Why some owners mod...
As someone that's done a major engine modification (super charged) I wondered why some of us do what we do? The simple answer is because we can but that's really not much of reason for spending ten's of thousands of dollars modding something that's pretty amazing from the factory.

It's interesting to me we seem to have two distinct factions when it comes to mods.... Waxers and Wrenchers. A Waxer are those that mostly do appearance mods such as engine bay bling, spoilers, wheels... etc. Almost any modification that DOES not add power or performance would be a waxer.

Wrenchers pretty much want more power with everything from engine replacement, FI, Nox, cams, headers.. etc... Anything that increases the over all performance of a stock vette. Of course there are combination of both mod approaches but for the most part the two type of modders are separate.....

I started out doing mostly appearance mods on my 06 MN6 coupe. They consisted of aftermarket wheels, Corsa exhaust, some interior mods, Z06 spoiler, Ipod interface and a little bling here and there. The list is much longer but you get the idea. It was fun and not terribly expensive (wheels excepting) to do. These mod could also be done myself without a lot of special tools or mechanical experience. It made my vette feel more like my vette as opposed to the cookie cutter approach. Nothing wrong with that approach BTW...... some simply like their vette to look and run factory stock! Certainly a far less expensive approach to owning one of these cars......

A year ago I started wanting more power! There were only 2 way to scratch that itch which was start modding the engine or buy another more powerful vette. I test drove a few LS3's and the small power increase simply didn't trip my trigger. Yes it felt a tad faster but nothing like I was looking for. I drove several Z06's which also included track time at Lime Rock Race Track a road course. Now that was more like it but I discovered the up charge was more than my meager budget could afford. It was going to cost AT LEAST 20k to buy a USED Z which seemed excessive. Even with another 20k I was still buying a used vette when mine was purchased new and only had 16k miles. That was a lot of money to buy a car I really had no idea how it had been used. Since I'm not tracking my car it didn't make a whole lot of sense to me.

I extensively researched all the options for increasing power via the NA or FI routes. Nox was never going to be an option because of many mitigating factors with that stuff. I needed to decide how much additional power I wanted to add.. What would really satisfy my yearning for more power.

I decided that since a Z06 seemed pretty fast I could live with something that gave me another 100 hp more than a Z. That would put me slightly north of 600 hp at the crank or 550 rwhp. Clearly the easiest, fastest and least expensive way to accomplish that was going FI.

After researching various FI setups I elected to go with the Edlebrock E-Force because it looked factory, no hood change and their long time reputation in making great performance products. I decided NOT to install myself because I have ZERO tuning expertise and that's the heart of making these units run correctly. Wanted my car to have great street manners and drive stock until mashing the gas. That brought me to East Coast Supercharger's door because of their reputation as one of the best shops on the East Coast. It turned out it was a great decision because everything went smoothly and the car runs fantastic.

I did have to add larger wheels and tires because of traction issues (lack of) but I needed new tires anyway. My total cost for everything was around 11k which produced a beast of a street car. I'm now running ZR1 hp numbers which provides a heck of a quick ride. Mashing the gas produce thrills that are hard to describe. Fuel mileage remains within 10% of stock and street manners are impeccable. Runs just like stock until you call for more power and that was a major goal for this modification. I'm running very mild boost which shouldn't create untoward engine issues... only time will tell on that one however.

So OK... what have I created here with all these mods? For starters it's a unique vette in the sense it's different than any stock vette. It's a car that extremely exciting to drive again. I now look for excuses to take it out and cruise which is something I had stopped doing. A feeling that it can hold it's own against some pretty exotic and fast machines. It's running a 100 hp more than a Z06 which means it's plenty fast... at least as fast as I want to go. A nice feeling of pride every time I fire it up and hit the road. A great feeling when people ask me what it's running for power. Was checking the oil the other day and had a small crowd of folks at the gas station wanting to get a glimpse of the super charger. I must say the E-Force is a very impressive looking unit.

The bottom line is modding can be a fun thing when done properly. It can also be a royal PITA when hacked together and not done professionally. When you consider that Callaway and Lingenfelter essentially use stock internals on many of their builds says GM makes a pretty stout product off the shelf. Obviously those outfits build great cars but were priced way way out of my price range. It was never an option because those toys are for people with seriously deep pockets... Their products however are fantastic.

In any event it's been a great experience so far. I'm happy with almost 200 extra hp and the way the car runs. As with anything people should be aware that things can and do go wrong with mods but especially engine mods. Nothing says I won't smoke a clutch or pop a rear end with all the extra power. That's something I CAREFULLY considered before adding FI to mine. I can however put mine back to stock in about a day should I decide to. Try doing that with H/C etc..... There are pros and cons to both methods which isn't the focus of this post. Everyone has their own reasons for modding these great machines but the feeling of satisfaction for me was well worth the expense. I'm glad I did it because it truly made my vette a little unique and a total beast on the street....

I'd like to hear other's give their feelings or reasons for the modifications they've done on their cars... Perhaps their experiences with the mods they've done. Was it worth it or not to those that have done it? Would they do it again.... etc etc....

To those that are modding... ENJOY!!

 

My wife totally supports my modding addiction as she sits back and watches her Vette transform from "just another C6 vert" to "Hot looking ride" without using one penny of her "fun money". She aint' as dumb as I look.

 

Because we like our cars to unique...

 

Modding = personalizing
It's that simple

 

modded the heck out of a brand new 2001 Trans am

http://www.rumblebee.org/album_page.php?pic_id=23395

cost me 17k between engine, driveline,wheels, tires, roll cage, 456 rear end. still drove it to work every day. blew the motor at the track and did not have the money to fix it at the time.

so I guess I am a waxer with this vette for now.

 

Having just bought the car in March this year, I am still getting to know and enjoy the car as is. However my car had a lot of mods on it when purchased, and I reversed them and went back to stock as I wanted a base line. I needed to eliminate the gremlins that the other owner instilled into the car with the mods he and the shop that cobbed this stuff together created. I have been doing some of the "waxer" mods to date, changed the wheels, added some interior pieces, did a tune ( Predator ). I would consider some sort of F.I. in the future. Possibly a wide body kit and brake upgrade which would dictate another wheel and tire upgrade. I see where and how this goes. I will let my financial position dictate how far and when I go into this any farther than the "waxer" level. I have gathered a lot of info from this forum. I consider myself very competent when it comes to anything mechanical / electrical / or body related so I will be doing all of my own mods in the future. I agree with the OP there are differing degrees to modding. In the end it is a way to personilize your car, and there is nothing wrong with that!

 

Modding keeps me from losing interest. I was getting pretty bored with the car mostly stock.

 

A very nice write up by the OP.

I live in CA and cannot do many modifications unless I want to take them off for smog cert. Even my VARARAM must come off for smog.

Nitrous is one thing that I can do and with modern technology it is much safer than the old WOT switches.

Sometimes I get jealous because my deck of cards to choose from is much smaller than yours but there are no yellow leaves in my driveway.

 

Those are the reasons I modded both of my Vettes and before that my T/A

 

I agree. I think we like telling someone that, "I had those mats custom made for me", or, "Those wheels are one of a kind".

TRR

 

Different strokes for different folks. I got the performance mod-bug out of my system with my C5 days and all the headaches and crap that went along with it..so this time around I bought the quickest vette I could afford in stock form which was a Z06. THis car will have minor-mods (tune, CAI, maybe headers) and thats it. Maybe a few other cosmetic things... some track tires when I am ready to track the car.

 

I mod my car for these kind of results

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyZ79SckMVY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLqm9E4xcRM

 

This question has been asked numerous time's and the answers are always the same.

This is courtesy of banner posted at NCM. The first sentence says it all.

 

GREAT POST!! So so so true...

 

You must live in a different California than I do. Check my mods. I go to a regular smog station and always pass, no questions.

 

If I had to explain it, they wouldn't understand it :-)

 

Well to the original poster, I'm glad to hear that you are enjoying your car again, but mods, particularly mods to increase power, engine mods, are responsible for ******** up more cars on this board than any other single cause.

Including accidents, floods, theft, or vandalism. Mods have caused more damage to cars, (and by extension, people's wallets) in here, than anything else.

Show me a description or thread in here on an effed up car, or an owner crying the blues about his effed up car, and 9 times out of 10, I can show you a modded car.

Also speaking of the Edelbrock supercharger bit. I was just at the track last week with a buddy of mine and a new Camaro with one was there.

Beautiful car. The supercharger, looked factory stock and had been dealer installed. The owner was there with his two young school aged sons to see what the car would do.

He was on street tires and on a day when saying that traction was terrible would be understatement, he made his first pass. Nothing spectacular because traction sucked, so he made a second run later and I thought he had gone home after that, not seeing him in the staging area anymore.

I later saw he and his young sons in the pits, their brand new car being loaded on the dealer's flatbed. And this dealer was from a ways off so he must not have known who else to call.

I went over to him asked him what had happened to his brand new Edelbrock supercharged Camaro, as it was being pulled onto the flatbed.

He said she was running good on his second pass, through the 1/8 and then he heard a loud noise from beneath the hood. Power to the supercharger went, and his power steering went.

He pointed into the engine bay of the Camaro.

The entire belt tensioner, had snapped clean off, leaving a ragged edge of metal where once it had been. The belt was of course gone, and the owner had no idea where the rest of the tensioner was. He mentioned that he had notified the track officials, and that they had searched the track, but had not found it.

I wished he and his sons luck as they accompanied the car presumably back to the dealership.

I'm glad to know that you are enjoying your car and the new found power. But dependability, warranty and reliability take on a premium for many of us when it comes to our cars.

 

Deep post - But - I do agree "For the Most Part". I had an A&A kit on my 2010 GS before, which was set-up mildly to ensure drivability and stability. Although I ABSOLUTELY NEVER had a single problem out of it, I always wondered if the car would start when I pushed the button, and if it didnt, where would I go as my local dealer is not into performance mods.

Now with that being said, I since have bought a Callaway SC606 where I can be fearless in taking to dealerships with the bow tie. Yes it was more than my A&A kit, but I feel more comfortable pushing "go" and for me, it was worth it.

I dont beat my cars at the track, and likely will never do so, but I would presume taking any car under stress would wear it out quicker. I bet most blown engines from modding here come in the way of a bad tune....but I am by no means an expert. <---- my eyes were like this learning about all this

 

Agree with you on the tuning.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-t...e-contest.html

 

Mods baby. Mods.

If you do them right, and know what the hell you're doing, you won't have issues.

Two years with STS turbo and not a single issue with the entire car. It's never had to go in for anything other than an oil change.

And oh yes, it's fast. Scary fast. A Z can't hang with me. A V can't hang with me. I have yet to try the ZR1. But I did test drive one in AZ. It's impressive and close. I've got the grip though so who knows. Maybe.