Hi,
im new to the corvette scene. I have a 94 convert 6 speed. 100% stock. 54k miles. Im looking to add 75-100 hp. Whats the best way to do with without nos? I have about a $2500-3000 budget.
thanks

 

It would take every bit of that money to add that kind of power.

You'd be looking at porting heads, intake, new cam, long tube headers for sure. Then you'll need to computer tweaked.

 

sounds like a good project. thanks for the advice. Maybe i need to save up a bit more.

 

Heads/Cam.

 

Welcome to the Forum
Heads+Cam and headers

 

Long tube headers and a set of free flowing mufflers like Flowmaster, Borla, Magnaflow...port the heads and port match the intake, have the heads flowed and then match the camshaft to the flow numbers and swap the valve springs to match the new cam profile, consider roller rockers, get a new tune on your computer, consider an effective cold air kit. These items alone should get you where you want to be. You might consider a thinner headgasket for a slight compression enhancement but the gain will be pretty small.

You could save some money by purchasing the headers, mufflers, cold air kit used, you could also buy roller rockers used but I would want to see them and check them out before you do to make sure they are still smooth operating. If you find someone who is taking off a set of heads and they are upgrading to something larger you might get a smokin deal on a used set of factory ported heads that would bolt right on...and if the person you are buying them from is going with bigger heads you could potentially buy the matched camshaft and save even more money. The opportunities for getting 75 to 100 horsepower grow dramatically when you consider buying used stuff.

If you want to be successful at getting decent buys on good used stuff make it "VERY WELL KNOWN" what you are looking for and you have the cash ready to buy and I think you will be shocked at the number of people who will try to help you.

Happy Hot Rodding!

 

My heads and cam ended up being about 5k (although I did a bunch of other stuff at the same time).

I know your post states "without nos", but by far, N20 is the cheapest bang for the buck (if you don't mind re-filling bottles).

It can be a safe and reliable power adder without going into the engine.

 

Welcome to the addiction!!! with the above... the most conventional way to add that kind of power is thru heads\cam\intake\exhaust... but don't overlook forced induction. A good supercharger and a good tune can add up to those numbers

 

I got my heads and cam done and some small things on a 5000 budget. Then I did LT headers and custom exhaust for another 1800. That will give you 100 hp, but even wrenching yourself you'll have a hard time doing it for 3 grand.

 

A set of 4.10 gears will make it feel like you gained 100 HP. Less $$, no tuning issues.

 

What size headers should he look at?

 

Good ???

 

If someone was to have a good shop do a head/cam swap on an LT1, what can be the expected number of hours charged for labor?

 

heads/cam/headers and a tune will do it

 

I would just juice it and pick your power.

 

Since he's planning to be around 400chp, I would opt for 1 3/4" tubes

 

God please lets not start this one again

 

I think you are going to need a bit more than 3 grand ..

 

$5k is more like it.......to account for all the "better do this, then that, while i'm at it".

general rule of thumb is always double the initial estimate. this usually puts lumps in many throats

 

Cam, headers, and a tuner program