Ok so I just bought me a 2007 Corvette Z-51, all options!
Welcome me to the Corvette club! YAY!

On to business...

I am no stranger to performing work on an LS motor (2002 TA), but now that I own my dream car, Im ready to tinker. I am looking for recommendations for not just which mods, but the order of mods as well.

I dont want to pull heads and Cam can wait, but until then I would like to lay some groundwork under the hood.

100% fully stock motor LS2

1. Which airbox/air kit to use? Im hearing the honker kit is probably the best. I would like to minimize the amount of stock parts sitting on my shelf.
2. I want the sound that I was familiar with. Im going to go with Flowmaster muffler setup, but I need help on header recommendations.
I would prefer minimal discoloration of header tubes, no ground clearance issues, then power, as priorities here. I am looking at the American racing setup Im seeing at Lingenfelter. Anyone with personal experience?
3. Im seeing this FAST intake manifold and Throttle Body being pretty popular as well. Should I do this before or after exhaust? Cause I would love to get my sound, but common sense says intake 1st.

Any other mods that you would suggest?

Thanks
Chad

 

Congrats,

I would recommend the Vararam and American racing headers.

 

Chad,

Congrats on the new ride.

I would do a VaraRam as ARH or Kooks headers as well. The FAST I would do if you have the coin, but only after the exhaust. One more thing you might want to throw in there is a set of gears.

Feel free to call us if you have any questions.

Max
908.317.4496

 

Thanks for the input...

Im really looking forward to a reply about the intake/throttle body with possible results.

Chad

 

Gears? I assume your talking rear end.

I moved from 3.42 to 3.11 in my T/A and was pretty disappointed in the top end speed loss

Im now seeing the Veraram suggested twice. Is there any cutting involved in the stock shroud or any other location? I would prefer not to modify any of the stock parts if at all possible

American Racing headers it is, looks like. I keep hearing about Kooks but cant find anything that wont rust like crazy online

Thanks for the suggestions, and keep em coming!

Thanks
Chad

 

A 3.11 gear?

I assume you mean 4.11....possibly...although 4.10s are what were made for the 10-bolts in the fbodies.

You dont lose power at any rpm or speed with more gear, the only thing that changes is your top speed that you can reach, but until you hit that top speed you will be getting there quicker

 

3.42 to 3.73 actually....oops on my part

 

I still dont understand why you think there was a loss in top end speed?

 

A bit off topic but, eh, Ill humor you.

Cause i could peg it at 155 before the gear swap, and after i couldn't get it past 135 while going down a hill and nudging forward in my seat

Back to topic please tho

 

Congrats.

 

Hey Chad,

I'll chime in and give you a rundown.

First, get a Vararam or Honker... or any CAI really for that matter. There is cutting involved in both of these shrouds. If you do not want to cut the shroud, I would suggest getting a Halltech Venom CAI... which is what I went with. Although, you might gain more from a CAI like the Vararam that utilizes cold air coming from the bottom.

Second, Kooks/ARH are great headers... both will make great power over stock. If your worried about discoloration... get them coated. Maryland speed actually offers free coating with kooks headers, I believe.

Third, a FAST 90mm will work with your stock TB. This seems like to be the best way to do it. Don't spend an extra 200-300 for the FAST 92/92set up... They make nearly the same amount of power. The FAST is a great mod! It might not make more than 15hp at the peak... but, you will see gains of 20-25 rwhp/tq in the midband. It is really a great mod! I would not suggest doing this mod until you are done with most the other bolt ons. IE - CAI, Headers, exhaust, ported TB, etc.

Also, as some other people have suggested... gears are a great choice as well. Although, you will lose some mpg going with higher gears... the power generated by gears is amazing! 3.90s or 4.10s will feel like you have gained 30+ hp! They make the car pull so much harder...

The best enjoyment you can get from your vette is doing your mods in stages! Plan your course of action! It gets a lot more fun from here on out! Let me know if you have any questions and I will do my best to help!

Congrats and enjoy!

 

Great post and advice.

Thanks a ton

Chad

 

is your car and auto or a manual? I am assuming your t/a was an auto if you top speed droped that much with just 3.73's.

If your car is a manual then gears will be something you love.

4th gear will ~155 or so and 5th has ~200mph potential but proabaly won't pull there most likely will drag limit. 3:73's will run ~140 4th and ~190 5th. 4:10 with go ~130 4th and ~170 in 5th

the older Automatics don't always hold full throttle in the overdrive gears very well. I am not sure about the newer ones as I have not driven one.

for one of these newer cars with a manual 4:10's are the way to go unless you drive over 170 very often. you would be able t mod the car into a trap speed of 130mph even with 4:10's


I am going to buy american racing headers after my reading. As far as CAI I am still a bit torn. I don't like the fit and finish of the verram but it definatly seems to have the best resuslts. there website actually has some good info on how the competitors faired though.

 

Actually it was a manual...
and I was almost downright mad about the high end loss....

If the low end wouldn't have been so nice

 

That's strange that your 6 speed was topped at at 135 because my firebird had no problem doing 135 with 4.10s and it was an A4.

Anyway, I was just making sure you didnt mean you were losing top end power, as is the myth that many people associate with a gear swap.

Mod this car the same as you would the trans am. Intake, Headers/x-pipe and catback. People have preferences, but the truth is that any combination will perform similarly. Bottom breathing intakes are a better design, but wont make a tremendous difference and they do sell a "CAI" option for the large filter intakes (K&N and Halltech) called the vette-air which I got used for 50 bucks and it does seem to help.

Then I would invest in HPtuners and learn to use it so you can tune your car and then be able to tune for larger future mods to come (Fast, Cam, Heads, Gears, Etc....)

 

well something is not right there my 4.6L mustang will pull to 150+ with 3.73's and that has less power than you t/a did. it even has a .67 5th which also give it less mechanical advantage.

I can tell you this though you won't have that problem is this car. this car will pull 5th gear. I have only had mine to 175 so far but it was still pulling. if it is still pulling 5th gear with 3:42 it will have no problem pulling it with 3:73 or 4:10.

 

I am having trouble finding a place that can get the car off the ground. I spent all day after work looking for a place with a drive up lift to get the car in the air. The 1 place i found said they wouldnt do anything with headers in case a bolt broke in the head

So any suggestions for getting the car in the air for getting headers on? Im going to go with the Kooks, and they have to go in from underneath.

 

Chad,

You can use jack stands. I just did my header install last weekend. Kooks 1 3/4 headers, with catless xpipe and midpipes. Was not that hard at all!!! The hardest part was just getting the midpipes to fit the axelback exhaust, had to expand the pipes to get them to fit... But, the headers themselves were very simple and easy. Slide right in... WAY easier than working on fbodies. I had a 99 SS. So, I know how that goes.

BTW: Where are you located? Fill out your profile and I am sure someone can recommend a shop close to you.

 

I just filled in my profile

If you used jack stand how the hell did you get a jack under there much less a jackSTAND

What are you using as jack points? I have heard you can damage body components raising the car with a 4 point lift. I would assume jack stands would as well.

 

Check the manual of your vette... there are PLENTY of safe jacking points under the car. I used some 2x10s to drive onto to lift the front a little bit... then from there we used 4 jacks... 2 in the rear and 2 in the front. The vette does not weigh very much either. We were able to do the whole header install with the car being lifted only about 18-20" off the ground... which is below what the header directions recommended. It is not hard at all.