I got 393rwhp from lt headers, halltech intake, corsa catback and a tune

 

I found all of my HP improvements a lot of fun. Of course you will always find your current HP level as "not enough". I have friends that have 1000rwhp car's and they say they would like more.

You have to make a decision when enough is enough. I always heard that 500 rwhp is a good level for keeping the rest of the stock drive line together. I decided not to exceed this level as I want to keep my car reliable.

Toque

 

I can certainly see adding a SC after a year or two, my local tuner told me that an 02 with LT, fatback would yield "realistically" 550-575 RWHP

The most I ever had was 428rwhp/458rwtq, NA, so I would concur with the 500rwhp as being acceptable.

As always, it's a domino effect with the weakest link getting exposed

 

2004 CE Z06, 387.94 HP, Varram CAI, LT's, Cat delete, Tune, 160 Tstat, MSD wires.

 

Excellent info, I'm liking all you Z guys a lot already!

 

The real question is do these Z guys realize how monstrous the numbers are on these cars with just headers and a tune!

 

Quite tame/mild actually in comparison to some of my friends car's.
There are a lot of 1000 + HP Car's in Texas.

Toque

 

Oh I know there are plenty of 1000+ HP cars but after spending the 90's trying to break the 100 mph 14 sec mark without yanking the motor I'm amazed that so many of these cars are putting down north of 400HP on less than 350 cubes.

 

Its all relative, in the 70's if you hit 12's in the 1/4 your were smoking.

But with the advent of Aluminum parts and engines like the LS platform, I am amazed at the aggressive cam patterns you can run and still have decent engine management.

I had to buy a new ECU/FAST XFI to control the L98, I guess now the stock computers can do the deal on their own with a good tuner person.

I'm a Natrually Aspirated guy personally, I liked getting the most from a NA engine but it gets radical quick if you push for max numbers.

I will eb OK witha "slow poke" 575 RWHP

 

What was your platform that'd have difficulty surpassing 100 MPH?
I ran low 12s in the early 70's with a first year Camaro. Just headers. cam, and Holley 600/Weiand high-rise. It trapped 109, IIRC. I took this car to High School every day.

 

1996 4.6L OHV Mustang...
Couldn't resist...

The Z06 is to me a special car in the C5. It amped up the performance game of the pushrod engine to a level thought to be reserved for weekend cars or those with a fairly high tolerance for a rough idle, and relatively poor MPG. The Z06 changed the game and did it all on 5.7L...

Back in my high school days 96-00 cracking the 13's was a quick car and a few vehicles could do it out of the gate. LT1/4/5 powered Vette's and FBodies, obviously the LS1 cars were there...most of us could only dream of affording such vehicles in HS but a few had them. The rest of us wrenched on our late 80s or early 90s LB9, L98 and 5.0 powered cars in hopes of cracking into the 13's. Doing it reliably was more of a trick...my 87 IROC Z put me in the poor house constantly breaking. My friends L98 powered Vette was a little better but not much...when it did break it was more expensive/harder to work on.

Now, frankly 13's...even low 13's is essentially child's play and low/mid 12s is now the norm for stock corvette's that are EXTREMELY driveable and much more reliable than cars of years past.

I'm on the market for an LT4 powered car to drive on weekends (could perhaps be talked into a Z06 but I dunno) and might do a few minor things to that...but without getting crazy even on those cars, low 12's is about all you're going to get without radical cam....

 

You must not have understood. I'm talking about a 1967 Camaro SS350, that I bought in 1969 for $880. Paid for with paper route money. And the best times it ever ran were with a factory 'Duntov' cam.

 

I understand what you said. It's relative...for my generation we were stuck with late 70s through late 80s or early 90s cars that most of us could afford. Prior to the mid/late 70s and the classics were in poor shape or expensive...later than early 90s and they were also too expensive for most of us...unless you wanted something like a corolla...

If you grew up in the first muscle car era that's cool. But cars then were not as reliable, got pretty bad mileage but were easy to work on and lots of fun. I did have a couple friends with some late 60s or early 70s muscle.

I remember thinking I had to get my car into the 14s, I barely did it...then I had to live vicariously through a few buddies in early college and we wanted low 14's. Then high 13's...then I bought my LT1 TA and was upper 13's low 14's depending on the air right out of the gate. When I sold it, I was running low 13's and I wanted more...that was only about 10 years ago. Cars have come a long way and continue to progress fairly quickly.

Think about what's happened since the late 70s or early 80s to where we are now?

 

2001 Z

Bellanger Headers
XSP Axle back
Blower cam 227/235 .608/.621 116 LSA
60lb injectors
Lpe pump with BAP
P1sc Procharger 7-8psi

570rwhp/510rwtq with drivetrain mods

Absolutely Love it!

 

What kind of dyno was this?

 

It's either a enthusiastic optimist, or there's a non-stock cam in there.

 

My 02 Z06 with cam, headers, off road x pipe, and vararam made 423/398 to the wheels on a dynojet. I've yet to take it to the drag strip but I will as soon as I make some time for it!

 

I'm right there with him, a third gen F-body went for the 5k range in 1998, the first gen F-bodies were either ragged garbage or way more expensive. It's all relative.

 

I forget what kind of dyno ryne used to have as he recently got a newer dyno now and he isnt the first shop to tell me my car is a freak because it really only has those mods and nothng else but two different shops one from back home in florida and ryne in California have made over 400 on the dyno with my car