Excessv

Ok so I would like to get my 02 in the 450 to 500 WHP range heck I would go as far as 600 but I think the cost would get crazy over 500. I sold my 530 WHP Cobra for my Z thinking I would get the Z to that range someday.
My question is what is the best way to attack this goal? I'm trying to plan out the parts and expense before I start ordering anything. I think I want to do bolt on's as apposed to a big engine build. I would like to keep the reliability of the stock motor,.
So if I wanted to supercharge it what would the other supporting mods be for the motor?
This is not an over night build but I want to have a plan to this build so I do it once and do it right.
I just ordered new valve springs and went with the PAC 1218 these should work for the range I want to get to.
At the end of the day I don't want it to sound like a race car, I just want it to have the power and all around ability of a modern Corvette.

Hitman227

I don't understand, what's your question?

Excessv

I'm looking for a reliable way to build good clean power with out pushing the engine, would like to stay away from cam and internals if possible. But I'm new to the LS world and am not sure what is a must / not sure the weak points that need correcting first.
I love the sound of a good cam but want to be able to daily this car if I wanted to with out being driven crazy. My last car was awesome but if you went on a long trip it required ear plugs...

fisher auto

Whats the budget? That will tell us a lot!

Excessv

Don't really have one but not looking to do a $10,000 build either. I figure I will buy the parts one by one and install all at once.
I would guess starting place is X-pipe and headers as well as CAI. Bottom line trying to design a good blue print to stick too so the road doesn't get too many forks in it. My last car was a good learning curve for a build
I have learned that pre-loved parts can save a lot of $$$ so I'm not opposed to that either.
I have a lot to learn about these cars and this group seem to have many good ideas and sources for the build, that is the only reason I'm asking.

appliance guy

For reference I just installed CAI, LT's, PP& MILLED heads, Stage 3 cam. Other normal parts plugs, wires, fuilds, gaskets, bolts, etc. I have 5k in parts. ..haven't had a tune yet...another $400...not sure what power level I'll be at hoping 450 min.

NosLaser

The only way you'll get near that power with "staying away from a cam and internals" is with forced induction. Supercharger, or nitrous.

Don't forget, your last "learning curve" car was supercharged, so it is a whole different animal dealing with a car that starts off boosted.

You can hit 450-480rwhp with an aggressive cam, and some ported AFR's (as well as supporting mods) on motor, or you could go the supercharger route and hit that (and higher with relative ease) with just long tube headers and a good tune/proper fuel mods.

2001YellowZ

Fastest way to hit that is LTs, a good CAI, and an A&A supercharger with supporting mods. That will get you 500hp easily. The charger alone will give you 100+ to the tires. I'd ask one of the vendors on here about a SC kit and tell them your hp goal and they would give you the details on what all was needed and a good estaamite for how much $$$ you'll spend.

bikeriderga

Go here and look at these components. That should give you an idea of what costs to expect.

If you decide to let these guys do the mods for you, you will not be sorry!

http://vengeanceracing.net/packages-c5z06.html

zeevette

You don't need a wild cam to achieve your goal of 450+RWHP, but it'll cost you almost as much as a SC kit, depending on how much of your own wrenching you plan on. I made 483/432RW with really good TF heads, and a fairly small 228-232/112 cam. 6* overlap, so it did stink a bit. All the bolt-ons, such as EWP, %25 UDP, and importantly, a ported FAST90 combo. Ended up SC'ing it anyway, and sold most of the bolt-ons, but kept the heads. Plan for clutch, trans brace, and sticky tires.

danziger

Figure out your end goal for the car and work backwards from that point. You will save a lot of money and frustration that way.

It's not cheap, but a 416 stroker would be my choice for your goals.

Stroker87

i built 2 z06's both made good power and the dyno's was about the same my current car was just on the dyno and put down 456rwhp 401rwtq but its a heads & cam cars that i daily drive with no problems and drive like stock last car made 449rwhp & 391rwtq pretty much the same setup just different cams, i consider both to be a mild build cams are not really big and was done with off the shelf parts (kind of)

MOD LIST
PRC 2.5 ported 243's 650 lift dual springs
poerted fast 92mm & ported ls2 TB
Brian Tooley Stage 2 N/A ls6 cam
TSP long tubes & ORX
RPM c6z diff updrages & 3.73
RPM level 5 trans
monster stage 2 clutch
B&B exhaust
powerbond 25% underdrive pulley
vararam ramair & power duct
comp cam trunion
tuned

car is not loud when its idling or putting around but when i hit the peddle it draws attention, no problems in traffic with the a/c on, no hunting idle, not much shake & mild lope

my biggest thing when i was building it was it had to be reliable for a daily driver, not be embarrassing for my wife when we are out together from a loud shaking car sounding like it wants to die out lol, a few weeks ago it ran 11.2 @ 122mph back to back and im pretty sure it can do better i just need more seat time

to get higher HP you need to have some one really spec out the whole build right down to the head gaskets used and buy the best of the best parts wise witch is going to probably double the cost to pickup 20 to 30 extra HP from where i'm at for me it just was not worth it for a few 10ths, you also need to remember that cobra was probably 400+ pound heavier then the z so your not going to need as much to go faster then that car

Excessv

I'm trying to weigh out the cost diff to do a similar setup vs just adding a supercharger and calling it a day. Stroker87 your setup is exactly what I would be wanting to do. Want the power but the wife has to be able to ride with me without loosing her hearing

JLayer

Used S/C kit is probably the same amount or even lower then a H/C/I setup. I paid $3500 for a used Novi 2000 kit. Other odd and ends parts maybe another $1k. It took me a weekend to install and after tune 580/522 @ 9psi. This has been on the car for about 3 years and the car still runs great. The only thing internally I did was adding PAC springs.

Other supporting mods I added was LT's, racetronix harness, walbro 255, KB boostapump, and a new balancer.

In my opinion...go with the S/C.

nullpointer

I've done both, and would pick the supercharger right from the start if I had to do it again.

Ported heads + cam + fast + exhaust = 463 rwhp

Ported heads + cam + exhaust + blower = 754 rwhp

Now this won't be representative of what you will get, but even at 550 rwhp with a blower and headers you will be better off than heads/cam/intake.

Also some shops will give you a much better deal on blower kits than advertised, call Matt @ FSP and pull the trigger

John_B

Why would you suggest a "good CAI" and then a supercharger? Supercharger replaces the intake...

Stroker87

my wife played a big part of me picking the cam and exhaust, she with me a lot and if the car was loud, obnoxious and had a lot of drone it would be parked when we are together, i built a hot rod truck big cam loud exhaust it was cool on cruise night but was embarrassing if we pulled up to a nice place for dinner it sat more then any thing in 11 year of owning it i put maybe 5k miles on it the lope got old quick and the exhaust gave me a headache on long dives lol

these LSx engine are pretty easy to work on and get power out of them and still be reliable, i looked recently at the cost of a supercharger kit all said and done your in the $8,000 range, if you do the install you can your heads ported for around $800, cam package for another $800 and intake for about $900 then tune cost $500 so that around $3,000 your take off parts if you sold them probably worth $1,000 or so (ls6 intake $350, 243 heads $500/$600 & $150 for the cam push rods) so in the end you'd be about $2,000

superchargers make more power witch mean more upgrades "if" you plan on really driving the car hard like upgraded diff, clutch & trans so your looking at $6,000+ for those! then you run into the problem you need more tire so then its flared fender time so you can fit wider rims lol (i like the wide fenders though) another thing that turned me off on a supercharger was seams like some one is always posting something about a belt, pulley or tensioner problem from guys that really get on there cars (like i do) so once you work the kinks out and the drivetrain upgrades your well over $15,000 for a car done right that can handle 550+ rwhp plus how ever long it takes you to work out the kinks should any come up but once that is all done you have a really bad@zz car

2003Evo

Honestly save the headache and just go with a sc kit. The kit comes with all the supporting mods and it will cost you $6k. Its simple, clean and easy to swap the car back to stock. Opening up the engine to do cam, heads, and other supporting mods internally is time consuming, it will never be the same and most of the time never goes as expected. SC kit, LTs and a tune will put you near 600whp which is plenty for a car of this caliber. You will have great drivability and yet plenty of power. If you want to do it the cheaper route, do the basic bolt ons, slap a 100-150 shot and then you will be in 500-550 whp range.
Seeing you have a healthy budget, you have more than enough for SC kit and more if needed (clutch, tires..etc)

jonnyc

you say you want 500 rwhp and feel like a stock car?

to do that n/a will take alot of money.you have to keep the cam small to make it feel like stock so all the other parts have to work perfect together.heads to do that alone will be in the $3500-$4000 range.contact Tony Mamo and talk to him on what it will take.he's made 500rwhp on a 224 cam with him worked afr heads and ported fast intake monifold.

supercharger will be a few grand cheaper but the problem with them is they create alot of heat when you make a pull.and the more back-back pulls you do your cooling system for the supercharger won't be able to keep up,it needs time to recover after a pull.you can fix that issue with a meth kit though but the you have to keep filling the bottle.

if you're good with 450rwhp and having the feel of close to stock,.that's much easier to do n/a and the cost would be quite a bit cheaper.that extra 50hp can be expensive.

dork

I, too, wanted complete 'factory-reliability' from the engine mods; another separate consideration for me was that there is no one local (within 175 miles) who even offers Corvette service aside from dealerships. There are only 3 speed shops within 500 miles of me.

They are so far away I dreaded choosing one of them because it would require my blind faith in a remote engine builder's correct assembly AND tune of compatible components. If he got it wrong just a little bit, the "come back, we'll fix it" would require a minimum 350 mile commute. There were just too many "help me" stories on the forum (for me) to embrace the idea of H/C/I.

After a LOT of reading and posing questions, a congregation of guys helped me with their suggestions and advice to a decision--I went with a Callawy Honker CAI, LT headers, lightweight flywheel, 4.10 gears, and a Chuck CoW tune. I had the gears installed with a clutch replacement so the drivetrain labor was only a one-time expense. After much consideration I committed to the lightweight flywheel, too, and I think that's been a BIG influence towards throttle response.

I'm also in the middle of a Chuck CoW tune--I chose it because it's convenient, my reading led me to believe that the successive tuning increments would allow him to progressively modify the tune so that he could see that each incremental tune was accomplishing what it should without hurting the engine on a full-out 3-pull 6000rpm dyno test. (There are just too many YouTubes of full-pull dyno failures for my stomach.)

This may be pipe-dreaming, but I think the car's capable of mid-11's to .7's; experienced drag drivers post ~11.3's with comparable mods and MT's for the track. For my needs--especially the factory-engine-reliability requirement--I think the 4.10s were the best choice for me.