Just make sure you take the time to talk to as many people as possible. Like any car, when you start adding a lot of power there are other things to remember. The trickle down effect on the mods you have to make can add up.

You can get to 425-430 rwhp but remember that you may have to upgrade the clutch - output shaft - etc.

Also remember that when you get to that hp mark it won't be enough and you will be going into the car wholesale.. This is just situation I am encountering right now!!

It is fun though

 

Don't forget with EVERY Vette out there no matter what you buy, there will be a Corvette Tax assesed to it! Good luck and welcome

 

Hey and Welcome ...i have a friend that just bought a 02 WRX less than 2 weeks ago and he loves it...i really wasn't much to the liking of them till i got to drive it..i have to admit, it was a pretty impressive little car...

If i were you...look into the Procharger...and get a tuner to do some work with it afterwards...as long as you run a safe air to fuel ratio..you are good to go...i would atleast recommend changing the pushrods...the stock LS1 pushrods were usually considered the weakest link in the motor..the rest of it will hold up fine...they will usually hold up for quite some time but you never know when one might get bent...

Josh

 

I love the WRX. I thought the handling was awesome plain stock. Wrench the steering wheel left, wrench it right and the car just sticks and goes where you want... Do you make a safe 400 hp in your Scoobie? My buddy might be interested in what you've done...

Now you're getting a Vette too? Lucky!

 

Thanks again for all the welcomes! One thing I have noticed is that the Corvette crowd, much like the Impreza crowd, is more friendly than most enthusiast groups. Look forward to posting here.

Purerock - I'm actually not too far from St Pete...live up in the Palm Harbor area. The next time you are having a meet, please PM me, as I'd like to attend! I have a friend who's dad collects/restores/races Corvettes. If you've been to Sunshine and spotted a BEAUTIFUL red '56(I think) tube chassis car, you've seen his dad. He's the one who has turned me onto LS1s and is bringing me back into the domestic fold, so he'd probably come along as well. His racecar is a yellow/black-striped 69 Camaro SS that has also seen a few laps at Sunshine. Both are nice cars, but his dad's is just stunning!

talon90 - I wish I could!! Need to get my finances in order so that I have everything the way I want it before taking on yet another project.

3XBlack - We get a lot of those stories over on NASIOC. Some kid gets in an AWD car and thinks he's Petter Solberg. Always sad to see a Scooby go down...hope no one was hurt in that accident. I've heard AWD is great fun in the snow...thankfully I'll probably not ever know.

Ruby, yelo, xcesive - Thanks for the welcomes and yes, I am well aware of how these car projects can spiral out of control REAL fast. The WRX went from a "300bhp, some nice wheels and springs" thing to turbo swapped, coil-overed, forged AL, big brake money pit. I love it, but I'm also done with it...for a good long while anyway. Could swap up to the STi 2.5 shortblock and really start making some power, but that's a lot of work and more dyno/tune time I'd rather not purchase at this time.

Paras - The math actually comes out to ~395bhp/290awhp(at 26% drivetrain loss, which is the WRX's accepted standard). The power was safe, the car ran super strong...until I screwed with the flywheel and put a 12lb unit in to replace the stock 26lb piece. I was doing a tranny(cryo'd)/clutch swap and figured the flywheel would be a good idea to put more of those HPs to the ground. Put it on as an afterthought and within a month the car was throwing mifire codes on all cylinders randomly...sometimes 1, 2, 3, 4 or a combination of any of the above!! Needless to say, I was worried. It turns out the lightened flywheel goofs up a set of sensors that watch for expected crank/piston velocities at particular RPMs. The problem is present in the low range, as misfire codes have always occured while pulling away gently from a stop. The car eventually put itself in safe mode, where I have left it until I can get the flywheel swapped back to stock...hopefully tomorrow. As for the actual tune, I did the usual turbo/FMIC/catless header-back/rails/injector/pump/ECU reflash that has become pretty standard with our cars. Air fuel ratios were always stinky rich (my exhaust outlet looks like a coal miner's lungs) and I have not ever experienced any lean conditions with the car. The highest EGTs I have ever seen were around 1400degF and that was at a prolonged 90mph cruise up the interstate. Car has a fairly safe tune, but we all know there are no guarantees with these things. A STi 2.5L shortblock (forged crank/con-rods/cast pistons) runs around $1300 brand new, so popping this motor wouldn't be the end of the world, but I haven't ever felt worried about it. The point of all that typing: I'd be happy to help your friend or point him in the right direction. Let me know.

Wow...that was a lot of typing.

 

We've been having a Friday nite get together at the Palm Harbor Ale
House. Probably not this Friday with the holiday and all, but will
PM you as to the next one. Also be sure to peep the SouthEast
section for events...lot's of Florida goings' on.

 

Welcome to the forum and here's some of what you need...

 

That's 5 minutes out from my current residence. I'm definitely in for the next meet.

 

While I admire and join you in your quest for 500hp, there is no way that you are going to get there with the boltons that you mention. Even the Z06 with headers, X pipe, catback and assorted other bolt-on goodies don't get there. It will take a serious head and cam package plus these other things to get it done. A supercharger seems to be the most cost effective way to get it done.

I wish you luck and hope you get there, but did want to inject a little reality into the subject...for what it is worth.

 

Damn...and the thread had been such a feel good story to this point. Just to make sure, I do plan on doing heads and cams on top of the headers, hi-flo/no cats, a good cat-back setup along with a CAI of some sort. Maybe add push rods and valve springs to that equation as well. Still seem unreasonable? :

rtpilot - Thanks!

 

500BHP out of a 350ci LS1 engine? Sure.
Very Expensive if naturally aspirated? Sure.
Awesome sound? Sure
Lumpy idle? Sure
No vacuum at cruise? Sure
Poor driveability? Sure
Expensive to tune? Sure
Worth the trouble? Sure
Cheaper and easier ways to achieve what you need? Sure

For myself, for example, I wanted a canyon crawler that I could also cruise at very low speed, was fine in traffic, would not overheat, was loud but not attract every SWAT team from 100 miles around, and had awesome top end. Wasn't trying to smoke the tires, didn't care about trying to holeshot some AWD Ricer, don't care about quarter mile times or gas mileage etc. etc. etc.

Point is - just shooting for a Braking Horsepower number is only a small part of the equation.

0.02 cents deposited - your mileage may vary.

EG

 

Wow... thanks for the scooby smarts even though I have to say that some of that went over my head... I will tell my friend and contact you if he wants to know details...

 

He was from VA, what did you expect?

Seriously though, welcome to the forum, you'll absolutely love the Vette over the WRX. There's nothing wrong with the WRX, there's just something cool about being in a vette. (talking about handling/power/comfort, etc, etc)

I agree with the rest of these guys. 500 BHP is easy to obtain, I have an appt with a local speed shop to install a Maggie s/c (went with maggie since it is my daily driver... no fuss/no muss), I'll have just about 4K-4.5K in it including installation.

Someone previously mentioned NOS/superchargers were like being on steroids. It's funny, I use that analogy but not for s/c's. To me, NOS is like being on steroids, you run out of juice, it's like running out of pills.

You never run out of being supercharger....

Anyway, welcome to the forum and enjoy your vette when you find it. (May wanna look at a convertible

Mark

 

You can check out my sig for mods. I'm at about 480-485hp at the motor and 413rwhp. I spent about 4500 installed and tuned for everything. My cam is pretty mild and unless you heard me start my car you would never have a clue I even have a H/C setup. The car is a whole new animal than the one I bought and brough home that 1st day.

 

Welcome to the forum and thanks for starting this thread. Many of us are looking for the same thing and I'll bet this gets quite a few views.

 

There is always a price we pay for the games we play. I'll give up a little on the comfort/refinement side for more power. If you had the chance to ride in my Subaru, you'd understand how little I care about creature comforts and civility. I did a lot of research before starting my mods and knew, more or less, exactly where I would end up and how the car would behave. Plan to do the same in this instance. The beauty of it is, the modes for Corvettes are not much more expensive than what you would see in Subarus. Hell, there was a time that Subaru stuff was so rare in the States, people were paying $1000 for polished HKS headers that were not even equal length! It was nuts.

No verts for me, has to be a FRC unless I find something special in a regular coupe. I like closed roof cars. The Maggie sounds interesting...one more option to look into.

Thanks for the info and thanks for the welcomes! There are always going to be varying opinions on performance mods, etc. The consensus seems to be that 500hp on motor is feasible for a street driven car.

Please keep sharing info and experiences, as it may be benefiting more people than just this noob.