recommended mod route? - 4th F-Body

safemode · July 22nd, 2010, 03:13 AM

I've had a third gen camaro for a while and right now its sitting pretty due to a major rust problem. While that's on my project back burner (used to by my daily driver), I am getting a 01 Z28 auto camaro.

It's completely bone stock and extremely clean.

My experience is with a crappy L03, not the motor and generation of the car I'm getting in a couple days. My current plan is to drop the SLP intake kit in it (roughly 300 bucks) and then go with a new exhaust system. New exhaust I expect to be around 900 bucks (headers back ...uncoated or 1100 or so coated).

My question is: Is this a good route and what would be the step after that ?

secondly, obviously to get the most of the new intake and exhaust (assuming i get headers too) I would need a reprogram. Would it be better to get a tool and punch in the yes's and no's and do that or find someone (if possible) to tune it at the shop ? I know the tool is like 300'ish, but i dont know how much a shop would charge. Would not getting the tune lead to a loss of power over stock ?

As for the exhaust, everyone seems to be in agreement than true duals is what to get if you can afford it. How is the clearance with 2.5 or 3" pipes where the stock is apparently some flattened tube? Do you scrape speed bumps if you dont go on an angle at 1mph? Will long tube headers go much lower than stock clearance or is that up to the Y?

I know, lots of questions and all, but i didn't want to post a bunch of threads. The roads up here in the NE PA suck all hell, and my third gen is low (i can touch the road while sitting in the seat with the door open) and i scrape my exhaust on all kinds of crap. ... I'm just looking to avoid that while still having a freer flowing exhaust than stock.

basically, I want to smack around my brother's damn 06 wrx that he insists has a stage 3 turbo that easily beats STI's and has beaten vettes and trans ams from the 4th gen. The L03 obviously aint ever gonna do that.

RrCoX22 · July 22nd, 2010, 03:33 AM

first off welcome!

...secondly, whoa! overload of questions. you can split them up in different forums

The intake and exhaust is a nice start, but when you mention intake do you mean an intake manifold? '01's already have an LS6 which is prime performance for moderately to heavy modded LS1's.

obviously "full exhaust" would be the best choice and as you will gain with just a catback but headers will really let her breath. longtubes and true duals have no issues with clearance BTW (at least stock ride height) otherwise lowering springs will contribute to more cautious driving.

also when all of this is bolted up, get a dyno tune if you're able to as it will cost just about the same as picking up a handheld and more than likely will net you better results.

hopefully some of this helps...

safemode · July 22nd, 2010, 08:27 AM

Yea, by intake i was meaning everything in front of the manifold. Like the SLP cold air kit.

The slp kit costs around 300 and replaces the elbow from the maf to the filter box, the box, the lid and the filter. I'm not sure if there is anything cheaper that does as good of a job seeing as how everyone either gets this kit or utilizes a setup for a special hood (which i dont have).

The only true duals I've seen are 3". I'm wondering if maybe this is a bit unnecessary as it already is splitting the exhaust in two compared to stock. Are there 2.5" kits for true dual setups? I think the 2.5's would flow plenty and give better clearance in case i do decide to drop the car an inch.

RrCoX22 · July 22nd, 2010, 02:34 PM

you're talking about the ram air kit that SLP sells then which can be a pretty large benefit or hazard depending on how you look at it and driving habits...

also most true dual systems are setup in 2.5"

safemode · July 22nd, 2010, 02:42 PM

I'm not sure it would be considered a ram air kit.

SLP ONLINE - COOKIES ARE DISABLED

The gf's parents live in toms river so with any luck i can just buy it there and skip shipping and handling crap.

99Hugger · July 22nd, 2010, 04:14 PM

Sounds more like what it says, cold air induction.

Don't take the term "Ram Air" too literally. As far as I know, there's really no true sealed Ram Air kit out there. Fast Toys and the SLP kit are more like pushing cold air around your lid... better off called Push Air lol. I think I got as close as I could with my Ultra Z Hood in combo with the raised WS6 lower air box. The hood has rubber seals at the outlet the seal around the lid inlet. I also expanded the outlet inside the hood with a dremel.

Yurview · July 22nd, 2010, 09:29 PM

the slp kit and exhaust are a good start as RrCox stated. With only these mods you will not HAVE TO HAVE a dyno tune. You can buy a Programmer to adjust for these mods. the Dynotune will of course be better, but that will cost you between $450-600 depending on who you go to. With only these mods, I do not think it would be cost effective to get a dynotune. but that is MY opinion. A Diablo Sport Programmer will be great, and they double as a Data Logger, which could be useful in the future. HOWEVER, lol, if you can hold out and just get a dynotune if you plan on upgrading the intake or heads, then you may want to wait for those. lol.

True Duals are available in 3", if you are goin to dump the exhaust at the axle, i'd go with 3". If you are wanting to run the exhaust Over the Axle and out the back, then 2.5" will be needed, unless you relocate your pan hard bar. Texas Speed sales a True Dual set up. I have this set up under my car with pacesetter headers. Ground clearance is fine for Daily Driving. Somewhere around 4" of clearance i'd guess. If your car is lowered, people say they have problems is bumps and such. I just lowered my front 1.5" on my car and have not had any issues with scraping, yet. the True Dual exhaust will not hang any lower than what an Off Road Y-Pipe will. As far as headers..... Kooks are some of the best, but expensive. Texas Speed offers a set of headers that are Very Similiar to the Kooks. Pacesetters and Stainlessworks are also good headers.

that SLP kit, supplys air from under your front bumper, via the steel ducting that comes in kit. It requires that you cut a hole directly under the filter. People seem to like these kits. If you do not have an SS hood and lower box, then this kit should help you.

Hope this info helps

99Hugger · July 23rd, 2010, 01:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yurview

that SLP kit, supplys air from under your front bumper, via the steel ducting that comes in kit. It requires that you cut a hole directly under the filter. People seem to like these kits. If you do not have an SS hood and lower box, then this kit should help you.

The lower air box on the SS is the same as the Z/28. The WS6 lower box is different, it raises the lid opening about another inch or so. But the WS6 box won't work with a stock or an SS hood due to lid clearance. Also the SS hood sucks for getting air into the air box. Basically just gets some cool air over top of the motor. Would still get better flow into the lid with Fast Toys or SLP "ram air".

youngrigo aka NVEEOUS · July 23rd, 2010, 12:53 PM

IMO - dont waste your money on that SLP kit.... Buy a lid ($80-90) and do the free mod of cutting the lower part of the air box... Save you around $200 that you can use else where.

safemode · July 23rd, 2010, 01:45 PM

Would long tube headers not be matched performance wise to a non-modded Ls1 engine? Would shorties show better performance across the power band or is the ls1 really restricted by a shorty?

I ask because shorty headers usually cost less (and less to ship). If the diff is basically non-existent, i could save a decent amount of money. I dont plan on doing any real internal engine work or getting forced induction.

If i'm just getting a lid for the intake, are all basically the same or is one better than the other?

RrCoX22 · July 23rd, 2010, 02:18 PM

if you're able to run longtubes and get away with emissions then do that and the peak gains are far superior to shorties... any lid is sufficient as they're all the same except a few have a larger diameter outlet feeding into the MAF

safemode · July 23rd, 2010, 03:11 PM

I guess the question about headers i'm asking is, do you get worse power output than a shorty for lower rpms when using long tubes ? Like if i put shorties on and dynoed the car, would my hp/tq numbers be higher in the <3500rpm range than if i swapped in some long tubes in only looked at the graph < 3500rpm. I'm pretty sure i wont be taking the car into the upper 4000-5000rpm range very often so if i take a hit in the most common rpm range i'll see with long tubes then it's not worth it, regardless of what it does in the fringe upper range.

edit: Or in non-confusion speak: Will long tube headers outperform shorty headers in lower rpms (which is where you are at most of the time in daily driving)?

99Hugger · July 23rd, 2010, 03:42 PM

Long tubes will out perform shorties across the RPM range. Shorties really don't offer all that much gain over the stock manifolds.

youngrigo aka NVEEOUS · July 23rd, 2010, 05:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 99Hugger

Long tubes will out perform shorties across the RPM range. Shorties really don't offer all that much gain over the stock manifolds.

What he said!

ZEEMAN · July 24th, 2010, 09:05 AM

A pair of long tubes on an LS1 and it will seem like a new motor. Trust me!

safemode · July 29th, 2010, 12:10 PM

Is there a reason why the SLP lid is 90 bucks? Is it just the low production numbers or is it more than just plastic lid? Anyone got pictures of the underside?

I'm wondering because if i'm gonna dremel out the the bottom of the air box and make a little air dam myself, why couldn't i just dremel off the baffolds on the underside of the stock air lid? Is the stock air lid too complicated to simply cut it up? I get my car tonight or tomorrow so I dont know what the inside of the stock air intake looks like.

I'm not looking to make a hack job out of this, but if i can dremel out the inside of the stock lid and the slp offers nothing else, i'll do that. Just buy the 50 dollar air filter and spend a couple bucks on piece of sheet metal and get the same performance as the 300 air intake kit from slp.

youngrigo aka NVEEOUS · July 29th, 2010, 12:38 PM

Buy the lid... Its a direct flow to the TB....

safemode · July 29th, 2010, 02:45 PM

That's not the question. I understand it's a direct flow... and by that I'm guessing it's simply a plain lid with a pipe fitting attached to the back for 90 bucks. My question really was what the inside of the stock lid looks like. If it's simple enough, i would much rather just dremel the stock lid so it's got nothing on the underside too. That 90 bucks can then goto something else and nobody would be able to tell the difference.

It looks like i'll be going with pacesetter mid tube headers btw, non-true dual. I can't get a decent answer over how legal going long tube and/or true dual would be here in PA and the cost is just much higher for little gain in the non-heavily modified engine situation. So depending on what the local exhaust shops quote me, I'll go with pacesetter mid tube and have them do the exhaust from the headers back.

youngrigo aka NVEEOUS · July 29th, 2010, 02:56 PM

IF you look at a stock one you will see it has baffels (SP) on the sides and the SLP lid does not...

safemode · July 29th, 2010, 03:11 PM

i know that. which is why i wanted to know if it was easily dremeled off via pictures. 90 bucks is hard to justify if i can spend a bit of time with a dremel and achieve the same thing. I dont get my car delivered to me until tonight or tomorrow (depending on the damn dealer). Otherwise i would look and decide for myself. surprisingly, nobody likes to show the underside of the stock lid anywhere