I just bought my wife an 86 vette, auto, cast heads, and she is looking for more power. The car has borla mufflers and that is all. I was looking for the bolt-ons that do work. I was considering these:

air foil for throttle body
Hypertech programming, 160 stat
smog pump eliminator
fuel pressure regulator
intake - not sure whose

any suggestions?

 

save your money
hypertech doesn't do anything except turn the fans on earlier for the 160 'stat. i use the 160 'stat, got it from autozone or advance auto, about $5 with gasket. my fan allready stays on all the time ( :confused: ). A better solution than the hypertech is a custom chip, if you're gonna go with a few mods, or a fan swith kit available from the venders
i assume you mean the air pump eliminator? it's supposed to give around 10hp. it really cleans up the engine bay. i like mine, was like $180. They're all the same, or only one vender sells them.
works well to tune WOT Air/Fuel ratio. works best if you can take your car to a dyno where they have a wide-band O2 sensor (much more accurate than the stock O2 sensor)
I'll assume you don't mean intake manifold, that debate just keeps on going....
You're best bet is to install a stock size k&n air filter, then cut the air filter housing lid so there's a huge hole, just leaving the sides.

 

This is a fast board - thanks for the advice!

 

Don't waste your money on that stuff :nonod:

Save your dollers until you can do something a bit more advanced.

Give it a good tune up and get the best out off what you have got :)

Then decide what you really want from the car and take it from there.

Doe's your wife know what your up to :D :lol: :D

:cheers:

 

Stuff that works on a stock L98..


Free or cheap mods---do a search.
These include open air lid, 160 stat, fan switch, MAF screen delete. Alone they do nothing, combined they do.

Headers and free flow exhuast, not cheap but effective.

Stall converter and 3.07 gears, again, not cheap, but effective.

Thats all I have and I run 13.2@102 on drag radials.

 

do a shift kit & high stall converter! :yesnod: then add some gears! :yesnod:

 

air foil for throttle body: not now, later add a 52mm TB.
Hypertech programming, 160 stat: 160deg stat & aux fan sw.
smog pump eliminator: underdrive crank pulley & overdrive alt pulley
fuel pressure regulator: a must
intake (not sure whose):
-SLP ram air, includes K&N air filter
-gut the MAF
-port plenum & upper runners
-BM base & AS&M runners

suggestions:
exhaust - 2 1/2" manderl-bent front Y, Random Tech cat, good cat-back
cooling - TB coolant bypass, MAT relocation into air filter lid
ignition - HyperTech coil/cap/rotor, TPIS wires, AC Delco w/ cut-back plugs, timng advance till just below knock
other - advance TPS vase voltage to 0.65Vdc and set WOT voltage to max.

You will likely not need a chip with only bolt-on mods.

If you want more performance go to a nice set of Al heads and a good cam.

A 2,000rpm TC, shift kit and adjusted shift points will make for a fun street car that hooks well on street tires.

 

:yesnod:

 

If you want to start with relatively cheap mods I'd suggest:

air foil for throttle body--I know a lot of people will disagree, but if you can find one cheap, why not? You can pick one up for $20-$30 used or sometimes new on Ebay. People shell out $50 for the smooth bellows between the MAF & TB but talk trash about an air foil...go figure.

Hypertech programming, 160 stat--I had Craig Marcho (marcho polo on the board) burn one for my '85 and am very happy with it. I'm not sure if he can do one for an '86 or not. If for some reason he can't, there's nothing wrong with a Hypertech Stage 2 (forget about stage 1 though) for an automatic IF you can get it cheap enough (read: used). I had one on my 92 Z28 and my wife could tell I pulled it out when I was "de-modding" it before I sold it. It'll run cooler and delay the lock-up of the torque converter.

smog pump eliminator--If you want to spend over $150 for some aluminum, spacers and a pulley, more power to you. You can gut your pump yourself for free and get virtually the same gains as long as the pump's bearings aren't shot.

fuel pressure regulator--Don't have any first hand experience on this one. I plan to make mine adjustable if I ever go to the dyno. I'm not too sure about just bumping the pressure up though. I'd want to have dyno runs to determine what the "best" pressure is for my car.

intake - not sure whose--If you want cheap go for the cut lid and a K&N. The "ram air" kits generally run around $150 and really won't be much of an advantage until you're already at a pretty good speed.

Some free mods to consider are the throttle body bypass, de-screen & gut the MAF, and port the intake plenum directly behind the throttle body.


[Modified by Ron78Z&85Vette, 7:52 PM 10/19/2002]

 

For cheap, have your iron heads (@$250) ported, larger valves ($75) and buy headers (@$400). For real HP gains maybe 40 HP.

Cheap mods: Cut your filter lid, Air Foil, Gut your cat and buy a set of Hi-Flow mufflers. For SOT pants HP


[Modified by ld85, 3:37 PM 10/19/2002]

 

Thanks for the advice - I have some more research to do!

 

I found this interesting link: http://www.c4vettes.com/performance.htm

 

I must say your best bet for finding what works, and what doesn't work is corvetteforum. The people on this board have tried probably every part available for corvettes. There are many subjective and objective opinions that we all can learn from. Do a seach, ask your question in different ways, you'll get very good answers.

The best first mod for seat of the pants improvement is exhaust. On my car I gained 30 hp and 30 tq at the wheels with 1 5/8 long tube headers and 2.5 dual exhuast with no cats. The details are in my sig.

 

Get more air in and out with K&N filter open lid, headers and cat back exhaust. Be careful, as this is very addictive and there is not a
HP Anonymous Association to go to for help. :seeya

 

Dont buy the airfoil or the hypercrap chip. A Pressure Reg. isnt a bad idea, you can use it to tune at WOT. Buy the 160 thermo and order a fan switch and wire it to the main fan if you want the car to run cooler.

Which intake you choose depends on exactly what you want, Im going with the Superram for my 86 along with the Accel 219 cam. You have to get rid of the heads first before doing anything to the motor though. Our heads are terrible, try to get some AFR 190s. (airflowresearch.com)

Then get some Hooker 1 3/4" longtube headers, and a new catback.

By that time youll have an idea of whether you want more HP out of the car.

 

Thanks for the advice. I usually post on the LS1 camaro message boards and you folks are waaaayyyyyy more civilized and professional. Thank you!