Podium

Hey guys. Im going to buy a c5 z06 (not sure what year yet but it will be black) and Im not sure which way I want to go. I sold my camaro but I kept the trickflows and FAST intake. The combo made 480/430. It was very quick but the gas mileage was horrible(had a 235/242 cam). I was averaging 11 mpg. It was also on e85. MPGs are important to me and I know Vettes get great mpgs. Here is my my problem. I get another cam (230ish)with the trickflows and lsxr. Or, I sell the trickflows, lsxr 102 and get a A&A supercharger. Money isnt a problem, just wondering what would be best for me.

The supercharger appeals because it leaves alot of room to grow and guys are reporting high mpgs when driving it nicely around town and the freeway. Head and cam I would be stuck at that power unless I did nitrous.

I also drive my cars all summer. Maybe 4-5k miles every year. Would a supercharger get annoying for a dd?

At least I have the headers, x pipe and mufflers picked out since both setups would use the same.


Basically here are my goals

Mid 20s highway, enjoy driving everyday

The way I see it

H/c/i Pros
Already have parts
easy to work on

H/C/I Cons
Power is limited unless go stroker
Have to tear engine apart(not a big deal)


A&A Pros
Great track record
More power on low boost than H/C/I
Can up the boost and make more power in the future
Stock or smaller blower cam for great drivability

A&A cons
Hard to work certain parts once supercharger is installed
BOV is annoying to me (an you get a quiet one?)
Not sure if I want to live with the whine everytime I drive it.

THat may be my longest first post ever

bikeriderga

I would say it depends upon where you want the power.

Supercharger will definitely produce the most overall power, but will not really kick in until 3 - 3.5 RPMs. Will not notice much difference in daily drivability until those RPMs build. Once you stomp the peddle at hits 3.5 RPMs you better have it pointed where you want it to go. Almost no difference in drivability until the SC spins up.

Downsides to the SC are (1) Engine Heat (2) Stress on the drive train, especially clutch, trans and rear end. A little hard on the valve train as well. With a good tune, the engine should be fine, but better include a clutch minimum in the price. Will notice little off idle, torque will not come on until the hit the SC range.

Naturally aspirated will give you power right off idle. Depending upon cam profile, you should start seeing hard pulls at 2500 RPMs on. Not as much overall power, but the torque comes on at much lower RPMS (again, depends upon cam profile). Should be easier on the drivetrain, since you are not sending as much to the wheels. Clutch however will need to be replaced with a full HCI change. More overall range of power (again, depends upon cam profile). Should produce less heat than SCed engine, if tuned right.

Downsides? Not as much power as the SC overall. Cost may be a little more than a SC. Will not feel that holy crap punch when that SC starts spinning up.

Hope that helps.

Supercharged111

What about both? Or just heads, intake, and blower?

95wht6spd

I have H/C on one and SC/cam on Z, for what you want, sell the H/I to offset cost of SC, unless you want 700whp+. With the Z V8 engine, low rpm power is not lacking, I think it is good the centri doesnt hit off idle, it is hard enough as is to control wheel spin. I get 25-27 highway MPG, drives like stock until you don't want it too. You can get quieter BOVs, and add filters.

skyavonee

+1

Centri supercharger seems like the obvious choice for the OP. The C5Z is light and has fairly aggressive gearing, so there just is no need for excessive torque below 3k rpm. And if low-rpm trunk-pulling torque is one's goal, the best way to achieve that is with a stroker or positive displacement blower - not a H/C/I 346ci.

The dyno chart on A&A's website for C5Z with headers and their supercharger kit shows ~370 ft-lbs at 3k rpm, increasing linearly to ~470 ft-lbs at 5k rpm. I have no doubt it pulls HARD, and just keeps pulling until redline.

Nitrous Express & Snow Performance

If you decide on the H/C route id be happy to set you up with a nitrous kit. Give you that extra power when you want/need it.

Podium

I thought about nitrous but I think Im going to go the supercharger route. Ill do a small blower cam and the A&A kit. Im going to keep the stock gearing and agree on not needing the low end.

Now I just need to find the car.

NosLaser

I would never deter anyone from taking a path they are excited about, and believe me, the A&A Supercharger kit is bad ***.

I did want to quickly illustrate however, some power differences, and also to add a bit of credence to what another poster said about where you want the power to occur. If you are after torque, my lowly '01 (the year down 20hp) made 533 torque at the wheels with just headers and a vararam with a nitrous outlet 78mm plate kit jetted for a very conservative 100hp. It made over 500 wheel torque from 3K rpm all the way to 5K rpm. And this was with stock heads and a stock cam.

I can't wait to see what it does with my FTI Streetsweeper HT.

95wht6spd

Well you just described my car, and it is for sale in For Sale section, what luck!

zeevette

There's lots of Zs out there that're already modified, and most of them sell for the same as an un-modded one. Imagine... a car with maybe $20k+ for the same money as a stock one. No, mine's not for sale.

Podium

Very nice car! More than I want to spend and its not black though

zeevette

You might want to re-think your car budget, when you consider the cost of modding. Just sayin'.

Podium

No need. I've been building cars for a long time. I know how much my end goal will cost. I was referring to the cost of the car that was mentioned, more than I want to spend to get into a z06. I'd honestly like to start with a stock one but I wouldn't pass up a great deal.

Kins13y

My heads/cam Z06 doesn't get great mileage and I haven't jumped to E85. I absolutely love it. My car forced my hand a little bit, the heads had to come off at a point and I broke a valve spring. Because of those two things the car ended up heads/cam. I have no regrets but if I had a stock Z again and was going to do it over without having the failures that led in that direction I would A&A it. I want to A&A it now anyway but the money isn't there at the moment.

zeevette

Yeah, he's asking at the high end, and doesn't really NEED to sell, but even at that price, you'd be getting alot of stuff already done. I don't think you can replicate his results for the same money. There are lots of variables, not least of which, your preferences and goals for the car. GL!

furious427

Well I just did headers, off road xpipe, camshaft, varraram, prc stage 1 heads, varraram intake, new clutch, and a tune and I am at 440rwhp. I'm into it for about $4000 and I am happy with the results, car has a lot of torque now and revs to the moon.

zeevette

That must be all DIY, and some used parts. Same way I did it at first.

furious427

Yes I did everything myself except for the tune. All brand new stuff, nothing was used.

zeevette

You're a good shopper. I kinda went nuts on the heads, but almost everything was used. I ended up at 483/432 on a D-jet. (before SC)

furious427

Actually I might be slightly over the $4000 I stated. 1200 for headers and xpipe, 750 for clutch kit, 250 vararam, 1200 for the heads, 850 for the cam kit witch came with all the valve train stuff neccasary, 350 for the tune, and probably like 300 on gaskets/misc crap. That's 4900 and I sold my stock heads for $525 so I got about $4375 in the build, and I might be forgetting something.