Hey guys I'm sure this discussion has been had a million times but I just joined so looking for some input. I have a 99 c5 bone stock and decided to mod it up not fast enough for me.. I have a vararam intake and b&b bullets cat back on the way so that's what I'll start with. I may eventually supercharge it but can't afford it yet so some other cheaper mods to get more out of it will have to work for now. What has worked the best for you all? Headers? Cam? Heads? Etc also will be having it tuned but if I can do more before I tune it would save having to do it again right away.

 

I'll throw my 2 cents in...

Everyone's idea of "what works best" will be different because we all have widely ranging levels of tolerance for noise / ride stiffness / idle quality / possible local emissions requirements / how much $$$ is available to spend and of course what we're looking to accomplish (street / track / both?):

- If you have an automatic transmission, maybe consider starting with a higher stall converter and swap in a 3.42 differential (don't bother trying to upgrade your ring and pinion, just swap in a whole assembled differential from a manual transmission vehicle and make your life easier). While these aren't engine mods, they should give you a much peppier vehicle.

- If you know for a fact that you're going to add a blower at some point, then pick your mods with that goal in mind. This would mean that you might want to skip any head and cam changes and just leave those alone - forced induction systems don't quite see the same "bang for the buck" returns from CNC'd heads that normally aspirated engines will, same deal applies to milling your heads to bump up the compression. Higher compression heads tend not to play well with forced induction systems and can promote detonation due to the higher cylinder pressures which are already inherent with adding boost, but they are great if your engine is just breathing normally (providing you're running proper timing, high octane gas, running E-85, or Meth, etc.). The point being - it may not be the best choice to spend $$$ on a head and cam combo designed to make a normally aspirated engine go faster, then end up maybe having to change things around again at some point down the line when you decide to add a blower. Just skip the head / cam step and apply that money towards your blower set-up

- Headers / high-flow cats / and an x-pipe aren't a bad way to go in either case. You already have the Vararam at one end, cleaning up the other end can't hurt. But again. you can add a blower and not necessarily have to even change your exhaust set up at all... You will certainly lose some gains by keeping the exhaust system nearly stock, but again it may be worth considering saving the $$$ you would have spent on further exhaust mods and again just dive into the blower directly. The good news is that we have people on the forum who are more well-versed in this area and can give more detailed advise!

Good Luck!


Jeff

 

Appreciate your input and I hear ya I'm just still undecided about the blower so kind of weighing my options and approach I guess.. it's a 6sp manual so the stall converter is out and the gearing. I have read that an A&A kit installed and tuned will put me over 500hp?.. what I'm debating is how much I can gain naturally for the same or less money spent. Idk it's a tough decision I just want more acceleration call me weird but if it doesn't scare me a little bit it's boring

 

OP, one mod I did I that really changed the characteristic of the car was a short throw shifter.
I went MGW with my 01...

Also, mines an A&A V3 kit w/ meth putting out a little over 500 conservatively. Stock bottom end but added a few valvetrain bits.
Still get over 30 mpg cruising the interstates while having a blast at the track too!!!!

 

I know that headers really woke up my 99...its a great supporting mod if you go SC in the future...

 

Thanks for the responses headers is what I'm thinking next and then a good tune. Was going to maybe p&p the heads and do a cam but like someone on here said if I'm going to add a sc then have to gear the cam around it so hopefully between the intake, exhaust, headers and a tune it'll wake up a bit. Also the short throw shifter seems like a great idea so I'm gonna look into that too.

 

I took out the LS1 and put in a new LS3, fixed it up pretty good

 

AA v3 si supercharger complete kit from AA !
-Fast 102 intake
-Nick Williams ( Boosted ) 102 throttle body
- Casper Harness ls1 to ls2 and up
- Mighty Mouse Wild Catch can
- AFE Stage 2 Air intake tube / plenum 4 ich
- ZZ performance moly hardened push rods
- VMS high output coils
- MSD 8mm wires
- Ken Bell BAP ( still in box )
- Trick Flow Harmonic Balancer pinned crank
- Gm Performance Heads 243 / ngk tr6 plugs gapped .26
-Steam Vent Delete
- All new harden steel bolts in head & exhaust
- All new intake seals
- Tuned by ...I refuse to release details lol .
- Advanced fuel Dynamics Pro Version E85 / any fuel content kit
- Hawks performance LsX 100mm Maf!
- Vararam power duct
- Snow performance stage 2.5 kit with the VC-50
- 2 Hyper Sonic Nozzles
- Aem X series 334 AFR gauge
-Dual gauge pod
-Pioneer AVH 2550 NeX
- 19/20 MRR M755 Wheels ( Black )
- BTR ls9 cam shaft 122 lsa 211/232 @.600-.650
- Dual moly chrome valve springs / Michigan Motor Sports rockers / hardened guts
- Btr .51 head gasket
- Fixed Leman c5r style headlights
- Radiator tank
-Ls7 clutch,fly wheel
-Tilton 61-6105 clutch actuator
​​​​​​-Tick Master clutch cylinder
- Clutch Speed Bleed 48 inch line
- Hyper flash Led inside dash harness
- Switchback drl/ turn signals
- Ls3 timing swap conversion kit gm
- idler pulley
- power steering line
- Upgraded alternator bracket
-3.42 Getrag differential