i finally have a few dollars to put into my 87, and i would like YOUR thoughts on where to put it.

this is a stock 87 with a ATI d1 procharger and inter cooler.

the three things i have been thinking about are long tubes, a super ram, or change to a dana 44.

i can only afford just one mod right now, so has any body got any thoughts on this?

 

nobody has any thoughts on which to put on first?

 

Dude, some of us have day jobs and can't respond within 5 seconds.

Long tubes will help alot on the supercharged engine, but you'll want to upgrade the catback as well.

Superrams are nice for the upper rpm's to really move the air. But if you can't move it out of the engine(ie long tubes) then you are probably just waisting your time. Not to mention the manual shifting you'll have to do to take advantage of the upper rpm's and the increased boost/belt slip that you will have to deal with.

The gears will help a bunch. The down fall is that your high way rpm will go up and your gas milage will go down. This is the mod that will effect the engine tune the least and will need no other mods to go with it. It is also a good piece of mind to make the rear end stronger. However, its the most expensive, I bought my setup for $1400 used no shipping. the junkyards seem to charge a bit more.


Here's my 2 cents. Good luck with your choices

 

[QUOTE=mn_vette]Dude, some of us have day jobs and can't respond within 5 seconds.

your right! impatience is only one of my faults, i wish it was my only one.
headers and a full exhaust was what i thought should go on next, but this is my first supercharged car and coming from normally asperated back ground i was not so sure, thank you for your input.

 

well.. how much exactly do you have to spend, and how much of the work do you plan to do yourself? personally I like the fact of the dana 44, but unless you are going to change the intake and extend the RPM, the gears in that car are a good match.. otherwise you will be running out of steam at the end of the quarter.

I think a good set of coated headers and a catback exhaust system with some high flow cats would be my first choice as you have something pushing air into the motor for induction but haven't uncorked the exhaust side.. I think you would see some tremendous gains by this full exhaust addition.. but be sure you are prepared for elevated cabin noise and you can live with it after your done. also putting it on a dyno to make sure your Air Fuel is still where it needs to be is a reallyu good idea on a speed density car.. may need some tweaking to dial it back in.a good rule of thumb when modding is to start at the ends and work your way in, so you got the blower.. now work on the exhaust.. when you have some more money.. perhaps the intake, heads and cam swap and some extensive tuning.

the rear end just makes good sense though for reliability and strength and will need to be beefed up at some point to continue to take the torque your engine is putting down especially with the latter mods.

I don't know if I helped or confused you more...lol.. anyways.. any of them will be a step in the right direction if power is what your after!

Chris

 

long tubes, get rid of your cats and get some flowmasters. remove your complete exhaust system and put somewhere in your garage so you can put it back on when you need to pass the sniffer test.

 

i have got around 1500-2000 to spend on it now, and i will be doing all of the work myself (i own a auto repair shop, but we do mostly made in Europe), and there is a muffler shop right across the street if i need anything bent or expanded. I was thinking of maybe Stainless Works or Tpis headers with a cross over pipe and i am not sure about the mufflers, probably the Corsa's, but that might blow my budget by a bit, but i do know i want a compleat stainless steel setup all the way back.

I do have some limited data logging capability (Inovate LM1, lm3 and a fuel air gauge.)

with the setup i have now i am seeing some rich mixtures under boost, like 10.5-11.1 at 10 psi or so, I know i am lucky that mine does in fact make that much boost from reading the comments here about the Prochargers here on this forum.

and i do have accsess to a Dyno jet at another shop just down the road and i plan to run it on the dyno soon.

any pros or cons on header and exaust choice?

also i do plan on keeping the stock setup for my yearly trip to the emmisions test, it is frustrating that this car comes so close to passing with no cats, but it just wont make it with out adding false air and water to bring the hydrocarbons and Nox down.

thanks

 

Greg,
I still have a 3.33D44, also have the TPIS 1.75" LTs with the TPIS big mouth exhaust, as well as the complete SR. I have slowly been parting with just a bit of the extras I have in the past couple of months.

Last month I sold a complete 3.45D44 conversion, last week the spare 383LT1, and last night I sold the SPEC Stage 3+. I will be selling a complete Procharger system shortly off of the L98 MAF cars.

I will be placing a complete SR with the center bolt mods done, fully ported, with big mouth base and 58MM billet TB in the C4 FS section. Again, the kicker is that all parts from me are either painted or powder coated yellow or black.

Aaron

 

thanks Aaron, i wish i had the money to go ahead and purchase all of your goodies, your SR does look VERY nice, would you send me a pm on your bottom price for your D44. i have not forgeten you. that surgery i had kinda ripped the bottom of my wallet out
also how much for the headers? and are they stainless.
thanks

 

Greg,
I would think that you are looking for a price for the 3.33D44 conversion. Is that correct? With regards to the LTs, they are the standard emission compliant jet hot coated TPIS headers, but they are going to be sold with the back half TPIS Big Mouth system as well.

Thanks,
Aaron

 

It is unfortunate that SLP no longer offers their 3" stainless steel exhaust system as I have two of them, they were VERY reasonably priced at around $600 bucks, and were very easily made to work with long tubes with an extension on the one side and cut shorter on the other and add a mating flange to the exhaust system.. with a set of coated hooker headers non emissions style you could have been sitting on a full exhaust for about $1100 and had some left over fun money to play with on something else.. have you considered doing the LT1 intake manifold conversion? I think form my personal pricing for my 85 vette I want to scrap the TPI from it didn't seem unreasonable at all. and already has fuel rails and fuel line connections and pressure regulator made to work with it. along with throttle bodies etc.. and it would extend your power band a little higher. anyways.. maybe you could try contacting SLP and see if they might be open to putting out another exhaust system. I know mine perform very well, nice sound, great power increase over stock and excellent quality.. both systems still look like the day I pulled them out of the box. other then that, if you have any welding ability, you could build a complete stainless exhaust very easily for our cars, nothing really rocket science or any difficult compound bends.. hell with access to the pipe expanded and some stainless bends and straight pipe, you could lay it out and have the muffler guy expand where needed and slip fit and clamp it together, pull it down and have him weld it up you could do this for well under 600 bucks including a set of Borla XR1 race mufflers and now you have a great mandrel bent 3" cat back and can put it together from the long tubes back for a pefect fit. you can buy premade X-pipes in stainless from several places pretty reasonable for this project as well. just some ideas I you have the access you have it could help afford more of what you would like to do.. the power of the do it yourselfer!

Chris

 

yes Aaron, i am looking for a price on the 3.33

 

I bought a Miller Synchrowave 250 DX (tig, to go with my mig) just for this project, about three months ago. it is funny how the better half does not mind me spending money for shop equipment, but add ons for the Corvette are trated a bit different

I do plan on doing all of the welding myself, i have gotten pretty good with stainless, my aluminum is not up to par yet, but i try to practice 2-3 times a week.

these things always take more money and time than you think they will when you start, at least it seems so for me any way.

 

yeah.. that seems to be a trend.. the welders come in under the radar but when those summit boxes are on the front porch.. I walk in to a raised eyebrow and a stiff finger towards the pile on the porch... I just pucker up and settle in for an hours worth of why I don't really need it..lol but hey you have to have something in life you love otherwise what in the world are we put here for?

but with your resources, and the nice pile of cash you have available, you can really save yourself some money and come out with more for less by using stainless steel bends and some straight tubing.

Hope you decide to build it from bends.. itwill be far more rewarding then the other way!

Chris