Hey everyone, looking to buy my first Corvette here soon. After it's paid off, would like to go TT or SC for 500rwhp on a stock engine. I just wanted to clarify a few things before I jumped into something.

What are differences throughout the years (C5) that are significant to FI?

What usually breaks first?

How reliable is the stock engine at these power levels? Should I buy low mileage and expect it to run just as long as if it were stock. Or high mileage and when it blows, upgrade the internals?

Other than a clutch, what should I be expecting to upgrade?

I'm in California, so are there any setups I can't use because of smog or 91 octane?

Any help is greatly appreciated, thanks!

-Chris.

 

29 views and not even one post to say "stfu n00b"? C'mon, someone has to know the answer to at least one of these.

 

Chris, the engines in these cars repond very well to forced induction. Take a look at my '99 Z28 that had 110,000 miles on it when we installed an ATI ProCharger D-1SC. This is the same basic engine that is found in the C5 Corvettes, in case you didn't know.
http://www.exoticperformanceplus.com...Car.php?car=12

The clutch is the only thing you really need to upgrade for now. Once you get use to the additional power, and want to go further, than a forged bottom end will be necessary, along with an upgraded fuel system, such as what we did in this C5.
http://www.exoticperformanceplus.com...Car.php?car=40

The ATI ProCharger P-1SC is 50 state legal, which you will need to California, unless you know a way around the legalities there.
http://www.exoticperformanceplus.com....html?item=695
http://www.exoticperformanceplus.com....html?item=698
Hopefully this helps. Bob

 

If I waited for my vette to be paid off than it would be too late as I imagine by then gasoline vehicles would be banned!

I am happy with my procharger, simple to install, high quality components, and the tune that came with the car was very safe.

I would still recommend a tune to anyone updating their hp, you always want to know via a wideband what you air/fuel is doing

Couple things they don't make clear is how quiet your blower will be, and that if you buy a Z06 it will render your front brake cooling ducts ineffective

I also lost 3 MPG

Since I am not in CA, I will tell you that if I could do it over I would do a TT setup,mostly due to the coolness factor of the noises at high boost, and I think the long term drivebility of a turbo system would be better.

I think with a proper tune and stock or similar tires you should be able to flog your vette daily as I have (weather permitting) and not worry about serious damage.

So far I hane 3k on my stock clutch with no slippage

 

Thank you both for your input.

Looks like I'll go with low mileage then.

If I go the supercharger route, it would most definitely be a Procharger. Would still appreciate some info on (hopefully CA legal) TT kits, if there's anybody out there. I checked out Synergy Motorsports (I think they're the nearest tuners to me) has anybody here dealt with them? Was looking at their site and no price on TT kit.

Also, any suggestions on a clutch that feels near stock?

 

Cyric,

There are probably a lot of views and few responses because there's a lot of info on this forum already about all of the questions you asked. Sometimes the search can be a major PITA but I assure you the info is there.

For what it's worth, several people/tuners have had great success with LS7 clutches for stock drivability and relatively low power. Yes, 500rwhp around here is considered relatively low power My only experience with a clutch I like that feels near stock but will hold a ton of power is the Textralia twin disk. Be prepared to fork over a bit over $1K for that clutch though. The nice thing is, if you think you will become a boost junkie like the rest of us and want more than 500rwhp, the Tex twin disk will take you there and not complain.

Since you're in California, it's probably worthwhile to get in touch with Andy @ A&A Corvette. Look around this forum for his posts and the phone number is in his sig. He makes a great kit (based on feedback from others on this forum using it) that will make great power. I have no experience with his latest kit but have seen another great kit from East Coast Supercharging. Again, great kit, makes great power -- and in the case of the ECS kit, very stealthy. Not sure about the A&A kit as I haven't heard it in person.

I personally would not go with a Procharger kit even though their latest kits seem to have most or all of the kinks worked out. This stems from a long history of questionable AT BEST practices from Procharger. Just to give you some flavor, their old kits had numerous issues (overheating, belts popping off or breaking, etc.) and everytime you would call Procharger about those issues they'd always say they never heard of them before. There is virtually no way this could be anything other than Procharger training its call center employees to use that excuse for certain types of issues. In addition, both A&A and ECS used to use Procharger head units in their kits. Procharger tried to put the squeeze on them and basically force them to push Procharger kits, not their custom kits (the net effect would be less profit for the shops, more profit for Procharger). There's a whole long, sorted saga behind that one but to me there are just too many examples of ATI Procharger being genetically mean and pennywise, pound foolish.

Other upgrades you may need: fuel system, and if you think you will launch the car hard at the drag strip, maybe a DTE brace. 500rwhp probably won't break transmissions or differentials but since the DTE brace is only a few hundred bucks, might as well add it.

Hope this helps.

 

Yeah I've been searching for a bit, but seems like most people are running on 93 octane, so I was looking for a little more specific answers. I'll probably take it to the track once to see what it runs, but definitely not launch it hard. It will be a street car, possibly daily driver depending on the setup.

Checking out A&A right now, thanks for your input.

 

Despite the slightly lower octane, I know Andy's shop has pushed out some vicious Vettes on his kit. It is not uncommon for him to post 700 and 800rwhp dyno charts. Same with the ECS kit. In fact I'm not aware of a kit that hasn't worked for people with 91 octane. I've never tuned for a lower octane but my assumption is the same process applies -- watch for detonation and tune around it so the car is nice and safe.

At 500rwhp I would think that any OEM motor (almost) regardless of mileage will be fine, as long as it's not in bad health to begin with. On my 2003 Z06 I was able to pull the motor with 8K miles on the clock and sell the long block for a reasonable price that got me the vast majority of the funds required to purchase a forged shortblock. I already had heads and a cam so I didn't need to buy those, just needed the shortblock. Just some food for thought as you look for your car.

I think only the Maggie is CARB legal? Maybe the Kenne Bell too? We don't have emissions here in FL so I don't really follow that stuff, but others here will know for sure.

 

Looks like Diynoob nailed it. I just wanted to say..cool username

 

 

Thanks. Yours too

TT does seem the way to go, just pricier and seems like there are more things to break.