[baron_iv]

Guys (and girls), I went to the dealership today, and I will most likely be taking delivery of a brand spanking new GTO tomorrow or Saturday. I'm sooooooo excited!
Currently, I drive a supercharged 2003 Explorer Sport Trac, which is pretty fast...for a truck. For the explorers, the #1 thing to buy is a performance tuner (we used SCT, but I think diablo is more friendly to the GTOs). Is the case the same with the GTO? What is the FIRST thing I should buy for performance?
Please don't say "supercharger"...I WILL be adding one, but not right away. I want to break the motor in a bit before jumping in and adding a couple hundred horses. I'm looking for the most "bang for my buck" here.
Another thing...what in the world is up with the 1-4 shifting thing at part throttle??? I keep hearing about it, and I've heard that pulling a fuse allows me to disable it, so which fuse do I need to pull when I leave the dealer's lot? I want to be able to shift through my gears properly...after all, that's why I got the 6-speed instead of an automatic!
I'd like to be an active member of this community, just like I am over at the sport trac community. I'm really going to be bummed out not having much in common with the guys over there at the 'trac site, and not hearing from them as much, but hopefully I'll find the same camaraderie here at the GTO forums.
Every new vehicle is a learning experience and I do enjoy learning, so any great posts that are worth reading, or any good tech articles that should be read, please pass 'em along to me.
Up until the sport trac, I had never owned a vehicle with fewer than 300 horsepower. I've had a long line of Trans Ams, Camaros and Mustang Cobras (wait...that's a bad word here isn't it?), and I really missed the performance aspect when I bought the truck. Slapping a supercharger on a vehicle with only 170 rear-wheel horsepower, turning it into a 300+ horsepower beast is a pretty impressive transformation. Lots of fun and lots of challenges. It'll be nice to have something quick from the factory, which I can improve upon and have a truly FAST car.
So, any tips, tricks, documents, or anything else that you guys can provide will be greatly appreciated by a new GTO owner. By the way, it's YELLOW (this is my THIRD yellow vehicle haha). Don't flame me too much for the yellow though, I kinda enjoy standing out.
Have a nice evening everyone.
-Scott

 

[EEZ GOAT]

get back mike iam first lol. well dude the most we do first is get a CAI of some kind and a new cat back. good luck

 

[baron_iv]

Cool, those were high on my list. I was just wondering if a tuner was more beneficial to get FIRST or after a few other mods. With most of my other cars, I haven't had the stock exhaust or air filter/intake on there for more than a day anyway. The poor sport trac didn't even make it 2 hours with the stock exhaust. haha

 

[EEZ GOAT]

use the search bar to find boo coo info on stuff like tires, catbacks, CAI, mods, u name we talked about it. welcome to the club and hope u enjoy. post some pics when u get here

 

[EEZ GOAT]

from what we here they dont or have not yet release the programmer for the 05's

 

[EEZ GOAT]

btw lock up skip shifter and it tells you how to bypass the fuse and how much it cost$30 maybe

 

[baron_iv]

ah, ok. I have a lot of reading to do on what IS and ISN'T available yet.

 

[EEZ GOAT]

we also have a sound data base to check out how a 05 or 04 goat will sound with differnt exaust http://www.gtoforum.com/showthread.php?t=3564&highlight=exhaust

 

[baron_iv]

Thanks guys.
So you can't just pull a fuse and be done with the shift issue? That's nearly enough to make me get the automatic! So many choices, so little time!
Tonight is going to be a LOOOONG night since I go over there tomorrow to finalize everything.
It's been a while since I've driven a manual transmission vehicle and I'm actually looking forward to it quite a bit, but I am NOT looking forward to that screwy 1-4 shift. What in the hell was Pontiac THINKING?!?

 

[GGTTOO]

If you do not drive like a granny you will not hit the 1-4 shift issue. No seriously there are several picktail products out there, just do a search. One that comes to mind is SLP.

Welcome.

 

[baron_iv]

LOL, I love your icon GGTTOO, do they make a sticker like that?
I doubt I'll be doing much granny driving, but there are times in traffic where it would be a lot more fun to go 1, 2, 3, 4 like a normal vehicle instead of being stuck 1-4.
Those of you who have automatics, if you had it do to over again, would you get a manual? (and vice versa)

 

[05GTO]

Hello Scott, welcome to the forum and enjoy the new GTO.

 

[GGTTOO]

Yes they make a decal like that...http://www.decaldriveway.com/searchProduct.asp?Search=Pontiac

 

[rippinbyu]

Welcome! :cheers

These are a must:

Lingfelter Cold Air Intake

Corsa

 

[GGTTOO]

Man I checked the price of the Lingfelter CAI for the '04 compared to the '05...the '04 is $100 more. I can not figure out why...does anyone know what would make it soooo much higher? This is the only reason I have not purchased it.

 

[Chimazo]

Baron,
From what I have read, a cat back exhaust for the '05's (compared to the '04) is not worth the $700-900 for maybe 5hp. The '05's have pretty decent 2.5" pipes. Headers are a better bang for the buck, apparently, along with the previously mentioned CAI.

 

[baron_iv]

I will have to get them sooner or later though, the supercharger will probably require a bit better exhaust than factory. Of course the supercharger is a ways away still. I think the first thing to go on will be a CAI next week...or maybe even later today if I can find one. haha
Thanks for the suggestions. I'll post pics when I get the car.
-Scott

 

[C5ORGTO]

The 1-4 Skip shift isn't that big of deal, and it can be disabled for about 20 bucks. If you are at least 20% throttle it won't interfere.

 

[dealernut]

The skip shift bypass is EXTREMELY simple. I personally would reccomend a Manual over an auto. Even though the automatics are faster, the manual is more fun.

I personally would reccomend a CAI and a good tune for the car, once it is broken in properly.

 

[baron_iv]

I went for my first drive in the GTO today, once I mashed on the pedal, there was NO WAY I could NOT buy it!!

Wow! I go over to sign the papers at 6pm tonight. This GTO makes my old Trans Ams feel SLOW and they were pretty heavily built (cam, pistons, exhaust, cai, tune, etc). This is going to be the start of a beautiful relationship! Hopefully it's not a relationship with my local highway patrolman though. I was cruising up the highway and I looked down to see I was doing 85! lol
Now I'm more excited than ever to get it. I had ridden in GTOs before, but never actually driven one. I didn't even get the chance to go all-out balls-to-the-wall fast because the dealership girl looked kinda scared anyway. She was by FAR the hottest car salesman I've ever seen too, which makes it even MORE exciting to go over there!
Do you guys know of any good tuners in Missouri or the surrounding states? Most of the tuners I know right now are accustomed to tuning Fords. There's 2 mustang shops in St. Louis, but I don't know of any GM-based places. If you all know anyone, I'd really appreciate it if you could point me to their website. This thing is going to be a beast with a good tune. :willy:
Thanks for all the help and tips so far.
--Scott