Level of Difficulty:
*EASY (Simple tools)
**Moderate (Some Experience and Tools needed)
***Complicated (Experience, Some Special Tools, and Attention to detail needed)
****Difficult (Experience, Research, and Special Tools needed to perform)

Articals to come:
-polishing/stripping front valve cover

New artical "--"
--Wheel sizes and tire sizes
-Wheel Bearing/Hub Removal ***(also covers rotor and brake removal)
-Rear Brake Removal **
-Coolent Flush procedure**
-Adjusting tire psi*
-Cone Filter Install *
-FWI install **
-MAF Polish **
-Throttle Body Polish **
-Port & Polish Upper Manifold ***
-Port & Polish TB, intake arm ***
-LED's in cluster **
-LED turnsignals/brakelight fix ***
-Heated Seat Install **
-Short Shifter **
-Manuel Shift Knob Adapter **
-Bumper and back trim painting **
-Fog Lamp install **
-High beam with low beam conversion **
--High beam bulb in low beam housing ***
--Under Hood Neon light **
--Steering Wheel Controls rebuild***
-Possible hazard on other W-body'd GM cars
-3.4L DOHC 96-97 gm diagram

Misc Info:
-Performance Basics
-Common Problems
-Usefull pics
-Helpful websites and info

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General Tire/Wheel info:
Tire Calc: http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html
Alt Tire Calc: http://www.1010tires.com/TireSizeCalculator.asp?action=submit
Tire Info: http://www.discounttiredirect.com/direct/brochure/info/tmpInfoTireMath.jsp

5x115 The 1ST # is the number of lugs. The 2ND is the spacing between the lugs, measuring center point of the lug to the next lug.

Offset is the dist from the center line of the wheel to where the wheel mounts to a hub. a pos offset has the hub/lug toward the outside (away from car) of the wheel and normally found on FWD cars. Neg offset is the opposite

225/55-16 225 is the dist from one edge to the other of the tread patch in mm. 55 is the percent of the first # giving the side wall height. the last # 16 is the dia in inchs of the wheel for the tire.

Following are for 95-99 Lumina & Monte Carlo:
Wheels: all are 5-115mm bolt unless specified
Factory alloy's 95-99 : [16" x 6.5" +40mm ] 35-38 lbs w/ tire
Other Facotry wheels:
Monte's95-99
Lumina91-99
Grand Prix91-96 i know the later spiral ones fit. they were like 97-99
Olds Cutlass supreme 9?-96 ( not sure when they originated i think around 91 92)
Bonneville 5 Spokes fit with a spacer for the front. http://bizio.homeftp.org/geoff/bc/shootlocations/DSC03803s.JPG
Aftermarket:
[Enkie MM2 17" x 7" +38mm] 40 lbs w/ tire http://www.speednstylez.com/images/ENKEI%20MM2%20copy.gif
[Eagly Alloys 077 18x8 +38mm] 30 lbs w/o tire http://www.therimsite.com/gfx/lg/077.jpg
[American Racing Casinos 17X7.5 +45mm] http://www.rimgod.com/images/AR/casino.jpg
[American Racing Estrella 17X7.5 +40 mm] http://www.rimgod.com/images/AR/estrella.jpg
[Fondmetal Tech 4's 18x?] http://www.polstr.ru/products/Shiny/pic/marks/diski/fondmetal/small/tech-4.jpg

Tires run:
225/60-16" Factory Tire
225/55-16" speedo off about 2 mph
225/55-17" no speedo problems near stock dia.
245/45-18" Speedo correct. Near stock dia. No rubbing
245/60-16" Manitcor
235/50-17" very- slight rubbing in near-lock turns in the parking lot.
235/50-18" No rubbing issues. Tires sit very close lower strut plate.

Tire Brands: (Discriptions/ratings for tires are from different members opinions.)
225/55-17 Mastercraft Avenger ES tires, great wet weather performance, low price, good tread life.
245/40-18 Mastercraft Avenger ZHP Good grip, extra body gap then factory, good wear.
225/55-17 Falcon Ziex 512. Good all season. never used in snow. good in rain. some road noise. good dry grip.
225/55-16 & 245/45-17 Yokohama AVS ES 100's Out standing IMO decent tread wear amazing wet & dry traction for a street tire. Quiet tire. not recomended for winter. for the 245/45-17 speedo recalibration was needed.
225/55-16 BFG G-Force Sport Good dry traction, good wet traction, Decent tread wear, quiet
Kuhmo KH-11. Great dry traction, good wet traction with decent hydroplaning resistance. Road noise is minimal, comfort should not be considered when buying these tires.. At 42 psi they're rock hard. Great cornering tire but they wear out too fast because of the soft tread. Too expensive for how long they last.
235/55R17 GoodYear Eagle W-Rated Crappy wet traction, good dry traction. They go bald when heavily used for burnouts
235/40ZR18 Yokahama AVS dB great dry taction, ok wet. quiet when new, then get gradually louder as they wear http://www.1010tires.com/images/tires/yokohama_db_new.jpg
225/60R16 Douglas Performance GT-H good traction and wear life. good cheaper tire
235/50-18 BFG KDWS An inch over stock height. No rubbing issues. Tires sit very close lower strut plate.
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Following are for 6th gens:

Wheels:
Stock 04 SS(S):
[Stock Diamond Cut Al 17" x 6.5"] offest?

Stock 02 SS:
[Stock Alloys 16x6.5 +38mm] 44lbs w/ tire

Aftermarket:
[Fittipaldi Force 17x8] will rub on a lowered 6th gen
[Eagle 185 17x8] rims also cause the same problem.
[Vault wheels 17x7 +40 ] http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/PacerSS/Rebuild/100_0290.jpg
[Volt Racing 175 17X7.5 +45mm] (http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y247/PacerSS/100_0345.jpg)

Tires:
Stock Tire:
235/55-17 Goodyear Eagle RS-A Facotry tire no issues
225/60-16 Goodyear Eagle RS-A Tires have excellent dry, wet and snow handling and are a good all around tire, though they are extremely pricey. The treadwear is a bit above average.

Aftermarket:
235/45-17 on 17x7 wheels no problems
245/45-17 Essenza 210 Type R tires. Best tires I (PacerSS) have ever driven, dropped the F1 to use these tires from here on out, great wet, dry, snow traction, good all year round. http://www.truckaddons.com/images02/tires/essenza/R-Type1.jpg
255/45-17 tires can be run on a 17 x 8" Fittipaldi Force rim on a 6th gen with a stock suspension with almost no problems except hitting the wheel liner on hard dips with a full car, however, this size tire on the same rim causes rubbing and danage to the inner lip of the wheel well when lowered with the GMPP / Koni spring/struts on the same car. This damage and rubbing occurs all the time once lowered.
xxx/xx-xx Nitto NT555 Xtreme DR tires have excellent dry handling, very good handling in rainy conditions. They have extremely poor handling in snow, and I would not reccommend them for any sort of winter driving. The cost is fair at about $135-150 per tire, and the tread life is slightly better than average.
info from: Manitcor,HeavyChevy3800,1995DOHC,Malaclypse,Z28toaZ34,corning_d3,lav74,PacerSS,SSGirl,jimmyfloyd

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Wheel Bearing/Hub Removal

Here are the tools you will need:
-Jack
-2 Jack Stands
-Lug Wrench or Impact gun
-T60 Torx bit
-15mm Socket
-36mm Axle Socket
-Long Breaker bar
-Hammer
-Axel grease or bearing grease
-Liquid Wrench or other penetrating lube

Procedure:

Remove lug cover.

Loosen axel nut, but do not completely remove. This is where the penetrating lube helps. Spray on and let sit for 20 min.

Jack up car and support each side with jack stands. The idea is to have both front wheels off the ground, because you will need to turn steering wheel to gain access to the four bolts holding the hub on.

Remove wheel

Insert a screwdriver into the rotor vent at top of rotor to keep from rotating. Use the 36mm socket to remove the axel nut completely. Liquid wrench helps here.

Turn Steering wheel count-clockwise, to gain access to the brake mounting bolts. Remove top and bottom bolts with the T60 torx bit with breaker bar. Once removed support with wire or coat hanger off of the spring above. Remove Rotor.

Use the 15mm socket and breaker bar to remove the forward 2 bolts and then the rear 2 bolts on the hub. *The bolt heads are behind the shield, so the steering wheel needs to be turned to reach them. It will help to use the liquid wrench again on the four bolts. Once loose, straighten the wheels. Tap the axel bolt with hammer or mallot to separate.

Take new Hub and apply bearing grease inside. Also apply grease to the axel itself. Pic of new and old Hub

Installation is the reverse of removal. When attaching the hub leave the wheels centered while attaching to the axel. Start as many bolts as possible. Turn wheel to access each bolt to tighten. 90lbs of Tq is all you need for these. Then attach rotor and caliper. Use screwdriver again to put on axel nut. Put wheel on. Lower car and tighten axel nut to 160 lbs of Tq

LOL this is what the haynes manuel says to do!
PULL THE AXLE? UMM.... No Thank You!

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Rear Brake Install / Rotor Removal

Tools needed:

Remove wheel.
Remove 12 mm bolt that holds the caliper to the bracket.
Remove pads. The pads pull out toward you for the front and away from you in the rear.
Now you need to compress the piston. The easiest way i found to do this so far is to mount the caliper on the wheel without the rotor on and use the cube looking tool to screw the piston on.

To remove the caliper, remove the two 3/4" bolts that hold the caliper bracket. Once removed the rotor will be able to slide right off the hub. If not loose just tap with hammer or blunt object.

Now reattach the caliper bolts the 2 3/4" and the 12mm and begin using the caliper tool to screw in the piston. While screwing in the piston, you need to open the bleed valve, it is a 10mm. It is wise to do this, because it will take less pressure to screw the piston in and there is debre in the brake system that you dont want to force into the other lines.

Note, i used a cheep line of hose and a bottel to catch the brake fluid so i didnt need to bleed the brakes. If there is a chance for air to enter the system, you will need to bleed the brakes. Once the piston is screwed in, the notch should line up on the bottom of the caliper. You may need to rotate the piston either direction to line it up. This notch mates up to the brake pads.

Now that the piston is retracted, you need to reinstall the rotor.
Install the new pads and and secure the 12mm bolt back and your done. Put the wheel on and test drive your car keeping in mind that it takes a few pumps of the brakes to get the piston to move out and take up the slack in the brakes.

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How to install a Cone Filter on a factory Monte Carlo.

Stock engine bay / Cone Filter

The only obstacle to over come is the MAF on the Monte Carlo has a outer diameter larger then 3" and most aftermarket cone filters have 3" diameter inlets.

In order to get the filter on, just use hot soapy water. It is also helpful to have the MAF off the car when you attempt to install the filter. Put the hot soapy water on the outside lip of the MAF and the inside lip of the filter. Then work them together.

To remove the stock air box, remove the three top screws that hold the top of the box. Then the rubber air hose from the MAF to the top of the box. Remove the stock filter. Remove the bottom bolts holding the lower box. Pull out box and tube that runs behind headlight.

I would recommend that you purchase a heat shield for your filter from eBay. They are cheep ($5-10) and help shield the filter from the exhaust crossover pipe.

This Mod is good for mostly sound. Even with factory exhaust the car sound great. But the extra heat that gets pulled in counters the gain from the extra air flow. Hens the name Hot-Air-Intake.

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Tire pressure

If you upgrade to tires that are different then your factory wheels, you might need to recalibrate your tire pressure to match your new tires. This is more apparent, if you changed your tires from the recommended tire. For instance the stock tire for the 1996 Z-34 is 225/60-16" they recommend in the area of 32 LBS for the tires. If you change to a 225/55-16, you will need to raise the tire pressure to accommodate the different side wall change. Also, if you change to aftermarket wheels with a bigger diameter then the stock then you will also need to recalibrate the pressure.

The best way to calculate tire pressure is to see where the wear is on the tire and adjust it to meet the tread patch. If you don�t have one already, you will need a good tire pressure gauge. The ones at the pump can vary greatly and the cheep ones that look like pens can stick and give inaccurate readings as well. I recommend a dial type with pressure release or quality digital gauge.

Procedure:
1st) Start by taking the car for a drive to get the tires to normal driving temps. Do not do burnouts or ridiculous NASCAR stuff to heat them up faster, just go for a fun drive.

2nd) Cleaning your tires with soapy water to remove all dirt and go for a short drive around the block. This will allow smudging of the tires only where the tire meets the road.

3rd) If it less then like 75% of the tread area shows dirt or smudging, then you are over pressure. if you are showing wear beyond the tread patch, you are below pressure.

This is similar to the procedure that most people use for Auto Crossing. After a run if the wear is not perfectly on the tread patch, then add or remove until they line up.

You should check your pressure about every other time you get gas. At least, you should check them every time you get your oil changed.

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Coolent Flush procedure:

-pull drain plug
-disconnect lower radiator hose and *inspect for replacement if needed
-disconnect upper hose *inspect
-remove T-stat and re install housing with t-stat removed *inspect

-flush with hose and or radiator flush product from top hose thru engine and top thru radiator....keep this up until all clean.

-install T-stat and reconnect hoses...open air bleed valves at heater core and Tstat housing also keep radiator cap off.

-turn the heater to heat and fan to low or medium

-keep filling the radiator as it sucks in the extra coolent. then cap the radiator and cap the heater core bleed screw

-once you hear your fans kick in, that is a good sign that your T-stat probably has opend, now you can finish bleeding the air from your bleed screw at the T-stat housing. once you stop seeing bubbles you are good. tighten and let the car get to temp check again aprox 5 min after at temp to be sure. then test drive and check one last time... and then you are GOOD.
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How to install the fender well intake without relocating the battery

(This is how I did my installation, this write-up is intended only to give an idea on how to do this install and I take no responciblity of any kind if you endup damaging your car by installing a FWI)

Warning! Depending on how low you install your filter, you may run the risk of sucking water into the engine if you drive thru deep puddles. You have a few options. Install a Air Bypass filter, nopi and other tuner sites sell these. Seal the fender area to prevent water from entering. Or raise the filter as high as posible. I just bent the brace inside to alow the cone to sit higher (almost level w/ battery) in the fender.

Parts needed:
-Flex Hose of 3" diameter x 3 feet
-New Cone filter
-PVC/Al Adapter Pipe (lower) of 3" outer diameter to connect filter to hose and about 4-6" long.
-PVC/Al Adapter Pipe (upper) of 3" inner diameter to connect flex hose to rubber adapter.
-Metal strapping or zip-ties to secure the filter.
-Rubber 3" Connector to attach upper tube to MAF sensor
*You may want to take this chance to relocate the Intake Air Temperature sensor to the lower connector to alow for proper temp calculations.

(all these parts can be found at autozone and most part stores, the PVC adapter pipes i found at lowes)

-If you want your car to still have a washer fluid tank, you will need to get a new bottle. I used one from a 94 cutlass supreme. I got it at a junkyard for less then $5. Some auto part store also sells a small washer bottle kit that will work.

If you have access to someone who can custom bend 3" tube you can get away without the adapter for the cone, but you will still need one for the MAF

Fender Well Intake

To begin:

Then remove the cross brace that goes over the factory wiper bottle. (3 bolts)

You will need to remove the bottom panel from under the driver side fender.

Remove stock air box:
Remove the three top screws that hold the top of the box. Then the rubber air hose from the MAF to the top of the box. Remove the stock filter. Remove the bottom bolts holding the lower box. Pull out box and tube that runs behind headlight

Remove the factory wiper bottle. (2-3 clips)

Remove battery.(2 bolts and bracket)
* you can add a hole to the battery tie down bracket to hold the new wiper bottle out of the cutlass.

Assemble the lower portion of the FWI first:
Place filter on lower tube and tighten clamp around the filter.
Then attach the flex tube to the lower tube.

Once assembled this far, run the flex hose into the engine bay. Thru the access panel under the fender.

Use metal straps, or zip ties to secure the filter in fender so that it doesnt hit anything.

Next, I used my dremal to notch out part of the fender to keep the flex tube from being bent when I put the battery back in.

Now, starting at the MAF slip the 3"-3" rubber adapter over the MAF lip. Then, work a good bit of the flex tube into the upper tube and make sure it wont pull out. Use silicon glue if it seems loose. I didnt need to use any because the hose fit tightly in the tube.

Slip the upper tube with the flex tube attached onto the 3"-3" adapter that is on the MAF.

New pics for updated install. Install consists of two flex elbows and one peice of PVC alittle over 1' long.

Once all fittings on the intake tube are secured and nothing is rubbing the flex tube, just reinstall:
the Battery, New Wiper bottle, (You may have to lengthen the wiper pump cable to reach it's new location.)
Diagonal brace, and anything else you might have disconnected.

Basic outline of part assembly:
MAF, 3"-3" adapter, upper tube, flex hose, lower tube, filter.

New design: MAF connected to the TB with a straight 3" connector, flex elbo, 1' of 3" PVC, flex elbo, filter.

Once you are done, you have a new FWI without relocating the battery to the trunk!

***Be careful with locating your flex tube. If the tube is in a position to rub against something, it may rip and allow debree to bypass the filter. I wrapped the flex tube in black duck tape to protect give additional protection.

For the second version of this FWI i rotated the battery 90* to give me more space to run piping a new battery tie-down will be needed. You may or may not need to rotate the battery, but with it, your bends will be more straight and yield higher flow.

Compairing the FWI with flex hose and PVC & elbos, there is a great difference. From a std hot air intake to my first FWI with the flex hose, it felt like i gained 10-15hp and the engine gained a deep sound. Now with the PVC, it feels like another 5-10 Hp was gained, and the sound is much louder in the upper RPM bands. These differences I believe are due to the nature of the materials. The flex hose, was about 1.5-2 from the TB to the filter with aprox 270* of bends. The PVC version now has about 1.5 or less from the filter to the TB and a total of less then 90* of bends. Further more the PVC version has the filter even higher then any of the FWI kits i have seen or even the first modifitation I did to my FWI. (filter is 100% even with battery)

FWI Version4:
Ok its been some time and others have come up with pretty good DIY FWI besides the ones i have writen about above.
( http://www.oqcgp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=17679&highlight=intercooled+air+intake
http://www.clubgp.com/newforum/tm.asp?m=3507787&p=3&tmode=1&smode=1&cookieCheck=913719921
http://www.clubgp.com/newforum/tm.asp?m=2393530&p=1&tmode=1&smode=1&cookieCheck=913801478 )

Ok the design is pretty close to what i had previously, but considering that those plastic seals are so cheep from lowes/HomeDepot i couldnt pass it up. Caution without some very clever work, the use of this heat shield is very difficult and your factory battery will prevent installation.

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MAF Polish (Mass Air Flow sensor disassembly)
By taking apart and polishing the MAF you can smooth the airflow for the intake system.

1st Remove MAF from car:
-Remove air hose front and back and unclip sensor.

2nd Disassembly of MAF:
-Four torx screws. one at each corner.
-To remove mesh screen, you will need to carefully ply the retaining ring out. Be very careful not to damage the sensor wires behind the screen.

Some people leave the screen out to increase airflow. But, this screen is designed to cut turbulence and increace flow. Also removing it may trigger a engine light. The screen is not a big restriction, so it is best to reinstall it when you are finished polishing the unit.

If you are looking for more flow, and have extra time, then do some extra sanding on the MAF. Make sure that both front and rear pieces match when assembeld. I also used my dremal to grind the inlet for the MAF. Then i resanded and it looks great. My MAF now has a bigger opening then normal. Hopefully it will funnel air into the intake smoother then it would have before.

Now that you have the MAF disassembled, you can begin polishing it. I started with a 320-grit wet sand paper and worked up to 2000 grit wet sand. Then I finished with metal polish. If you have deep scratches in the tube you can go down to a 220 to work out these imperfections. But be sure to leave it smooth by slowly progressing up to higher and higher grit papers.

Once finished polishing, reassemble and install in car.

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Polishing Throttle Body

Follow the polishing steps in the above section for the MAF. Removal of the TB just requires the removal of all air hoses forward of the TB and the removal of the vacume lines. Becareful these vac lines are fragile. Next unclip the IAC and the TPS sensors. Then remove the 2 nuts and single bolt. Now just polish like normal you would do for the MAF sensor.

If you are going to Port and Polish your manifolds, now would be a good time to port match the Throtle body to the Intermediate arm. I used a dremal and a progression of bits to acomplish this. I used a steel gridding wheel, a drum sanding bit with course and medium papers, finishing pads, and lastly buffing cloths for the polish to be used after smoothing with hand sand paper.

{Factory TB Polished with not modification)

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Port & Polish TB, Intake Arm

TB opening fluted to match MAF. Exhaust portion of TB perfictly matched to the Intake Arm.

The process it pretty straight forward. Just keep matching each part together until they are matched. Use a dremal with a metal grinding bit to eat away the excess material. Then use the previous steps for turning the surface into its final polished state. Best thing to remeber is the smoother the better. By opening up the TB and port matching the tb to the intake arm you will recover Hp caused by drag on the intake. this will give you faster throtle responce and some gain in power. notice in the following pics how the opening grows on each step.

______________________________Redesign______________________________
After sometime, i desided that my original grind on the TB was too conservative. So... i pulled the TB and reworked it into what you see here. It orginaly had a bevile at the mouth and the complete polishing inside with a port/gasket match in the back. With this regrind, i removed the bevile and gave it a complete true funel shape from the mouth all the way to the throtle plate..... ReGround One more time....Removed 80% of the throtle bar to increase the bore area without having to find a new throtle plate. I also knife edged the Throtle plate.

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Port & Polishing Upper manifold
*Warning Do Not attempt if:
You have no experience working with Aluminum.
You have limited understanding of air flow.
You are unsure of any of the following steps.

To begin:
-Remove Upper Intake Manifold and clean parts with a degreaser. The intake will have oil residue inside becaue of the emission system...This is normal. Clean old gaskets off the ports.
-Secure a complete set of new gaskets.
-Place the gasket on each side of the port and cut the gasket where ever there is over hang into the air stream.
-Once the gasket has no over hang on each of the two mating sides, use a marker to mark area on the ports to be removed.
-Grind away marked area and becarful not to grind area too thin. You do not want to eliminate too much of the port and make it hard to get a tight seal with the gasket.
-Make sure that you have smooth transitions on the ports.
-Sand newly ground area with a progression of sand paper to polish the port to a mirror shine. This step is much like the previous chapter.
-Reassemble and enjoy.

Bracket needed to hold in coolent line. Fab'd up in 5 min from lighter bracket.

-I also removed the coolent passage for the Intermediate Arm. *This is not recomended if you are in a cold climate.
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Installing LED's in Cluster

There are two ways to do this. The first is to buy direct replacement LED's for the cluster. The second is to insert the wires of the LED's you want to use into the bulb holder on you cluster. If you plan to add additional LED's like I have done, you will have to do the latter to power these. (be sure that the LED's you are using are able to accept a 12-volt power source.)

Placement and Color are personal preference. Just power up the LED and move it around until the desired light is achieved. The use of sunshades or a garage will be helpful to see what the effect of the LED's will have at night.

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LED Brake Lights

Fix for when your center brake light works, but main brake lights dont. These cars have faulty turnsignal swiches. The main brake lights are routed thru the turnsignals. That is why the turnsignals can still blink when you got your brake lights on.

You have two main options to fix this.

1) Replace the turnsignal switch. Switch costs about 70-100 I believe if you have crusecontrol. About a $150-200 job at a local shop.

2) Rewire brake lights and relocate your turnsignals.

First: Find the lead for the center brakelight/spoiler light.
It is a white wire that connects to the center brake light bulb. I used a relay to power the brake lights, but you should beable to run all three off the center light alone. If you have a lit spoiler, i would just remove the center light anyway and just stay with the light in the spoiler, and the mainbrake lights.

Now here is where it gets tricky. It all comes down to how creative you are: You can fab up some LED's, add new bulbs in the brake light housing, or do what i did.

I just added two pairs of LEDs. I got them at autozone. Each set has a pair of LED bars. Each bar has 6 LED's. They fit perfictly between the bumper and the brake lights. They are like $20-$30 a set.

Now the rest is just wiring. Each bulb in the brake light has three wires. one ground, one for headlights, and one for turn/brake lights. You will cut the one for t/b lights and attach it to the new light. Then just attach the brake light power (either direct from the centerlight, or from a relay) to both bulbs where you removed your t/b light wire.

Now test. If your wiring is good you now have funtional brake lights and turnsignal. and it looks pretty cool too.

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Heated Seat with massage Installation.

Parts needed:
Homemedics heated/massaging chair cover. ($10-$20 at walmart)
Additional wire.

To start, cut open and remove the massage units and heating pad from the chair cover. Be careful not to cut or damage the wires inside the pad.

Once the heat unit and massagers are seperated from the pad, lenghten the primary power cable. Install an inline fuse of the same size as supplied in the cigarret lighter adapter that came with the pad.

Next you will need to begin to install the unit. To do this, unclip the seat cover for the seat back.

Reach up inside the seat back and cut a location for the massage motors. If motors are placed deep inside seat foam, they will be more effective beacuse they will shake the seat frame. Place motors and heat pad.

Next run the new power wire under the seat and thru the carpet to a power location of your choice. I ran the power wire to the switch panel in my ash try.

Once all wires are run and the system has been tested to work, clip the seat cover back on and you will be finished.

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Short Shifter Install
To

In Short this requires the complete teardown of the center console, removal of all shift linkage, and unbolting the shift lever. I removed over 1 1/2 inches of shifter. With my custom shift knob that is all i needed to remove. the only factor to look out for is having enough distance to get the shifter back into 1st.

Complete!

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Custom Shifter adapter for manuel to auto:

The notch lenght is 5/8" for the distance that is needed for the shifter to e depressed.

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Bumper and Trim Painting

Before and After

Before and After. this was a redo of the bumper cause i wanted to get a good base of primer and clear on top.

Side window trim painting

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Fog Lamp install

The level of difficulty of this project can vary. It depends on which way you want to wire your fog lamps. You have the options to have them trigger when your parking lights are on, when your head lights are on, when your high beams are on, or on a separate switch. Either triggering method you choose, the needed parts are the same.

You need:
-Fog lights
-Wire harness (this consists of)
/30 amp Relay
/Power lead (one from battery to relay and one from relay to each fog lamp)
/Ground wires (one from relay and one from each fog lamp to ground point)
/Trigger wire
/Inline fuse holder with 15 amp fuse

Basic Setup: Your relay is the heart of this project.
-Trigger lead from source to relay. (you can place a switch inline to give additonal control) This is where you can choose how you want your fog lamps to activate. All you need is a constant positive 12Volt power source.
-Power lead. 12 Volt constant power from battery. Place inline fuse between battery and relay.
-Relay ground. Ground wire from relay to neg battery terminal or ground to body
-Power lead to fog lamps. Run wire from relay to each fog lamp.
-Fog lamp ground. Run wire from each lamp to body ground or neg battery terminal.

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High beam with Low beam conversion.
This is how you can go about making your car have the low beams activate when you have high beams on.

Parts needed:
-30Amp Relay
-4 Wire clips to attach to relay
-2 Inline wire taps
-about 10' spool of wire between 16-12 gauge
-inline fuse holder with 20 amp fuse
-2 loop conectors

Basic Setup:
-Locate power that goes to High beam. Use this as the source/ triger for the relay. Use inline tap.
-Run power from battery, with inline fuse inplace, to the relay.
-Run ground for relay.
-Run Power from relay to the Positive wire on the Low beams.
Once all is hooked up, you are done! turn on your high beams and check the system.

***If you want to link your fog lamps and your high beam/low beams this is what you will need. Two relays and the same items for each install.

First relay: the trigger for the relay is comming from a pos interior light source (one that is on only when lights are on, like your interior instruments) on a switch. This relay is powering the fog lamps and a second relay for the Hi/Low conversion.

Second relay: The trigger is the high beams and the power input Power is coming from the first relay. The output for this second relay goes to the low beams. This way you can shut of the switch and turn off the low beams and fog lamps if you got the high beams and if you just have your low beams on you would be able to toggle your fogs.

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High Beam Bulb in Low Beam Socket

Well it seems at first glance that GM/auto industry went out of their way to prevent us from putting/ swapping the high beam and low beam bulbs. this was either done for DOT stds, or so that idoits wouldnt put the wrong bulb in the wrong hole. .... but for the rest of us looking for more light, we want to put HI in our low.

so. here is what i figured out... there are two restictions preventing us from swaping bulbs. the first is the light fixture. the second is the power socket.

the fixture is very easy to change. GM in the Mass-production frenzy, use the same metal cutout for the high beam and low beam plate. just unscrew and flip it! i was planning on using my spare headlight, but there is no need. once flipped, you will only have 2 holes out of the three that line up. so you can either just stay with only 2 screws, or drill a new hole in the metal plate.

for the second restiction, the power socket is equiped with a backbone of plastic to go i the grove on the bulb. the low beams have one backbone and the high's have 2. you can either modify the bulb or the socket. you can modify the socket, by either dremalling it out, using wire snips, or getting new sockets.

after that, you will be down!!!!

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Under Hood Neon light
Instructions will work for any type of aux light for the hood.

Locate a Power and Ground.
Get hood pin switch. This connects to ground thru the chasi.
Run constant power to the light.
Connect ground on light to the pin switch. Test light.
Mount light.

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Steering Wheel Sterio Control Rebuild

These Controls are well known for failing. This is what i did. I bought a set at the local junk yard. Unfortuntetly they were also broken, so i desolderd them and relocated the working switches to the best set of controls. I also repainted the set while i had them out of the car.

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Common Problems:

-Intake gasket leaks. These cars especially the 3.4 DOHC have common leaks in the lower intake manifold gasket. Many of GM V6's have this problem. Due to the complex intake manifold, this problem is more frequent with the DOHC. Buy the new gasket set from GM. They have new sets that are more resistent to failure. Also, this engine has a very unfortunate problem with leaky oil pump o-ring seals. The o-ring in below a pannel under the lower intake manifold. It is a good idea to change it when you do your intake gaskets, or else you will do your gaskets twice.

To do this you will need:
-Metric/ Std sockets and extentions
-Large Pliers
-Coolent, carb/intake cleaner
-New PCV valve
-Towel or clean rags to block intake.
-Gasket set these are rather inexpensive from GM and the GM parts are better quality. Trust me you only want to do this once.
[intermediate arm to upper manifold, upper manifold to lower, lower to the heads, and the oil pump o-ring]

-Begin by removing the engine cover.
-Loosen and remove the bolts that hold the intermediate arm to the upper intake manifold.
-Remove the bolts that hold the upper intake manifold to the lower manifold 7 bolts 10mm.
-Disconnect the Vacume lines that go to the fuel regulators.
-Unplug the PCV and either clean with carb cleaner or replace with a new one.
-Unscrew and perge the fuel rail then disconect the two fuel lines that go to the fuel pressure regulator.
-Remove the coolent pipe and the pipes for the heater core.
-Unbolt the lower intake manifold. There are about 12 (10mm) bolts that hold it on.
-Once removed, clean all gasket surfaces before reinstalling.
-To replace the oil pump drive o-ring, remove the bolt that holds the little cover that is to the right (drv side) of the center of the engine.
-When reinstalling, follow torque specs or you run the risk of stripping your intake bolts. The intake bolts need no more then 14 ft-lbs. Make sure you start with the inner bolts and work out in a back an forth path from side to side making an expanding X to distribute the pressure and not toe bind the gaskets.
-Assembly is reverse of removal.

-Timing Belt. This is very serious. many people dont inspect it and it leads to failure. i would only give the belt about 60K before replacing it. yes it is expensive to replace, but it is better then replacing the belt, valves, and cylinder heads! Easy to inspect just pop the cover on the front side and look at the belt condition.

-Transimission! Trany's are the weak link in these cars. Do NOT fall behind on maintaince. becarful with used cars that dont have a paper work trail for them. If properly maintained and cared for they are great. but still they cant take big jumps in power with out upgrading.

Possible Hazard to other GM W-body'd cars

In the process of installing my FWI, I noticed that the primary ground wire for the battery was never secured properly. It was alowed to hang loose and rub against the AC dryer. This rubbing managed to eat away almost half the wire and some of the AC fitting. If this were to fail it would be difficult to track down. Please refrence my photos and check your W-body for similar problems.

3.4L DOHC 96-97 gm diagram

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