I presently own a lower mileage LT4 vert. I thought the previous owner was going to buy it back from me but it looks like that will not happen. Don't ask for details as that is our private business.
I have not done any mods to it but have only over-maintained it. It has a K&N filter and CAGS eliminator. It is in near perfect condition. It has the Selective Ride/Handling and runs/drives/handles beautifully.
I do not want to sell it but my wife thinks she is going to retire. If she does then we need to cut back on expenses and have more $ in the bank. I really don't see the retirement happening in the next 5 years.
Soooo, I am going to list it here around Cruise In time. It will be available for test drives in Bowling Green. It will not be cheap.
If it does not sell then I plan to put it on E-Bay with a high reserve. Then after that I will run it through Bloomington Gold Mecum auction with a high reserve. It will probably not sell at that high price but I will at least have tried. "Sorry sweetie, I tried everything I know and it just wouldn't sell - dang high gas prices did me in. It only runs on premium you know."
Then next year when the lease is up on my truck I will turn that in to the dealer and buy a beater.
Do you see where this is going? I still will have peace at home as I have sacrificed my new truck for her. I will still have the Corvette!
Win-win.
I like to plan ahead so here is my vision for mods. I use the car for recreational spirited driving on the back twisty roads. I will not race it. I will go on a few local cruises with the West Michigan Forum crew.
1. Vortech air inlet system.
2. Granatelli MAF.
3. Exotic Muscle long tube headers.
4. Corsa cat back system.
5. Hurst shifter.
6. Professional dyno tune.
It already has the lower gear rear end so I will do nothing there.
It has great tires (DS2s) so no changes there.
It has great brakes. The previous owner put Grand Sport calipers on the front already.
Any thing else I should plan on? Any advice/comments on the above mods?
At some point I may take it to a drag strip for a few passes just to see what she will do.
I will list it here with lots of pics around May 21.

 

Probably not a lot of gain, but it looks good and may add a little power.

Probably a waste of money. No one (other than Greedatelli) has been able to prove a gain on the dyno or drag strip. There may be marginal benefits, but they are so marginal that there is no way to legitimately quantify it.

Great mod. Nice sound and quality pieces.

I prefer the sound of EM headers and Magnaflow mufflers, but that's jut me. You will probably be happy with the sound, and there should be a decent power gain as well.

Another great mod. I have the B&M in mine and it's just a bit too notchy and the shifter effort is pretty enormous. I mostly use my vette for drag racing so it's not a big deal for me, but on a back road cruiser, the Hurst is the way to go.

Another good idea. There won't be any huge gains on a lightly modded car, but there should be some. The best part of the tune would probably be the added benefit of turning the fans on sooner. This will help keep the car from overheating while sitting in traffic with the A/C on or some other situation where the car might over heat.

By lower gear I assume you mean it has the 3.45 ratio? If that's the case, you certainly don't have to change the ratio, but the high power band of the LT4 coupled with a 4.09 rear gear is a great combination. The gas mileage hit is negligible with the 6 speed, and you 75 MPH cruise RPM in 6th should only go up to about 2200 RPMs. In my opinion, if you want the car to feel faster, and punch you in the stomach harder when you stand on the loud pedal, lower gears are the best mod out there. I have the 4.09's in my car and love them, jonecap has them in his 1996 LT4 and loves them, etc... There's not many mods that will have such a positive effect on driveability and provide such an increased feeling of acceleration like gears.

Agreed.

Agreed.

You didn't mention any high flow catalytic converters. To take full advantage of the headers and cat back, you'll need a quality set of cats.

For someone looking to have a nice, reliable, weekend roller, I think your plan is pretty sound. You're not going to break any kind of horse power records or anything, but it should have a decent amount of punch when compared to a stock car.

One thing you may want to budget for is a clutch. Some guys run a lot of power through the stock clutch without any problems, and some wear out the stockers with minimal mods like you have planned. McLeod makes a replacement stock dimension clutch disk made out of a bit harder material than the stocker. That's what I would recommend for you. That clutch should act and drive like the stock set up, and have just a bit more 'oomph' when you need it.

Good luck, let us know what you decide to do!

 

What does the Granatelli MAF do that the stock one doesn't? I got the impression from posts here that it was a bit of a waste. As for the LTs, are they really worth the cost unless in conjunction with a Hot Cam kit (or equivalent)?

 

It's slightly larger than the stock MAF ends, which can increase the air into the engine. The problem is, if they get too big then you need to reprogram the computer (or get a MAF translator) for them because the MAF will actually see a slight decrease in airflow, because of the slightly slower velocity and can improperly adjust the air/fuel trims.

On a stock car this is completely worthless. If you are building an all-out HP engine (383+ci, ported heads, cam, exhaust, etc...), these MAY give you an extra 2-3HP but nothing notable.

 

Thanks for the information guys! I based my idea for the Granatelli MAF on a conversation I had with a Grand Sport owner I met at Bloomington Gold '06. He highly recommended it. Probably felt it gave him more HP due to the "kick in the wallett". 4:09 gears, verrrrry interesting!!

 

 

4.09 gears were one of the, if not the, best mod I did to my LT4. Makes it a MUCH more fun car to drive and doesn't sacrifice any of the long distance driving.

 

The first serious mod I did to my LT4 was 4.09 gears. MPG took a small hit, maybe 2mpg or so. By far this is the best bang for the buck. It was good for a solid 3 tenths in the 1/4 on street tires. It really is worth it.

I've not heard of anyone getting any serious gains from the MAF.

The stock induction system is more than adequate.


I'd do the tune, gears, catback and headers. Thats what I've done to mine plus the hotcam. It runs like a raped ape

 

4.10 gears are great on a LT4.........41 teeth to 10 teeth...strong

4.09 gears ????? not sure how they compare???

 

I think you have a good game plan, except skip the maf. See my sig for the mods I did. I'd get the adjustable shocks reprogrammed if I had them, I hear it makes a big difference.

 

I'm very skeptical on the performance benefits of a dyno tune for a stock or near-stock engine.

I had a well-known west LA Corvette tuner perform an LT1Edit on my LT4 two years ago. It went through six pulls on the dyno in the process.

How much did I gain?
I don't know. They only showed me the best pull of the series, so I have nothing to compare that to. ("The other pulls? Oh, we didn't print them out...." they said)

I do know this; it didn't drive any different and the printout they gave me was down four hp from the best of a two-pull test I had done two months previously, on a local dyno (different dyno/different weather, to be sure).

I came away feeling that someone had just wasted $500.
( My engine is stock.)


Larry
code5coupe

___________
I ain't easily impressed....

 

If he does gears, headers and catback he wont be stock though will he?
His money would be well spent on a tune for the above mods. Certainly more so than on a $300 MAF sensor.

 

1. Vortech air inlet system.
2. Granatelli MAF.
3. Exotic Muscle long tube headers.
4. Corsa cat back system.
5. Hurst shifter.
6. Professional dyno tune.

 

Yes, the engine will still be stock, even though the differential and exhaust system will not be.
(at least it will be by MY definition... )

Larry
code5coupe

__________
I ain't easily impressed....

 

#1, What's that?
#2,
and get gears.

 

I've done the following in the order listed on my 93 LT1

4.10 gear - great improvement on the street. Never been to the track but I love it

TPIS Headers, no cats, corsa exhuast - again good improvement engine felt like it reved much more free

Hurst Shifter - can't believe how sloppy the car was previous. Night and day comparison

PCM for less tune - not sure how much of an increase in absolute power but the throttle is super responsive and pulls hard and smooth to redline

Suspension - 32mm front 26mm sways with VB&P extreme shocks. Have not driven it yet do to a missing bushing when doing the install. I do expect very good things from this set up coming from the crappy FE1 base suspension

Heads and Cam - currently in negotions for a significant upgrade package. Goal 360-380rwhp

It looks like you have a nice progression of parts for your car. Nix the Grantelli crap and maybe consider some shock revalving and sway bar upgrades and you will have a real nice car to tear up the backroads

 

I bet the gears would really help with the addition of some drag radials!!!

 

Skip the maf. If you have to spend the money on it just send me the cash.

 

I wouldn't dump mods into a car you're not going to keep. That's a waste of money. Stay safe out there!

 

4.09s aren't as strong. It's an Isuzu small truck setup that requires a sleeve be spot-welded to the pinion shaft in order to fit properly.

4.10s don't require the sleeve since the pinion is properly sized.