The end of last year I was casually shifting to 2nd when the trans made a horrible grinding noise. After that the 2nd gear synchro was toast. I started researching what kind of deals were to be had to correct the tragedy. I ended up trusting Brian Reckart to pull my trans and decide on the best fix. We ended up doing a stage 2 rebuild (it cost less than most of the popular transmission vendors). The result is great. The trans shifts like butter now and all the likely weak points have been upgraded.

The car had 60K miles on it. As long as the trans was out I had Brian upgrade me to a LS7 clutch. Again the price was reasonable. The LS7 clutch is a little higher pedal effort but not bad at all. Clutch works great and piece of mind that she's good to go is comforting.

Now that the trans and clutch were squared away I started talking to Brian about a cam. I already had LG Streets, which I've been very happy with. I was leaning towards something aggressive, but since the car is a daily driver Brian talked me into something more practical and I'm glad he did. I ended up with a Texas Speed Tourquer V2. 232/234 duration, .595/.598 lift, 112 LSA. The car dyno'd at 407 HP and 383 ft. lbs. to the wheels. Oh I also did a Haltech super bee killer II air intake. Car now has a nice lope. It's very drivable even in rush hour traffic. And when you put you foot down it definitely has extra thrill factor.

At the same time I upgraded to a set of 18" x 10" LG World Challenge wheels all the way around. I did BFG 275/35/18 up front and BFG 295/35/18 in the rear. The car handles considerably better than stock with the wider contact patch up front. Brian installed a set of low dust ceramic pads so my new wheels would stay clean a little longer. He also lowered my car and helped me with removing and re-installing my catback so I could get the ti-mod done.

The result....I am THRILLED with my car! The performance is far above stock and it sounds good. It also looks better lowered and handles better than before. I look forward to driving it every time I push the key into the ignition! If you've been holding off wondering if it's worth it....do it.

Late addition: I just installed the halo LED rear tail lights with the dark cherry tint by RadioFlyer. These look awesome!

Hmm... now I have the bug... Thinking about some AFR heads and maybe some more of RadioFlyer's stuff.... It's just money right?

 

I've been eyeing the TV2 cam for a while now, only thing holding me back is I'm pretty sure it will push me into the next class of NASA racing. Good to hear your results though, 407 at the wheels is very respectable, for basically just headers and cam. Did you already replace valve springs? Cause pushing .600 lift you are pushing oem spring especially hard, and they're already a known weak point.

 

Yep. Reckart replaced the stock springs with a dual coils. These are nice because if the primary coil fails the secondary prevents dropping the valve. He also replaced the rocker needle bearings with a sealed trunion setup. Speaking of springs that's another reason I decided to go with the TV2. Reckart suggested that on anything over 0.600 lift you really should be changing out the springs every 4k-5k miles. Staying under that you can stretch it to 20K miles. Since my car is a driver 20K was much more attractive.

 

Go for more Radioflyer stuff.

If you want more power, Heads will work, but they're a very expensive way to get there. For about double the cost, you can get an entry level supercharger installed that will net 4-5 times the HP gain.

 

I prefer the NA route so I will probably go for upgraded heads at some point. But I am just really enjoying the car right now. I am interested going with clear side markers with the LED upgrade and I'm looking at HID headlight upgrades being offered by various vendors. I will probably do both of these in the near future.

 

You should have a look at my bi-xenon modified ACA headlights. They leave all the Competition in the dark