Chevrolet Monte Carlo Z34 Tuning

"Thank you for reading my Z34 tuning tips"

We review and look at Monte Carlo Z34 tuning and point out the greatest upgrades. Chevrolet Monte Carlo Z34s are fantastic to work on and with the optimum tuning upgrades you can positively enhance your driving experience.

The Monte Carlo Z34 is a good tuning project to try. With the right mods your Monte Carlo Z34 can be transformed into a fun car. Don't waste money, do your homework and follow our unbiased guides to each performance upgrade to avoid wasting money.

 

Handling/Suspension upgrades

Improving the handling for many tuners first priority in your Monte Carlo Z34 tuning project.

We found that most Monte Carlo Z34 factory suspension setups need tweaking, a few degrees of toe out -1-1.7, and a little negative camber will dramatically enhance your cornering and handling.

We would go to a maximum drop of 33mm - 47 mm on most models. You risk handling compromises if you go lower than this.

Power mods.

For those that want power figures on this engine bone stock:
210 HP @ 5200 RPM
215 ft-lbs of torque @ 4,000 RPM
redline: 7,000 RPM
Power band: 3500-6500 RPM

This engine was heavily detuned from the factory so the automatic transmissions would survive behind it. advance the intake timing by 6 degrees, retard the exhaust by 6 degrees and you're good for 20-30 more horsepower.

Play with the computer tuning (spark advance tables and such) and you can gain the same.

A forged crankshaft is available from the newer GM 3500 pushrod V6 used in Chevy Malibu's and Impala's. Forged connecting rods can be used from the old school Chevy small block V8 (need slight modification to work. WOT-Tech offers already modified ones for use in the 60* V6 engine family).

Forged Pistons can be versions of those used in Cadillac Northstar V8 engines. Lightweight lifters and heavy duty valve springs are available from WOT-tech. Headers have to be custom made (unless you own a 1996-1997 LQ1 car.

Then you can order a set from Milzy Motorsports. The head design was changed in 1996.). These engines take very well to forced induction.

LQ1 Fiero vs L67 Fiero (The supercharged one is obviously faster):

Typically these uprated parts are usually carried out by our members, decide how far you want to push your car before you start.

Getting the best uprated parts for your planned usage of the car is essential. Stage 3 (competition) mods just won't work well on the road and will make the car undrivable.

Please watch TorqueCars Video tutorial on car tuning. And be sure to subscribe and support our new channel.

Stages of Tune

Stage 1 mods: Alloy wheels, Sports exhaust, Lighter flywheel, Suspension upgrade (drop 30-40mm), Remap, Panel air filter.

Stage 2 mods: Ported and polished head, fuel pump upgrades, Fast road cam, high flow fuel injector, Power/Sport clutch.

Stage 3 mods: Competition cam, Sports gearbox, Internal engine upgrades (pistons/head/valves), Adding or upgrading forced induction (turbo/supercharger), Engine balancing.

YPeak power is nice in motorsport but for a drivable and fun car you need a long power band and perhaps extending the rev range.

In this article we shall give a limited introduction to the best upgrades for your car, but we'd encourage you to spend some time on the site looking into the details of each type of performance upgrade.One of the biggest mechanical modified upgrades you can do on your NASP engine is to fit a fast road cam .

The intake and exhaust flow play a large part in your cars power band, but be careful here, getting this wrong can upset the idle and make the car hard to drive in traffic. You'd need to follow a cam upgrade with other mods and finish with a performance chip to fully realise your gains.

When pushing up the power you will need to pay attention to to the fuelling. More power needs more fuel.

Most power losses, and erratic idling after motorsport upgrades are done can usually be traced to fuelling or timing issues.Higher capacity injectors will enable you to supply sufficient fuel to the engine.

A fuel pump will only deliver a finite amount of fuel, so you may need to uprate this if your injectors are demanding more fuel.

One guy I know took an Eaton M90 roots type supercharger from a GM 3800 L67 V6 and mounted it on his LQ1 (It was a 1996 Monte Carlo Z34. He had to cut a hole in the hood for the supercharger to stick up through.) and with just a computer tune, had over 300 FWHP.

No internals or anything. Stock pistons and connecting rods. He did have to swap transmissions though as he blew through 5 of them very quick.

I know of another LQ1 owner, a 1991 Lumina Z34 5 speed, where the owner turbocharged it, along with a few other things, to the tune of 536 FWHP. These engines take to modification very well, but you have to use parts from other engines to do it because not many aftermarket parts are available specifically for this engine.

The lack of aftermarket support is why many people look down on this engine and prefer the L67 supercharged 3800 pushrod 12 valve V6.

That's not to say this engine doesn't have potential, it's just a lot more work. And money. As such, this engine (and the L67 3800 supercharged) are popular swaps into the back of Pontiac Fieros.

The whole point of our advice is to give a little insight into the world of modifying performance parts and point you in the right direction, our forum is best place to go if you need more detailed advice and tips on your modified car project, the best uprated upgrades and all aspects of modding cars.One of the most cost effective mechanical modified parts you can do on your NASP engine is to fit a fast road camshaft .

Intake and Exhaust Tuning.

Now we move on to the intake and exhaust and ensure proper flow through the engine. Contrary to popular belief there is generally a small power gain got by fitting an induction kit, they only work well and are recommended after you raise the engines power to the point where the standard air intake box cannot cope!

Derestricting the flow of air into the engine is the primary part of tuning so get a better flowing air filter if you find that the car is running lean only if you find the car is running lean. Induction kits can sound great but due to the warm air in the engine bay they will not do much to increase power and actually rob you of power on most cars.

Sports exhausts will certainly help air flow through the engine but do not go too large or you may end up will reduce the flow rate. Stick to 1.5 to 2.5 inches for best results.

Getting the head gas flowed will assist in flowing more air into each cylinder. This is definitely a job for a professional with a flow bench. In nearly all cases of Monte Carlo Z34 tuning your clutch will start to complain and this needs to be uprated - read our tips on clutches for more information. The best mods that we recommend for your Monte Carlo Z34 are fast road camshaft, remap, induction and exhaust, suspensionNASP engines do not achieve big power gains if you remap them, unless you have done extensive modifications. With turbocharged engines this is another story. A remapped turbo will give massive power gains and take full advantage of the strength of the block. The most impressive power gains for NASP engines usually involve the addition of forced induction. It is usually simpler to bolt on a supercharger than it is to get a turbo working. It is harder to map a turbo as the boost comes on exponentially with engine speed.

The nice proportional boost and rpm characteristics of the supercharger make them easier to map. Decreasing the engines compression ratio will allow you to add forced induction, water injection may also help prevent detonation.

Alloy wheel upgrades.

The benefits of alloys include lowering your unsprung weight and better brake cooling. If you are serious about performance then you will need to carefully choose your tyres - ideally with a directional tread pattern tyre. We'd like to point out although they can look cool on the Monte Carlo Z34 big alloys will actually decrease your performance. The larger you go the lower your acceleration will be - this to the change in your effective final drive ratio.

With this in mind we would advise sticking to a maximum wheel size of 16 inches, although we know some of our members have with bigger wheels with no problems.

We need your help improving this article, so please send us your feedback in the comments box below and pass on any tips, points or facts we have wrong or have not covered.

We really do love seeing our visitors car projects and which mods work best for them, this site is very much a community effort, and we remind our visitors of our non profit non commercial approach to running this site.

All of your comments are used to improve the accuracy of these articles which are continually revised, tweaked and updated.

This article is flagged for an update, so please pass on specific tips below that I can include. All articles, and content was written by me, Waynne Smith TorqueCars founder. Some outlines are just too general so I appreciate your feedback and suggestions. This entry was filed under Chevrolet. You can leave a response below or join our forum to discuss this article and car modification in detail with our members.

If you liked this page please share it with your friends, drop a link to it in your favourite forum or use the bookmarking options to save it to your social media profile.

Please watch this video and subscribe to my YouTube channel.