Tech

Exactly what I did. Supercharger + supporting stuff.

lamboworld

My last two cars were twin turbo BMW's and I wanted to go back to an NA car and there is nothing better for the money than the CZ6. If I had it to do over again I would have done a little more research prior to building my car. I have gone through a handful of cams until I found what I wanted and ultimately had my engine rebuilt with Darton Sleeves and Forged pistons. I have burnt through some $$$ not having a long term plan but I absolutely love this car. I built it to run NA 99% of the time and a big shot of nitrous at 1/2 mile and 1/4 mile events the other 1%. If you are looking for a bump in power and want to keep NA then get some Nitrous on your car. Nitrous will take your car to a whole new level and it allows you to choose when you want to run it unlike a boosted car.

I plan to keep this car for the long term and I will buy something else if I need another toy.

Turbo2L

LSX block and more nitrous versus a forged bottom end on stock sleeves. Two stages: 300 on top of 300 and enjoy the ride.

no0one718

great thread. I've had my car three years now, getting the itch to mod it. in the past i've ruined some great cars and motorcycles by getting carried away with mods. they all got to where they just weren't fun to drive anymore. a couple i put back to near stock to sell, and thought "WTF was i thinking, spent all that money to realize the vehicle was so much better with out that exhaust drone, rock hard suspension, ect"

I was planning on a 110 or 116 cam, headers & x pipe (already bought), proper drivers seat (already bought), some nice wheels and calling it a day.. good to hear the guys that've been there and done that agree that's a great setup..

Patriot Six

I’m currently sitting at 800+ rwhp on a forged LS7 with A&A kit and all supporting mods to include a built trans. If I could do it over, I would have done the basic A&A kit and nothing else and enjoyed it on the street.

C 5

I speak from being in a similar position and coming from a HC car that performed just like yours did. I also think I speak for many who’ve went down the rabbit hole and haven’t found paradise. I strongly recommend you leave the car at just as a heads cam bolt on car and enjoy it. If not for the money involved (which is astronimical anyway you cut it) but for the headaches, the pain and agony it caused me and many others. I think out of all the phases I enjoyed the car, the car was most fun left NA where I could get in and go on a 1,500 mile road trip, not worry about grenadine a 20,000$ motor, and be at a point of spending 20k on a bullet proof auto and diff setup, where you don’t have to worry about losing thousands upon thousands of dollars in a car that keeps depreciating. I’m at a point in my life where I’m young, single, don’t have any crazy responsibilities, have an 8 second street driven car...and I can’t enjoy it. Why? The regret of dropping so much money into a car that provides me absolutely no more joy than it did when it was a simple build. This is not the greatest platform to Drag race. There is definitely a point of diminishable return. Once you put that badass motor, fuel system, power adder, you’ll have to spend a FORTUNE on either a glide, th400, or a 4l80,9in rear. Otherwise you’ll end up breaking parts, or just being meh on the ET. Then the question of reliability comes to mind, can you still get in that car and do that awesome trip with your friends while running that ET? 9/10 times the answer will be a no. In my opinion if you keep the car relatively mild (~600-700rwhp) you can still take it anywhere, not worry about breaking down, or be losing big money with the upkeep and running in circles chasing problems down. If it’s a car that you purely drive locally and don’t care about driving it once a blue moon to make a few races, sure, a fast c6z is great. I actually thought back to a time where I most enjoyed the car and it was when it was a simple HC build. I would drive to the track and make a 9 second pass, go out to the street and line up with some cars, take a road trip or just cruise. A perfect example would be my buddy Cody who has an RPM 4l65 in his c6z with a HC bolt on setup and a 100 shot. On motor 90% of the cars here wouldn’t stand a chance, he could drive his car to work, the beach, wherever, and on bottle run a low 9 second pass. In fact at the moment I’m currently debating selling my auto swap, going back to a 6 speed, and throwing an NA motor in it and use a fraction of the money with my current motor in a foxbody to run 7s in and have a very enjoyable c6z to cruise in. If I were to do it again, that’s what I would do, or perhaps get a second c6z with just bolt ons and a baby cam. Now I do apologize for talking in circles, I’ve been up near 24 hours straight and can barely formulate a thought.

TRSCobra

^^^no worries man I'm an hour away from a 24 hour day myself. I work for the power company and we're on the tail end of a large wind storm...

Seems overwhelmingly like the grand 4 digit HP plan isnt worth it. This thread probably saved me tens of thousands!

So if I'm keeping it in the 600-700whp range, would a simple ECS kit and blower cam be a better idea than more aggressive H/C setup? I'd love the drivability of a smaller cam with the power of a blower but I seem to see too many videos of NA cars with 100 less whp giving them a hard time.

Unreal

Leave it alone, or put a n2o outlet kit on it. No added cooling, fuel crap, etc just enjoy a 100 shot.

Blower will need fuel system, flex fuel or meth, and cooling upgrades. So figure at least $8k in parts if not more.

jayyyw

I plan to keep my car for a long time. I'm sure it'll go through a few setups. Ultimate goal is to have it boosted and make over 1000whp. Right now, I'm happy with my 620whp.

A well built H/C/I car will beat or hang with a lot of cars out there. You'll hurt a lot of feelings. I've raced 4 cars that went and turned them up after I beat them. It's just the way the powerband is when you're NA. Most boosted cars need an extra 100+whp just to edge out a H/C/I car.

The ROI in the automotive hobby is pretty much non-existent. I don't mind throwing money at the car. I've already put over $10k on my H/C/I build since the beginning of the year. I don't make a lot of money but I work hard for what I have. I'm very impulsive and impatient so it's pretty much a given that I'll be changing parts all the time. You win some, you lose some. Money comes and goes. Just enjoy the ride.

95rtturbo

I am pretty happy with how my very mild, although overbuilt top end / bottom end build has turned out so far (will be tuned next week or the following). I have a Mamo top end (heads milled to 11.75 SCR, MSD Mamo ported intake with stock 90MM Mamo ported throttle body, Yella Terra Ultralite Shaftrocker, Manton pushrods, Johnson lifters, single roller timing chain, 52 lbs injectors, etc). Forged bottom end with Wiseco pistons, and K2 crank / rods. 1 7/8" AR ceramic coated catted long tube headers, Halltech 103, Corsa exhaust. DRM Bilstein shocks, Johnny O'Connell front / rear sways, MGW short throw shifter. RXT clutch / flywheel, OEM master / slave, remote bleeder. Pilot SS tires.

The only thing that I changed, was the spec'ed out cam that Tony provided. He sent out an 228 / 240 118 + 3 cam, and I wasn't 100% pleased with the drivability. I changed to a Cam Motion EXTREMELY mild cam (226 / 236 118 + 4) that was suggested by my tuner, and Geoff at Cam Motion. Hopefully I will get the near stock drivability I am looking for, and 530-550 WHP.

Having said all of this, if I did it over again, I would have just fixed the heads, added 2" AR long tubes, Corsa Sport exhaust (already on the car), Halltech, a tune, as well as the DRM Bilsteins, front and rear sways, MGW short throw shifter, and Pilot SS tires.

RedZ4me

when the headaches started with the MSD and 102 (my last 2 mods), that's was my wakeup call to stop and not go overboard with mods. Stock intake/TB back on and no more headaches. I'm rockin' a mild cam (8 deg overlap), PRC heads, 103 intake, trunnion upgrade, & tune ....make 525rwhp and happy, especially with my cup wheels and some tasteful mods. I will not add anymore hp mods to this car.

LMB-Z

I had new heads with no work done, a mild cam, headers, CAI, and tune. It makes 525 rwhp. Only thing I might have done different was having the heads ported/polished/milled. Might have made a few more hp, but I wasn't after big numbers, just reliability and easy driving.

DOUG @ ECS

You can actually get close to your goal if you can drive like few can.

There is a member here, Casey, who has ran 9.05 with a cam, our base supercharger kit and E85 fuel system, meth injection, headers, Mantic clutch and a drag radial.

Upgrade your head unit to a 2200HD from the start and it has been proven to be possible.

We also have our Black Friday pricing up and running so the time to get a good deal is now.

TRSCobra

I've been talking to Casey about one of your kits actually. I just need a motor that will handle the Novi 2200!

R3drumz_408

If I were to do it again I’d just build my C6Z NA make mid to high 5xxwhp and call it a day!! I went the FI route with heads and cam and full exhaust and learned the hard way and cracked a sleeve. Engine went bye bye in January and I just got my car back this week. The amount of time without my car and the amount of money to get where it’s at now I could have just kept it NA or sold it for a c6 Zr1. Than pay it off with decent bolts ons and a fat wallet at the end of the day. I’m currently making mid 7xxwhp 700tq and it’s more than plenty for the street.

zblackz06

I agree with most of these guys on here when they say just build a mid to high 5xx rwhp call and call it a day.
my mods so far are :
AHP 116 cam
AHP package #4 heads milled.30
AHP ported MSS
Vararam Snakecharmer intake
Corsa cat-back
I am still getting headers for the car and should be done with the engine after the headers, all in I think I am into the motor for an additional 10grand parts/labor and last time I checked it made around 525-530rwhp.I have since found out that my cats are clogged( one reason for headers) so I hope I can get closer to 550rwhp.Point is I can hop in the car and go to NCM on a 9 hour ride and use up 2 tanks of gas or go to Ocean City Maryland and use 3/4 of a tank on a 6hr ride including stop and go.
The car for me has enough power and retains good driveability/street manors without spending too much money.
My 2003 Silverado SS has a 2300 Magnusson which cost me 8 thound all by itself plus trans and supporting mods etc. and all the work was done by myself and friends but that adds up to around $18k.
I say just build a nice all around car.
Sorry for the long post.

2FastCorvette4U

To me and after making so many big mistakes on spending too much on chasing horsepower on previous cars I have owned, I knew all I wanted to do to my C6Z was to hit 530whp with a CAM that felt close to stock which the " street bully " CAM from Vette-Air did just fine for me. Throwing a blower on a LS7 or a high lift CAM to hit high HP to me is not smart after doing countless hours of research on this website. That is of course my own personal opinion... If I wanted big numbers I would have just gone the ZR-1 route.

lamboworld

This thread is hilarious to me as most of us regret the mods we spend so much money on.

My last two cars I over modded and ended up parting out all of my parts and sold them stock.

I said I wouldn't do this with this car and I think I am at a point that I need to stop. I told myself that I would not go FI on my Z and I haven't. However, I did go with a Nitrous setup on my car so I have the ability to go crazy fast with Nitrous and still have a good street manner ride without it.

FNBADAZ06

The only thing I would have done differently on my build would be the use of the Mamo 265 heads over my WCCH ported heads......but the Mamo heads came out 3 years too late for me

I wanted a solid 550-600 rwhp N/A car that I could drive anywhere and use it as a daily driver (if I wanted). For competition events where I could use some extra power, I purchased a nitrous kit that would allow me to add 200 HP for those events.

My car just turned over 93K miles and I'm at the end of my driveline mod wish list......just waiting on those 3.90 rear gears for the C6 Z06 rear end and I'm done.

Indepth

93K miles! Nice! I thought I was one of the few high mileage people on here aside from Undy.

I have no regrets on my mods, that could change in time but for the short year I've had them I'm ok with them. I have a big cam (LS7R) and your typical H/C/I/E setup most of us go to. I think a large amount of the complaints people have with big NA builds is a lack of their tuner's ability to smooth out the car's operation.

My original tune from what I was told was a good tuner in my area was horrendous and I was told 'its as good as it'll get'. Finding a new tuner that is very well known in my state, traveling to him, and having him re-tune it resulted in a car I can enjoy whenever I'd like with little to no surging in parking lots and zero surge on the highway while still getting 28+ mpg.