the washer bottle back in, and connected the fuse box, and put together everything else we dismantled. So Taylor fired up the car to make sure everything was in propper working order and the belt jumped over 1 rib to the left on the pulley for some reason (the ZZP system is an 8 rib), Taylor shut the car off and we proceeded to put the belt back where it belonged (in the center 6 ribs). We had him fire up the car again and it moved 1 rib to the right, again the reason was unknown. (and why it moved different ways each time didn't make any sense) Taylor shut the car off again and we again moved the belt to the middle 6 ribs, and made sure it was completely straight on the tensioner pulley. We fired up the car again and it stayed where it beloned. Then, we tightened up the pulley one last final time with an allen wrench just to make sure it wouldn't come loose. (the pulley is attached to the hub with 5 allen screws) So, we were finally done! YAY! And it was only 7:30pm!!! It was raining when we got done (and I don't know how much time Taylor had anyways), so we couldn't do an autotap log, but that probably would've gone bad too. It was one hell of a day, but his car is up and running, and has a little more (little more means about 30hp, 50lb. ft.) power now. It could've been worse, but I really don't want to know how. (So please don't tell me, I REALLY don't want to know) Well, at least Taylor has his 3.4 pulley and 180 t-stat. I probably missed a few things that went wrong along the way, but that is basically what happened. So anyways it wasn't fun, and I don't want to do another pulley swap for a while...I am actually kinda scared of 'em now. Although for the right price, anything can be arranged.

Anyways, thought I would share this with you guys.

Shawn

Sounds like my last PMV swap!

The feeling of satisfaction of pumping up some more power should more than make up for the few hours of sweat.
At least you did it safely and still have all your fingers.

Well that sums up that day pretty good dbkt2. Was a very long day for me and my girl. A 3.5hr ride turned into almost 5hrs due to traffic, pulley swap went way long 4hrs, and than 2hr drive to girlfriends cabin after that. Lots of behind the wheel time. Loved every second of it by the way.

dbkt2 Thanks again for doing my pulley swap and 180. No hard feelings, stuff happens, tools break, threads get striped. I'm a printer have had my share of mishaps working on machines. Like I was using a 1in. torque wrench to jump the cyclinders on my press and one bolt snaped right off before the "click", took 2hrs to get that sucker out. Don't sweat it! Thanks again. It wasn't raining where I went afterward and got to use the "Pant-o-meter" and I am loving it. Well worth ever dollar and time invested. Now I need more! Digging the redline on the boost gauge, should redlined in stock form in my opinion.

So what'* my estmated HP and TQ #'* now?
Mods-- Thrasher CAI, 180, 3.4 pulley

Also I do plan on wraping my intake like your GTP, just won't do the top to leave the plexi window open. What'* that stuff called again? And If I warp it up nice, am I SOL when I get work done like rockers, ect? Do I need to re-wrap it ever time?

The added power his SSEi has now should definately be worth the PITA swap. And yes, luckily nobody got hurt and I do have all my fingers, although they do have a LOT of cuts in them that happened on Thursday, I don't know when and how, but I keep finding them all over my fingers and it is pissing me off, but yeah, anyways.

Your Welcome...I'm sure the wait was well worth the excitement you found the first time you got your foot in it and felt how much better the car pulls, and how much more the blower whines (thats the best part IMO), and how much higher the boost guage goes!!!

Well, thats nice to hear. I figured you were pretty pissed because of what happened, thanks for the reassurance that you don't completely hate me.

Well its nice to hear that you got to feel and see (on the boost guage) all the added power that the 5 hours and $150 in parts got you! You will never get enough power out of the car, there are some times when my dad or I will nail the gas in the GTP and go, "come on car, why are you so slow, dang you need to be faster." Your car will never be fast enough believe me...its a little thing that gets everyone eventually, called the mod bug, you put on a pulley and gain some performance, one week later you want more power and get rockers, a few weeks later it still isn't fast enough and you need headers, then an Intercooler, etc..... I do completely agree that the car should get around 10psi boost stock, but then it would put more stress on all the drivetrain components and cost GM more warranty $, so they don't...thats OK, thats what they make smaller pullies for.

270hp, 340tq. Stock torque is WAY underrated, it is more like 300-320lb. ft. instead of the 280 it is rated at, but it is rated at 280 because that is the maximum rating for the tranny. (And GM'* logic is evidently that if they just rate the power lower, then it isn't as hard on the tranny or something) Then if you add the 40-50lb. ft the pulley gives you that is 340-370lb. ft., but estimated I am going to say the low end which is 340tq. 270hp is simple, 25 from pulley, 2 from t-stat, 5 from CAI (when moving), round it down to the nearest 10 would be 270. So 270hp., 340tq. Not bad for a pushrod V6, huh?

I don't remember what the insulation is called off the top of my head, something like reflectix or something, I have a link to guys write-up on it, just click here, it will explain it really well. http://www.clubgm.com/wrappingmspcai How we wrapped the box on the GTP is the top piece was wrapped seperate from the box, so it comes off just like it wasn't wrapped, so it doesn't need to be re-wrapped when you need to open or move the airbox. It is probably a good idea, however, to re-wrap the box every 6-8 months because the box on the GTP has been wrapped for a little over 5 months and it is kind of getting in rough shape. (I don't know if you noticed that or not) Leaving the top open so you can still see in it is definately cool and a good idea. It is kinda stupid to cover it up so you can't see inside the box unless you really want to insulate the box really really well, and you don't need it insulated that well so it doesn't make sense to do it.

Thanks again dbkt2, like I said before no hard feelings, It was well worth the inconvience, the added power is great. Thanks for all the other tips too. I'll be wraping my CAI up soon. Good link.

So you figure 270HP 340 TQ almost up to my old aurora #'*, got more TQ But the highend needs more!!! Yah I already know I have the "MOD BUG" I'm just waiting for the checking account to catch up!

No more performance mods this year, other than the Intense shift kit I plan on installing with my old man THIS Saturday, next Sat. at the latest. After that gotta get some heated seats installed, only option my ssei didn't have. Missing that from the Aurora. Then I need remote start for Chciago land winters, going to get a Viper Alarm/remost start w/ 2 way paging when alarm goes off w/ LCD indicator remote.

Next spring I'll start with some colder plugs 1 or 2 ranges colder and get some new wires Taylor or MSD. Probably get an mini AFC, I hear ver. 2 is out now. Than I'm ready for some rockers and pushrods, than some TOG ceramic headers. Might do headers and rockers together, than I should be able to run a 3.2 pulley right. Considering getting a DHP PCM at that time too. Later down the line I would like an intercooler and stage 4 blower. Also probably add ZZP stage 2 throttle body sincs those are easy to install.

Anyways, big plans next year, I'm hoping to go to the track soon to see what I'll run with my small mod list and added stereo weight. There'* a truck scale by my work that charges like $1.50, thinking of getting her on the scale to see what this beast weighs.

Many things to do, lot'* of overtime needed! Not a problem at my shop, 60hr weeks are quite common!

Geez..this thread scares me. I was planning on doing both of these mods soon (T stat and pulley), and now I'm not sure I can do it...wow. :? Wish I had someone like dbtk2 or willwren around to help me out...someone who'* been through it...lucky TaylorD (and congrats on the rockin new mods ).

Colder plugs and taylor wires sound good. Personally I wouldn't recommend the MSD wires...they are good wires, but the factory boot protectors don't fit on them, and they don't seem to say on the ignition coils very well. I like the Taylor wires on the SSEi much better, although the MSD'* look cooler. The Mini-AFC 2.0 is out and that is a necessity. Then with the headers and rockers a 3.2 pulley should be about perfect, and with a DHP also, the car will be a completely different car. With an intercooler and stage 4 blower you will be able to run about a 2.8 pulley, which should really make the blower whine (and obviously make plenty of power). The Stage 2 throttle body is a good idea, and are definately easy to install, but with the stage 4 blower I would recommend the LS1 throttle body, it is $100 more than the Stage 2 and is much larger than the stage 2 (like 13mm or something IIRC), the LS1 throttle body kit is designed for the stage 4 blower, the stage 2 is designed for the stage 2 blower. The stage 2 will work good, but the LS1 should be much better. We would have one on the GTP but when we got the Stage 2 TB we had a stock blower so the LS1 wouldn't have helped and more than the stage 2, and now we don't want to spend $500 on a throttle body when we can spend it on other things because we already have a decent throttle body.

Hailey- Don't be scared, it real wasn't a big deal, just the tool striped out. Now that I say hwo dbkt2 did it, I wouldn't have a problem doing it myself, I just didn't have a tool. Where are you from?

Dbkt-Alright I get the hole stage 2-4 thing, I didn't get why us 3.8 ers would use an LS1 TB before. Now I see it was designes for zzp stage 4 blower setup. Hum there site only lists 3 levels now, that'* weird?

Anyways, what wires and boots were on the GTP? Still stock coils?