Hey everyone....here is my situation. I am looking to put some performance mods on my 96 Z28 (6 speed). My budget is $1,000.00 I spent about 40 minutes or so researching the forums on LT1's, but I haven't really cleared up what direction to go. The only mods to the car are ; K&N filter and SLP 1 loudmouth exhaust.
I'm just not sure which direction to take to make it go faster. Any suggestions are much appreciated.

 

I'm assuming your car is bone stock. besides K&N intake and SLP exhaust, What gears do you have? 3.23's or 3.42'S UPGRADE to 3.73's or 4.10's your choice., long tube headers., possible cam too there are many to choose from depending on the upgrade you want, but that would be a lil more than half of your budget and over it with tuning for the PCM depending to on where you take it. i'd ask (craby or wammer),

 

headers long tubes and a y pipe without cats and a sick tune is a good thing, if you dont have to pass emissions then you can dump the cats, and like ss said gears will get you alot of grunt, but they dont improve hp but is also a good option

 

first do u have a k&n filter or k&n cai? u want the cai. next how old is the opti in the car? if its old i would consider saving some for future maintenance. r ur plug wires good? how about the plugs? make sure u have all the "have to do" things done before doing "the want to do" things. good oil, brakes, tires, u know stuff like that. anyways cai would be first, lt headers and y pipe. kooks are considered the best and u pay for it. the guys on here say the pacesetters are a good one for fit and spark plug accessibility. if there is such a thing on these cars. now if u have enough left, get it tuned at a good place like pcmforless.

 

another header i would add to the list is the LPP stainless headers...very nice fit and stainless steel just like kooks. wish i had them on my car!

 

thanks everyone for the replies. I don't know what the gear ratio in the back is. I haven't changed it. So I'm assuming its 3:23 ?

If I do the headers I was planning on putting new plugs and plugwires in.

My friend and I just replaced the rear brake pads and I put a new rotor on the rear passenger drum.

The K&N is just a drop in filter.

What does everyone think about doing a CAI, a Throttle body ? (52MM or 58MM?) and a Mass airflow sensor ?

 

what are you running on that new motor? Do you have long tubes?


and to the OP

+1 on what craby said. Take some of that cash and put on new wires and plugs.

long tube headers are a good choice but be prepared to get frustrated but with patience, they go in and are worth it.

As for a tune, I won't mention the company because they don't sponsor here but I suggest someone who can data log for you and build a tune specific for your car.

Or, you could spend a bunch and get a dyno tune but for a bolt on car, it's not really worth it

 

CAI- yes


allow me to elaborate. The questions you ask are not just LT1 specific but are basic questions. If you look at the stock LT1 and decide that you want to increase the intake of air, it should be a natural next step to realize that if you are "inhaling" more, then you need to be able to "exhale". So, would just a CAI gove you some improvement, yes. Would you get more with a CAI and free flowing exhaust, yes. What about those stock exhaust manifolds, do they look restrictive to you? Well they are. The engine is 350 CID and with a restrictive exhaust manifold that is why you see such good gains when long tubes are installed. On the Mustangs with 281 CID and better exhaust manifolds you don't get as much increase from long tubes so it comes down to looking at what you have.

Next, you then have LT's, off road Y pipe and free flowing cat back and a CAI. Does that mean you can suck more air into the car than the stock TB and MAF allow? Probably not. The next step would then be to have a tune done and see where you are. Then if you still need more is when it gets expensive because with heads and cam come the ability to "inhale" more and thus you will need a bigger "gulp". And, since you can "inhale" more, unless you also get more fuel, you will run lean (very very bad on the motor)

so, that means the bigger inhale will require throttle body and intake manifold mods (beyond the heads and cam) and the need for more fuel requires larger injectors and fuel pump.

Do you see how one affects the other? That is not LT1 specific.

Throttle body- don't waste your money unless you are porting heads and changing cam

MAF- see above

 

Thanks torque_is_good for the information. That makes a lot of sense.

So it sounds like Long tubes, off road Y pipe, and a Cold air intake are the next best mods for the car.

I saw that Whammer said these are good headers......are these the ones Whammer is refferring to ?

http://lpparts.com/store/page6.html

Since they are stainless steel, do they need to be coated ? how long can you expect them to last ?

I have never had headers so I really don't know much about them.

Can anyone recommend a good cold air intake ? I was thinking of the SLP intake....off of LMPerformance.

http://www.lmperformance.com/1637/2.html

 

stainless steel does not need to be coated. and yes those are the ones i was referring to...great header for the money!

SLP is the best looking CAI available for our cars in my opinion. moroso, k&n, and lingenfelter all make quality ones as well. combine the SLP with a trickflow powdercoated elbow and YUM.

and torque, i have long tube pacesetters on my car


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