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Cams, Headers, Intake vs. Supercharger

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Old Dec 28, 2004 | 05:57 PM
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Default Cams, Headers, Intake vs. Supercharger

This is probably been answered many times before in this forum but...

if you were doing your first big performance upgrade to a ZO6, which would you recommend doing?

(a) headers, cam, intake, performance tune, or...
(b) supercharger

I'm confident (a) would bring warranty issues into question, and you may have to rely on the good will (or good lawyer) to make a claim under warranty

Not sure about (b) but believe it would be less likely to encounter warranty problems, plus horsepower gains would probably exceed those in (a)...so I'm leaning towards (b)

Your thoughts? Thanks guys...I know I can get straight answers from my fellow forum members!
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Old Dec 28, 2004 | 05:59 PM
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I went with Heads and Cam on my Z because the compression ratio of the LS6 is too high for any major boost.
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Old Dec 28, 2004 | 09:40 PM
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Mind you, I don't have a Z06 and mine is a daily driver. But...

If you have the basic warranty (3 yr/36K miles), wait until after the warranty is dead and then mod. I chose the heads/cam/LT-headers route because I found it a might bit cheaper than the supercharger route and I didn't want to mess with any increase in mechanicals under the hood.

I love the results!

Best of luck with whatever you decide!
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Old Dec 28, 2004 | 09:42 PM
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I vote H/C
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Old Dec 28, 2004 | 10:22 PM
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[QUOTE=eamador11]I vote H/C[/QUOTE

ive i did it again id go with a twin turbo
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Old Dec 28, 2004 | 10:31 PM
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Right now I'm cam only but trying to decide which heads to go with
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Old Dec 28, 2004 | 11:16 PM
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Supercharger...first it will drive like stock till you want the power. It won't lobe like it would with a big cam. Next when the time comes and you want more power you can add the heads and cam. If you do heads and cam first it is much harder to then get more power with a charger.
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Old Dec 29, 2004 | 07:23 AM
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Not sure why you would think SC would be better for warranty reasons but if you dont take it off before you go for work I bet any dealership would tell ya bye bye.

You could "hide" heads by getting LS6 heads or LS1 heads and porting/polishing them, a mild cam and a semi friendly dealer would be your best bet. The dealers dont want to risk getting in trouble with GM or GMPP so make it look/sound as stock as you can.
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Old Dec 29, 2004 | 08:43 AM
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Depending on your intended usage, I would probably go SC. A Magnusson makes a really nice package for a daily driver type car. With a Z, I've seen members get numbers in the 480-500rwhp and 420-430rwtq thorugh stock manifolds and catalysts. I've even seen an 01 Z put out 492rwhp and 470rwtq through stock manifolds and a 2002 h-pipe using a 3.1 pulley!

Bang for the buck, it's hard to beat a blower. You retain your smooth idle, get as good if not better gas mileage,and you don't get the cops staring at you all the time like you would with a lumpy idle of a high hp head and cam setup.

Jersey
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Old Dec 29, 2004 | 09:54 AM
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My vote is for the S/C. Had a chance to ride in a 99FRC car that is the "Shop car" for a local shop here in Dayton and it was amazing. The car was updated to an LS6 manifold, Kooks 1 7/8" headers and a Procharger. I can honestly say the car scared me. At the track late last year I watched the car run 11.20's at 128. With this speed its an easy 10 second car. The best thing is that the car sounded exactly like my FRC, until you mash the throttle and the boost comes on and the blower whine becomes noticable.
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