stock airbox removal/ wheels

[Guest]

this may sound weird. but i have takin my stock airbox out of my 91 park avenue and used a civic intake pipe along with an air filter. sounds like what kind of moron is doing with this car. well to turn out you'd be surprise on how much cooler it runs, especially since i rigged it cold air. anyone ever been stupid enought to tinker with their buicks like that?<P>I'm gettin wheels for my car. 18 x 8 mille miglias. do you think i will need to upgrade my brakes or just go a size smaller with the rims?

[86 2dr.ltd]

Better make sure they fit first. Some of the guys on the LeSabre T-type page had the size all figured out but I dont remember. The one thing is you need to have the same overall diameter of the original tires because the computor is programed for it. In fact there is two different ECMs depending on whether the car has 205 70 14's or 215 65 15's. The brakes are fine unless you are planing on SCCA.

[Guest]

Tire Rack has a pretty good browser for finding wheels that will fit your car, although if you want to go substantially beyond the stock size, you may have to figure that out on your own. The Miata website has a nice tire size calculator to see how the different sizes will compare to your original size. <A HREF="http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html" TARGET=_blank>http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html</A> <BR>The caution about different rolling radius tire/wheel combinations is certainly valid as the Vehicle Speed Sensor is calibrated for the stock size and I do not know of any way to correct for this, aside from reprogramming the BCM.<P>The cold air intake is a pretty common modification but most will have to be do it yourself, as very little aftermarket exists for the normally aspirated 3800 engine.

[Guest]

One thing I forgot, if you don't mind e-mailing me direct at my signature address, I would be happy to send you photos of my homemade air intake, although it is in a Reatta.

[Guest]

Actually it doesn't suprise me one bit. The stock filter used on the 3.8s is rediculously small. It's the same one used on many of GMs four cylinders. The problem is exagerated when the filter gets dirty. A cone filter would be a great improvment especially when isolated from the engine compartment heat. I would highly recomend this modification, or at least a K&N drop-in.