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Old Jan 7, 2010 | 06:52 PM
  #1  
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Default Begginer Mods..

I have a 2001 MN6 and unfortunately the head gasket blew between the #2 and #4 pistons.. I have no mods on this car at all and it only has 50k miles.. Seems weird that it blew but whatever..

It does burn oil because it has never been Re-ring'ed.. It never bothered me adding oil and if the HG never blew I would have never thought twice about it.

But now that I have to pull one head off, I figured I will re-ring it..

Now my dilema is: since I am going to have the engine pulled apart and to change the head gaskets and re-ring..

What other begginer mods should I start with? What will give me the most noticable performance without a huge price tag?

This is also my daily driver so if people think I should leave it stock and not have to worry about mods causing me headaches I will just leave it as is..

Thanks!!
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Old Jan 7, 2010 | 09:05 PM
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I wouldn't be so sure to blame the piston rings. LS1's are notorious for burning oil due to the PCV setup. At 50K there should be very little blowby on a maintained motor. Easy way to tell would be do a leakdown on the cylinders that are NOT affected by the blown head gasket. I bet that result comes back fine.

Since you're pulling the head, the easiest mods to do would be some headers/full exhaust and an aftermarket air intake (NOT intake manifold). That will yeild about a 40 RWHP gain after a good tune.
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Old Jan 8, 2010 | 02:55 PM
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Originally Posted by Fastbird
Since you're pulling the head, the easiest mods to do would be some headers/full exhaust and an aftermarket air intake (NOT intake manifold). That will yeild about a 40 RWHP gain after a good tune.
Headers, X-pipe and Z06 Ti would be a great move if you're looking to add power with affecting reliability in any way. And the whole set up can be had for about $1,700-1,800, or less if you buy used headers and X.

Good luck
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Old Jan 8, 2010 | 03:11 PM
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I see you are from California. LT headers are an excellent mod. But they are illegal for smog in California. Just in case you didn't know. Talk to some local corvette enthusiast about LT headers. There are several shorty headers which have a carb cert. But they only give modest power gains.

I would go with a Callaway Honker, or K&N CAI. They are both CARB legal. While the intake is off, install a ported and polished throttlebody. Next you can install a Cat-back. Some people change for a titanium exhaust from a C5 Z06. The cat-back will not give you a great power boost but you'll love the sound. Other options for a cat-back are Corsa, Borla, GHL Motorsports, Magnaflow, etc...
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Old Jan 8, 2010 | 04:28 PM
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I was expecting people to start telling me to change out cams, valves, springs, injectors, ect..

But its sounds like I'm getting a new intake, headers, exhaust and tune..


Thanks for the advice!
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Old Jan 8, 2010 | 04:35 PM
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Personaly if I were you trash the motor and install a LS6 crate motor and if you can swing it AR headers,x-pipe,hi-flow cats.Their is a guy in the parts section selling crate motors for 3200 dollars.You really should weigh the costs.
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Old Jan 8, 2010 | 07:33 PM
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how fast do you want to go ?
how much do you want to spend ?
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