Best Bolt On Performance for 03 C5???
Thread Starter
6th Gear
Joined: Jun 2014
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Best Bolt On Performance for 03 C5???
Hey guys how are you doing? Thank you for taking the time and reading this post, I am a service advisor at Chevy in upstate NY and I have a customer who is interested in finally doing a little work on his 50th Anniversary C5. He has babied this thing and he is looking for a little more power as he occasionally brings his car to the autocross track. At the moment I am looking for a C5 Z06 Ti exhaust for him but I was wondering what else you guys recommend as bolt ons. Obviously bang for the buck is top priority and I know he is not looking to do anything too crazy to it because he half considers this car an investment. Basically he wants it to have some *****, that's all. Any help would be appreciated! Also if anyone in the Upstate NY area needs a Vette friendly advisor feel free to contact me.
Team Owner
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 23,480
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From: East Meadow NY
St. Jude Donor '12
Hey guys how are you doing? Thank you for taking the time and reading this post, I am a service advisor at Chevy in upstate NY and I have a customer who is interested in finally doing a little work on his 50th Anniversary C5. He has babied this thing and he is looking for a little more power as he occasionally brings his car to the autocross track. At the moment I am looking for a C5 Z06 Ti exhaust for him but I was wondering what else you guys recommend as bolt ons. Obviously bang for the buck is top priority and I know he is not looking to do anything too crazy to it because he half considers this car an investment. Basically he wants it to have some *****, that's all. Any help would be appreciated! Also if anyone in the Upstate NY area needs a Vette friendly advisor feel free to contact me.
Safety Car
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From: Houston Texas
C5 COTM Coordinator
Thread Starter
6th Gear
Joined: Jun 2014
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Very good guys! Thank you for your help I will be sure to pass on the information. I know he was planning on getting a tune but I'm trying to convince him to hold off for a little bit until he does some bolt ons. He is under the impression that he will gain lots of power with solely a tune and no bolt ons... By the way what do these vehicles put down as far a stock WHP? Also his car is an automatic and he has a complaint where the car is upshifting from 3rd to 4th during autocross when it really needs to stay in 3rd.. Is there anyway a module reflash will be able to help this issue?
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St. Jude Donor '14-'15-'16-'17-'18-'19-'20-'21-'22-'23
Team Owner
Joined: May 2003
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From: East Meadow NY
St. Jude Donor '12
Very good guys! Thank you for your help I will be sure to pass on the information. I know he was planning on getting a tune but I'm trying to convince him to hold off for a little bit until he does some bolt ons. He is under the impression that he will gain lots of power with solely a tune and no bolt ons... By the way what do these vehicles put down as far a stock WHP? Also his car is an automatic and he has a complaint where the car is upshifting from 3rd to 4th during autocross when it really needs to stay in 3rd.. Is there anyway a module reflash will be able to help this issue?
Thread Starter
6th Gear
Joined: Jun 2014
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Appx 300rwhp for an auto. If the car is up shifting from 3rd to 4th, tell him to run in third. There is no real reason he would need 4th for an auto cross. An automatic does benefit from a tune. You get faster/firmer shifts but it is a waste if he has near term modification plans.
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Team Owner
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 23,480
Likes: 9
From: East Meadow NY
St. Jude Donor '12
Ok very good I will certainly suggest him to do that. I would really like to see him be at 340 WHP, I think that would be good for what he was looking for. Hopefully I/H/E and a tune will get him what he's looking for. Someone said to put a LS6 plenum on it.. Is this simply a bolt on or is any modification needed? Also what is the power difference between a C5 with I/H/E + tune versus a C5 with I/H/E/LS6 plenum + tune? Again sorry for being such a n00b but Corvettes really aren't my forte but hopefully one day I will own a C7
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6th Gear
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Drifting
Joined: Oct 2006
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From: Minnesota
A lot of misguidance going on here. 
.
I have everything: heads, cam, intake, exhaust, high stall, rear end, NOS, supercharger, etc. You will barely notice a difference from headers and CAI, or any other simple bolt on like that. Heads, cam, and exhaust, you will notice but that's a fair amount of work, expensive, and the payoff isn't really that great. Nitrous can be a little tricky to set up, and isn't that cheap to set up correctly. I recommend a supercharger kit. That will give your client as little or as much power as he wants. The A&A or ECS kit is better than the Procharger kit, but the Procharger kit definitely looks OEM.
A supercharger kit is what your client will really be happy with, trust me, I've done it all.
The stock A4 vette puts down 265-280ish rwhp, I seriously doubt CAI, Headers, and exhaust will get him to 350 rwhp on an automatic car. Maybe with a good tune it will.
A supercharger definitely will...and far beyond that if he wants.
. I have everything: heads, cam, intake, exhaust, high stall, rear end, NOS, supercharger, etc. You will barely notice a difference from headers and CAI, or any other simple bolt on like that. Heads, cam, and exhaust, you will notice but that's a fair amount of work, expensive, and the payoff isn't really that great. Nitrous can be a little tricky to set up, and isn't that cheap to set up correctly. I recommend a supercharger kit. That will give your client as little or as much power as he wants. The A&A or ECS kit is better than the Procharger kit, but the Procharger kit definitely looks OEM.
A supercharger kit is what your client will really be happy with, trust me, I've done it all.
The stock A4 vette puts down 265-280ish rwhp, I seriously doubt CAI, Headers, and exhaust will get him to 350 rwhp on an automatic car. Maybe with a good tune it will.
A supercharger definitely will...and far beyond that if he wants.
Last edited by reactor2; Jun 20, 2014 at 10:12 AM.
Team Owner
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 23,480
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From: East Meadow NY
St. Jude Donor '12
A supercharger is a great value for the dollar but it is expensive.
Last edited by chaase; Jun 20, 2014 at 10:14 AM.
Drifting
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 1,724
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From: Minnesota
290-310rwhp is the generally accepted range for rwhp readings on a dynojet. Mine came in a 300rwhp with a 20rwhp gain from an air intake and a tune, which put me at 320rwhp. There are numerous posts of people coming in at that range. The only way you are going to be that low is maybe on Mustang dyno.
A supercharger is a great value for the dollar but it is expensive.
A supercharger is a great value for the dollar but it is expensive.
Last edited by reactor2; Jun 20, 2014 at 10:22 AM.
Team Owner
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 23,480
Likes: 9
From: East Meadow NY
St. Jude Donor '12
Mine is an automatic and my numbers are not uncommon. There have been tons of people reporting similar numbers to mine. The early A4 C5s came in around 290rwhp since they didn't have as much hp as the later model cars.
Thread Starter
6th Gear
Joined: Jun 2014
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Ok good stuff. So now that we cleared all of that up, would it be safe to assume that my customer's vehicle with I/H/E and a tune would see anywhere from 335-350 WHP? I don't want to recommend anything unnecessary but as it is with any car letting it breathe a little better and adjusting fuel and timing will wake them up which is exactly what he is looking for.
Team Owner
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 23,480
Likes: 9
From: East Meadow NY
St. Jude Donor '12
Ok good stuff. So now that we cleared all of that up, would it be safe to assume that my customer's vehicle with I/H/E and a tune would see anywhere from 335-350 WHP? I don't want to recommend anything unnecessary but as it is with any car letting it breathe a little better and adjusting fuel and timing will wake them up which is exactly what he is looking for.
Thread Starter
6th Gear
Joined: Jun 2014
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Awesome! Thank you for the help I really appreciate it guys. On an unrelated note, another customer came in with his 2014 supercharged C7 making 657 WHP and offered me a ride, which I certainly took. What a beast.
Race Director
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 12,413
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From: Rio Rancho NM
A lot of misguidance going on here. .
I have everything: heads, cam, intake, exhaust, high stall, rear end, NOS, supercharger, etc. You will barely notice a difference from headers and CAI, or any other simple bolt on like that. Heads, cam, and exhaust, you will notice but that's a fair amount of work, expensive, and the payoff isn't really that great. Nitrous can be a little tricky to set up, and isn't that cheap to set up correctly. I recommend a supercharger kit. That will give your client as little or as much power as he wants. The A&A or ECS kit is better than the Procharger kit, but the Procharger kit definitely looks OEM.
A supercharger kit is what your client will really be happy with, trust me, I've done it all.
The stock A4 vette puts down 265-280ish rwhp, I seriously doubt CAI, Headers, and exhaust will get him to 350 rwhp on an automatic car. Maybe with a good tune it will.
A supercharger definitely will...and far beyond that if he wants.
. I have everything: heads, cam, intake, exhaust, high stall, rear end, NOS, supercharger, etc. You will barely notice a difference from headers and CAI, or any other simple bolt on like that. Heads, cam, and exhaust, you will notice but that's a fair amount of work, expensive, and the payoff isn't really that great. Nitrous can be a little tricky to set up, and isn't that cheap to set up correctly. I recommend a supercharger kit. That will give your client as little or as much power as he wants. The A&A or ECS kit is better than the Procharger kit, but the Procharger kit definitely looks OEM.
A supercharger kit is what your client will really be happy with, trust me, I've done it all.
The stock A4 vette puts down 265-280ish rwhp, I seriously doubt CAI, Headers, and exhaust will get him to 350 rwhp on an automatic car. Maybe with a good tune it will.
A supercharger definitely will...and far beyond that if he wants.
Truth right here. I did the Bolton stuff pretty much waste of money for what 30hp maybe 40 HP? It sounds louder so people think they gained a **** load of HP. A stock auto c5 is dog slow slap a blower and be happy skip. Skip the BS and get some real power
Team Owner
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From: At the beach in little Rhody
Gears, because I don't think he is going to want to make huge irreversible changes to the car based on your description.
Last edited by vettenuts; Jun 21, 2014 at 06:02 PM.