Gents,

And so having been on the planet for over 60 years... I was reluctant to mess with my 2017 GS with less than 3k on it, however I am a car head.... This is my 3rd Vette having owned a 2011 GS, and a 2014 Z51, and lots of other vehicles over the years.

I autocross quite a bit and track occasionally. Class autox rules dictate that for super street (SS) that any motor modifications put you in a different class, but life is short and the sickness dictates more power as the denominator. That being said I decided to go for the Katech Stage 1 package they offer (with limited warranty). There web site states 510 HP and if my memory while typing is correct, 486 Torques (Jeremy Clarkson has ruined me forever in stating it this way ). I think they are little lite on the torque numbers based on my numbers.

The Stage 1 is a step up, and at this juncture it is exactly what I was looking for. Not too much power, but hopefully power that can 'easily' be put down without over powering the vehicle. I know this goes against the grain of many, however less sometimes is more....

I spoke with Jason Harding at Katech and made the arrangements, very polite guy. I worked with my schedule and theirs and needed to drop off the car for a about a week to have it fit in and give them and me some needed flexibility. Bottom line is it ended up at 437 hp and 442 Torques at the wheels. If you take standard 15% drive line loss that equates to approximately 503 HP and 507 Torques. An added note is that I have larger diameter rear tires, so that may have pulled the number down a few points?

The package consists of a Halltech cold air, a Katech ported TB, headers having already been installed, and their tune being done on a roller dyno. I had ARH full length 1 7/8 catted headers, with 3" x-pipe. Note: I had at one point in the past stated that I thought the Halltech didn't fit well having ordered one and returned it, HOWEVER, it is terribly clean looking, and IMHO has a very good engineered interface with the inlet tube and the housing. I know this because i have tried two alternate manufactures, one came apart on every autocross run, the other was messy.

I drove the car for the first time last night, and without ANY doubt it pulls much harder, yes you can feel 40 HP and 52 lb ft. improvement. It too has a raspy sound.

Jason, if I have something wrong here, please chime in.

Honestly guys, good package, Quality Company and heritage, and it runs great!
Bruce

PS: Forgot to mention that these guys are a class act company, with a rich heritage at building endurance racing engines, with Many wins associated with those builds. In fact it looked like there looked to be 10-15 engines completed ready to ship out, and I think? Jason mentioned they had 4 full time engine builders.

 

Very cool. Congrats!

 

Those are the right numbers for that setup, I had that config for a bit, although I ran a veraram intake

 

"486 torques"

HAHA!

You're right, Clarkson seems to have pioneered that term. Unless it's a British thing?

 

Fella's my report:

First autocross running in CAM-S class do to the headers/tuning, I finished 1st in class (just a couple of cars), 2nd in raw time and 4th in PAX (after applying handicapping/indexing to all classes) out of 117 cars. In RAW time I was beat by a talented driver in a 400 + HP civic on R compounds, and my talented buddy in a 500 HP LS3 well sorted out Miata on R compounds, finished right behind me. I'm running 200 tread wear tires. In fact there was only 3 tenths spread between 2nd and 8th in raw time.

That being said, it felt snappier (for lack of a better description). Although most off of this sport is what lies 'between the ears' I honestly could feel a difference.

The Stage 2, may happen one day, but pleased with how lively the stage 1 runs.

over and out
Bruce

 

A new Mustang Gt makes that stock. Headers, Cold air & tune puts 475 to the ground. E-85 over 500 to the ground. Come one GM tuners step it up guys.
$1500 will take the new Mustang to a freakish level. I had one and it was a good car & Fast. This is my 4th Vette and no they are not the same-But beware of pulling it up beside some kid with a 35k Mustang.

I was thinking on same basic thing for my 18 GS as it feels kinda weak, but hell $4500 for 25 rwhp is kinda pricey!

 

Yea, the DOHC mustangs make boocoo power. I briefly had a GT350 and the motor was awesome once over 3500 RPM, but the Vette just feels better IMHO. That being said, there is no way to get the Mustang power levels out of the 2 valve motor without a cam and/or cam and heads, but then again, I have approximately 510 Torques :-)

I made about 40 ish HP and 50+ torques improvement from stock.

I think the Katech stage 1 is worth it, again IMHO.

my 2 cents

NOTE : Katech stage 2 = 600 HP, 523 Torques (per their web site)

 

Update II

Fella's,

Please bare with me and NOT flaunting, just wanting to let ya'll know how pleased I am with this overall package, albeit small increases by some measures, however it works.... I took my car to Dragway 42 near Akron for an autocross event. Yes, it is a drag strip however the Akron region of the SCCA run some autocross events on the parking areas for trailer-ed vehicles. It consists of several looped sections that are connected. What they end up with is very fast autocross/track-ish elements. The FTD (fastest time) for the day was 68.4 seconds (approximately 1 mile course) which yours truly pulled off out of 105 drivers. The added power and overall responsiveness with the Katech package is noticeable...

I know there are other options, and I am NOT affiliated with Katech and only want to give credit where credit is do, nothing more

my 2 cents....

 

I think I saw your car on instagram from a Katech post. Stage 1?

 

Yes sir my car, and yes stage 1