I'm more used to working on cars before computer chips and such. I just picked up a 93 z28 and am trying to give it a little more power. Any ideas what I can do relatively easily without breaking the bank? I'm thinking putting ram air hood and intake and maybe headers but not sure what good set of headers/exhaust I should use. Maybe anything else other than exhaust and intake I could do?

Someone has already put 3 inch cat-back exhaust on the car but bone stock other than that.

 

Start with a Moroso or K&N cold air intake (either can be found used on eBay for $60~ and pick up a filter recharge kit too). Then install some Pacesetter long tubes and get a mail order tune. You could also do a throttle body bypass for a few extra HP.

 

Im not sure what to do as far as the mail order tune or tb bypass, can't say I know much about tuning these cars. As far as the cold air intake do you think it would be better to go with the K&N that goes down toward where the stock filter housing is or ram air hood and intake? I feel like the ram air would be better but not sure. Do you think I should replace the cat with something a little better or would stock do? I'm not looking for crazy hp just something to have a little more fun in. Maybe like 350hp?

 

The ram air box that goes with the SS hood is more restrictive than the stock Z28 air box and is subject to heat soak being that it sits right on top of the intake manifold. In addition to that, there's a huge debate surrounding ram air and whether or not it actually does anything. The Moroso and K&N are pretty good for what they are.

Full bolt-ons and a tune will get you to 340+ at the flywheel (e.g. CAI, long tube headers w/o cats, and an aftermarket exhaust that you already have). The throttle body bypass is just a matter of unplugging the 2 coolant hoses that feed into the throttle body and plugging them together with a fitting and some hose clamps. It's good for a few HP.

 

I would not have guessed that about the ram air but I can def see the prob with it being right on top the engine. Plus I'm a big fan of K&N and I have already been looking into their intake kit.

Where would be a good place to get a tune done? I'm pretty sure there's nowhere local where I'm at that would be able to do... at least nowhere that I really trust to do a good job. Also are there any other bolt-ons I should be looking into other than what we've already mentioned?

I'm considering possibly putting a rear mount turbo on at some point in the future but not so sure about that so far. Any opinions on that?

 

I'd just pick up a used CAI and get a recharge for the filter rather than pay $200+ for some plastic.

Most people get mail order tunes for bolt on cars because the timing is unchanged. The only thing that needs to be altered is A/F trims from better flowing intake + exhaust and an optional emissions delete. There are other little mods (like an airfoil) but they don't account for much for their price. CAI, headers, cat delete, and catback is pretty much it.

I've seen a few rear mount turbo setups around. Check this out: Rear Mounted Squire Turbo System - Tech Article - Chevy High Performance Magazine

 

imho best tuner i have found yet is solomon. here, LT1 PCM Tuning - OBDI/OBDII PCM Tuning/Programming Service you can pick up up to 25 hp with a tune on a stock motor.
slp is the best cai for the lt1 4th gen. k&n or moroso are very very close to as good. get stainless headers and have them jet hot coated if you can afford it. the tb bypass really doesnt do much, if you live where its cold you may want to leave it hooked up. at least if you drive when it cold. the suspension is another thing on these that can improve greatly with some quality parts.

 

The coldest it ever gets here is maybe 10 degrees some winters but that's rare.
If I leave the cat on is it really gonna hurt my performance that much? State inspection requires me to keep it on so would it hurt anything to just gut my current one if I have to keep it or should I just leave it alone?

 

if its working good then leave it.

 

Ok thats what I figured. It will prob be a little before I get to do anything to it. I have to take the transmission back out since everything didn't line up the first time I put it in.