I'll list the mods on my former C5Z in order of what I perceive to have been the best bang for the buck:
DRIVER MOD - This is worth about a 0.75-1.5 second drop in ET
275x40x17 Hoosier DRs on stock front Z wheels - 0.2-0.5
GTO Spares for the front - 0.1
4.10s with hardened shafts - 0.2-0.3
Vararam, 1 7/8" ARH, Dyno Tune - These should be done in combination since they will produce the biggest gains in HP. It will save retuning your car. - 0.4-0.6
Textralia Exo-Skel - Great clutch to put the power to the rear. I see that you are going with a cam. Your stock clutch will not stand up for long with your new found power. - 0.1

Good luck in your quest. Let us know how you make out.

 

You are absolutely correct about the driver. Even with the increased HP, most people will not be able to get into the 10s. Track prep, weather, car setup also have a large effect on ET. Details are extremely important.

 

thanks for the input, im gunna be leaving hard at the track so i guess im going to start looking into diffrential mods and a good clutch,
4.10 gears? whats stock?

 

3.42

 

My setup was good for mid 1.4x to low 1.5x sixties.

 

5-6 hp one way or another is not going to stop him from completed his objective. I suspect the cars you are referencing are head and cam cars, possibly not stock cid bottom ends or really doing their work up top which is not his objective for the money he's talking about spending.

 

yea im not to worried about my header selection.... clutch and output shaft are barley in my budget... im gunna install the headers and x pipe myself but i know after i get cam, clutch, output shaft intalled, and dyno tune ill be way over 6 Gs... mabe.... depends on who i get to install them i guess, i want to do gears also mabe later..... whats the top speed with 4.10s???

 

Please see list below. As for my comments as they specifically related to headers, I only questioned one poster's opinion which could not be verified. As you can see, I can back up my statements. You may wish to perform some research prior to posting.
BTW- I see that you run those other headers. That would explain your response.

Official C5 Z06 Fast List


By Ranger, Robert56 and Gary2004Z06


C5 Z06 External Bolt On Times (stock long-block)

1--10.890@125.06--1.465--GARY2004Z06--'04 12/08-VR CAI, DRs, ARH LTs, Clutch, Gears, Post 356
2--11.214@122.30--1.580---Dr Ron -------'03 11/05-VR CAI, ET St, LT, ClutchSlip
3--11.25x@123.7x--1.58x---Butcher-------'03 10/04-Bolt Ons, 3.90 gear
4--11.37x@123.7x--1.48x---PaulZ06-------'0x xx/xx -Bolt Ons, 3.73 gearVideo
5--11.405@123.61--1.616 --Qksiver-------'02 01/05-VR CAI, NT DR, Clutch Slip
6--11.442@122.51--1.643---spindoctor----'01 01/07-ET ST, CAI, LT
7--11.461@119.79--1.634---procs2v-------'02 04/08-HT CAI, MT DR, LT, Post 220 Video
8--11.566@119.50--1.772-Robert@SpeedDemon-'04 02/09-CAI, BFG DR, LT, Post 380
9--11.598@119.38--1.722---N75196-------'04 03/07-LT, VR, Clutch, MT/DR Slip
10-11.62x@11x.xx --1.66x---holedgr -------'02 xx/xx -Bolt Ons




C5 Z06 External/Internal Bolt On times (stock cubes, n/a, cams, h/c, all bolt ons)

1---9.985 @ 138.80--1.428 --robz ---------'03 04/08 -----H/C, ET ST, Gears, Post 328, Slip (Rob's car has been as quick as 9.93)
2--10.672 @ 126.17--1.449--J Rod---------'02 xx/xx -----H/C G5X3, ET St, 4.10
3--11.108 @ 127.41--1.687--Kurtomac-----'02 03/09-----H/C/I, LT, VR, Clutch, 3.90's, ET ST, Post 385
4--11.206 @ 123.32--1.663--Quick 68 -----'03 02/09-----CAI, UD pulley, cam, Post 382
5--11.331 @ 120.33--1.642--pit-man-------'03 02/07 -----H/C/I, LT, ET ST Slip
6--11.399 @ 121.37--1.59x--427CPE-------'02 11/07-----H/C, ET ST Radial, LT, CAI, Post 235, Slip -Video
7--11.41x @ 120.43--1.61x--NightmareZ06-'02 09/07 -----Cam, LT, CAI, BFG Info
8--11.584 @ 122.86--1.727--02Thief -------'01 11/06------ET RDs, LT, Cam, 3.90s, Post 3 Slip
9--11.586 @ 119.84--1.592--n751961-------'04 05/08------LT, VR, Gears, Cam, Post 284
10-11.601 @ 123.62--1.92x--ZZoomM06-----'03 11/07-----H/C/I, VR, Post 219 Slip

 

Top speed in the 1/4 mile for me was 126+ with the 4.10s. As for fifth or sixth gear, I never found out. Depending on your engine rpm and tire size, rough calculations put you somewhere north of 145 mph with OEM tires in fifth gear.
Your 11.4s are definitely attainable; however, it is not easy with your budget constraints. Concentrate on the minute details to extract out every bit of ET. Weight loss is free. You can remove your passenger seat and cut +/-0.03.
Good luck.

 

damn i see what ur sayin about the headers.... mabe that guy can just drive good as sht , i guess ill just stick with the LGs, i didnt think there was that big of a difference

 

There isnt that big of a difference. Those guys can drive the $hit out of their cars and would probably have gone faster if they has the LGs lol. This guy is posting up times from guys who just ran ARH. Maybe his statements would hold some truth if those guys ran LG's then switched to ARH in the exact same track conditions and picked up a tenth or two.

There are plenty of dynographs comparing the LG's to the ARH on the same cars and the LG's pick up almost 30tq in the lower and mid range RPM's while making about the same peak numbers. Also going with 1 7/8 headers is worthless on our 346ci engines. They arent even worth any meaningful extra hp until you go more then 400ci. There has been plenty of guys showing that they didnt pick up any tq at all and made maybe an extra 3hp in the very top RPM's. And that is on bigger bore, bigger cubes and supercharged LS2's and LS3s making more then 600rwhp.

And also ARH are overpriced for what they are considering there was very little R&D that went into them compared to LG and kook's. This is because the guy who runs/owns ARH left Kooks and basically copied their design for the ARH design.

 

I watched many Corvettes with 450-550 rwhp never make it out of the 12s.

Meanwhile I ran a bunch of 11.50s with 363 rwhp in a 02 Z06 with only non-stock parts being a cold-air intake and DRs.

So the place to start is leaning to drive the car at its current power-level and then add power once you can run low-12s or better stock, with stock tires or DRs.

The OP is within easy driving distance to three good tracks, MIR, Capitol, and Cecil County. Great places to learn the car.

Ranger

 

I am not familiar with a shop near Annapolis, but Gallants Auto specializes in Corvettes, and has been since there has been Corvettes - they are in Bel Air - Rob, part owner and lead tech has an 04 Z06, and does most all of my work on my 04 Z06. Rob is a good guy, and very knowledgeable on Vettes.
Gallants Auto
309 S Atwood Rd
Bel Air, MD 21014-4191
(410) 838-2355

Jack

 

As for your statement regarding the 1 7/8" headers being worthless on 346 motors, this again is in error. You cannot dispute that these cars have run significantly quicker than others with their respective setups. Beside being able to drive, you must give some credit to the cars also. My car did not have any HP loss to 6800 rpm.

 

You would do well to read Ranger's launch techniques
http://www.rangeracceleration.com/Launch_Tips.html
and improved shifting.
http://www.rangeracceleration.com/Im..._Shifting.html
You may be fortunate enough to meet Ranger at MIR.

This is where I started. I then became friends with robz and he increased my performance through advice on part selection, setup, and additional launch techniques.

 

And maybe your brand is swaying your pov.
Your list dosent really prove anything and turning this into another header war is pointless. The brand of header is not going to make a difference until you get more displacement and there have been plenty of dyno reports proving LGs low speed power, do a search.
It will not matter what brand he chooses whether it be Kooks ARH or LG, they will all pretty much preform the same function, just at different points in the power band. Again, 5 or 6 hp is not going to make a difference for the OP. So rather than start a header war, try and help w/o bias.

 

Exactly

 

I have only responded to previous posts. You may want to review two items:
1) Who started the header discussion?
2) More importantly, who is attempting to assist the OP?
If you or longrodlx have anything of substance to add to help the OP reach his goal, please do so.

 

What brand of gears and hardened shafts should we be looking at?

 

Where in this list does it specify brand of header?