Say you had a 01,nm6 car and you want more power. Exhaust and intake are done, everything else stock. You want to have good drivability, durability, and reliability. It would be nice if can pass a smog test. You just want a great street car with lots of useable low RPM power. Would you go heads/cam or some type of s/c. Whats the best long term bang for the buck? If it help the goal is not an 800hp monster just something a notch above a z06. Thanks!

 

Twin turbos my friend. You can keep the boost turned down until you're ready to go with a forged motor.

Heads / cam by itself is just not enough power and doesn't really give you a solid path to upgrade in the future..

 

 

Heads/Cam and FI are an option. Just sent in my deposit on a pro-charger setup

 

I always recommend a turbo system for people starting out from scratch, but a good H/C with a shot of nitrous makes for a strong vette.

 

Do them both - nothing better than a wild cam and a power adder

 

Feel free to call if you want to pick my brain (whats left of it anyway)

609-752-0321

 

Hey EG, now if I only had some of your re-building skills I would go wild but since I have to rely on a tuner for all of my work I think that with my 6 year old heads/cam package I will go with a nice 5 PSI Pro-Charger setup with a conservative tune. If I can be at or near the elusive 500 RWHP mark with an A4 and 3.90's I would be ecstatic. Do I continue using 5W-30 Redline oil or is a thicker weight necessary?

 

ECS will be able to give you all the options

 

Don't really have the money to do both.

 

I have had FI only, FI with heads/cam, and now just heads/cam (temporarily). Take it from me, there is no comparison between between heads/cam. There is much more power to be had with FI.

 

Upgrade with the FI first, chead and adapts well later on down the road. You can do the heads and cam later and even uprage your procharger/vortech at that time to get real extreme.

 

Maggie....all the way.

 

I thought the Maggie sounded like just what I was looking for then I started reading about the heat problems.

 

You must not have seen the Cartek "X" package.

 

Ok I will qualify what I said by saying that you will get more power with FI and still be able to pass a tailpipe emissions test. You also have a higher probability of having stock-like drivability and economy with FI.

 

Get a blower and from the results of American Horsepower's Kennie Bell setup a 2.6 KB will be killer on a stock car and torque off throttle. I love my A&A DS1C. As already stated call ECS or A&A for great FI options

 

Heat problems? ??

For the street, I haven't run into any heat problems...even in 100degree weather. (160 stat, reprogrammed fan temps).

Just today, in prepping for a PDA track-day at Pocono next Friday, I changed a few fluids. First, I dropped my maggie-intercooler fluid and re-filled with about 90%water/10%dex...and a bottle of Water Wetter.

I drained my radiator and reservoir and filled with distilled water and two bottles of WaterWetter...and a bottle of Zerex water pump lube.
Also used a dish-washing brush to clean the crap out of the radiator...quite a pile of dead grass/leaves/crap in there!!!)

I also made a small plate out of sheet metal and closed the bottom of the radiator/air-condensor/intercooler area on the bottom of the car. This should allow the air that travels through the intercooler and air-condensor to not escape out the bottom of the radiator.(And keep any grass/leaves/crap that's on the road from being sucked up onto the radiator when at a stop or while moving)

Results... it works, and quite good. With being stuck through bumper-to-bumper traffic, spirited runs, and some G-Tech testing... the car never went above 190coolant, 205 oil. Average temps in traffic and around town was 180-185 coolant, 190-195 oil.

And get this...when I stopped, I popped my hood and opened the Maggie intercooler reservoir....stuck my finger in it....it was COLD!!!

Looks like keeping the air from spilling below the intercooler and radiator really made a difference. I'm sure the mixtures made a good portion of the difference, but I'm about as happy as could be with the little amount of work it took.

Even without the mods I made above, the maggie has never over-heated. Even with the A/C on in 100 degree temps, the coolant never hit over 225 and oil never made it over 230. These temps are well within GM's parameters of "normal" operational temps for the Vette.

The main reason why you may hear about "heat" problems with the maggies is from drag-racers, who sit and wait to stage with the cars running and no air going through anything. Really, if drag-racing is your goal...well, I'll just keep my mouth shut and recommend something other than a maggie.

All in all, I absolutely love the maggie. It has a fantastic powerband and has proven to be a very reliable system, over many miles and years that it's been on Vettes. From what your inital post explained, your goals and such, a maggie is really a perfect partner.

And with many people looking to switch from the maggies to the KB set-ups, you might find a few really good deals, of used maggies, that would be a much better bang-for-the-buck system than ANYTHING you can find. So if 475-500rwhp/475-500rwtq is your goal, with amazing power from as little as 2000rpm...with years of proven reliability, it may make sense to do a little more research on the Maggie.

If it didn't already come on the 2002 EB/MR Z06 with 7000miles on the odometer, that I bought 3 months ago...I'd probably do it anyway. It really is that good. And the Caravagio hood is just pure sex....

Good luck,
ace

 

Well said, ace996.

 

Then definitely dont do FI!!!