RicardoFors68

With a set amount of money I find myself not quite conviced as to which direction to take.....
2006 z51, a6. All stock

Want just one major mod to the engine performance-wise; option one with a 150 shot of NO2, headers, cai, and tune. Option two would be to supercharge, maybe headers, tuned.
Not a daily driver, planning on maybe a track or two a year, little club meeting jaunts, and occasional car show entry.
My first thought was SC, no brainer right? But a lot of cheese on a stock engine. That basically will sit in my driveway.
Then with a little less money I could spray and hope to dyno something decent, just in case zombies attack or whatever. Not sure what hp numbers to expect out of either mod high 400s with NO2, maybe the same with SC.
Your thoughts? Thanks in advance people

Blackonblacksls

If you have the budget A blower.

RicardoFors68

I think I do, my magic number is $7k

Blackonblacksls

If I was trying to build a fun car with no particular goal or use in mind.

I'd buy a blower kit, and headers...

Fun to talk about, makes a lot of noise, fun to drive, and easily scaleable to meet future goals if you get bored with it.

Nitrous Express & Snow Performance

If you end up wanting a Nitrous kit PM me you might be surprised on the deal I can make you.
Cant go wrong either way.

Xtremespeed

If you go with a centri kit, a base kit will be pretty easy on the bottom end and with headers you can make close to 600 rwhp and no bottles to fill and still fit under your budget. I've done both and enjoyed the nitrous but jmo, to do nitrous right so I had peace of mind, it required a direct port and standalone fuel system and progressive controller, and on and on. Not to say you can't put a base kit on and spray away and it'll live but I didn't feel comfortable with it. Also didn't care for the progressive controllers once I got them and with all else being stock, you don't want too big a torque hit all at once. Like I said though, there are plenty out there running nitrous kits a lot simpler than what I had and doing fine with it. It's just my opinion. The base centri kits come with everything you need for the safety factors like a bap, larger injectors and so on. Pm me if you have any questions. Be glad to help.

Tech

How long do you plan on keeping the car? A nitrous kit takes an hour to remove and a blower takes a day. :o)

You're doing the right thing by planning your mods and doing them at once. The more times you take something apart, the more likely it won't go back together the same way.

People used to say they didn't like refilling nitrous bottles. Then they put a blower on their car.. with meth....

Xtremespeed

Touche my friend. Lol! Thing is, we don't have to take it somewhere, hope they put as much in as they charge us for, at $4-$5 a pound or more, and refill every 6 hits or more. Not to mention dealing with the pressure loss after every hit with either a heater, which only does so much, or nano kit that you also have to have filled. It can be a vicious cycle.

Pitufina

I'm going to say this once and one time only lol Since I have a manual, If I were to do it again I would just do full exhaust, intake, gears, tune and sticky tires. You have an auto, so if I had an auto I would just do the converter instead of the gears.

My reasoning behind it is that the more power you make, the more money you spent, more parts break and the more maintenance and time spent messing with the car. My car has an ecs kit, cam, full exhaust, twin clutch, etc. Honestly, I'm contemplating returning her back to stock or just keep the full exhaust and install gears with the appropriate tune. I'm just tired of messing with it.

neverstop

if you have the money, blower hands down. 600whp is a monster on the street.

RicardoFors68

Keeping the car until the doors fall off. Trying to keep the comparison as level as possible, good and bad arguments for both sides. Shops around me seem to hover around the$7-8k mark. Would love to have those vendlrs in here close to me.... In order to safely do NO2 to get me were I want to be plus headers, installed and tuned, north of $4k.

Pushing 150 shot, then refill, purge, and a Hail Mary, maybe looking at high 400hp if not low 500hp; am I close?
SC kit, with a tune, (do I need headers? pretty sure I do), should be maaaaybe mid 500hp? Then you get into things like do I tap my oil pan, why does my belt keep popping off, etc.
Safety, ease of maintenance, bang for the buck, dare I say warranty as well?

This shouldn't be a no risk, no reward situation, right? Maybe I should shop around here some more to see what turns up. So far, the only to shops I know of can only agree on lightening my wallet......

RicardoFors68

Funny you say this; I got quoted over $8k for heads, cam, intake, headers, torque converter, and tune. I would be turning a solid engine into a less reliable product once I introduce these go fast bits, that are probably designed "for race use only". I had a race bike, I remember teariing down the engine every two races just to check tolerances, last thing I want to do is "routine" roller rocker re torques, etc. The guys that can afford this, have awesome sounding and performing cars, and the credit to support their status. As a retired, non working, stay at home dad, I have to make sure I hit a bulleye everytime.

Xtremespeed

Honestly, I think this says it all. Your situation dictates what you should do. It's hard for me to say, especially having a passion for performance cars, but the closest you're going to get to a guarantee, or bullseye, is to leave it alone. Anytime you start changing parts to increase performance, you give up something else, risk breaking parts, and have a tendency to continue modifying. It's all give and take. You just have to decide how much you want to risk.

Tech

I have felt your pain.

RicardoFors68

Point taken. There's risk in everything, I understand the risks involved when it comes to engine mods. My bullseye would be something that can get installed and uninstalled when/if needed. Something that I could enjoy without fear of melting a piston or worse.
If I can enjoy a SC kit properly tuned and not fear to get stuck in a 2 hour traffic jam on I-64, and with no other mods reach 500hp, then I'll take the plunge. As a former aviation mechanic, I've embraced the "**** happens" mentality, parts break, fail, stop working when needed the most, so on.

RicardoFors68

Btw, I appreciate everyone's comments. Just trying to give more muscle to my muscle car

Streetk14

Both of my supercharged C6s have been totally trouble-free. I think maybe my parts selection and installation quality might have a lot to do with that, but it can very much be a reality.

There is no denying that more power = more risk. Can't disagree with that, but these cars can be nearly as reliable and livable as a stock car during normal use if done right. The key (IMO) is to keep things simple, be extremely thorough, and not get greedy (i.e. always wanting more power).

And other than topping off my methanol tank every once in a while, I don't do any more maintenance than I would if the car were stock. I just get in and drive it when I want to. Rarely am I under the hood or messing with anything -- unless it's by choice.

My experiences, anyway.

Chokeu

I agree. I just bought my 05 roadster (A4) 6 months ago. I put on CAI, LT Headers, offroad X-Pipe, and Corsa exhaust and had ECS tune it. Also, threw in a 160' stat and had Chuck Cow do his CoW Booster, which is awesome BTW. I just got my ECS S/C kit and Alky Meth kit last Friday. I was going to do the install myself but it's my daily driver and the car would most likely be holed up for a week or two. I decided to bring it to a local speed shop and have them do the install. What he would do in 2-3 days would take me 2-3 weeks. Then it's off to the dyno and will get tuned. I will let you know how I make out. I don't track my car but like to terrorize the locals. I might make it to the drag strip later this yr hopefully. The car goes in the shop a week from Monday, I'll let you know what numbers I get.

highrolrcustoms

I went the nitrous route. Nitrous outlet 150 shot. with some other mods I put down 568rwhp and 646ft of torque. I love it. and it doesn't put any extra stress on the engine unless the nitrous is being used.

Arctic Vette

Ship ur car to FSP thread over...