Pontiac

Finally, this page is being updated. (How ironic it will be if this update also sits here for several months with the previous sentence.) Being here in Japan, access to Pontiacs is quite limited. However, as I have mentioned elsewhere on the site, I have recently been back home to the United States. Where I had access to a friend's 1994 Grand Prix GTP.

The red GTP is owned by friend and site contributor Pontification. The GTP is kept in spotless condition. It is very mildly modified with the expected performance upgrades: A K+N air filter and better-than-factory rubber. Exhaust upgrades are in it's future.

While I was there, the plan was to attempt this exhaust upgrade with DynoMax mufflers. However, the GTP had other plans: the A/C was not working and the check engine light was flickering. When I lived in Richmond, my friend and I helped each other with repairs and upgrades, but with work and the distance, many repair jobs have been sent to the shop. As the MAF sensor had recently been replaced, it was suspect (as the engine had some symptoms.) A code check said, "Yep. Look at that MAF". So, we took it to the shop for the warranty and they replaced the sensor again and also charged the A/C to find the leak. This pretty much took out our entire car working time as the trip schedule was hectic. So, the upgrades were not to be this time. (Later, it turned out that it was faulty wiring to the MAF sensor and a leak in the A/C compressor.)

We did take it out for some back road driving. My friend graciously gave me a turn at the helm. Massive performance. Shortly after rounding a turn, I got a chance: I pushed the pedal down hard and for half a second nothing seemed to happen. Then, without warning, the "mystery destruction gear" kicked in and we simply launched. Very satisfying!

I am going to put up a page later with more info on this Grand Prix and future plans for it. The aftermarket community has largely ignored the 3.4 DOHC, so I hope to give some GTP owners (and other 3.4L DOHC owners) some ideas. Also, I think I will put up a definition page to identify such terms as "mystery destruction gear".