DD Project: 2003 Bonneville SSEi

[ed2552]

So in October 2008, I sold my 98 Tahoe and bought this:





It's a 2003 Pontiac Bonneville SSEi. 3.8L Supercharged (240 HP, 280 Ft-lbs stock), 4 speed Auto (4T65E-HD Automatic) with Sport Handling suspension, leather interior, Heads Up Display, XM Satellite Radio and 12 disc CD Changer, all from the factory. Luxury with Attitude, as Pontiac put it.

So, the day after I got it, I did a full tune up. Plugs, wires, fuel filter, air filter, etc.

One of the most common failures on these cars is the Lower Intake Manifold gaskets, due to the Nylon 66 material and Dex Cool eating at it with age. So, January 2009 I tore the top end down, and with the help of a friend through www.pontiacbonnevilleclub.com , we put it back together, with a few performance mods.

Torn down to the heads:


Wrinkle Coating on Supercharger helps dissipate heat, and just looks cool on the valvecovers:


Mods I added were a 3.4" supercharger pulley w/ hub (from 3.8" stock), a colder thermostat, a cold air intake and a PCM tune from Intense Racing, www.intense-racing.com .

Here's all put together:


Since then I've had the transmission rebuilt (dropped reverse and was about to drop OD), tinted the stock taillights with VHT Nightshades, changed out the MPS (modular pulley system, interchangeable pullies with hub, as hub is pressed on), gotten a custom tune, and replaced a bunch of maintenance stuff (endlinks, rear shocks, blower motor, few others), replaced the brakes with EBC Ultimax rotors and Red Stuff Pads all around.

I've also had to have my front end re-done after my mom backed into my car last February. Got new headlights, bumper and got rid of the sandblasted front end.

Here's how it is now (Pics taken last Sept.):


Now:



Upcoming Mods are Higher Ratio Rockers, Headers, and a tuner (either HP Tuners or a used DHP tuner).

So what do you think?