I just bought an almost bone stock 99 C5 and right now I have put on vararam, Borla catbak, hurst shifter, ECS brace, left side output shaft and a tune. Next would be some long tube headers and I was planning on a cam. But some are telling me that gears should be my next mod and that doing a cam before gears wouldn't make sense.

Also, would it be crazy to upgrade heads instead of the stock cam? Either im thinking outside of the box or I dont know what im talking about.

 

I think you need to define where you want to end up before making the decision. Headers is probably the safer choice. The gears decision is dependent on other mods.

 

just got heads and a cam what kind of headers should I go with

 

The cam will be limited by how well your heads flow and headers will help the heads flow...so common sense says heads & headers first if a cam is in the future........not sure if you have a auto or stick...if auto, a 3200-3600 stall converter will be like adding 50+HP......if you have 2.73 rear gears 3.42 or more will make a big diff...........

..most important is what dba4life said....decide where you want to end up before starting the journey.....plan ahead or waste a lot of $$$ getting there...

 

One would think gears should be last not first...

If you throw in 411's, then later down the road you get a blower and a bunch of other power adders, the car will simply have outgrown the gears. A 1100hp supra would be awful with 411s. With huge power you're already going to have traction issues, so by this philosophy, you need to have some idea what your completed project is and build accordingly.

The ultimate best thing to do--which not many people seem to do--is save all your money and do everything all at once. This way you don't go swapping aftermarket parts for other aftermarket parts to accomodate new ones and other alterations. You're going to need another tune after adding several more parts. See what I mean? That 500 or 600 you spent could be used towards an LSX intake manifold.

Headers would be the best next thing to do. Depending on how far you want to go, perhaps 2" ones. While you're down there, consider the upgraded, thicker tunnel plate to reinforce your car reduce flex, and reduce heat in the cockpit. This is what my plan is.

After this you'll want heads, cam, and an intake manifold (all at the same time). While you're there, you'll have to get a new throttlebody to accomodate a new manifold so have that ported and polished along with the manifold itself.

You'll now need another tune. If you have 93 widely available, make sure the shop tunes your car to use it. I believe most C5's are tuned to accept 91 because that was all that was available in some states.

At this point you may need a new, more durable clutch to handle the power.

It starts getting expensive doesn't it.

 

Where do you live? Do you have a lot of high speed traveling? Here in FL, highway speeds of 80-100mph are quite common.

If you're up north you'll probably never reach those speeds. Just something to consider. Even if you don't plan on breaking the law, exended travel at 75mph with 411's will likely put much more wear and tear on the car than necessary. This is why I'm interested in 3.73's for myself.

You didn't mention if you're stick or auto. Stall converter?

 

This is an M6. My ultimate goal for this car is to see 11s / 440+ to the wheels. I don't see myself ever doing forced induction so it would make sense to do gears first then? A cam is definitely in the future so it would actually make more sense to do heads first?

 

Replacing heads without swapping the cam would yield small returns for the money, so do the cam first if it's one or the other. Hence why there are so many "cam only" builds out there, but you never here of a shop offering "heads only" specials.

Gears are a great mod, which I might do first before a cam, but thats up to you and needs to fit your driving needs. The only time I would say not too are if you road race, which can cause too many shifts on track and disrupt the car, or you are planning on making a lot of power in the future, which would make the car too hard to hook and wound the gear out too quick. Do not worry about highway RPM's and 4.10's, all it does is make your sixth gear usable now, even with high sustained speeds.
This way you also have the right gear for a cam when the time comes. Cammed cars need to be in their efficiency range, which is higher RPM, so gears are a well matched combo for a cammed car.




Well said.


American racing headers.



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So bottom line gears will make the cam more effective, so I will do gears before the cam. Thanks for your help. Now I need to get a second job to pay for all this...