I have a 2013 C6 Corvette manual Coupe that I bought 2 months ago to use as a weekend car. The guy I bought it from converted it into a dedicated track car. I love the car, it makes 507 HP to the wheel and 425 ft lb of torque. However I have the feeling that I want more HP. What other mods would you recommend?
​​​​​Is a super charger or pro charger only viable thing left to make considerable gains?
It was built by RPM, See below for the current list of mods:Race Proven Motorsports 93 Octane built and tuned LS3 Stage 3 Motor making 507 HP and 425 ft lb Torque at the wheels

Frankenstein Engine Dynamics 280CC Heads, dual valve spring kit with Ti Retainers
LS7 Lifters, RPM Cam 223/231 114 LSA, Brian Tooley Racing Hardened Pushrods
High volume oil pump, Improved Racing oil cooler with braided stainless oil lines, 160 degree thermostat
Rocker Arm Trunnion Upgrade
American Racing Headers, SLP CAI & SLP Catbacks

Lingenfelter Fuel Pump and Racetronix Fuel Pump Hotwire

Chassis & Suspension
Van Steele Double Adjustable Coil Overs
900# Front/700# Rear
Track Alignment
Pfadt Sway Bars
Z51 Brakes / Hawk Track DTC80 Front and DTC70 Rear (Pads and front rotors two weekends)

APR GT500 Adjustable Carbon Wing
AJ Hartmann Down Planes
Front Splitter

Reinforced Tunnel Brace
Aluminum engine and transmission
P.s. I'm a complete noob when it comes to performance cars as this is my first manual fast car

 

You can make a little more with a bigger cam, but you would lose drivability, low end power, and fuel eco. Time for a supercharger.

 

I would agree that going to a supercharger is your best bet at this point

 

if you wanna keep it NA, you can look for more cubes. Going to a 416ci motor will allow for more power, and you can spec the build however you want. Plan to keep it NA, keep it high(er) CR and toss in a new cam. Having had a 416 in my last car (2011 camaro) the torque they make is tremendous. If you are chasing BIG power, you can spec w a little lower CR (10.5:1 ?) then you'll get a smidge less power NA, but you'll be ready to roll and slap a good blower on down the road.

OR

Just toss on a centri and call it a day.

The 416 will probably be the more expensive choice especially because you're likely to only gain 50-75hp on a serious build vs where you are right now (if even that). But mannnnn having gobs of torque available whenever you want is glorious thing, and if you spec it for a blower when you build it, you will likely have a bulletproof motor for the 900-1100hp range, if not more

 

No on super charger, since will end up with power you can not use. TVS makes great low end torque, but ends up with everything in in regards to torque pretty much linear off idle so much that your just breaking the tires out of every corner (why the ZR1 came with PTM)

No on centrifugal charger, since very hard hit about mid range,and just cause the rear tire to break free out of the corners even faster.

Plus with either,will be burning about a gallon of meth mix every 15 mins, and just not a large enough tank to have enough on board for a 45 min run.

Bluntly, for road course car, you want torque that is going to build up off idle to mid range you can use the power out of the corners to keep you fast in the technical sections and not lots of extra power that you can only use down the straight instead. Hence gain a second in the straight, while loosing 20 seconds in the technical sections instead.

Or bluntly, T-1 C6 cars make about 650hp, and that is due to all the extra down force to make that kind of power usable.
In a Z06 with race tires, it's good for about 600hp with all that extra tire grip out of the LS7, before just becomes too much HP to make it a mess of uncontrollable power instead.


As for motor, LS7 (427) is hard to beat, since it loves to rev,, has great torque curves, once you get the motor to breath correctly.

Also to point out, sounds like you have a narrow body car, so can not run the wider race compound tires, and will be more of a deciding factor on torque and HP, than if you where running a wide body car.

So would run the car as is, find your limits with the car that you can not suspension tune to make it faster, then think about more HP after that (note, my be way over your head with the power the car has now).

Again, no reason to try to make 1 second decrease down the straight, while being slower in the technical sections by 20 seconds are more by over powering the chassic.

Also to point out, don't think you have the talent to play rev ranger with the car around the track in every corner as it is now and hold the car to your needed line, and will find that via clutch slipping out of the corners to carry one gear up up out of the apex with more motor grunt to control the back end, will have you faster by seconds on the course then having to shift while still coming out of the apex's before you hit the straights.

 

You chasing a dyno number or you have a reason for more hp? 1/4 mile?
500+ at the wheels is pretty stout and since it's N/A the power curve is likely incredible, plenty of low end power since N/A-wouldn't mind seeing a dyno sheet.

 

With a supercharger, especially a TVS, you can dial in the power you want. If 600 wheel is too much and you can't modulate the skinny pedal to match track conditions and your driving ability, add a bigger blower pulley (less boost and less power) into the mix. 4 to 6psi available at any RPM you choose to use it in an LS3 is going to mimic a good running LS7 pretty well. A smaller pulley resulting in more air flow through the engine is going to leave a naturally aspirated LS7 in the weeds.

 

are you sure you're already getting the most out of the car? experienced track driver? Agree with Dano523. There are surely other areas where you can make greater gains...especially since more power is harder to exploit and manage. And makes the car less reliable.
Those are super aggressive pads...even with the aero you have. Is that car on slicks?

 

No need to do this, since may still want the increased top end speed from the increase in HP.
So instead, go in torque management in the ECM do dial back instant power to the ground, which will reduce it there, and still have what the motor can ramp up to a little longer down the straights instead (what PTM does for the LS9)

As for TVS, just keep in mind that the torque out of the motor will not climb gently like that of a LS7 as your coming off idle, but isntead torque goes max off idle isntead.

TVS kind of torque climb that goes max dam near off idle,


Verse torque climb on a NA ls7 (and why the Z07 is faster around a track, then the same car (ZR1) that is running a LS9, unless you set PTM around 4 to keep the rear tires from blistering out of every corner.


As for centrifugal super charger, forget all about that for road course use, since it has a nasty hit about mid RPMs, as you just out of the apex/still trying to get to the straight, and when it hits that hard that you can not control is with the throttle pedal and the back end is just going to come whipping around.

And again, any super charger with meth kit is going to use a lot of meth fluid around the track, and would need over 6 gallons of reserve or more, to get you to about the hour mark on run time.

Simply, in the technical sections, its all about usable torque amounts that you can control to the ground via the gas pedal, while down the straights where you are just taking the motor to max RPMs, that is about HP isntead. So yes, you can kind of have your cake and eat it, since the instant amount of torque to the ground through the tires, can be controlled via Torque managment in the ECM.
Note: TM not allowed in F1,but in GP moto, TM is allowed, and how the keep the bikes making dam near 300hp, controllable.
As for SCCA, TM is allowed in most classes, so just comes down to how you are making Torque/amounts of power that the car can use, and how you are using TM to make it contrable for the amount of grip the car has to the ground.

Once last this, you show up with a C6 in anything less than say T1 class car, with it making over 800hp, they are not going to allow you to run the track.
Hence no way in hell that your going to make that kind of HP work on the track, short of a Cam Am or F1 car, that has more down force at 55mph , than the car actual weights to begin with.

 

Very good comments here. You can have ridiculous amounts of horsepower, buy how do you keep it down on the ground? I watched a sixties Vette (on video) recently blasting down the quarter mile until he went airborne and exploded.

 

The OP said it was a weekend car. He said he wanted more power. I guess I missed where he mentioned he's a dedicated track rat worried about putting huge HP to the ground coming out of a corner at a high speed track. He needs driving lessons? Oh well....

 

I appreciate all the replies! Yeah definitely not a track rat lmao. Think a few were confused, i bought it from someone who converted it into a dedicated track car. I'm not taking it to the track or drag strip anytime soon. This is strictly a weekend street car. Just wanted to see what other mods I could do to get more hp/"go faster 😎", have more fun without it being too outrageous. Maybe I'm being a little naive with adding a supercharger since I probably can't handle that amount of power but I've just saw many other vette owners with Edelbrock, Heartbeat, A&A, ECS and saying they love it/best mod they've done. I'm making 500hp now and would like to make 50-100+ more hp. And yes I probably do need a few driving lessons 🤓

 

I bought it from someone who tracked it. Yes the car is on slicks right now but planned on buying street tires for it soon. I've never been on a track. I plan on making the car more for the street as I am using it for a weekend car now.

 

It’s his first fast car. Time for driving lessons and track days. The car is not the limiting factor.

That cam sounds about perfect to me for a sane street car, but I’m super old. 🙂

 

3.90's or 4.10 gears gets you into the power band faster making your 0-60 quicker. The car is making more power for a given speed.
You will shift faster but that would be the case if you had more HP/Tq too as the car is faster.

If you plan to track the car, today's power levels would warrant the ability to have higher trap speeds so 3.90's would make the most sense. 10 years ago, I would have said to use 4.10's. Times change...