guy is tired of getting beat by camaro SS etc etc.

he wants reliable and wants bang for the buck

he has a C-5 98 with auto

I suggested the following

224/224 or 228/228 style cam with springs and retainers
Intake filter (vararam, votech, or blackwing)
Torque converter (suggestions on what works best is needed)
3.42 gears

I figure this would be good bang for the buck whats your ideas??? Nitrous is out of the question.

 

Outright bang for buck would be 4.11 rear end. That's like adding 90 HP, in terms of acceleration.

 

100% agree on the gears.....
next best bet is the cam/springs
none of this means anything if the tires are spinning so get rid of the run flats

 

how bad is 4.11 gearing on an auto ??

would he be pulling 3000 rpms at 60mph and be limited to 130 mph topend and kill his gas mileage??

how would 3.42s compare to 4.11s in those respects??

 

Basically, yes. But when it comes to the drag strip, all that matters when it comes to choosing gears is that you don't run out of gearing before you cross that line.

Just about any performance mod will hurt gas milage. Boring, stroking, and cam all do. Intake and exhaust don't. Supercharger and turbo do.

But to answer your question, 4.11 will have approximately a 20% torque advantage and a 20% fuel economy penalty over 3.42

 

Sell it, and buy an 03 Z06 with 0% financing.

Greg
:steering:

 

Best bang for the buck is to sell it and buy a Fox Body stang, and a turbo kit.

If you're keeping the Vette, go with heads/cam and longtubes, a nice stall, and some gears- as big as he wants to go (if 3.42 is good, 3.73 is better, and 4.11 is heaven ;)).

Why no nitrous though? BY FAR it's the best bang for the buck mod. Drop a second for under $1000. Hell, that's HALF the cost of the gear set alone...

 

I'm going with the gears next. 3.42's for me on the street. If you check out the gear ratio's on the A4 you're going to be a stump puller in first even with the 3.42. Lot's of the MN6 guys are selling them when they go to 4.11's which work on the street for them because they have 6th gear that they never use anyway. They also have a higher 1st gear. You can always find a good deal on them, I paid $500. Go to 4.11's and you'll be feathering the pedal anyway because you'll be up in smoke. I'm keeping the stock TC too. I put a 3000 stall in my street 55 chev with Morrison ladder bars and granted, it would smoke the posi no problem but it felt "slippery and slushy" while driving anywhere but on the strip. Went down to a 2200 stall and felt more responsive while driving around town and on the "stoplight grand prix". To me, a torque converter is matched to the engine, not the gear ratio. Also seems to me that by getting lower gears, a higher stall is not as necessary because you have better leverage. A higher stall makes more sense to me on a street machine if you're keeping 3.15's because you need to get the engine speed up to take advantage.

A little different way to look at it. Decisions, decisions. :banghead: :steering:

 

Mod #1 hands down Yank ST 3500 TC
#2. Cold air intake (IMO a must)- Vortex= best bang for buck
#3. 3.42 gears
#4. Long tube headers (many good choices available)
#5. MAF Translator ( in lieu of custom Tuning, as you can tune as weather conditions dictate, also the '97-'98 cars tend to run rich and this along with the MAF T, can compensate.
#6. (optional) Scanmaster to monitor knock retard and your O2s, not as accurate as a wideband, but somewhat relative to what's going on with your tuning.
These are my proven choices and THEY WORK see sig
There is more in my simple combo , if I could only get to the track with some great weather, good track conditions, and recently installed LS6 manifold (hopefully will see 11.70s)

Good Luck,

Mike :) :flag

 

Good suggestions so far. I wouldn't exactly call gears like 4.10s cost effective as you'll be needing plenty of tire to get the most out of them. As far as converters go, I like higher STR converters (swapping my SY3500 for a SS3800) but you are also likely talking tire improvements there too. Picking the right converter requires you to really think about what you want (and are wiling to give up) and what you don't want (and aren't willing to give up.) Also, plan for PCM progamming if you're going to swap gears. If you're trying to minimize $$ I would say stick with the stock gearing and spend it on converter and tire.

Reliable sounds like "daily driver." I probably wouldn't be looking at a 228/228 cam (with stock heads?) for an A4. Also, if you're doing it right, cam selection (or more generally the engine's power/torque characteristics) will point you to the right converter (and gear.)

 

I'd like to know why he's getting beat by the Camaro in the first place, what does that car have done to it?

My '95 has beat WS6's and SS's, and I'm stock.

 

Mojo cant believe your the first to ask this... He shouldnt be getting beat by an SS unless its modded...

 

GIVE ME A BREAK! I had a 2000SS and beat C5's all the time. An A4 C5 would especially get beat by my 6 speed Camaro. Some of you guys crack me up. :crazy:

Jon http://www.ls1howto.com

 

Hey Jon,

I've been busy with my Vette since I bought it last December. I guess you've never seen my Vette. You remember the guy that sat in your Vette at D&B's parking lot right before the austinfbody group cruised down to the Salt Lick, well thats me. I had a 2002 NHRA SE T/A.

Anyway, back to your post... These C5s your Camaro SS use to beat, were they the 1997-2000 C5s, just curious. BTW, with a few mods, see sig, I'm at 321.8rwhp/333.6rwtq & at less bdywt than a Camaro SS I do believe my 2001 C5 could take a 2000 Camaro SS. Do you still own the Camaro SS & if so, what mods? Let's find an isolated road & do a further comparison test, okay :yesnod:

 

With EQUAL drivers and EQUAL mods/hp the Vette should win every time just based on weight savings alone. To even things out with a 6 speed SS the Vette owner will need gears and a torque converter. Although I'd love to see you beat that same "slow" Vette in a top speed run...can you say aerodynamics & gears??? :)


[Modified by Viprklr, 10:57 PM 4/19/2003]

 

Hey cary, I remember you. No, I don't still have the SS. The cars it'd beat were pre 2001, just like mine, and were automatic. I only have the C5 now, so you can comparison test against that if you want. It dyno'd 414rwhp last I checked, but I put cats on since then.

ViperKlr, "SHOULD" win, sure, sometimes. On average I'd say what you said is correct but its something like 60%/40% win/loss. There are beast F-body LS1's just like there are beast Y-body LS1's. The F-body has better gearing due to the shorter rear tire, and a less lossy drivetrain. The Ybody weighs less and has more aerodynamics. I owned both cars simultaniously for a year so I think I can make a pretty good guess about this stuff. C5's aren't much faster than an F-body with the same mods, and there will be some good running f-bodies straight from GM that break the rule, thats just how it is. Being suprised a C5 lost to a SS is just laughable.

Jon
http://www.ls1howto.com

 

Hey jmX
I agree. Last year I ran a stock 01ss with the SLP option and auto. He stayed with me up to 40 and than I pulled 2 car lenghts by 70 or so. I believe they will run with a C5 sometimes. just my .02 worth. :jester bb

 

Your suggestion is very good.

The other thing I would add is long tube headers and some tires.

If this is track driving, you will need drag radials. I have a similar winning combination except I have a couple other things.

Ran 11.41 and 122 mph. That should beat quite a few Camaros.

4.10 is a LOT for an A4 and I would not suggest it unless the car is primary track duty like mine. 75 MPH is about 3000 RPM

 

Well, I do not think my 321.8rwhp C5 is a match for your 414rwhp C5 with or without cats :lol: Remember, its mod for mod all things being equal, blah-blah-blah. This July I plan on getting the G2 LT Headers at LG Motorsports along w/LS1 Edit & this will take me up to around 350rwhp. I have to spend my mod $$$ SLOWLY :(

BTW, I joined LCC & they have something going almost every weekend. Alot of fun.

 

Hey Cary, thats cool about the LCC. I'm not going to pay to join a car club so I'm working on a nice free corvette club similar to the f-body one we have.

I may get LG headers one day too, I went with FLP's for now though just because they were available. Check out my webpage if you wanna see how to install them, or other C5 stuff.

Jon
http://www.ls1howto.com