99 Century talk and help

Hello all.

Obviously I am new here haha. I have a 99 Buick century, 3.1L V6 ofcourse. Custom short ram air intake and an custom straight pipe exhaust. I kept the Cat which i'm deciding on punching and the resonator which is prolly gonna be swapped for a turbo thruster muffler ahha. windows tinted 5 percent in the back 30 percent up front(pics to come shortly). I'm also asking for some advice. what are some ways to get some real easy horsepower and Lower it for cheap? Im not talking huge gains in HP but maybe 3-5 here and there, It all adds up in the end. And as far as the suspension goes if it were up to me I would Dump the poop out of it haha, IDK why but a stock looking Lowered buick century or Lesabre looks sexy haha. So please If there is any advice to be had...Please Share and remember to have a GREAT day! haha.

I think you need to ask elsewhere as this is a site dedicated to preserving older vehicles. We're not into customizing or lowering our cars and for that matter your car may be too new for any real interest here.

Good luck.

Guffnutz, since most of your post is about asking for help with technical stuff related to modifying your 99 Century, I have moved your post to here, Performance/Modified. As Bleach pointed out this site doesn't see much in the way of later model modified's but contrary to what it may sound like he was implying, you're certainly welcome here. So hopefully someone will have some suggestions for you and we can have a good discussion about your later model Buick mods here. So, anybody ever souped up or lowered a 99 Century?

That 3.1 is a Chevy motor I believe, and quite gutsy to begin with. If you really want to get some additional HP on the cheap, I'd trade it in for a 99 Regal which has the 3800 Buick Motor. Otherwise you are probably looking for a re programed computer chip to make any gains in this vehicle.

hmm yea i've heard that, ive already chipped it with a xp performance stage 1 chip but sadly that only up's the amount of fuel. any idea on where i could maybe find on of those chip? I understand noone normally mods these centurys so its extremely hard to find certain parts! haha.

thanks for your time and help it's much appreciated, Chris!

Hang in there Chris. Just because not many do is no reason you should not. Go for it and let us know. We like new ideas.

Ben

Guf, sorry for sorry for sounding rough. I didn't realize there was a section or following here for any new or modified. You've sparked some interest here.

Not to send you away, you will get great advice here too, but you might want to go to RegalGS , The Regals are a very close cousin to the Century, I had a 98 Regal GS and it went like stink with the supercharged 3800.

I have thought about it but believe it or not ive actually seen a few modded regals. Thats why i picked a century. I've always loved buicks, I even used to have a 01' Buick lesabre but that got totaled in a rain storm goin under the speed limit. dang hydroplaneing on poopy tires haha. but anyways. its ok i didnt think you were trying to be rough and i see your point. thanks for the support and ill keep everyone updated with the progress. I just dont want to be like everyone else haha I enjoy being different. for instance i also have a 2000 ford f350 but instead of a pwoerstroke engine i got the 6.7L V10 haha.

Anyone know anything about putting airbags on a vehicle. i mean i dont want it to constantly be low, id like to have a semi-normal ride heighth and then drop it when parked or somthing. My dream car well, not car but idea with a car was when i was about 11 i saw and older lincoln continental and it was slammed. it looks great but what caught my eye was when he parked it he dropped the bags until the car layed from on the pavement then lifted the tires into the wheel wells about an inch off the ground and it was awesome because when he got out he left the car in neutral and spun all for wheels by hand and let them spin while it was parked. me being young this astonished me and ever since then it's been my life long dream to do that haha. but yea any advice on how to put bags on a vehicle would be GREAT! thanks in advance, chris!

With all due respect, the Chevy 60-degree V-6 is a pretty decent engine. The later 3.5L VVT or 3.9L versions can rival the Buick 3800 on horsepower, but not quite on torque. The OTHER side of things is that of all of the Regals and Centurys I rented when your '99 was new, I really couldn't see THAT much difference in the way the 3.1L and the 3.8L ran in general driving . . . although I expected MORE difference. In later model years, the 3800 gained more useable power and would lay some serious rubber, without the need for a supercharger, either.

As for further power increases, you've already covered the majority of the available bases without some more serious and costly changes. Remember, too, that the "tuned port" intake manifold on those Chevy engines is probably optimized pretty much for a stock engine. This would be the most limiting factor in further power increases, I suspect. In addition to the Regal GS website, there are some other "horsepower" websites for the Buick 3800 V-6. www.3800performance.com is one, I believe. Engine items, transmission items, exhaust items. Most of the performance websites for these generations of GM W-cars are usually oriented toward GM's "performance brand" (of that time), the fwd Pontiac GrandPrix.

Regarding the suspension, I'm not sure you can lower a "strut suspension" as you might a more conventional "control arm" suspension . . . with air bags. In the Grand Prix side of things, there are some Eibach lowering springs and complimentary KONI struts, which is the correct way to do things, sans air bags.

In the realm of the later model Pontiac Grand Prix GTP cars, this is where all of the "trick" factory suspension items reside. Finding one of those cars in the salvage yard could yield serious brake system upgrades, spring/sway bar upgrades, etc. To a lesser extent, the V-8 Impala SS models are a little less "intense" in their chassis calibrations, more in line with what I'd term "consumer-oriented police package" vehicles. Plus the bigger wheel/tire combinations, too.

Those earlier fwd Centurys have a good bit to recommend them, even with a Chevy V-6 in them. They all came with smaller tires, which are less expensive to replace. They only took about 4.5 quarts of oil with an oil change, rather than 6+ with other cars. Fuel economy on the road was pretty good, too. The bench seats were comfortable as was the original chassis calibrations. Many of these same attributes were also in the higher-trim-level Regals, too, with the Buick V-6. The Century's grille, I generally like a little better than the Regals, though. And with so many GM W-cars having been produced, many repair/maintenance parts are very reasonably priced.

Jus' some thoughts . . .

NTX5467

Thanks so much NTX5467 for the information. The horsepower is decent but i wish i could get just a little more. and as far as the suspension and chassis. IT IS GREAT! extremely comfortable ride with even better handling considering its a 4500LB car with a 3.1L V6 haha. Maybe I should ask more along the lines of how could i Lower the car, not nessicarily Ground scraping low but lower haaha. maybe by like an inch or two haha. Im not so much concerned about the ride too much anymore as I'm looking to buy another buick. probably another 2001 Buick Le sabre with the 3.8L V6. that car had more hp but it wasnt really noticable because it weighed more haha. All in all i would rate both cars extremely comfortale with a GREAT interior. I'm just looking for a way to lower and maybe a few other odds and ends ways of gettin extra hp. 2 hp here. 3 hp there. it all adds up in the end. Oh and if you keep the stock exhaust and delete the resonator with a turbo thruster muffler and straight pipe the rear muffler it gets a great low sound. Also maybe a high flow cat, mine will be punched shortly seeing as Where I live I don't have to worry about those freakin' emmisions haha. Have a Great day all!

Since this thread has died...Bump? lol

The exhaust is a good place to start...... got to get the gas out before you can get more in..... If the exhaust headers happen to be made like the "C" and "L" 3800 you can clean the port on the one next to the firewall and get some improvements. The attached photo is a '91 3800

note the excess metal where the "out" flange is welded to the header. All exhaust gasses must go thru that hole and the bigger the better.